Today is the second anniversary of the death of Pro Wrestler Bray Wyatt, which I originally wrote this scene as a reaction to.
Fireflies were a major part of Wyatt’s persona and aesthetic, and the fact that he’d make his entrance in the dark meant that the fans in the arena would hold out their phone lights to invoke a sky full of fireflies, as seen powerfully in WWE’s tribute to him after he died:
Incidentally, being ringside when Wyatt was making his entrance and the arena was full of fireflies was one of the coolest things I’ve experienced at a wrestling event.
© J.B. Norman — Published by Emona Literary Services™
A million little lanterns light up the dusk.
“Wow!” Dunstana exclaims. “Look at all the fireflies!”
As the stars begin to peek out overhead, they are joined below by the countless flickering lights of the fireflies.
Kat, Amara, Dunstana, and Annie stand quietly, staring raptly at the dancing lights.
“But why are they called fireflies?” Dunstana mutters. “Fire isn’t green! They should be called, like, Green-Glowy-Flies.”
“Way to ruin the moment, Captain Kid,” Kat mutters.
“Also,” Annie adds. “They’re beetles.”
“Oh!” Dunstana says. “I know! Twinkle-Bugs!”
“Ugh,” Kat groans.
“Okay, but, like Twinkle-Bugs would be an awesome name,” Dunstana insists.
She turns to Annie.
“Right?”
Annie shrugs. “I guess.”
“Well —” Kat says, her voice trailing off as she glances at Amara.
She gently puts a hand on her best friend’s shoulder.
“What’s wrong, Amara?”
“I miss Mother,” Amara says quietly.
“Oh,” Kat says. “Should we go inside? Maybe a change of scenery would —”
“No, Katherine. The fireflies remind me of her. We used to watch the fireflies together,” Amara says, reaching up to dab her eyes.
“Well. I’m here if you need me,” Kat offers. “Always.”
“I know, Katherine,” Amara assures her. “Thank you, Katherine. I —”
Her voice trails off as she starts sobbing. Kat puts her arms around her and pulls her close.
Dunstana turns to Annie.
“We should hug Amara, too,” she declares.
Annie nods and the two of them almost put their arms around Amara.
“I miss Mother,” Amara sobs. “I miss her so much.”
“I know,” Kat says. “And I know it’s not the same, but I’m here, Amara. You’ve still got a lot of people who love you. And always will.”
“Yeah,” Dunstana says. “You’re like the big sister I’ve always wanted.”
Still tightly hugging Amara, Kat kicks at her sister.
“I’m here too, Amara,” Annie says. “And I know we’re not family, but we’re like family. And, at least for me, you actually are like the big sister I’ve always wanted. Since I don’t really have a sister…”
Kat pulls away from Amara.
“Feel better?” she asks, her hands on her friend’s shoulders.
“Yes, Katherine,” Amara says, wiping her eyes. “Thank you. And thank you, Dunstana and Miss Annie.”
“You know that I love you, right?” Kat asks. “You’re my best friend, Amara. And I always hate having to say it, but I want to make sure that you know it, Amara.”
“I know, Katherine,” Amara answers. “And I love you, too. And maybe I don’t say it enough, either. But you are my very dearest friend.”
Dunstana nods thoughtfully.
“Well, I was sad that you’re sad, so I wanted to make you feel better,” she says. “And I like hugs. And I like hugging you, because you always smell good.”
“Don’t make this weird,” Kat tells her sister.
“I was helping!” Dunstana insists.
“Well,” Amara offers. “Thanks to you all, I am feeling better. I do miss Mother, but knowing that I have so many friends who care so much about me is quite comforting.”
“Let’s hug Amara again!” Dunstana says.
“Yeah,” Kat agrees.
Hug your loved ones, people.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The author prohibits the use of content published on this website for the purposes of training Artificial Intelligence technologies, including but not limited to Large Language Models, without express written permission.
All stories published on this website are works of fiction. Characters are products of the author’s imagination and do not represent any individual, living or dead.
The realmgard.com Privacy Policy can be viewed here.
Realmgard is published by Emona Literary ServicesTM
One thought on “Bonus Weekend Realmgard Short Scene: Fireflies”