1 comment

Coming of Age Speculative Fiction

Wow. What a crazy world I live in. There was so much to see, so much going on. With my whole life up to this point having occurred in our home, I was a little overwhelmed being out in the open for the first time. My older sisters had told me about the outside world but being out here for myself is totally different. 

A lot of this I had sensed on my older sisters when they returned from outside our home. But it was so much more substantial being able to experience it myself.

This was my first time outside of my family’s home since I was born. Our home had seemed like such a big place when I was exploring it, plus it could house me and all of my siblings. But now that I was outside with the vast expanses of sky and earth, I realized how wrong I was. I walked around the outside of my home, getting my bearing and direction. 

I knew where most of my sisters were at. I could tell some of the others were working on other things but most of them were leaving signs to help with a big meal. So I started heading in that direction. It’s not like I disliked the job my mother made me do before. I liked feeding, washing, and taking care of her. My favorite part was when I helped her bring a new sibling into our family. Getting to watch them grow and grow until they are big enough for me to feed and clean them. Being involved in that was very fulfilling.

However, like all of my mother’s daughters, once I got old enough it was time for me to leave all of my younger siblings and go to work in the dangerous, outside world. The danger and unknowns made it all very exciting, especially knowing that I would be providing for my family. 

The trail was taking me farther away from home than I had anticipated. But I knew that I had to keep moving forward and I would have my sisters there to help me when I got there. 

One of my sisters was coming back home with her haul for the family. I checked in with her to make sure I was going the right way. She let me know that I was and then continued on her way, probably excited to get back home and share the food with everybody else.

So I continued on. I passed several sisters heading home carrying food back for the younger siblings. All of the messages from my sisters and the scent of food was starting to ramp up. I must be getting close. 

After passing another group of my sisters and rounding a corner, I saw it over a small rise. Food. The messages from my sisters were practically screaming at me and I could see why now. There were so many of them all in one place. They were working hard, methodically going about their preparations.

Once again I did a loop around the outskirts. Then I did another, just to make sure I had all of the information I would need. Finally, it was time. After all the time inside our nurseries taking care of my younger siblings and sharing food with my useless brothers, I would finally be one of the older brave sisters who confronted the dangers and provided and cared for the rest of the family. It was so nice to be working hard for the family. I had never been able to understand why none of my brothers would do anything to help. We all just had to take care of them until they were ready to go off and get someone pregnant. What a pitiful life they lived. But those were the rules so we all just did what we could for the family. And the brothers should all be leaving any day now, which all of us even mother is looking forward to. 

Even some of mothers favorite daughters would go with them. To spread our beautiful lifestyle to other areas. We all just love our family so much. 

It was time for me to start helping my sisters. I slowly approached and communicated with each sister to see where I could be the most helpful. Eventually I got assigned to an area where work still needed to get done. I continued working where someone else had started. It was such a beautiful experience. We were all working together as a team, devoted to our family and protecting our siblings. And all of us were so full of love even though we were working hard.

Even with the creature shaking and fighting and occasionally making death screams, I quickly finished cutting. It was tough work but I felt so accomplished after I did it. My sisters nearby came over to congratulate me and I told them they could all help me with the next part. It was only my first time leaving our home and I already felt like I was a natural at this, it was going so well. 

We all started opening it up and eating the insides. Most of it would go back home but we could eat some to make it easier to get back, and we would of course share the eaten and uneaten food with everyone else that needed it.

It was so fresh and knowing that I was providing a delicious meal for my family made it even better. I was having such a good time with my awesome sisters. We were all happy as we carried off the still squirming head back to the nest so the rest of our family could eat it. And it was nice that we didn’t have to listen to it complain about eating them alive.

Overall, it was a wonderful day full of love, teamwork, and productivity. I really can’t think of anyone who would want to see our winged sisters colonize every prime spot of soil. As usual we worked together to carry the food home so we can finish the meal with the rest of our family and tell our younger siblings about how great a day we had. Lots of productivity and nobody got hurt. What a beautiful meal.

July 02, 2021 18:50

You must sign up or log in to submit a comment.

1 comment

Amrita Brahmo
08:45 Jul 08, 2021

I love how this story started as what seemed like a regular, slice-of-life story, and then quickly evolved into something bordering on eerie, in the best way possible. Great job with the narrative.

Reply

Show 0 replies
RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

Bring your short stories to life

Fuse character, story, and conflict with tools in Reedsy Studio. 100% free.