Going Home

By Ozy
Table of Contents
1. The Island 1

2. Storms in the Sea 2

3. Land Ho 2

4. Things are Different Down Here 3

5. Pet 3

6. Upward 3

7. Top of the World 4

8. Descension 4

9. One line 4

10. In the City 5

11. Homeward 6

12. More Than One Kind of Travel 6

15. The Best Ideas Come From Boredom 8

16. Colour 8

17. Green 9

18. Blue 10

19. Purple 10

20. Red 11

21. Yellow and Orange 11

22. Wise, old brown of a wise, old willow 11

23. Home, at last 12

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 Pre Glossary
Snig - a snake with the head of a tiny pig and fur instead of back scales, generally regarded
as very cute.
Jiggin - a small lion-like feline that is not usually aggressive unless very hungry.
Llamite - an absolutely enormous llama, often used for travelling with dozens of people (the
ones in this story are on the less large side of llamite sizes.
Birb - a four-eyed, very round
Also
This world is not Earth. It has two suns. Gravity is very, very weak high up in the
atmosphere. The people do not talk and the animals are different.

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 1. The Island

The clouds crawl across their invisible floor in the sky. They weave between the
mountaintops and a lone island in the air above them. A girl stands at the edge of the
island, looking at the chains holding it down as best she can from above. She can’t
see much of them, and the parts she can are far away. She wonders how they got
there. She looks up and lets a cloud roll over her face.

The girl ascends to the peak of her small island. She watches the clouds with
colours like they’re burning as the suns set. She holds up a silver coin and reflects
the light off its carved surface. The coin is not too big, not too small. Her island is
perfect in this moment.

The girl closes her eyes. In the warmth and low light of the sunset on her soft hill,
she falls asleep.

2. Storm in the Sea

The girl wakes up to her small island shaking. She grips her coin and closes her
eyes, thinking this storm will pass like all the others. Grey clouds rush the edges of
the floating rock like angry waves.

The waves of clouds crash higher than usual onto the island’s rocky shore. The
girl's island tips and swerves. while she rolls around feeling for something, anything
to hold on to. Nothing. The girl falls over the edge of her island down into the swirling
sky.

The girl is thrown around by the wind. She can only hold her coin and hope for a
soft landing. Soft, like the hill that betrayed her and threw her over.

In a flash of lightning the girl sees she is not falling. Her foot is caught in one of
the chains holding her home down. She holds the chain after swinging around,
hoping to catch it and not loosen herself

Upside down, the girl waits out the storm. When it's clear, she loosens her foot and
climbs the chain. There's no way back onto her island from where she is. So, she
climbs down.

Calm waves of near-clear water wash around her. She holds the chain with one
hand and floats on her back. She sees the clouds from below for the first time since
she can remember.

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 3. Land Ho

When the girl gains her energy, she swims. She doesn't know to where or how far,
just that she hopes to remember where her island is.

The girl reaches land. A sandy beach where the waves are made of water. As she
dries herself off, she feels something in her shirt. Her coin. She looks at the coin with
its engraved mushroom She decides, if there's a coin, there are people. She'll go
wherever they are. The girl heads onward in no particular direction.

4. Things are Different Down Here

Mountains look a lot bigger from lower down. Clouds seem a lot slower. The suns
in the sky, even, look to be further away. The girl looks around the now green land.
She sees a berry bush. Suddenly, she realises that she hasn't eaten since before the
storm.

Berries and stream water taste better than salt water. The girl tears her skirt and
collects berries for later. Then, she tucks her shirt neatly into her pants. She carries
the make-shift bag with her to eat on the way to wherever she's going

As she walks, she becomes more and more glad she tore her skirt and took some
food with her. She stops for a moment. She looks around. She sees the mountains in
the distance and the suns set behind them. She chooses a soft patch of grass and
goes to sleep for the night.

Only when she wakes up does she notice the woods around her are not very
welcoming. She sits up and reaches for her berries. Has her skin always been this
pale? She grabs her bag and brings it closer to her. She opens it and jumps. A snig
grabs her last berry and shoves it in its mouth. It then slithers away. She looks at her
skin again. She thinks her skin has always been pale.

