Silly and Lily

Chapter one

The sun slowly rises on the horizon above a lush forest. Colorful birds begin singing as they hop from tree to tree in search of food. One of them lands on a green leaf high above. It is Lily, the most beautiful leaf in all the forest. She stands tall and wide, glistening with dew left by the morning fog. The bird sticks its tongue into one of Lily’s veins and quenches its thirst. It then dives down, causing her to sway gracefully, a swaying that resembles the regal wave of a queen.

The giggling sun peeks at Lily from behind a cloud, making her shine like a diamond as she spreads reflected sunlight into every corner of the forest. On the ground, all kinds of animals play in harmony. They graze in the green meadows and drink from a clear blue river that zigzags through the heart of the forest. An antelope leaps into the river, splashing the wild beasts sunbathing on the shore.

A large drop reaches a clump of dirt, turning part of it into clay. This is Silly—by far the ugliest thing in all the land—and he has just gotten uglier. But Silly does not care. He does not even feel the water slap across his face. With a small head, an oversized neck sprouting from his shoulders, and no hands or legs, Silly looks like a misfit potato. Undisturbed, he looks up with a smiling face and hopelessly hopeful eyes. High above, Lily has his full attention.

Animals and birds come and go; days and nights chase each other; the sun replaces the moon, and the moon replaces the sun. The scorching summer gives way to the grey fall. The fall is Silly’s least favorite season, as each time it comes around, Lily turns yellow and disappears. The winter arrives next, covering the entire forest in a thick, white blanket of snow. Silly’s frozen eyes remain fixated upward.

The wind blows, bringing in clouds. The clouds bring the rain, and the rain brings Silly’s smile back, for he knows Lily will return from her hiding place once more.

Silly yawns and closes his eyes for a split second. Suddenly, he feels a change—he has grown arms and legs! Surprised, he looks at his newly formed limbs before getting up and walking. Elated, he runs to the river, picks up a paddle, and tosses it onto the water. “Yes!” he screams, jumping up and down and waving his arms at the animals. “I can move now! I can hold now!” Silly realizes something else and covers his face with both hands. “And I can talk now?” he whispers, his voice trembling with disbelief.

Chapter two

Silly looks up at the tree and sees Lily, shining like a diamond as always. “Hey there!” he calls out, waving his arms. “I need to talk to you.” Lily does not seem to hear or see him. “Let me get closer,” Silly says and climbs the tree. Reaching Lily, Silly gently puts his arms around her waist and plants a kiss on her beautiful face.

As if revived by his kiss, Lily too grows limbs and steps off her branch. They hold hands and leap onto the back of a colorful bird, which takes them high into the sky. They hop onto a piece of cloud and fly above the forest like they are on a magic carpet. “I am in heaven!” shouts Silly, his voice echoing across the sky.

The cloud approaches the top of the rainbow. They hop onto it, then slide down its arch to the edge of the river where they land on the back of a white swan and sail across the river as colorful fish leap playfully around them like dolphins teasing a ship.

By sunset, they return to Lily’s place, holding hands and gazing deeply into each other’s eyes. As their noses draw closer, a sudden, violent earthquake shakes the tree, causing them both to tumble off. “Ahn! Ahh! Ahh!” Silly’s scream echoes as he watches his arms and legs detach from his body while he plummets headfirst toward the ground, but right before crashing into the earth, his eyes snap open.

He looks at himself, sitting in the same place in the same way—no limbs, no voice. It was just a dream. Again, just another dream. He frowns and looks up, and just like that, a joyful smile chases the frown away. The forest is green again. The animals and birds are back, but most importantly, his beloved is back, as lively and as lovely as ever.

As he watches his beloved shine and sway gently with the slightest touch of a breeze, Silly’s eyes overflow with joy. One might think he is delusional, but that is not the case. He knows that beautiful leaf is not even aware of his existence, let alone having any feelings for him. Silly loves her, just because.

“Run! Run!” a bird shouts as she flies over the forest, followed by flocks of other birds. Silly looks around, confused, as animals leap over his head, fleeing in fear. A stampede clogs the river as every living creature tries to cross it at once.

Brum-brum-brum-brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! The sound of hundreds of electric chainsaws echoes through the forest, mingled with the sharp bonk! bonk! bonk! of trees crashing to the ground.

