To Be Proud: A Story about Gay Pride

Hope and a Dream Shattered

~Bona~

I never thought about the possibility of more monsters like me being out there. Yeah, I'll admit, we Wublins didn't leave the island much, but the thought never really occurred to me. Ever since my first encounter with Uuduk at Bone Island, I've made sure to be weary of who and who wasn't a true monster-world entity.

For minutes I've begged Bowgart to tell me what he remembered about the human world. He didn't want to answer me just yet and asked me if I wanted to help him out with Punkleton. I said that I would help, but under the conditions of him giving me some answers. Agreeing to these terms, we strived to find an answer.

      "What about spiders?"

      "A possibility," I said while thinking. Elder Oak, however, wouldn't hear the end of it.

      "The old pile of bones would be blown away by the Air Island's winds if he was terrified of spiders."

      "Well, what about the dark?"

      "That orange ball lives in the dark!"

      "Water?"

      "If you don't think the fool's been to Water Island before then-"

      "Enough!" I shouted lightly. The others silenced and stared at me. "Look, all we're doing is guessing and denying. What we need is a set formula."

      "What's a 'formula', sonny?"

      "Oh, uh," I tried to think of a word that the monsters knew. Looking at Bowgart, I silently asked him to help me out.

      "We need to find an, uh, action pattern." I smiled as Elder Oak and Clamble nodded. The monsters looked at me for what to do.

      "Alright, what's something about Punkleton that happens all of the time?" Everyone suddenly freezed and stared as Clamble ringed with his cymbal head.

      "Oh relax," Elder Oak confronted. "Just the way he speaks."

      "Do...you know what he said?"

      "Oh, of course. 'Punkleton always stays around other monsters when he's here'."

      "Alright, anything else?" This time Bowgart jumped in.

      "I heard a story once that Punkleton avoided a course to the deserted Celestial Island." I took a few mental notes and smiled as we worked as a team to find his fear.

~Thwok~

It's been a few hours since Punkleton arrived, and all Kayna and I did was make up our own star patterns and deities. There was something about playing these games with Kayna that filled some hole somewhere in me. Games like this made me feel funny inside, like I could play with her forever.

      "Kayna," I started with a gentle voice. I was unsure of how to word this since it was more of a sensitive topic, Bona would call it. "Whaht do you think whill happen when whe get to Wuhbwin Island?"

      "Well, I'm sure we could talk everything out." I shook my head.

      "Tried thaht aleady. Didn't wohrk."

      "Oh, well, we can try to at least." I looked at Kayna and smiled.

      "Thank you, Kayna."

In the corner of my eye, I caught Bona walking and a group of monsters following him. Standing up, I watched them sit by a couple of rocks while watching Punkleton. There was something about the group that made me feel a bit off but I didn't know what it was. Gathering up a bit of courage, I walked over with Kayna to the group and sat beside Bona.

      "Hey, Thwok. How are you doing?"

      "I'm fhine, thanks." I watched some of the monsters played Get the Pumpkin or Pin the Leaf on the Furcorn to get my mind off of the other monsters.

      "Hey, isn't that Petite?" Kayna asked while pointing. In the night sky, there was a swarm of black bats with a larger blue bat, Petite, as their leader.

      "Yep, that's my sis." I tapped my fingers together since I couldn't get my mind off of Wublin Island. Bona looked at me with worry. "Thwok? What's wrong?"

      "I've...I've been thinking uhbouht Wuhbwin Island lahtely." Bona's eyes widened a bit as I said that, and I knew I was in for something.

~Petite~

Flying is the best thing to ever exist. It's so easy to do and set up, and it's super super fun! I could see everything from up where I was. My bat buddies enjoyed flying so much, I could tell. Imagine being able to fly all day every day! If I could, I would definitely soar into that dream and make it a reality.

Down below, I heard Big Bro and Thwok talk about home. I flew down, wondering what they were talking about. Big Bro said something I didn't understand to Thwok, and all of a sudden he was really mad. He stood up and stared at Big Bro, causing him to back up. The other monsters did the same, and I copied them.

Thwok's yelling started bringing other monsters over to see what was going on. Big Bro then stood up and stared at Thwok with those terrifying eyes. He only gave those eyes when he was mad, and he was really mad at Thwok. I flew and hid behind Kayna to protect me from what was going to happen.

The yelling only got worse. Thwok's pegs were sparking up and Big Bro's fur stood up. Rocks floated everywhere and the monsters were afraid. Kayna tried to break them up, but even she was too afraid to get in between them. I listened to them argue, and then I knew why they were yelling. All of this was my fault.

      "It was me!" I yelled loudly, tears forming in my eyes. Big Bro and Thwok both looked at me with angry looks, then scared looks.

      "Sis-"

      "I told them! They said that they would hurt you if I didn't, so I told them everything!" I started to sob through my words. "I thought you two were going to be safe and here you are fighting and it's all my fault!"

I flew off with my bat friends crying, unable to calm myself. Everyone called for me, but I kept flying. The wind suddenly felt too cold for me, and my bat friends vanished. All I wanted was to lay in Big Bro's chest and listen to Thwok's silly stories back home, but we can't have that. Not anymore, at least.