Shimeru and the Queen of the Night

Flora still needed adjusting. That was what her father said at least once a day, and her mother would just nod in agreement, like she did to everything. Flora wondered just what kind of adjusting she needed. She didn’t feel like being adjusted, she just wanted to go back to the city. The farm was strange. You could hear the crickets at night, and some other awful noises that her dad said were frogs but there were too many to be frogs. She had seen frogs in the daytime, in groups of two or three at most, but at night it sounded like an army of frogs. It made her afraid to step in the grass at night, she might step on one, and it would squish between her toes and make a sound to call the others for revenge. For this reason, she had avoided going out past dark for the first two weeks in her new home.

This night she stared into the darkness and slipped on some boots. If she was going to squish a frog it would be with a real weapon. She had her boots, and she held a serving fork in her clenched hand. In the city she would sneak into the courtyard of her neighborhood at night and listen to the sound of cars and people. It wasn’t safe out there either, and she didn’t have weapons for the kind of unsafe the city had, but she wasn’t scared in the city. The city knew her, and it knew she was fierce. The farm night would learn she was fierce too, she was ready.

The moon hung over the fields, full and bright, with no clouds to be seen, just an impossible number of stars. The stars seemed like the frogs, there were too many to be stars, some had to be UFO’s. If they stayed high in the sky, they wouldn’t have to find out how fierce she really was. The moonlight shone off the roof of the old red barn she had seen out of her window every single day. She had wanted to go in it, but her parents said no, it was falling apart and dangerous. Since the first time she was told this, she had decided to make a plan. She would go, and it would be her new place. A place others were afraid to go. A place she could be alone.

She stepped off the porch into the grass carefully. In front of her were the almost deafening sounds of the frogs, they were far away somewhere, probably in the pond. Behind her was the sound of her parents, mainly her father. He was telling her mother bad things, he liked telling her bad things, it made him smile like a demon. Her mother would cry when she heard the bad things, and Flora would sometimes cry if she heard them too, but the city had always kept her safe from the bad things. The city knew she was fierce, it made a song only for her, and it kept her safe because it loved its fierce queen.

Flora stepped off towards the barn and the sounds of the frogs. Tonight, the frogs would know she was fierce. She didn’t take a flashlight; she had never done so before and didn’t see a reason to change. The city had its own light, and the moon and stars (and aliens) tonight were enough. She wasn’t afraid of the darkness; she had seen enough in the light to prefer darkness. The darkness made everything round and soft. The darkness made bruises disappear. In the dark, scars stopped being ugly, they turned into lines for your fingers to trace. In the dark the scars were like a sentence that told a story you could retell into whatever made you smile.

Flora approached the old barn, close enough now to see the old wooden boards, the rusty nails, and the flaking red paint. There were crickets chirping nearby but they stopped when she opened the door. The crickets knew she was fierce. The frogs were too far still, they kept up their noisy party. She would show them, they must know she will be heard. She stepped inside, surrounded by the musty smell of old abandoned things she could not fully see. There was a hole in the roof, and it let in a beam of light, full of evening mist that spiraled slowly down all the way to an empty space on the floor. The abandoned shapes were mostly foreign to her, but she could make out an old tractor and a big rake-like thing attached to it. This would be her throne. She climbed onto the tractor and sat in the cold steel seat. She raised her fork above her head and called out into the night.

“The Queen of the Night is here, and you will all listen!” Her arm bled slowly as she scraped it hard with the fork.

The old barn shook. The tired wood screeched and creaked. The night fell silent. The frogs all stopped their songs at once.

Flora sat proudly on her throne. She had made her stand. The night knew she was fierce. The darkness was round and soft. The scars told stories that made her smile.

Flora fell asleep peacefully on her new throne. The frogs returned to their songs, but they sung a special song just for her, and the crickets kept the melody too. They sung about her bravery, they sung about her strength, they sung about this day and how happy they were to meet their new queen.

In the morning she heard voices. It was her mother and father, they were panicked, they were running through the fields and yelling her name. She would sit and wait for them to find her. They would be crying, they would hug her, they would all smile as one while tears streamed down their faces. They would go for ice cream. Her dad would kiss her mom. That night the house would be quiet except for the frogs and crickets singing to their new queen. She had shown them she was fierce. They were now round and soft. She rubbed her scars, and the stories made her smile. She would do this every time she needed to. Sometimes you must make them listen. Sometimes you must show them who is queen.