5. Pet

The girl holds her coin and looks towards the mountains. She chooses that way as
her direction. Onward, she walks.

In the distance, the mountains grow. They look so big from here. She stands at the
foot of them now. They're not too steep. She steps from the grass onto the rocks.

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 Before she can walk more than a few steps, the snig returns. It brought friends,
lots of friends. It holds up a berry. Another raises a bug. They all hold up something
for the girl. She just freezes.

The girl crouches down and almost cries as she collects the little offerings in her
bag. The snigs slither off, except for the first one. It stares at the girl. The girl stares
back. It inches toward her. She holds out her hand and the snig slithers right up her
arm. It hugs her with its small arms and soft paws. Its tiny tusks rub up against her
arm. She thinks, "I'll call you Jambo."

6. Upward

With Jambo snugly on her arm and a make-shift bag of food in hand, the girl
begins her journey up the mountain. One step after another, she ascends the grey
rock. Moss grows between the looser parts and seems to flow as the girl moves. She
lets Jambo off her arm so he can slither next to her.

They reach a cliff face. The girl looks up at the rock. Jambo looks up at the girl,
then at the cliff. He snakes up the girl's leg onto her arm. He butts her wrist with his
tusks. The girl looks at Jambo's four eyes, and little snout. "Up we go," she thinks.

7. Top of the World

The girl looks up. Not too far, now, from the top of the mountain. She reaches her
hand up for the next grip, careful not to wake Jambo who's asleep in the bag of food.
"He must trust me a whole lot," she thinks.

At the top of the mountain, the girl sits. She gazes westward towards where the
two suns are preparing to rest. She holds her coin tight. “Top of the world again," she
thinks. And, as the day comes to a close, so do her eyes.

8. Descent

The girl thinks about how small her world was before. A hill, a house, a garden. She
looks at the ground far below her. "So small from here," she thinks. Jambo butts her
ankle and she picks him up. She starts the journey downward.

Going down, the short cliffs seem steeper, the rocks crumblier, each step is a test
of whether it will hold. For Jambo, it's a lot easier to be held with the food.

The girl reaches the bottom of the first cliff and walks down a short trail, Jambo
slithering beside her. Before she can react, she hears a crack. The rock falls, and she
tumbles down the side of the mountain.

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 9. A Line

The girl wakes up in a cart with Jambo licking her face. The cart bumps along a
small road on the cliffside. The girl is only half-conscious to begin with, then passes
out again from the pain of falling. When she wakes up properly, there's a sleeping
baby llamite next to her.

The girl feels the llamite's hair and looks at its face. She remembers seeing the
grown llamites on the mountain peaks. "You're going to be so big some day," she
thinks.

The cart hits a bump and the llamite opens its eyes. It looks at the girl, sniffs her,
then lays its head on her lap. The girl looks toward the cart's driver and smiles. The
driver smiles back.

The girl looks around. There are more carts now. Some have food, some have jugs,
others just have crates. They all travel in one direction, on one road. The girl turns her
head to see a city in the distance. In the other direction, she can see the mountains,
now small with perspective. The girl feels around for her coin. When she can't find it,
she moves her hands more frantically. She finds the coin in her bag and sighs in
relief.

She holds the coin tight and pats Jambo's soft, orange, furry head. He makes a
little sound, a happy sound. The girl smiles.

10. In the City

As the city grows, the girl's face lightens. Jambo plays with the food. His face
lightens, too. The city sparkles.

As soon as they reach the city, the cart the girl's in goes off the trail. The cart's
driver gets off and opens the side door. He holds out his hand. The girl gives him the
coin, but he gives it back. He gestures to her hand. The girl puts her hand in his and
he helps her out of the cart. Then, he shoes her off. The girl smiles, grabs her bag
and Jambo and runs off. The girl looks up at the city, reflecting its light in her eyes. It
glitters and shines in the sunlight and the buildings are tall, much taller than they
were from the mountains.

