This piece was inspired by Madonna’s Frozen. I remember a time when I used to listen to the song so much. I was going through a phase and I could relate to every word. I filtered through the dark and eerie part and it made absolute sense.
It touches on how being self-absorbed and closed up to the world can hurt the people around you, especially your loved ones. For my piece, I drew from the lyrics and symbolism in the video to create fiction.
Love is a bird, she needs to fly.
Let all the hurt inside of you die.
Lu emerged from the woods where she loved to just be by herself without any query or judgment. “Nature would never spite me,” she would often say. She tried to reach her back with her hands. Her shoulder blades were starting to hurt again. She leaned into the tree old Jo and the other children sat beneath.
“Your kind heart precedes you and traverses beyond worlds. Do you see that little patch of white in the sky, children? That's a stitch for when the descending happens.” Jo’s eyes lit up as he whispered through his crooked voice. Then he cleared his throat and continued. “In a world far from Earth, their energy is dying. Every decade, their sprites seep through that stitch into the earth. They learn our ways of love and like energy, their world thrives on the goodness of man to survive. Lately, their sprite has lost her way and their world is in peril. Until she finds her way back, their world may not survive.”
Jo paused to observe the faces of the children that surrounded him like a grand wizard and his puppets. The children looked a little scared and puzzled. Just then, a big black bird came to rest on a branch of the tree they sat beneath. They all looked up.
“Perhaps that's a sprite. They come in many forms and you never know who's watching. So be good children.”
Lu sat behind the tree to listen to old Jo’s stories beneath the moonlight. She didn't want to be seen by the children. Most evenings when the sun came down, the children in the village would surround old Jo as he mesmerized them with tales that captured all of their senses. Jo was the oldest and most respected chief in the village. His words were like a charm that entranced his listeners leaving them wanting more.
Lu knew all of Jo’s stories like the back of her hand. She rolled her eyes as she muttered the last sentence with him in unison. He would tell her those stories ever since she could talk. Jo found Lu alone one night in the woods when he was hunting ten years ago. She was only a newborn with nothing but a dozen of black feathers wrapped around her body.
From that day, Jo became her guardian. He taught Lu everything that she had refused to learn. Lu felt like an outcast because aside from Jo’s unending love for her, the villagers hardly cared about her. They called her the ‘marked one’ because of the two heavy incisions on both her shoulder blades. Jo had told her that they were birthmarks. Lu hated that she had those marks that she couldn't hide even through clothes. She despised the stares and constant remarks from people wherever she went.
As a result, Lu created a barrier for herself from everyone. She wanted to disappear or just become invisible. She rarely spoke to anyone and she had so much anger brewing in her that there was hardly any space for love. She wished she had at least one person like her that she could talk to.
“Listen, Lu. You are frozen when your heart is not open. Open your heart so that you can give and take love. Open your heart so that love can lead you. You have no idea how much you may be depriving the universe because you have refused to let go.” Jo would often tell Lu. “You are more than you think and you are special.”
Lu quickly ran inside before Jo left the children to retire to bed. Inside was dark and quiet. She started becoming even more restless as her back was hurting more than usual. Lu occasionally had that pain for as long as she could remember but tonight was different. It was developing into a burning sensation. Suddenly, sparks and bright white lights began emanating from a corner beside Jo’s bed. Lu got curious.
When she got closer to Jo’s bed, she found that the sparks were coming from a little box of feathers. The same ones Jo found Lu wrapped in, a decade ago. Lu wasn't sure why Jo had kept them for so long.
Suddenly, Lu was startled by the big black bird that came to perch on the window of the house. Her insides churned and slowly, she began to back away. She then bumbled on Jo who was standing behind her. “Help,” she yelled.
“It is fine Lu. The bird is just a signal. I think it's time.” Jo held Lu’s shaky body and turned her around to look into her eyes.
“Time for what?” Lu searched Jo’s frail eyes.
“Time to ascend,” he replied.
Soon, the sparks from the feathers got intense. Before Lu and Jo, the feathers began to assemble and in no time, they formed two pairs of black shimmering feathers. The feathers began to move like they had a mind of their own.
Lu was stunned. She watched in utter shock as the feathers fluttered behind her and aligned themselves in the incisions on her shoulder blade.
“Lu, you are not from here. You are the sprite in my story. You were sent here to learn and take love with you back home. The energy in your world is dying. I tried to teach you, Lu. But your eyes were closed.” Jo was talking faster than Lu could process. “We can still salvage it. All you have to do is open your heart. Let love in and let love lead. Take with you everything I've ever taught you. Your world needs it.”
Lu began weeping profusely. She was starting to realize how much damage being frozen was causing an entire kind that she never even knew existed. Right there Lu felt something in her heart. She started to let go and like a blast, all the pain and anguish erupted from her heart. Lu began to feel herself drift to the door.
Her wings started to flutter and shimmer. A bright light appeared in the sky where the white patch was. It began to create an opening like a portal. Slowly, Lu ascended to the sky. The feeling was like nothing she had ever felt before. A surge passed through her and Lu felt light as wind. She was ready to give all the love Jo had taught her. She was ready to save her world.