30 comments

Friendship

It was dark inside the bag, It was dark, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t hear the voices outside. 

"It is not a pet. It is the food you feed to "real" pets such as birds or lizards." Explained the staff member who had killed many of us, by flicking us through the cage of the evil monster Louisa, who was what humans called, chameleons, or "Real pets".

"I still want him, he would be the perfect pet, and do me much more use than being thrown into the cages of predators." Said a mans voice. 

"Twenty-five dollars." Said the employee. 

I have never seen real money before, they always have there backs facing me when they are paying the cash, but from listening to a lot of humans talk, and drone on and on, about there expensive education, and how much they get paid, even I knew that twenty five dollars was a lot, especially for an insect like me. Usually she only charges twenty five cents for six of us, but she was a monster after all. I could hear the ruffling of paper, against finger tips, and the groan of the cash register, as it was pushed to max capacity once more.


It was easier to stay on my feet in the plastic bag, because the man held it much more carefully than the employee did. I was plucked out, of the bag and dropped into a plastic cup, luckily there was no water in it. I examined my surroundings it looked like I was in a box of some sort, There were lots of doors four that opened sideways and one that opened upwards. It was mostly made of wood and leather. My new owner sat beside me, in front of him was a round circular shape with a hole through it. He extended a hand, at first I thought he was going to try to crush me, but instead, he wrapped his fingers around a stick and pushed it forward, and then it got a whole lot worse.


There was a sound like one of the kittens in the store screaming, or a dog growling when someone touched his bone. I tried to run, but my owner placed me back in the centre of the cup whenever I reached the rim. Then the room, lurched backwards, so fast that I could have thrown up, if of course I had breakfast. I closed my eyes, all six of them hoping that I would be a quick death, either being eaten by the dog in the cars front, or crashing into a wall. But it never came, and soon I felt the cup I was curled in being lifted and a clunk. I opened my eyes.


Two at a time. I was outside the room now, my owner had just shut the door, and now he was walking toward another room, four times as big as the one with the dog in it. From my owners pocket he pulled out another circular shape a lot smaller than the one in the small room. But this one jingled when he shook it. And then I realised that there were lots of sticks on it. And on the sticks there were teeth. Metal teeth, long enough to gobble me up in one bite, he stuck one of the sticks into the mouth of a door, and twisted. The door opened revealing a long set of grey stone stairs. He walked in letting the door slam behind him. Then he opened another door. This one opened to a very big room, he placed my cup down on a table, took out another white circle and placed some leaves on it. Then he took out yet another circle, this one black and he placed it on a book and gently let a stick onto it, then music began to play, like the music in the store where this owner bought me. 

"I’m going out I have to do work, you stay right here, you stay, don’t touch anything you got that? Great."

With that he walked out the door. A few minutes later I was finished eating all the leaves he had kindly set out for me, and I was bored. I glanced at the box which was still playing music, then I crawled up the leg of the table that of which, the box was sitting on and I got onto the circle, it span me around and around, it was kind of fun, but you always have to be careful when you see the stick because then you have to get out of the way or else it would beat you up. After a few hours, I heard the door open, with a t-t-t-t-t-clack. It was my owner, he panicked when he saw that I wasn’t where he had left me I tried to tell him that I was here, but I’m pretty sure he’s deaf or its just that he couldn’t understand me. I knocked over the circle with the stick with teeth on them, it jingled. My owner ran over to me.

"We have to make a leash for you."

He actually made a leash and it didn’t turn out great, so I refused to put it on. He sold it on e-Bay afterwards.


Our relationship became better and better the more we knew and spent time with each other. I learned that he was a student in university and this was his final year. And, that he was taking exams in the summer. He told me about how he needed someone to talk to and that he was lonely. We played games, on whoever could eat a bowl of greens fastest, I always won or whoever could get to the other side of the room fastest, he always won. We had so much fun with each other. Then a week before his exams, I abandoned him, It was time that I went to sleep.


My owner knew that it was going to happen soon too, he just wished it would have happened later, after the exam, that night I made a hard shell for myself, and went to sleep, hoping to wake up as soon as I could. For the next few days I thought I could hear my owner talking to me, saying that he was worried that he would fail, and that he couldn’t study because he couldn’t focus. And that his world felt black and white now. And then I knew he had left to take his exams.


