Caterpillar

Jeremy found the caterpillar one summer evening when he was foraging in the old tumble-down house at the edge of the town. It was said that a crazy old man had lived there, but he was long gone.

All the local kids knew how easy it was to get into the grounds, as there were several parts of the surrounding wall that had collapsed, allowing access to the now overgrown gardens.

Jeremy had been trying to free an old grass roller, rusted and trapped by tendrils of weeds, when he had heard the other boys coming. One of the voices made him shudder with recognition.

Quickly he had pushed his way into the undergrowth, so that he could not be seen.

He had been right, it was Rob Nicholls, and his band of followers.

Jeremy didn’t need to hear their braying laughter to know that they were up to no good.

He held his breath. He’d had run ins with Nicholls before. However, as they had all grown older and arrived on the cusp of their teenage years, these run ins had begun to take on a more ominous nature. It seemed with every month the nasty streak that ran through Nicholls had become a darker shade of black.

So far things had been little more than threats, with a bit of pushing and shoving. But Jeremy knew they were escalating; and he was hoping to avoid being around when Nicholls went on to the next level of thuggery.

He sighed a silent sigh of relief as the gang passed him by, heading around the old house to where the greenhouses were. Sure enough, the sound of smashing glass could soon be heard. There was a violence even in this that made Jeremy very relieved that he had not been caught here on his own.

Something had been pressing against his back; he managed to turn himself around.

Hidden by the vegetation was what looked like an old garden shed. The door was unlocked, secured by a rusty latch. Jeremy pushed; the door opened inwards with surprisingly little resistance. He pushed a little more; there was enough room for him to pass.

There was further smashing of glass, reminding him that he would probably be best hanging around unseen for a bit longer. Plus, his vivid imagination had already invented a hundred stories about the abandoned shed, and he was desperate to explore. 

Inside there was a surprising amount of light. There was a large hole in the roof, as if something heavy had been dropped through it; a beam of moonlight entered through it, illuminating floating motes of silver and gold that danced in the air.

It was, disappointingly, what it looked like, a garden shed. A variety of implements hung on the walls; shelves were filled with tins and jars with labels that had long ago faded. Attached to a wall was a rusty tap and a battered old tin bucket,

There was a calendar from the 1970s on the wall, and an ancient looking stove on the floor, half buried in a sea of desiccated leaves. There were also many pieces of what looked like broken pottery scattered around the floor.

Not much else; but then, Jeremy didn’t need much else. The imagination that uncontrollable shyness and being largely forgotten by his parents most of the time had provided him with an imagination that could turn anything into an adventure.

He became aware of something rustling, deep in the leaves. He froze. He hated rats and was not too keen on mice either.

The leaves began to move, like earth with a mole travelling through it. Part of Jeremy wanted to run; the imagining part of him though did not.

The whatever-it-was came closer. Then the leaves parted.

Two huge round eyes stared at him, black, unblinking. Then a body appeared, inching its way along the floor.

It was a caterpillar; although this was the largest one Jeremy had ever encountered, even on TV nature programmes. It was the size of a kitten at least, he thought; and covered with silver hairs and bristles.

There was something sad, lost about the creature. It seemed to glow a dull, sickly grey, like a neon sign that was fading. The creature regarded Jeremy with its huge black eyes. It would inch forward nervously towards him, then stop, as if unsure if Jeremy was a threat or not.

Jeremy grabbed some leaves from the bush outside and bent down, waving the greenery in front of the caterpillar.

“You hungry?” he said. The caterpillar continued to stare at him; Jeremy even imagined for a second that it had put its head on its side as if questioning him.

“Don’t like that then?”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out something.

“You like chocolate, hm?”

He unwrapped the chocolate bar and held it out. The caterpillar nudged it with his nose; then its mandibles opened, and the chocolate bar disappeared. The caterpillars body pulsed with a purple glow; suddenly his body had more of a healthy glow.

“What are you doing Jeremy?”

The voice made him jump. He spun round to see a girl standing at the open door. In the evening light he could make out her leather jacket, jeans, and boots that seemed several sizes too large for her.

Dark make up around her eyes made her face seem even paler than it probably was. her head seemed to be shaved on one side, with a mass of green and purple hair on the other side.

“Who…who are you?” said Jeremy, although she seemed somehow familiar.

“I’m Stephanie!” she sighed.

“Stephanie Burrows; we go to the same school!”