Silly watches helplessly as trees and their leaves tremble in terror.

Chapter three

The cacophony of chainsaws and falling trees grows louder, drawing closer. Silly closes his eyes, his heart crying out in pain, overwhelmed by a sense of hopelessness. “If only my dreams of having arms and legs would come true right now,” he wishes. A massive tree falls into the river, splashing water onto Silly’s face.

He opens his eyes just in time to take one last look at the love of his life, the star of his dreams, the purpose of his existence, before she is taken away. “No!” he screams silently, clenching his eyes shut. The tree crashes down with a deafening bang, crushing the bushes in its path.

Darkness and silence descend momentarily, only to be interrupted by a faint cry. Silly opens his eyes, and his heart skips a beat. Lily lies just an inch away from him, tears streaming down her beautiful face. He smiles wide.

“Don’t cry, beautiful. I’m right here,” Silly whispers in his heart.

Lily looks at him. “Who are you?” she asks with a gentle, high-pitched voice.

Silly’s eyes pop out. “Oh my God! She heard me.”

“Stop shouting, you fool! I can hear thoughts… We all can.”

“Really?”

“Daa! We are doing it right now!”

“You mean you can literally hear my thoughts?”

“Yes!”

Embarrassed, Silly starts mumbling nonsense. “I blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah you. I blah, blah, blah…”

“What are you doing? And why are you blushing?”

“I don’t want you to know my thoughts. So, blah, blah, blah…”

“This is not the time and place for your dirty thoughts. Mister… Clay.”

“I have a name, and it is Silly.”

Lily laughs. “And who gave you that name?”

“I, myself,” Silly says proudly.

“They say everybody will strive to become what his name means. I see you made it. Congratulations.”

“I sure did… So, what is your name?”

“I am Lily.”

“Beautiful name. Who gave it to you?”

“Myself.”

“Can I ask why?”

“I always watched lily flowers float seamlessly on the water and dreamed of being like—ahhh!” Lily screams in horror as she sees something.

Silly turns to see a giant robotic arm approach the tree. It picks it up, viciously slices off its branches, and tosses it into a roaring machine. “No!” Silly shouts as he sees Lily lying motionless, surrounded by a pile of leaves and branches. The machines torch the piles, leaving behind a hellscape. Flames, smoke, and debris are as far as the eye can see. Silly screams in agony as he looks around. His paradise is turned into hell.

Lily cries for help, coughing and sneezing as poisonous smoke suffocates her.

“Please, God. Help me. Just give me one chance,” Silly prays desperately as he watches Lily suffer.

“I already did,” a deep voice answers startling him. He looks around but sees no one. “You just need to move your butt,” the voice adds.

Silly surveys the landscape and realizes he is perched on higher ground, directly above where Lily lies. Closing his eyes, he takes a deep breath. “One, two, three…and go!” He strains with all his willpower but fails to budge. He tries repeatedly, but nothing happens. “Who are you kidding, Silly?” he mutters to himself. “You’ll never move.” Disheartened, he looks down. At this moment, he remembers two moments from last year.

The first was a turtle laying eggs in a nearby ditch. After covering them with sand, she left, never to return. The hatchlings had to claw their way out if they wanted to live—and they did, every single one of them. The second moment was more tragic, yet equally inspiring. A mother deer gave birth to a fawn. She waited anxiously for him to stand up, her body trembling as the howls of a wolf pack grew louder. The fawn finally managed to rise and flee, but it was too late for the mother. She sacrificed her life, smiling in her final moment as she saw her child get up and run to safety.

Reflecting on those memories, Silly realizes he has everything he needs. The entire universe is behind him, but nobody can help him if he doesn’t move. He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and proclaims, “I am ready!” As soon as he says that, a breeze stirs the air. Ash and dirt begin to shift around him. His eyes widen as the wind picks up, sweeping everything in its path.

“I will move! I will move now!” he shouts, and with a final push of determination, Silly rolls forward.

At the same time, the wind snaps Lily from her branch. She is blown away, tumbling between the air and land. She tries to grab onto the grass, a tree root, a rock, even the edge of a ditch, but nothing helps.

“Help! Please!” she cries.

“I’m coming!” Silly yells, rolling after her like a broken wheelbarrow.

