Dalila's Journey of Self-Discovery

The first time I saw it, I was not even aware. It was just a small, stone statue of a woman with long, flowing hair. She stood right next to the entrance to the gazebo that my father had built in our backyard. My mother told me that he had made it for her when they were dating and that she liked going out there as it reminded her of how they were back then, so she left it there.

I remember sitting on the rocking chair in front of the statue, looking up at her face, admiring all the little details--the curls in her hair, the way her dress flowed around her body and down to the ground. I could even see a small flower near her feet, carved into the stone. I remember thinking about how detailed and beautiful it all was; how my father must have spent hours working on this for my mother. I wondered what else he might be able to make and if he could build something for me too...

Days and months went by and I would often go sit by myself outside or with my mother or father in front of that statue. Sometimes I would talk to my mother while she rocked back and forth, reading one of the many books she had collected over the years, but most times we didn't talk at all. We just sat together and listened to nature's sounds: birds chirping, wind blowing through trees, insects buzzing around us. There was a sense of peace there that you could almost feel inside your skin--like you were wrapped up in a warm blanket on a cold winter's night. Sometimes I'd get tired from the heat and rest my head on my mother's shoulder or fall asleep while she read to me quietly. My mother said it was good for me to rest when I felt tired because sometimes when people don't take care of themselves well enough they get sick or hurt themselves somehow. She always warned me not to do anything dangerous like jumping off things or running away from home because if you do something like that you can get lost or someone might take you away.

One day when I was feeling particularly restless my mother wasn't feeling well so she decided to stay home while my father took me out shopping downtown. It was nice because he didn't usually take me anywhere unless he needed help carrying something heavy on his shoulders or wanted some company while making deliveries for his shop. On this day though he wore a big smile on his face and asked me if I wanted to go buy some new clothes with him--some things that would fit me better than the ones he used to buy for me when I first started growing bigger than him! He seemed so excited about buying me new clothes that I couldn't say no even though most of my old clothes fit fine now; in fact, they often got stretched out so much from all the washing and drying machines that they looked like rags! But since this was such a rare event for him to want to buy me clothes (and also because we were giving some money to charity as well) I decided we should go check them out!

"Daddy," I asked as we walked past an old troll who sat near an alleyway eating some fried chicken "Where are we going today?"

"We are going shopping sweetie!" he answered cheerfully "We're going to pick out some nice things for you!"

I smiled at him "Why? Is mommy sick?" It happened sometimes when she felt weak or tired that Daddy would make her stay at home while everyone else went off doing other stuff without her. When Mommy wasn't feeling well Daddy always stayed home too because he said nobody else could take care of her quite like he did!

"No baby," He said as we crossed a busy intersection "Your Mommy is alright...she's just staying home today." He hesitated for a moment before adding "But tomorrow Daddy wants you to wear these new clothes we buy today!"

I tried hard not to frown but...what did this mean? Was Daddy planning something special? Or did having new clothes mean something bad was about to happen? Or maybe...it meant nothing at all! After all Daddy never really talked about things like this so why start now? But still...this sounded serious! Maybe something bad did happen! Maybe Mommy wasn't alright after all! Maybe someone hurt her or stole something precious from us! No wait...that can't be true because Daddy would be angry instead of being happy like this! What if mommy fell down again? What if those terrible monsters came back here?!

"Are those bad monsters here again?!" I blurted out before even thinking about what I was saying "Did they hurt mommy?" My eyes began tearing up as visions of horrible monsters attacking Mommy flashed through my mind "What should we do daddy?! Should we run away?!" Before Dad could answer though, I ran off towards our house as fast as my legs could carry me without even waiting for him! Luckily though Dad caught up quickly because I tripped over some sidewalk cracks and fell face first onto the ground "Dalila wait baby!" He called out but by then it was too late--I had already run off without him again!

When we finally got home everything looked normal except Mommy wasn't there--she was probably still napping inside the house somewhere but she hadn't left any messages telling us where she went which is what she always did before whenever she wanted us two to go shopping by ourselves. Now Dad seemed worried too but he didn't say anything; instead he picked up one of his tools and began working on what looked like a pair of wings made out of metal pieces--one half shaped like an eagle with its mouth open into a scream and another half shaped like a dragon with its mouth open into a growl. The wings seemed almost alive with all sorts of sizes and shapes sticking out everywhere in random places and moving slowly up-and-down while Dad worked on them carefully with different tools and instruments...but why would someone need wings anyway? And who would want them anyway? Probably not humans anyway since most people thought using tools could actually be better than using magic...why would anyone use magic anyway? Magic is only for silly fairytales and movies starring ugly creatures with big noses!