Jeremy glanced at her hair again.

“Okay, maybe I don’t look quite like this when I’m in the classroom.

“I live next door, been watching you through my telescope.”

She pointed to a window overlooking the garden.

“Saw a shooting star a couple of days back; it came down in this garden, but I haven’t been able to find it…” she stopped suddenly.

“What” she said, pointing “is that?”

“It’s a caterpillar; I just found him…”

“Its…huge!

“And your feeding it…chocolate?”

“He likes it…makes him happy…”

“Well that’s nice; but we should feed him some fruit as well. Wonder where he came from…”

The girl picked up what looked like some broken pottery off the floor. The pieces fitted together into a large ball shape.

She looked up at the hole in the roof.

“Jeremy; I think you have found my shooting star…

“I think he came down…from up there; this looks like some kind of egg…”

Jeremy followed her gaze upwards.

“You mean he’s a space caterpillar?”

“Well we don’t have caterpillars this size on Earth, do we?

“Tell you what; we’ll keep him a secret, come and feed him every day?”

“I can bring him some chocolate…”

“Okay; I’ll bring him some fruit from our garden.”

Stephanie filled the tin bucket from the tap outside. She placed it in front of the caterpillar; the creature began to drink with a loud lapping sound.

“Stay here in your nest” she said.

“We’ll see you tomorrow…”

They closed the door and dropped the latch.

“Hang on” said Jeremy, peering out of the bushes nervously.

“It’s all right” said Stephanie.

“Those horrible boys have gone. I’ve been watching them with my telescope too.

“So; meet you here same time tomorrow, okay?”

Jeremy nodded.

“I’ll bring chocolate” he said. 

“We can share it.”

For the next couple of weeks, they fed and watered the caterpillar daily. Every day the creature grew a bit bigger, its fur became brighter, more colourful. Now when they opened the door there was a bright, healthy glow from the creature, like an oversized neon glow worm.

It did seem visibly pleased to see them, shuffling forward happily and allowing them to pet its head.

After almost a month the caterpillar was the size of a large pig. It glowed brightly, its fur now glorious stripes of silver and gold.

“It glows like the moon does” said Stephanie.

“Tell you what; lets google it.”

She took out her phone and typed in the words “moon caterpillar”.

“Nothing …no, here we are. In a website called “Cryptozoo.com.”

“Moon Moth. A mythological creature that travels the stars and is attracted to bright lights, such as stars and moons, in the same way an earthly moth is drawn to a light bulb.”

“Moon Moth?”

“Of course. Maybe they need to find a planet where they can feed and go through their transformation process...”

The next day when they opened the door there was no welcome, no sound at all. The caterpillar was no longer there; instead, in the corner of the shed, was what looked very much like a huge pea pod. It pulsated regularly with purple and green neon light; occasionally there was what looked like a small electrical charge going through the body.

“Amazing” said Stephanie.

He’s turned into a chrysalis…”

“I wonder what’s going to come out…” said Jeremy.

The chrysalis remained in its dormant state for the next few days. Then one evening, Jeremy was about to open the door to the shed when there was a voice behind them.

“What are you two up to then?”

They spun round to see Nicholls and his gang, pushing their way through the bushes. They all wore matching tracksuits and trainers, with pudding basin haircuts and skin so pale their veins showed blue beneath.

“What you doing in that shed all on your own, eh?” Nicholls sniggered, the other boys joining in.

“None of your business Robert Nicholls.” Stephanie stood protectively in front of the door.

Nicholls was small, almost a head shorter than her; even so, there was something about him that made her want to draw back.

“Oh. So there’s something inside, is there; something you don’t want us to see, hm?”

Nicholls stepped forward and pushed Stephanie to one side. She tried to push back but one of the other boys grabbed her.

Nicholls stared at Jeremy, as if daring him to do anything. The other boys barged Jeremy out of the way.

“Let’s have a look then, shall we. And then we can tell your mums and dads what you’ve been up to!”

While the others held on to Jeremy and Stephanie, Nicholls wrenched open the door and went inside.

“Right then” he said

“Let’s see what we’ve got…”

His voice trailed off. From inside the shed there came a strange, muffled fluttering sound; it reminded Jeremy of tent flaps in the wind when he’d been on a camping trip with his parents.

Suddenly there was a scream from inside, and a frantic, panicked scrabbling at the door.

“Let me out” yelled Nicholls.