As Lily slides downhill, she notices a small trench right by the river’s edge and hooks her base into it. A second later, Silly crashes on top of her.

“Ahh!” Lily screams. “You stepped on my toe!”

“Sorry,” Silly replies, looking down sheepishly. “I blah, blah, blah...”

Lily lifts his face with her apex and their eyes connect. “I blah, blah, blah, you too.” They smile at each other.

“YEEES!” Silly screams in excitement.

The wind howls furiously, but Silly clings to Lily and refuses to let go. Infuriated by his defiance, the wind summons reinforcements: clouds, thunderbolts, and rain. Darkness envelops the sky and thunder roars, but Silly remains steadfast. The rain starts pouring, and Lily leans over, covering Silly with her body. This act enrages the wind, which whistles loudly and blows with all its might. Lily resists fiercely, but the wind eventually bends her backward.

The river swells too, with its subtle waves approaching the trench inch by inch. “No!” Lily screams as she watches Silly melting before her eyes.

“Do you know why I called myself Silly?” he asks with a calming smile as he realizes this might be the end.

“Why?”

“Because I always believed you and I would end up together one day.”

Lily lights up with a smile and pushes forward with all her might, overpowering the wind. She leans down and finally touches her nose to his. Silly takes a deep breath of relief as her rose-like scent fills his nostrils, running through his body like a fresh morning breeze. “HMMM. At last,” he exhales, melting down with a wide smile, his eyes locked with Lily’s. He molds inside the ditch, tightly hugging Lily’s base.

Momentarily a giant wave covers them like a blanket. The cold undercurrents push hard trying to break them apart, but they cannot. Nothing can break them apart now. Lily sticks her nose out of the water to breathe. Finally, the sun appears in the sky, scattering the clouds away and casting a rainbow to shield Lily.

The wind and its allies flee, howling and roaring and unleashing their fury elsewhere in the forest. The river recedes a bit, lowering down to her base.

Soaked wet and shivering, Lily shrugs her shoulders. The sun points one of its warm rays at her, and she blooms and stretches out.

Lily looks around and smiles. She is surrounded by lily flowers floating in the water pooled around her. So, she spreads her arms and lays back on the water too. She is a real lily now.

The sun sets in the west, taking daylight with it, and the crescent moon rises from the east, surrounded by its star friends.

With her base attached to Silly’s clay, Lily still lies on the water gazing at the stars with a grinning face and tearful eyes. The longest day of her life has ended. In just one day, she lost her home, her family, and her friends. She could also have died or been blown away to a far-off land. Lily smiles remembering something. On this same day, she met him: her savior, her love, her eternal companion.

At dawn, Lily feels much better. Eyes closed and tears washed away. “I miss home.” she says, taking a deep breath. “I want to go back to my family and friends.”

“Your home is gone,” says the same deep voice that responded to Silly’s prayer. Lily opens her eyes, startled.

“Your friends and family are gone too, and there is nothing you can do to return them.”

Lily looks down, fresh tears popping out from under her long eyelashes.

“But—”

“But what?” Lily interrupts the voice.

“You can build your own home.”

“Where, when, how?”

“Right here, right now, and just like that.”

“I’m just a leaf. How can I do that?”

“I gave you Silly and he is all you will ever need… So, whenever you are ready, beautiful, just rise and shine.”

Lily nods and closes her eyes. Moments later, the sun slowly rises from the east. Seeing the sunlight, Lily takes a deep breath. “I am ready now,” she says and rises with the sun. She looks down at her base and smiles as she sees herself planted firmly.

Days, weeks, months, and seasons pass. By the same day the following year, Lily has grown into a young tree, just a foot tall. She looks around with a cheerful smile. Millions of little trees just like her have sprouted across the forest, giving it a new life. “Yeah!” she shouts joyfully, leaning down to touch Silly with her apex.

Many years later, the trees stand tall and thick, their branches spread wide and high. Colorful birds sing as they flit from tree to tree. Animals graze in lush meadows and drink from the clear river. At the riverbank, a small, golf ball-sized piece of dry clay gazes up at a beautiful leaf that sways melodiously at the tip of the tallest tree, reflecting sunlight like a diamond.

Brum-brum-brum-brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! An ominous sound echoes from the distance.

‘God made trees one of the friends of human beings. So be kind to your friends.’

The End