Metamorphosis: Chapter 83

Chapter 83: Candor

“Can I be honest with you?” Helia asked Irma; he was petting her head as she laid her head on his lap, trying to get a few more hours of sleep.

“Uh, yeah.” Her sarcastic and funny nature always fancied him.

“Charlotte was really controlling of me,” he confessed. “I didn’t have much of a backbone with her, since she is very strong-willed. She seemed like a...a precious flower, but she had a bite of a venus flytrap.”

She smirked. “I probably have called her that once or twice. I was most likely mad at her still, and you too.” Irma rubbed his jeans softly.

“I can’t blame you.” Helia threw some twigs into the campfire. “When I got mad at you and Joey doing what you did-”

“To make you jealous,” she laughed.

“Yeah,” he said and nodded. “Charlotte gave me some of her anxiety pills and muscle relaxers.” He frowned. “I’m not proud of that; I don’t believe in abusing medications.”

“You blacked out at times, didn’t you?”

“Yeah.” He buried his fingers in her red locks. “She took me to the barbershop at one point. When I woke up the next day, I screamed. I was in the bathroom, in our dorm, and I just screamed into the mirror. It woke the guys up, and they found me there, just touching my short hair, on the brink of tears...”

“Your hair meant a lot to you?” Irma asked.

“More than anyone knows.” He rubbed the side of his face. “I don’t know how to explain it. When my dad went away for what he did, my mother let me do what I wanted for the longest time. I was only ten, so I didn’t know what I could really do. I was at the castle most of the time; we didn’t leave much unless it was a holiday or birthday. Mother let me go out and see the other towns on my planet. She let all of us--Stefan, Carol, and myself--sleep in her bed, and she’d tell us stories of the past.

“Stef and Carol would get up in the morning and run around; they have always been really energetic and crazier than myself. I’d help mother get ready in the morning. She’s always had this long, curly golden hair. I’d help her brush it because it was so long and thick. She told me once that I could do whatever I pleased when it came to myself, my appearance. I wanted my hair as long as hers. It made me feel rebellious. My father would have called me names if he ever saw my long hair, so I did it on purpose. In my mind, I knew I’d won. He was in jail and I was...I was going to be okay.”

He sniffled for a moment and wiped his tears into his long sleeves. Irma leaned up some, gently caressing his rosy cheeks with her hands. He placed his hands over hers, closing his eyes and kissing her palms a moment later.

“Something tells me,” she said quietly, “that you blacked out another time.”

“When?” He looked at her, his black eyes shimmering with traces of reds and yellows from the fire.

“On the beach, on Tsunami,” she told him, frowning. “You pushed me against the boulders and apologized for everything. I tried to push you away, but you kept kissing me. Joey had to push you off of me, and he beat you up...” Her voice trailed off as she bit her lip.

Helia shook his head. “No, I don’t remember that. Explains the black eye I had, though.”

Stella’s eyes were shut, but she heard their conversation of bygones. She rolled over on her back. She opened her eyes and looked up at the sky. There were still a few stars out, though they were becoming fainter and fainter. The sky was a beautiful combination of pinks and blues as the sun rose.

“S-since...” Her voice was froggy. “Since you guys are telling the truth, can I?”

Irma looked over at her, a worried expression her face. “Sure, Stel.”

“I wasn’t born on Ivy.” She saw the birds flying over, their wings flapping gracefully. “I was born on Acidica.”

Helia perked up, his jaw almost dropping. “A-Are you serious?”

Stella nodded. “Yeah.”

“Is that a bad place?” Irma inquired. Her planet knowledge was lacking compared to the others’.

“Acidica, the wasteland of wilted life,” he said. “It’s a planet that actually very dangerous to go to. A lot of the people that inhabit there are albino and use black magic; though, there are the occasional white magic users, the good ones. The air isn’t one-hundred percent clean, it’s actually filled with toxins. But I guess the scariest part about this place is that, if a person who isn’t a pure Acidic has a child, the newborn will, well-”

“They have certain looks of the Acidic,” she said. “That’s why I’m super pale and why my hair is so gosh darn bright.”

