The Little Prince did not find himself at home when he departed the Earth as he had planned. Instead, he had arrived in yet another strange world. This planet was a kaleidoscope of colours; some joyful and some gloomy. Sitting atop the cloud of vivid colours he had awoken on, he could see a region blanketed in mist in the distance, appearing all dark and dreary. As he stepped down from the cloud, he was encircled by numerous tiny balls of light that appeared out of nowhere. However, upon close inspection, he discovered that the balls of light were tiny creatures who resembled him, except they had small shiny wings and pointed ears.
“Where am I?” The Little Prince inquired but soon realised that he couldn’t decipher what they were saying.
It seemed as though they were trying to lead him somewhere so The Little Prince decided to follow them. As he followed the tiny flying creatures, he noticed a pool of shimmering water with three human-like creatures within, but with tails instead of legs. All around him were magnificent creatures he had never seen before. The tiny creatures came to a stop in front of a white horse with a rainbow coloured mane. But this was not a normal horse; it had a horn! The Little Prince patted the one horned horse’s head and it nuzzled into his palm. Then it pointed its head to its back and let out a neigh as if telling The Little Prince to sit on it. The Little Prince sat on the horse-like creature and he rode it to the dreary area he saw before as he had grown curious about the place. The horse stood on its hind legs at the border of the dark area, neighed loudly, shook his head, and refused to go any further. The Little Prince asked, “What is it? Why are you not moving forward?”
A voice behind him said, “The unicorn cannot go there. It is not allowed to cross over to the dark realm.”
The Little Prince turned and his eyes widened as he saw the one speaking. A girl in her teenage years with brown hair and round glasses covering her hazel eyes. She held a book and a pen in her hands. There wasn't anything too remarkable about the way she looked but the Little Prince couldn't stop staring. That was because the girl was floating in the air!
The Little Prince started firing questions at the girl. “What is this planet? Is this called a unicorn? Why isn't it allowed to enter that gloomy place? Why do you call the place the dark realm? How are you floating in-”
“I’ll answer those questions one by one.” The girl interrupted.
“This is Paradisum. It’s Latin for paradise, which is a word for a place where everything is perfect and this planet is perfect to me.”
“Yes, the creature you’re sitting on is known as a unicorn because the meaning of ‘unicorn’ is ‘having one horn.’ Those tiny flying creatures are fairies and I am sure you also saw the mermaids in the pool.”
“I divided Paradisum into two main realms and none of the creatures are allowed to leave their realm to maintain peace. Only I can enter both realms to take care of all the creatures.”
“The realm we are in right now, is called the fairytale realm because all of the creatures here are friendly and happy. The other realm is called the dark realm because creatures like vampires and zombies, who reside there are dangerous and gloomy.”
“What was the last question again? I interrupted you while you were asking that one. Sorry about that.”
“It’s okay. The question that I had asked was how are you floating in the air?”
“Oh, that. It’s a bit hard to explain but I’ll at least try. All of what you see on my planet was created by me.” The girl said and went silent. She seemed lost in thought.
“Okay but how could you create these creatures?” The Little Prince asked after a few moments of silence.
“For as long as I can remember, I used to wake up to find a book by my side every morning. I used to read the book throughout the day and finish it by the end of the night. Then I'd retire to bed under the tree, only to wake up the next morning to discover a new book in place of the old one. The amazing part was that anything I read about in the book, whether it was a vampire or a Phoenix, a unicorn or a zombie, it all became real. They'd all emerge the next day, and I'd allocate them to their respective realms. This continued on for a long time, until one day when I woke up, I didn’t find a regular book. It was replaced by a book with blank pages and a pen fastened to the cover."
"I was intrigued, so I took the pen in my hand and began writing in the blank book. I was writing about a girl who slept on a cloud when a cloud materialised beneath me out of nowhere. I was surprised and decided to try something else. I wrote about how the sun was blue, and when I glanced up, it had changed colour! It was at that point that I was certain that anything I wrote would come true. One of the things that I wrote about was to be able to float in the air as it makes it easier for me to travel around Paradisum. Enough about me,” the girl said, taking a big breath and smiling at The Little Prince. “Now, tell me how you got here. I know that I have never read or written about you, so you’re surely not one of my creations.”
The Little Prince looked in the girl’s eyes and then looked away. Staring at the sky, he said, “You are right. I’m not one of your creations. I come from a small planet that I call Asteroid 325. I was the only person on my planet, and I took excellent care of it, preventing any harmful seeds from sprouting and ensuring that it was never overrun by baobab trees. I spotted a strange new plant blossoming on my planet one day. I was first wary of it because I was concerned that it may be a new species of baobab. The seedling quickly developed into a lovely rose. I grew to adore the rose and was constantly concerned about her well-being. I watered her, covered her with a glass globe at night, and hung a screen to keep the wind out. But one day, I found my rose lying to me. Her lie made me doubt the sincerity of her love. I grew so unhappy and lonely that I decided to leave my planet. I now see that if I had focused on her actions rather than her words, I would not have left.”
Returning his gaze back to the girl, he continues, “I loved my rose but I left her because I was too young and inexperienced to know how to love her. But now I'm ready and want to go back to her, but I'm not sure how. I assumed that after being bitten by the yellow snake, I'd be back on my planet with my rose. But I came here to Paradisum instead, and I'm not sure whether I'll ever be able to return.” The Little Prince concluded with a wavering voice.
"You know, you should never ignore what you do have in your life for what you don't,” the girl said, patting his shoulder with a consoling smile. “Because one day you may realise that you defaced something that was so beautiful. You left someone who really cared and hurt a heart that really loved you. But I see that you have already realised that… I've decided to help you in returning to your planet so you may be with your rose.”
The Little Prince jerked his head up and looked at the girl with wide eyes. “You will? But how?”
“I assume you forgot about my book,” the girl remarked, gesturing to it.
“Thank you very much!” The Little Prince said as he hugged the girl, tears streaming down his face.
“It's no issue. I’m happy to help.”
'The Little Prince then departed Paradisum and went home,' the girl wrote in her book. 'He met his rose again, and they both apologised to each other. After that, they lived happily ever after.'
The girl heard a thank you whisper and glanced up to discover that The Little Prince was already gone. She was happy for him to be reunited with his rose, but she couldn't help but feel miserable for herself because she had never had anyone to talk to. The Little Prince was the first person she had ever had a real conversation with. They might have only talked for a while, but she enjoyed it nevertheless. She spent time with all of the creatures on her planet, and they all adored her, but she yearned for someone with whom she could have a two-sided conversation. Someone she could confide in about everything. Someone with whom she might share her tales.
As she gazed at the sky, a thought struck her. She looked down at the open book in her arms and was determined to take charge of her life. She decided to write about someone just like that. A friend.
Written: 2020
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