The girl walks down the side of the now paved road. Other people buzz around her,
rushing to nowhere. She sees a shop with nice clothes inside. She walks in. She
looks up at the tailor on the other side of the counter and smiles. The tailor smiles
back. The girl puts the coin and berry bag on the counter. The tailor looks at her, then

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at the coin. She returns the coin and the food. She then walks around the counter
and finds clean clothes for the girl. The tailor hands the clothes to the girl and points
to a set of dressing rooms.

The girl comes out with her new clothes on, and grins thankfully. She looks at the
tailor and makes a gesture asking for a pen and paper. The tailor gives her a paper
and pencil. The girl draws her story and points to her island. The tailor writes down
an address and the girl smiles again. She waves to the kind tailor as she leaves the
shop.

The girl walks along the street for a bit. She looks at the address. Confused, she
looks then at a passerby. He looks back. The girl holds up the paper with the address
and the man points. The girl smiles and heads in that direction.

The address belongs to a small building with warm lights and adventure maps.
Inside, a kind-looking old man sits beside a bookshelf, reading. He looks up when the
girl comes in.

The girl holds up her map and points hopefully at her island. The man notices
Jambo and pats him. Then, he looks at the girl's map. He nods. "I will help you," says
the nod.

11. Homeward

The girl follows the man through the city. She follows him along a small dirt road.
The road ends at a small house. Around, llamites graze on the tops of some taller
trees. The girl recognizes one of the llamites as the one from the cart. "He must have
run away," she thinks.

The man pets one of the llamites' legs. The llamite looks down. It brings its head
down and the man climbs it. He gestures for the girl to follow and so she does.

The llamite's back houses a small hut. The girl goes to the hut and the man stays
on the llamite's head.

Moments later, the llamite starts moving toward the mountains. The girl smiles so
broadly, she worries her cheeks might tear.

12. More Than One Kind of Travel

The llamite rests on the mountain and, for the first time in a while, the girl sleeps
comfortably under a roof. She dreams of her home. She thinks, "When I wake, I'll be
home."

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 At daybreak, the llamite gets up, ready to walk across flat land. It's not on flat land.
The girl floats in the hut. As she watches in slow motion, the wall of the hut slams to
a stop and she hits it at full speed.

The girl sees a flash of light and hears a soft, gentle voice say "Wake up." The girl
had never heard a voice before. She opens her eyes wide to see she's in a void. A
figure with hands held on by chains stares at her.

The girl holds Jambo and her coin. The figure reflects her actions with a white snig
and gold coin. The girl holds out her hand. So does the figure. Its skin and hair are
white, its eyes empty. The girl pulls back her hand and so does the figure.

The girl looks at her hands. They are floating, held to her with gold chains. Jambo
has lost his colour, as well. The girl looks back at her reflection and holds out her
pale hand. She touches her reflection. In an instant, she sees another flash of light
and gasps awake. The girl looks at the suns setting in the west. Around her the fallen
llamite breathes out one last time. She brushes the hair from her face and sees,
along with her hand, it's floating and colourless.

Jambo slithers on the air to meet her hand. She lowers herself, and sits on the
llamite.

The girl cries, quietly. She pets the llamite. She doesn't bother hoping the man
survived. She finds and him near the llamite's head. She buries him.

Now, she's white with red.

13. Home?

The girl floats along a trail through the woods, She reaches the shore and glides
over the calm waves. She holds Jambo with one hand and taps the floating gold coin
with the other. It spins, but is never too far from her. She throws it and glides the
other way. The Coin disappears and hits her on the back of the head. Jambo can't
seem to leave her, either. "Then again, he's Jambo," she thinks, “He probably wouldn't
anyway.”

The girl floats over the water until she reaches the familiar chains of her home.
She stops herself and heads upward. She sits on her hill, home at last. It doesn't feel
like it, though. She doesn't feel the same as when she was here before. It's not home
to her now. Nowhere is.

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 14. Empty

The girl lays on her hill, half hoping for another storm to tear her away. No storm
comes. She looks up at the sky. Stars fill the darkness with light. Clouds, no longer
above her, no longer block them.