“Please let me out! The eyes…get me away from the eyes!” he sobbed.

The gang of boys froze, unable to make a decision without their leader. At last Stephanie broke free and wrenched the door open.

Nicholls came out backwards, staring into the shed and almost falling. At last he turned, staring wildly at the others.

“The eyes” he sobbed again. The other boys stared at him in astonishment, taking in the damp patch on the front of his jeans.

“Rob…you’ve wet yourself man” said one of them. They all sniggered; however, this time there was no arrogance there, just embarrassment, and an element of fear.

Nicholls took one more look inside the shed.

“Nooo!” he screamed once again. He pushed the others out of the way and bolted, falling several times in his panic to get away.

The rest of the gang looked at each other sheepishly, then followed him.

Jeremy glanced at Stephanie, then stepped inside.

The eyes were there, enormous, glowing, boring into him, surrounded by multi-coloured patterns that swirled and eddied around like oil on water. Jeremy felt the remnants of a sense of threat, now fading into a sense of welcome, of happiness.

“Those are…”

“It’s wings” said Stephanie from over Jeremy’s shoulder.

“He’s a fully-grown moth…”

The Moon Moth towered over them. It stood on rear legs, other legs extending from a beautifully striped, gold and silver furry body. Antennae poked out of the hole in the roof, twitching as if searching for a signal. Two more eyes, the moth’s real ones, stared at Jeremy and Stephanie.

“Those eyes…the ones on the wings…” said Stephanie.

“I think they’re his protection; you know, like normal moths can pretend to be predators using their camouflage. I think they work by hypnotising any threat, unloading a sense of terror onto it. Like that Nicholls boy. He was aggressive, and the wings reflected that back at him, many times increased…”

“No wonder he ran away…”

“But he knows who we are; some memory of us has remained, even through his metamorphosis…”

The moth flexed his wings gently, wafting a sense of pleasure towards them. Then, grabbing the edges of the hole in the roof, he propelled himself up and out.

Jeremy and Stephanie followed him outside. He stood on the roof now and began to stretch his wings to their fullest extent.

The moonlight illuminated him; and he began to glow along with it.

“He’s getting energy…from the moonlight…”

“That’ll be why he’s called a Moon Moth then, won’t it Jeremy?”

The moth seemed to be growing in size and in strength now, more wings becoming more solid. They fluttered suddenly, the wind from them almost knocking Jeremy and Stephanie over.

“He’s getting ready to go” said Stephanie.

“But we can follow him!” She grabbed Jeremy, pulling him with her.

They ran back to her house; Stephanie shouted a “its us Mum” before they thundered up the stairs to her room.

The telescope pointed out of her window, straight at the moon.

Stephanie put her eye to the viewer.

“Let’s see if we can find…there he is. Have a look.”

Jeremy looked. There was the Moon Moth, still standing on top of the shed, gazing upwards. His antenna were moving frantically now.

Suddenly with a great flap that sounded like a circus tent collapsing the moth launched itself upwards, straight towards the moon.

“He’s taken off” said Jeremy.

“Okay, so follow him with the telescope…”

Jeremey tracked the moth as it began to shrink with the distance, becoming smaller and smaller against the shining circle of the moon.

Stephanie adjusted the settings as the moth got further away.

“Okay” she said. So we’re at the furthest setting. You’re looking into space now…”

Something caught Jeremy’s eye, in the periphery of his vision. Another flapping shape…and another.

“Oh wow” he said. 

“You’d better look at this…”

Stephanie put her eye to the telescope and gasped. The Moon filled the viewer; it seemed to be covered with tiny flying things, all flittering and circling, revelling in the moon’s glow.

“More Moon Moths. They’re coming; from the other planets, from outer space even…”

Eventually the moths disappeared into the glow of the moon.

“D’you think they live there?” asked Jeremy.

“Well there’s no evidence; I mean the astronauts have never seen them, have they?”

“How do you know all this stuff; is that on google too?”

Stephanie grinned.

“I do read books you know; and there is something called the dark web, so you are partly right…”

“You know what I think…that they use the Moon for energy. Charge up on it perhaps; then who knows, perhaps they sail the galaxy, the light from the stars the wind in their wings…”

“I hope so” said Jeremy.

“At least…he’s not alone anymore.”

He found himself staring at Stephanie; until she caught his eye and he looked away sheepishly.

For a while they both stood, staring at the moon, and all the mysteries there and beyond.