On The Other Side Of Life

• Claudia Schulz, Grade 9, St Aidans Anglican Girls School
• Short Story
• 2001

Finalist in the 'Zapped! 2001' competition

Without a care in the world, the caterpillar snaked itself down the leaves of the vine. The girl watched, fascinated. Each leaf was slowly being devoured as the leaf-eater descended. As it finally ate its way down the vine, it sat, placidly, contentedly, on the dusty ground. Satiated, it relaxed. The girl tentatively reached out a finger to touch the sleeping creature, only to quickly withdraw as its minute eyelids flickered for what she was afraid might be the last time.
Something was changing; she did not know how or why. It was frustrating not knowing. The dark walls closed in on her. Everything was routine. It was comfortable enough, secure enough, but there was pain on the inside; inside her own soul, where she knew that something was about to change; transform her whole life. She wriggled awkwardly within the cocoon, not yet wanting to break the fragile atmosphere surrounding her. Not even a faint glimmer, she thought. Just complete darkness.
Then her feelings took a more bitter turn. When she had nothing to occupy herself with, which seemed to be more frequent now, she dwelt upon her present state. Why did no-one come to help her? Was she destined to a life of pain and struggle? Everybody knew she was suffering; yet no one came.
Even now, she realised with frustration and sadness, after all this time; life seemed to be diminishing. Like trying to carry a handful of sand, yet with every step it merely trickles through the fingertips; the harder she tried to grasp the last of the grain particles, the faster they seemed to flow. Just like life, she mused. Life was slowly ebbing away in the darkness of her cocoon.
It was not altogether painful, though. Inside, she gradually realised that although she could do nothing, there was something “more.” Bigger than herself. Something that guides all things. This is the way things are meant to be, she realised. She consciously put herself into the hands of this “higher good.” Her faith and trust in the great Mystery were now complete.
Yet again, she prepared herself to rest. To go to sleep, for now. A stream of gold glow lit up the darkness inside the cocoon. She pushed eagerly against the crumbling walls of her misery. Then, blinking in the ethereal white light surrounding her..
The butterfly fluttered its gossamer wings, glinting in the early morning air. It flitted from leaf to leaf on the frost-covered pine tree, stopping only to bat its wings in the early morning air. The struggle was over. The air was almost light itself, compared to the darkness of before. The peaks of snow glinted from the ground where the sun’s first rays reached. The stunning colours of the butterfly glowed against the stark whiteness of the unblemished snow. With one last flutter of delicate wings, the butterfly glided off on a current of air, to disappear over the frosty treetops.
The girl was finally at peace..