the writers in comma

Today, I'll tell you a tale that every artist and writers knows. Even though we might not know from which book or in which text it comes from. The Thing that we do know is that six friends lived together in a concrete jungle. 

Creepers crawled over buildings and flowers bloomed through what once were windows. Animals had permanant addresses and  mountains of skyscrapers as adventure parks. The streets showing earth through broken cracks were their walkways, the shops lined with moss their caves, the sky was painted in colours of wonder and fishes swam through once sewage system. 

Land, Air and water pollution were eradicated from the planet. Noise pollution still existed and a popular topic for concrete elections. All the animals lived peacefully and with a never seen before togetherness. 'Time does touches everyone and it changes everything' was sketched over veins bursting with magic.

Within this magical place, six mates lived with freedom. They did what their mind said and they went where their hearts lead. All through nights and days. Now, how many nights and how many days we might not know for sure but the thing that we do know is that they met under the magic trees on the sound of the rain pouring on the purple days.

Dog would run and open the gate first. Rat would be second dashing from its hole. Next would come goat climbing down from her mountain while the dragon would fly above teasing her out of habit. Next, would come the snake slow and steady while monkey would be hanging inside with tales of new adventures.

They looked like an awkward bunch of various sounds, shapes and sizes sitting around a crackling fire but what bind them together was the pitter patter of the rain, the lighting, the thunder and the passion of writing.

Their love to share stories always seemed to win over the hands of the clock and the numbers on calendar. Everytime it poured, they would gather to share the stories they have written over the time and decided the next topic before the skies cleared out.

"Um-"  said Dog to start the gathering. 

Snake's story had opened up a portal to debate which had brough their views more varied than their existence upon the table. It was not an inch less brutal than a war while surviving that chaos and not take scares back home was a battle in its own. Yet, they won each time.

"So, what will be our next topic?" Dog said, "How about this debate itself-"

"No" Snake interrupted 

"Why?" 

"I'm done with it,"

"How about love?" Rat suggested

"Just love, isn't that too simple?" Dragon asked

"How about love beyond dimensions? The story would change with every minor decisions as they would make a different choice on the same thing in different dimensions?"

Monkey suggested

"They can barely love in this world how can they fall each time in others?" Dog snorted

"How about we go beyond the barrier of animals," Goat suggested

"So, beyond romantic and beyond animals. Love beyond love."

"Would take time to understand that but okay. Ya'll agree so" Dragon said

"You don't seem alright, is something wrong?" Goat asked to Rat, who looked to have caught the weather.

"It is some kind of book allergy, I'll be alright,"

"It could be the from that vintage one we shared," Dog interrupted 

"Just take care everyone," snake said without looking back.

The rendezvous ended with promise to meet again. They all trudged towards home with meteor shower of thoughts inside their brain. Some made a light landing, others exhausted before even showing themselves and yet none of them made a memorable impact. 

________

Next day, the dog woke up to a bright morning and saw that next three weeks are going to have a beautiful clear weather. 

In first week, he decided to go to library and read about the physical, psycological and sociological effects of love. He even tried to read old Y/A novels but each sentence made staying awake and turning pages harder. By the end of the week he had memorised the important matters of every book to the words and had a second hand practical experience through the chapters of y/a novel.

For the second week, As he was well versed on love, he decided to meet with his sparrow friends and ask their thoughts about love beyond love itself. They all told him about their choices, wishes and fantasies. He advised them to be more safe and wish for something romantically fruitful. 

After all his research, he finally sat down with perfect stationery needed to write a good story in the most comfortable and artistic corner of his room. He angled his hand and made a beautiful calligraphy only to stop on the first line. 

With his hand hovering over the first line he waited for his thoughts to start forming a picture. The sun sat down in front of his eyes and the dawn broke through the horizon. But his head remained empty of pictures. 

Losing balance from soreness he hit his head on the desk, "I must have acquired an allergy from that book as well, I need to lay down." He declared.

_______

On the other side of the town-

The three weeks seemed like a long enough time, so Goat decided to visit the dragon's cave for some brainstorming over cup of scales coffee.

She started to climb the mountain with familiar sturdy steps. Her breathing in a monotonous rhythm helped her focus more. "I am getting closer to the world of ideas with each step I take," She hypnotised her brain on the rhythm of her breaths.

The sun smiled above goat's head and on his way down he saw Dog hanging around with cute little bluebirds. 

Before the noon of week two, Goat reached Dragon's home with an empty stomach and an emptier head. But peace was on her side and that was always a plus point.

Dragon welcomed her inside to a messy kitchen. Goat found a place in between the table top and Dragon offered her to take any snacks she found surrounding her as she made her famous scales coffee.

