Resin’s Glittery Secrets

Over the mountains, through the clouds and across the seas, there was a path that led to a dark forest. Inside the forest there was a bit of light, that still filtered through the trees, but most of the radiance was blocked by a man in the sun. The man became trapped in the sun, after too many in the kingdom had buried their secrets underground, which caused the darkness to come. Each secret could be transformed into a key to unlock him, but so far no one had been able to figure it out.

There was a woman, who traveled the land as a child and returned as an adult. She wanted to explore what she once knew and bathe in the sacred waters of the lake, but it was too cold and dark. She felt lost and wasn’t even sure she knew how to get back out.

She sat at the edge of the water wishing it were different and then she saw quite a mess. It was a trail full of gunk and goo. Disgusting slime, oozing all over the forest floor. She followed the trail to where she saw a bug. Not just any bug, but a rather large cockroach. He was more than a foot long and very heavy. He had wings and he would try to fly, but he couldn’t get off the ground, due to his size. She thought surely she should get rid of this disgusting roach.

She looked for a trash can, but she couldn’t find one big enough. In the meantime he started walking away, so she quietly followed his trail full of muck. He paused for a bit on a hill and then turned to look at her and said, “Would you like to know a secret?” She was quite shocked, that he spoke, but she nodded yes. He continued, “Many years ago secrets were buried in this land. As each was covered up, I grew larger and larger until I became the monster of a bug I am today coated in this substance. No one has been able to remove the secrets and help me get back to size. In this hill is buried one. Would you like to try to see if you can help?” She tilted her head and said, “But I am just an ordinary woman. How can I do what so many others have tried, but failed?”

A tear fell from his eye and he said, “Please try. My name is Resin. If you figure out the secret, follow my trail and I will meet you at the next stone.” He hung his head and moped along and she sat looking perplexed.

She began to dig in the dirt with her bare hands, until she felt a box. She pulled it out of the ground and blew the dirt off the lid and tried to open the top, but it wouldn’t budge. She tried hitting it with a rock. No use. She felt she would be stuck here forever. 

She began to cry. Her tears poured down onto the box. As the tears hit the lid, the top opened up. Inside were lotions, potions and a note. The note was left by a man who said he hid this because he was ashamed of how much he hurt inside and he’d used these to help numb the pain, but it only made it worse. She thought to herself, well these are really just medicines to help if used in the right hands. One of the containers was labeled ‘Magic Glitter’ so she took a bit and sprinkled it over the top and wished it so. Poof! The box disappeared and in her hand was a key.

She was excited and began to run through the forest after Resin’s trail. His fumes didn’t seem to bother her as much. She came around a corner and saw him sitting on a stone. He appeared a bit smaller in size and when he fluttered his wings, he hopped a bit higher. He spoke and said, “Good work. I knew you were the one to do it. Here is the second secret” and then he disappeared around a forest turn.

(Image by Jeremy Anderson)

She lifted the stone to find another box and when she looked inside she found a broken mirror and another note. The man who wrote the note said, he looked in the mirror and didn’t like what he saw reflected back. So he broke it because he decided it would only hurt to look again. She looked in the mirror and saw her old tattered sweater and many days of lines around her eyes. She sprinkled a bit of the glitter again and the sweater fell from her shoulders and she saw a beautiful silky pink shirt. She felt like a true princess. The mirror pieced its way back together and she saw the man from the note make his wrongs right and then, Poof! The mirror disappeared and in her hand was another key.

Now with more confidence she continued on the path and came upon the roach once more. He was even smaller than before. It seems some weight had been taken from him. He said this third box was the final secret. 

She took in a deep breath and wrapped her heart in a hug and steadied her hands and she opened the third box. Inside there were a lot of notes. Endless notes. Notes started flying out everywhere. Each note was filled with lists of all the wrongs that had been done to each person in the kingdom. They were angry and sad, vengeful and regretful. The pain she felt as each paper sliced her skin was unbearable. It took all her strength, but she reached for her glitter once again and showered the notes in sparkle. One folded and flew away as a crane. Another turned into a heart, which melded into another heart. And another added a new chapter to its book and then Poof! All the notes disappeared and a third key appeared.

Now she looked to Resin and he appeared even smaller than before. She wondered what to do with the keys and he said, “Lay them out and let’s light a special fire and watch the smoke rise up with a prayer into the heavens.”

As the fire burned, the smoke rose and completely blanketed the sun. The whole forest was now the darkest place she’d ever been. Resin appeared to be losing his voice. He was trying to speak, but no sounds came and he got smaller and smaller and smaller. But his wings started working and he grabbed the keys and started lifting into the sky. She couldn’t see where he went, but then a strong wind came. All the smoke cleared and the brightest light she’d ever seen came over the day. She squinted her eyes and then a shadow covered her. As she blinked to see, the man from the sun stood in front of her. He looked at her with the greatest love she’d ever seen and she knew that Resin was able to fly to the sun and unlock the man. Both were now free. 

She looked to the side and Resin gave a nod and a wink in delight as he flittered by. The man from the sun reached for her hand and they stepped forward on a trail towards the lake. When they reached the edge, she dipped a toe in the water and the temperature was just right. Flowers bloomed all across the forest and she heard voices from the kingdom singing cheerful tunes. The man and the woman both entered the water, floated on their backs, looked up at the sky and enjoyed the light.

(Title created by Eva Vandenbergh. Background image for title generated by AI)