Jambo butts the girl playfully. "Let's have fun on this perfect island," she thinks,
narrating Jambo's thoughts, or at least what she thinks his thoughts must be. But,
this island is no longer perfect. It's empty.

"Why does it feel like this," the girl wonders. She closes her eyes. She sees herself
pale, colourless, weightless. Then, she sees nothing. She opens her eyes. One of the
suns has poked itself above the horizon. "Only one," thinks the girl.

Jambo plays with the coin. He enjoys the island. He makes happy sounds as the
wind ruffles his now white fur. He grabs the coin and spins it. It spins toward the girl.
It orbits her, fascinating Jambo. She catches the coin and sets it down. It stays.

The girl decides to try something. She puts Jambo and the coin in the small house
which was once her happy place. She floats away. The coin appears in her pocket
and Jumbo finds a crack in the wall to slither out from.

They won't leave her. She won't leave home yet. Very quickly, the girl gets bored.
She wonders how she ever entertained herself before.

Down the now too-familiar chains. The girl watches the small waves hit it. Then,
she sinks down beyond the surface. She can breathe just fine in the water. She
travels deeper, downward. Glowing fish surround her now, as she reaches the
bottom. She sits, watching the fish go about their lives like stars in the sky. "This is
nice," thinks the girl. She doesn't believe it.

15. The Best Ideas Come From Boredom

The girl sits at the bottom of the sea. Jambo plays with the fish. The girl wonders
how many others there are like her. Her eyes watch Jambo play. His colourless fur
reflects every bit of light here.

The girl swims up. She swims around. Near the sandy shore, there's coral. Not too
close, but not very far. She lays on the coral as if a thrown. She watches Jambo
worm his way through the coral with the fish. The girl brushes her hand against a

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piece of coral. Pain. "At least there's some sense of normalcy, she thinks, "Why
couldn't it be something pleasant?" She looks at her hand. It's a small scrape.

The girl walks onto the beach. She has an idea.

16. Colour

On the beach, the coin orbits the girl. Jambo slithers beside her on the sand. The
girl walks under the stars toward the mountains. The city beyond has llamites for the
taking.

The city is bright with windows full of light. The girl floats down toward it. She
finds the llamites. She chooses a small one and ascends to its head. She sits in its
saddle and pats its head then takes its reins. Forward.

Away from the city, they travel. The girl sees as the cold plains change to
mushroom grove as big as trees, some even bigger. Under the clouds, the stars
sparkle. One flickers more than the others. It gets brighter, bigger, closer. It zooms
past her and she hears it crash. Birbs fly in any direction they can besides toward it.

The girl stares at it from her perch on the mushroom as if it will get up and walk
away if she doesn't. Wide-eyed, she slides from her mushroom and makes her way to
the fallen star. The girl reaches the burning rock, it glows and pulses like a heartbeat
filled with lava. She puts her hand out to feel its heat. It warms her.

Whatever idea the girl had is gone now, floated away with the clouds. The girl curls
herself into a ball beside the dying star. She sleeps in its dimming light. When she
wakes, the star is dead. The suns are high in the sky. She feels the light from them
reach her and fill her with brightness. She breathes it in. A chill runs up her spine, but
not enough to make her shiver.

The girl puts her hands out and dances in a circle, full of light. She looks at the
grove around her. A speck of skin colour catches her eye. She looks at her hands.
Little patches of colour dot her skin. She smiles, and they seem to grow ever so
slightly.

As she climbs the llamite, the girl sees on orange tint in Jambo's fur. She reaches
the llamite's head. "I think I'll name you Fet," she thinks. Fet raises its head.

The girl takes Fet's reins and they move forward.

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 17. Green

Fet stops at a stream. Jambo rushes excitedly to the shore and laps up mouthfuls
of the clear water. The girl follows. The girl sits beside the shore of the stream.
Jambo sleeps beside her and Fet grazes on the tops of some trees. The girl feels
peaceful. She looks at her reflection in the stream. Her eyes have returned to their
original olive colour. She lays back on the sun-beaten sand. She relaxes.

18. Blue

The girl floats above Fet's saddle, holding the reins, to keep from floating away.
She looks out at the world around her. It's covered in snow and dotted with trees.
Here, there, out of sight, the trees pass as Fet walks along the land.

