Until, one day, she heard a human trampling through the forest, and before she could move, she was almost crushed by a boot that landed right near her head.
The human it was attached to stopped suddenly, and exclaimed, “why, look at this scootle! What a beauty!”
And with that, a small, grubby hand reached down and grabbed her. She knew she was too slow to escape a human, so she resigned herself to the fact that she was now subject to the human’s whims.
Which, turned out, appeared to be to put her in a soggy, brown cardboard box. Thankfully it was full of the moss that she so loved. A few holes had been poked in the top of the box, and Ethel stared up at the sky, looking up at the forest she loved.
The box bumped and jostled her as the human began to run, and while she didn’t know where he was going, she didn’t think it was anywhere she wanted to be. Not that she had a choice. Finally, the human stopped, and the box was gently put on the ground. Ethel was grateful that the bumpy ride was over.
The box opened up, and the human’s face filled her field of view. She didn’t know much about humans, but she thought this one might be a child, and possibly a boy.
“Don’t worry, little scootle,” said the child. “You’re home with me now. I’ll take care of you. You have to stay in the box, though, or my mum will kill me.”
And so, Ethel spent her days slowly circling in her box. Luckily, the child remembered most days to bring her a new supply of moss, which she dutifully examined before eating. The child would often sit with her and talk, telling her wild stories about adventures he’d had in the forest. She grew to like the child, even though he was her captor.
Until, one day, the child’s mother found out about Ethel. Ethel heard the ruckus as the boy was yelled at and swatted. After it had quieted down, the boy came over and sat down beside her box, sniffling.
“Mum says I can’t keep you anymore and I have to take you back to the forest.”
Her box was lifted up, and once more she was bumped and bounced and jostled until the boy stopped and opened up the box. She made her way out onto the forest floor, but when she looked up to see the boy, she realized he was already gone.
And, with a sense of sadness at losing her friend, Ethel went back to her studies of the moss covering the forest floor.
overlay: CORE
profile: Chelsea
story: Trithie
background credit: unsplash