Irma recalled seeing a picture of Stella’s family. “You’re the only really pale person in your family. The rest of them are tan or fair skinned.”

“Iris has dark, almost purple hair; mom and Rainy are auburn; dad and Delphine have brown curls. I’m the black sheep of the family,” she said with tears in her eyes.

Irma got up and was by her side, feeling her head. “You’re still a little hot,” she and Helia helped her up. “I saw a little pond around the corner,”

They walked over slowly, at Stella’s pace. When they reached the pond, Helia went back to grab some of the ginger ale and his jacket, for a pillow. Irma helped Stella pull down her skirt and untie her women’s oxford shoes. She held Stella’s hand as she slowly sat down in the water. The water was blue and almost crystal clear.

“I’m sure we have extra clothes...and panties,” she laughed slightly. Irma herself wore panties occasionally but mostly wore boy shorts or lady briefs.

“I’m sorry I never told you,” the blonde girl laid her head on Helia’s jacket, crying a few tears as she was still weak from sickness.

“Stel, you have nothing to apologize for,” she said, patting her hair.

“Sometimes, I don’t know why I’m a guardian,” she confessed. “Powers either come from your parents, or ancestors, or sometimes the planet you grow up on. My sisters are nymphs, powers given by Ivy itself. Where does my powers come from?”

“Stella,” Irma’s voice soothed her, her eyes shutting slowly. “I can’t tell you why or how now, but Fate and Destiny chose you to be the guardian. I can’t give you a reason why I’m a Purpose or why Riven, of all people, is here to help save the planet. These things happen because Fate and Destiny know what’s best.”

“Yeah, but-”

“Stella, where do you get your eye color from?” she questioned her, out of the blue.

“My dad,” she answered.

“Acidica may have changed your skin and your hair, but it didn’t change all of you. If you have your dad’s eyes then, somewhere in your family, you have powers over nature.”

She could only look up and smile at her redheaded friend.

“You said it yourself, Ivy gave your sisters powers to be nymphs. Perhaps Ivy gave you the whole smorgasbord of magic to be the nature guardian?” Irma smiled, seeing the sun rise fully. “We didn’t ask to be these guardians, we were hand-picked by Fate and Destiny. Maybe they aren’t beings but actual people? Maybe we’ll meet them one day and give them a good kick to the cojones?”

Stella laughed, no longer crying. She felt the vines and plants move around them, twisting around Stella’s fingers, but not too tightly. The flowers in the distance bloomed, despite that it was still winter.

“Even when you’re sad and hurt, Stel, your flowery ‘children’ wanna make you feel better,” Irma said, touching the ground. “You’re always going to be mother nature, one way or another,”


“Alright, last chance,” Melinda said. “You sure you wanna do this, Wen?” they were out in public, at a hair salon.

Stella nodded her head, smiling at her reflection. “I’m sure,” the hair stylist got her “okay” and took Stella’s wet locks and cut a good portion off. The golden tresses ended up on the floor, standing out from the rest of the little bits of dark hair.

“Curler or flat iron?” the young hairdresser asked Stella.

“Flat iron,”

“Can I look now?” Jade asked as she sat in Melinda’s lap, a chair over from where Stella was, covering her eyes.

“Not yet,” Melinda said. “She’s almost done,”

She got out of the chair, examining herself closer in the mirror. Her flaxen curls were gone, and all that was left was straight, almost weightless hair.

“Is it okay?” the beautician asked.

“It’s more than okay,” Stella smiled widely, touching her new hair. “I’m just not used to it so short.”

“Can I see nowwww?” Jade whined.

“Go ahead, stinker,” the pink haired girl chuckled.

“Wendy looks like a princess!” she giggled, getting up and running over to her, hugging her legs.

“No, not a princess, sweetie,” she held her hand as they paid for her haircut. They went out the door and picked her up slowly, whispering. “More like a guardian.”