The Lone Traveler's Diary and other Short Stories

Sky Log #34: Closet Fuzzies

A/N:

I would like to apologise for my long, unplanned hiatus. I was swamped with life. Then after, I was so exhausted that I didn't feel like writing stories for a while. Another reason is probably linked to the ending of this story. Well, I will hold out my answer, but you do know that this story is ending quite soon, right? Ehe...

~~~~~

Nobody ever questioned the mechanics behind the closets.

How is it that we would be wearing what we want for the day in a blink of an eye? We would have shed the previous outfit with just one swish and sported a new one.

I didn't think much about it until the one time when one of the closet's lights was malfunctioning. Even though we could still change clothes, it still felt weird. Then, I saw a little wisp peeking out from the crack in the closet. It snuck back inside when it noticed me staring at it.

What a shy little thing!

I nearly chuckled before leaving a little bit of light near the crack. It wouldn't have hurt to befriend creatures in Sky as long as they are not hostile. From then on, I always left a little bit of light near the crack.

At first, I didn't think of the wisp's connection with the closets. I just thought it was living in the closet's crack like its natural habitat. I didn't bother it much since I was sure I wouldn't like it if something big and robust kept harassing me.

After some time, I realized that my clothes in the closet seemed much nicer than before. As if someone had them fixed, they were cleaned and decorated. It wasn't noticeable until one of my sharp-eyed acquaintances pointed it out to me. Then, I wondered if it was the wisp's doing since that was the likely answer.

It reminded me of this one children's story I found in Vault about the shoemaker and the elves.

It was a story of how the shoemaker left pieces of uncut cloth on the table to continue her work the next day, only to find that someone had completed the work for her. There were a pair of shoes on the table where the pieces of cloth were left, but they were also made so marvelously that they fetched more customers than before. Nights after night, pairs of shoes were made in the places of the pieces of uncut cloth. Eventually, the shoemaker's business went so well that she could pull herself out of poverty. The shoemaker wanted to know which kindred spirit made the shoes and purposely stayed up late. She saw a couple of elves wearing tattered clothing skillfully making the shoes for her. To thank them, she made them new clothes and set them in place of the pieces of uncut clothes. The elves were surprised by the new garments but happily donned them. Unfortunately, this meant that their presence was known, and they could no longer help the shoemaker. Fortunately, the shoemaker was well enough to hire more help and no longer needed the elves' help. That was the end of the story.

An inquisitive children's story spoke about helping others within your means and repaying people's kindness. I wondered if that applied to our little wisp friend who lives in the closet, unnoticed by many children of light.

So, I decided to look for it the next time I set out a bit of light. And I saw that the little wisp has friends, many more little wisps of light of different colours and shades crowding around their food. They didn't notice me creeping up upon them until I was so close that I could scoop them up in my hands. Of course, by then, they would have sensed my presence and hidden inside the hole. Except for one.

It was a little wisp that I first met. It floated into my waiting hand calmly because it was accustomed to me. It was soft and fuzzy. When I moved it, it bounced a little, slowly going up and down. As I observed it, I realized its colour wasn't simply yellow like the lights of the candle. It has a pastel yellow colour, looking like the daffodils in the fields of Daylight Prairie. And if you look closely enough, you can see two little black dots, which are its eyes, staring straight at you.

Needless to say, it was cute. Extremely cute. So much so that I want to pocket it and carry it around with me everywhere.

Sadly, I couldn't do that, so I set it down to reunite with its friends who had been observing us from the crack in the closet. The little wisp stared at me for a second longer before it slowly flew back to the crack, albeit reluctantly.

It was our first interaction, but it wasn't the last. From then on, I had many pleasant interactions with them. Sometimes, they would be up to no good, churning out clothes I didn't plan to wear or refusing to give me my clothes only because they wanted to spend more time with me. Sometimes, they would act as my fashion advisor, giving me clothes for a particular day when I wanted to look a certain way.

Of course, the fuzzies (I called them that because the name was much cuter than wisps) would get repaid with lights as snacks and rubs on their fuzzy bodies. They love the rubs and would keep begging for more if I stopped midway. If I lay on the ground doing nothing on a particularly dull day, all the fuzzies would spread over my body. They couldn't hurt me much since they did not have limbs, so covering me up with fuzz was their way of playing, so I let them do whatever they wanted with me. It was adorable.

Unfortunately, the fuzzies were very shy. Even when I introduced friends to them, they zoomed so fast into the crack in a blink of an eye that my friends doubted their existence. As I write this, I'm sure you would question my words too.

It seemed that the fuzzies only wanted to interact with me, so I kept their existence quiet. It was impossible to force contact on them when they were so unwilling. There were times when the pastel yellow fuzzy snuck into my clothes to follow me, only to return to the crack in the closet shortly after I realized it was with me. I wasn't confident I could protect the fuzzy since many of my travels involved dangerous elements. Of course, it threw tantrums when I stuffed it back with its friends, darting everywhere and hovering around me like a conscious shooting star.

I don't know much about the fuzzies, whether they have natural enemies, and how they lived previously. Perhaps they were made to look after the clothes and props in the closets. Maybe they do not need to eat light to live. Perhaps my worries were unfounded, and they are well equipped to protect themselves. But I was no scientist or specialist to care for these curious existences, so it was better for me to err on the safer side.

I hope to maintain my friendship with these fuzzies in the future, but only time can tell... I was already getting worried when I heard some news about Eden.

It seemed that in the future, something would happen in Eden. Some children who visited Eden weekly reported that the red star showed abnormalities. Some children were stuck on the other side, neither here nor there. The worrying thing is that it wasn't by choice. They truly wanted to be reborn. Friends have come back to say that they were missing a friend or two from the Eden journey, so all the children have been putting off being reborn. In the past, being reborn would have helped alleviate my light core's abnormal condition, but with Eden closed off, I was not sure how much longer I could last. Being reborn doesn't mean that I was granted an entirely new body, as many had hoped because when you wake up from Eden, you find yourself exactly how you have been. With fewer winged lights, of course.

The last Eden trip was when I went to find the Little Prince, but with the Season of Performance starting soon, it would be three seasons ago. I could feel that my limbs were getting more challenging to move as the darkness from my core started to spread across my body. There were days when I completely blacked out and found myself in another area. Or wake up in the middle of the night to feel excruciating pain from the core, which was baffling since I never felt anything from it after that time...

I don't know what this means to me.

And I'm prepared for the worst.

I haven't told anyone, but it won't be long before they find out something is wrong with me. Unfortunately, I have done all I could by following the healers' advice. It's just that I am unlucky, for there is no cure for my condition when I don't even know how I got it.