I woke up a few minutes after that, using my legs to try my best to break the shell that I had made myself, it cracked open and I slipped out. I crawled through the crack in between the door and floor, and then I took off. With my newly grown wings. My owner had never told me where his school was, but I knew where I was going, as if our minds were connected, soon he found the classroom of which my owner was in, the math classroom. My owner told me that his teacher always kept a window open, because he believed that fresh air helped people think. 


I found the window and flew in, the class room turned into gasps as I came in, butterflies are creatures of beauty and happiness. Without words I could wish everyone good luck, and brighten the mood, make everyone confident. Especially my owner, in the first time in the week, he smiled.

January 24, 2021 19:05

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30 comments

Michael Boquet
23:50 Feb 11, 2021

Fun story. Good idea to set it from the pet's perspective. I did find it a little odd what the bug knew and didn't know about humans. Like it knows book and cup but not keys? I may be over thinking it but it threw me off as I read.

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Benji Bobo ©
18:42 Feb 12, 2021

That was a very nice find, I must say you caught me off guard, I read my work over again, and now I can say that he's seen lots of starbucks coffee cups in the store and he's been staring at a shelf of books that were titled, how to take care of dogs. But I literally just made that up because I had no answer for your question. :)

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Mou Sur
18:07 Jan 28, 2021

Hola Benji! Very interesting story.Enjoyed reading it.Great job!

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Benji Bobo ©
22:26 Jan 28, 2021

Thanks :)

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Howard Halsall
02:43 Jan 26, 2021

Hey Benji, that’s an interesting twist on the prompt. What a great idea. :)

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Benji Bobo ©
12:50 Jan 26, 2021

Thank you.

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Interesting take on the prompt. I loved the perspecitive of the animal.

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Benji Bobo ©
17:52 Jan 25, 2021

Thanks, I started out in third person, but then it didn't work out, so I started to try out different perspectives.

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Luna Sol
01:24 Apr 05, 2021

I love it! I had to read the comments to figure out what type of unusual pet it was. I liked the perspective. Awesome job!

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12:09 Feb 08, 2021

What a cute story! Especially the way you described how things may look like to insects as small as butterflies. Just Amazing!!!

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Benji Bobo ©
18:38 Feb 12, 2021

Thank you I like your stories too

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14:00 Feb 05, 2021

Lovely story. It's a very original use of that prompt :)

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Benji Bobo ©
16:08 Feb 05, 2021

Thanks so much, 😃

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Benji Bobo ©
16:08 Feb 05, 2021

Thanks so much, 😃

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Benji Bobo ©
16:09 Feb 05, 2021

Thanks so much! 😃

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Rahnyah Stormyst
21:34 Feb 04, 2021

I really like that you told the story from the pet's perspective. It's something that you see often enough these days. I really liked it. Well done.

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Benji Bobo ©
22:43 Feb 04, 2021

Thank you I had to rewrite it before because I wrote it in third person.

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Frank Njugi✨
16:46 Feb 01, 2021

Great story ...loved how you interpreted the prompt in a unique way💯💯

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Benji Bobo ©
17:24 Feb 01, 2021

Thanks, I really worked hard to try to do that!

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John Del Rio
05:19 Jan 29, 2021

I thoroughly enjoyed your take on this prompt. One could almost say that the person was the unusual pet that was kept by the caterpillar, then Butterfly. I will read more of your work and hope to enjoy it as much as this story.

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Benji Bobo ©
15:55 Jan 29, 2021

Thanks, I actually never thought of it that deep, but cool 😆

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Salma Jarir
21:29 Jan 28, 2021

VERY INTERSTING STORY ! ❤

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Benji Bobo ©
22:26 Jan 28, 2021

;)

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Kelly Ellen
02:20 Jan 27, 2021

Absolutely loved that you wrote this from the pets point of view. So clever and captivating!

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Benji Bobo ©
22:25 Jan 28, 2021

Thanks so much, it took me a while to realize that third person doesn't always work

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Mary Kate
13:54 Jan 26, 2021

A nice story and unique :-) I accidently missed the part about it being an insect and I was wondering all along what it was! (mouse? hamster?) . It became clear when I read about the wings and the egg...

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Benji Bobo ©
15:33 Jan 26, 2021

Thanks, yea if you missed the insect part then you probably wouldn't have guessed that it was a caterpillar

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Ari Berri
19:35 Jan 24, 2021

This story is awesome! One suggestion, though: Break it into smaller paragraphs, it'll make it easier to read. Nice job!

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Benji Bobo ©
20:58 Jan 24, 2021

Oh thanks! I will take the advice

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Ari Berri
21:49 Jan 24, 2021

No problem.

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