“I see nothing has changed,” said a low and steady voice as the shadows grew larger in her room.

“Shimeru?!” Flora exclaimed hopefully, sitting upright quickly.

“You still run; you still hide. You still bleed to make them bleed”

“You came, you came to see me. I knew you would come if I was Queen again,” said Flora exuberantly.

“I do not come because you are Queen. I come because you are not Queen,” Shimeru sighed.

“I am Queen! Ask the frogs and the crickets!”

“The frogs and crickets know nothing. They sing for themselves,” said Shimeru.

“They sing for me. A new song. I heard it through the night as I slept in the old barn on my new throne,” Flora pleaded.

“Their song has not changed. You will hear it again tonight and you will realize it. It only sounds different to you because it is you that has changed, even for one night. Their song will not change eternally because you are not yet the real Queen,” Shimeru said softly.

“I am Queen. You have not seen,” Flora said bitterly as she turned away from where Shimeru hid.

“I see you bleed. The day you do not bleed for those unwilling to love, that is the day you will be Queen.”

“Go away,” Flora mumbled.

“Should I come out of the shadows?”

Flora turned quickly to the place where Shimeru remained cloaked in darkness, “No! Absolutely not! Stay in your place, and I will stay in mine!”

“I have been your friend for many years. One day, when you are Queen, you will look at me in the light of day and be unafraid. Until then I should set you free,” Shimeru’s voice trailed off as the light returned to the room.

“Shimeru! Don’t go, I need you here!” Flora yelled.

Flora stared at the empty room. A tear fell down her cheek. She felt the scars and the stories all came to life. Each story ended with Shimeru, her only real friend, and each story ended with him leaving. If she could only make Shimeru stay, she would convince him to take her away. She would go with him anywhere, and they would make stories together. No blood, no scars, just stories that made her smile.

Flora watched the Sun set across the field. Her parents loved sunsets, thought they were the most beautiful thing in the world. She liked them because they ended the day and the night would bring the darkness she craved more than anything else. Her father was saying bad things again. Today he had slapped her mom, and then slapped Flora for running in to defend her. Her mom was weak, she was not fierce at all, she needed a Queen to defend her. When Flora felt the hard slap sting across her face, just like it had many times before, she knew Shimeru was right. She was not the Queen, not yet. That would change tonight.

Flora stepped off the porch into the grass. Tonight, she wore no boots. Her feet crushed the grass, and she whispered to the frogs to let her pass. She heard the frogs and crickets scatter ahead of her. She raised her hands to the sky and called out to the UFO’s. They would stay away tonight, they knew where they belonged. Flora looked at the barn in the distance and walked towards it with purpose.

In the barn Flora climbed onto her throne. The cold steel felt wonderful on her feet. This was a good throne. She raised her hands to the air, no fork today, there was no need, all the power in her was enough.

“The Queen of Night is here, and I will protect you. You have always protected me. You have sung your song and I didn’t really listen. I hear you now. I am sorry.”

The frogs changed their song into a dancing tune, and the crickets kept the melody. In the light that shone through the roof a figure appeared. He was small, like a boy, but he wasn’t a boy at all. He had bright skin that reflected the light of the moon and made beautiful colors. His hair was silvery blue, and his eyes shone even brighter than his skin. His ears came to a point, like an elf, and he had a golden ring in each one.

“Shimeru?”

“It is time, my Queen.”

Flora smiled and her cheeks felt free. “So, I am Queen?”

“You are. We should go now; everyone has been waiting,” Shimeru gestured to her to come into the light.

“Where will we go?”

“To your rightful place, among your own people. We will make stories that make you smile. You will not need pain to make it happen, but you know that now.” Shimeru glistened as he spoke.

“And my mother?”

“Will not make it. I am sorry. It is your choice to stay with her or go with me. She has chosen her path. If that ever changes, she will join you.”

Flora stepped off her throne and into the light with Shimeru. He took her by the hand and whispered into the light. At once the barn disappeared. At once there was a new place. The light there held no dark secrets. Flora stepped off for the first time as Queen. Her face told a story with her smile. The light was bright and pure. The light knew she was fierce. The light knew she was love.