A small act of kindness transforms a chance encounter with a dying creature into a testament to resilience. Cai Quirk writes of compassion that transcends origin or form. Read it now on Written Tales, and submit your own stories that unearth what lies beneath the surface.
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I found a being in the woods shriveled and left there to die no water no food no sanctuary maggots had begun to multiply I took this being upon my back not knowing eir origins or kind but kindness is a human trait I couldn’t leave em behind resilience gleamed in the teary gaze as ey turned eir face to mine far beyond defeat or fear eyes with a steely shine releasing the harm internalized as tears fell like rain cleansing renewing purifying no longer surviving in vain I nourished this being back to health ey began to flourish and thrive a rich green aura came from within bringing em vibrantly alive green rays shone from eir very core as into eir power ey grew freed from the lies ey once was told of auras only pink or blue but then when ey returned to this world with hopes it would now be benign few others could see beyond two colors and eir shine began to decline ey came back to me for shelter once more and together we agreed to try to create a culture both free and kind where no color would live a lie and so we began to build and to plan inviting the others we found to bring their colors of every shade to this place of common ground we built a community so welcoming that soon others wanted to come even pinks and blues that once were cruel were no longer quite so troublesome so instead of fighting our way to the top in a world that hated our souls our new way of living brought others to join leaving behind their rigid controls and soon their systems fell apart but nobody cared anymore with these new ways where all were free people’s truths began to restore and so my dear this is how the once shriveled being and I formed a vision beyond pink and blue and helped the world to unify
✍️ About the Authors
Cai Quirk is a genderqueer/fluid multi-disciplinary artist who focuses on the intersections of gender diversity, mythology, nature, and storytelling. Throughout this piece Cai uses the neutral pronouns ey/em/eirs. Ey/em pronouns were created in 1975 by Christine Elverson as another option for gender neutral pronouns besides they/them/theirs which have been used as singular and plural pronouns even by Shakespeare. You can view more of Cai’s work at https://caiquirk.com
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