For the week two, they decided to sort Dragon's house together and exchange some worthy ideas. They dusted, they brushed, they swept and they mopped every place worthy of calling a part of her home. 

And on the final week, they cosied up in a sparkling kitchen with pieces of cake as reward for the hardwork but the drawers of ideas were as squeaky clean as the home itself. 

____

The dragon was determined to write asap so she can have plenty of time to edit her piece but her desk needed a clean up. After she had cleaned out her desk and reorganised it. She went to wash the duster only to find dirty laundry. 

She washed all the clothes and watched them sun dry. Folded them in pretty piles (of course according to colour). The piles looked so pretty that she decided to wash her other clothes as well. Between the washing she remember her bed sheets and decided to wash them as well. After all the washing and cleaning of her room. She settled into her beautiful home smelling heavenly of lavender. 

Every surface sparkled and colours seemed bright. They seemed so bright that they were almost blinding. She decided to take her parade to the kitchen. 

She wrote some points to consider for the story and decided to make some coffee before proceeding. She hummed a song hitting the perfect notes and fiddled through drawers. For some reason they felt uncomfortable in the way they were organised. She sat down to write but couldn't get the uncomfortable feeling out of her head. She stared from taking everything out in open and wished to complete it asap.

With week two came goat and her pleasantly irritating thoughts. She helped her throughout in exchange of some of her brain cells, but dragon had to admit she enjoyed every moment of it. 

For the week three, determined to write. They decided to take a nap and get rid of exhaustion. In between of eat and sleep they wrote, rewrote and discarded varied versions of same story. 

"We might have caught the allergy," goat said tucking dragon in the bed and sliding undercover herself.

_______

Monkey has a strong set of principles and his motto in life is to let go of your banana but never let go your principals. One such belief he has is that opportunities doesn't knock your bark, you've to go out and get it for yourself. 

Hence, before the dawn of first week he took his bag with essentials such as a book, pen, camera and fruits. All ready to find a new story or two. 

He was seen climbing mountains and jumping from trees to trees. he was seen hanging out with locals of different cities and observing their circadian. He was witnessed lazing near rivers and buying cupcakes from tiny shops hidden away in dark alleys. He was seen running, jumping, tumbling, dancing, playing, debating, defending, preventing, curing, cursing, and living until he vanished into another unknown  adventure.

_______

Rat walked around in comfy clothes with a cup of cheesy tea. He coughed a little here and sneezed a little there but ideas doesn't seem to form a picture yet. 

He saw pretty weather, flowers blooming and jungle bustling with energy but he couldn't help and stay under his velvety blankets. 

All through the weeks, he caught up on his reading, he did some free writing and dipped into new styles and patterns of writing. He scribbled, he drew, he pasted, he made, he discarded and redesigned. He tried everything that could keep him busy during his time at home.

Apart from that, he would go out once a week to meet Dr Mickey and get his load of  groceries. He devoured coffee shots and eat fondues. He gave himself the freedom to do whatever he wants and yet time and again he found himself gazing at animals running to places they need to be at.

Rat never knew that getting to do all you need, should and want can be tiring as well.

_______

Lastly, Our Snake laid near his door, his tail hitting his bed and head gazing the grass. He stayed there when Dog ran to library and he stayed there when Goat tried to climb the mountain. He stayed there and heard Dragon was cleaning her place and Monkey was making yet again a ruckus in some street. 

Then he moved. He readjusted his head a little more inside so he can rest his tail upon his bed. After which, He stayed there when Rat flipped through books and he stayed there when others stared into space waiting for an idea to erupt. 

Then he heard about the allergy from bees flying by and he wondered the chances of him catching that. The thinking was long and it tired him out so he decided to take a nap until he is no more sleepy.

_______

The rain came again and with that came Monkey. Pages of his book were empty but his treasure of stories was bursting nevertheless. 

Rat made his away to magic tree next, his face covered with mask and pages painted in blue lettering. 

Others decided to skip this time and stay at home. Their head said to not go and breath comfortably. Saving themselves the embarrassment of reaching the place with an empty page. While, their heart stopped them as it knew the pain of breaking up from your characters and didn't wished to have more victims of this deadly disease. 

Mostly, they feared the death of stories. The horror of a world limited to world itself. Horror of not being able to make meaningless talks, thoughts and scenarios meaningful for someone lost in between of this concrete jungle. 

They wanted to mourn the loss of need to keep lights on for a few more minutes after bedtime, the loss of the chance to complete a story and wrapping yourself in the warmth of the scribbles across the pages.

For is a life lived if we don't have stories to share?