The girl remembers her island. It never snowed there. It never rained. The only
water she had came from a pond and sometimes clouds. It never fell from the sky,
though. She misses her small world. Her skin begins to whiten again. This saddens
her.

A tear rolls down the girl's face, blue as the sky. It floats there and sticks to the
coin as it orbits her head. A blue tint returns to her pants, and to Jambo's eyes.

The girl sits in the saddle and cries. Her tears orbit her face, creating a ring. Jambo
holds the coin, now. He lays next to the girl, as sad as her, silent with water caught
behind his eyes.

Fet, unbothered, walks on.

19. Purple

The girl has stopped crying. Blue orbits her and looks at her with the eyes of a
snig. Jambo, still holding the gold coin, watches the girl. The girl watches her ring of
water.

In the distance, the girl sees a jaggin running playfully toward a flock of birbs. In
her mind, she tells Fet to sit. When that doesn't work she pulls the reins. Fet stops.
The girl hops off the llamite and goes to see the jaggin play.

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 The jaggin is not playing. Jambo slithers, squealing away from it. He climbs the
girl's leg and the jaggin chases her. Despite its size and usually kind nature, an angry
jaggin is scary to a girl like this girl and a snig like this snig.

The girl runs, trying desperately to get away from the jaggin. She wonders, "What
could have made it this mad?" The girl falls.

The jaggin pounces. Purple returns to the girl's shirt. Purple returns to Jambo's
tongue. Purple blurs to the side, narrowly avoiding the jaggin's attack.

20. Red

The girl rolls to the side away from the jaggin. She gets up, panting. She dodges the
small, angry beast, then again.

The girl finds a stick, a long stick, a sharp stick. A good stick. She thrusts the stick
forward and up with purpose. No longer scared, the girl glares at the jaggin.

In slow motion, the jaggin is lifted into the air with the girl's stick. Its blood trails in
the air where it was. And, as Jambo watches, the beast is lifted up and he sees the
look on the girl's face. "I'm done," says the look.

21. Yellow and Orange

The girl looks at the dead jaggin. It lays motionless on the ground, unbreathing,
unblinking. The girl is almost amused at the fact she feared the small being. She
laughs just a little.

Her skin has colour again. The orange and yellow has returned to Jambo's fur. The
girl shakes her arms with a shiver of excitement crawling up her back. Then, her
hands. With the shiver successfully shaken out of her arms, the girl ascends to the
llamite's head. Only her hair and Jambo's paws are still white now.

22. Cliffside Tree

Fet walks for a while before settling in a clearing. The girl descends the llamite
with Jambo following her. Across the clearing, there's a cliff with a single tree.

The girl walks to the tree. Its branches droop over the edge of the cliff. Over the
cliff, at the bottom, is a river with orange leaves floating along it towards the rising
suns. The suns illuminate the canyon and rays of light hit the tree.

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 The tree turns a peaceful golden brown. Its leaves are green and red and orange.
The girl sits on the edge of the cliff under the old tree.

The girl thinks, “Would it be such a bad thing to fall?”

All this time she’s spent trying to regain what she had, and it would never happen.
She could never go home. She could never be what she was before, naive,
entertained, whole,
home.
That’s okay.

She looks down at the river running so orange, it looks almost like fire, swirling and
looping and gushing. Like blood, almost. The tree above and around her rustles in the
slight breeze. She moves her brown hair off her face once the wind is gone. She gets
up and walks away from the edge.

23. Home, at last

The girl travels on Fet's back through the clearing. The snowy plains. The
mushroom grove. Past the grassland and the city, to its pasture. She brings Jambo
and her coin along with her to the mountains. The girl's now brown hair floats along
with her. She gives the gold coin to Jambo and he holds it with his brown paws.

Past the mountains, through the forest, to the shore.

The girl picks up Jambo and flies to her island. She lays on the soft hill and looks
at the sky, now full of stars.

Finally home, whole, at peace, the girl fades.

A breeze blows past the empty island in one last sigh of relief.

The End.

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