"Are you sure you want to hear that story?" the man asked as his brows crinkled. It looked like he was hesitant on telling the story again to his daughter for a moment. After glancing at his daughter's face, he sighed. "Okay, for you. But in exchange, please try to rest before your surgery alright?"
"Okay, dad..." the girl mumbled as she adjusted her body.
'A story about a snail? Why a snail?' I questioned myself as if I knew that I had the answer locked within me somewhere but I couldn't find it or I had somehow forgotten about it. But as I thought about the question deeply, the man began telling his story.
...
"In a world that was different from ours, lived strange creatures that lived and worshiped the sun. Every day, yellow and warm light would wash down upon the world from the heavens and the creatures would bask in its light. As time passed, the creatures slowly changed. No longer were they hues of green or blue. No longer did they blaze red or bright orange. They were yellow. Bright yellow. Yellows were the plants and trees, the waters were dyed yellow... it was a world of yellow."
"Not only were the bodies of the inhabitants of the yellow world stained yellow. So were their souls and their personalities. Bright and cheerful the world was without strife or pain and so were it's residents... well all of them except for a very special individual... Something was out of place. Different from other's she wasn't yellow but blue..."
"She was a blue snail. The only blue creature and the only snail." the man said as his daughter's faint voice mirrored his as she muttered as well.
"The blue snail was special. Her whole body was blue and that included her blue shell. It was like the creator of the world decided that a monopoly of colour wasn't the solution and a dash of blue was the answer. And so it became true. A dot of blue lost in a world of yellow."
"Everyday the residents of the forest would rise out of their burrows, shelters, nests or wherever they had spent the night before with the rising yellow light."
"Praise the yellow, they would shout out and cheer. Then they would pray for another day without fear. For them, life was easy. Nothing was hard to come by and they deformed to a cheerful mess of love and hugs. Herbivores had their yellow plants to eat and those that ate meat easily found a friend that offered themselves for them to eat. Life was just as simple as that."
"Similar to the other creatures, the blue snail would rise from her shell and look out at the world."
"Why are they so cheerful when all I can feel is sadness? She would ask as she watched the whole world prance in the sunlight."
"Why are they yellow and why am I blue. Why I'm so different? She would wonder as she looked at herself."
"Every morning she would try to take a bite out of a yellow leaf only to throw it back up. Sighing, she would dig into the yellow ground for brown roots to eat. Something that wasn't yellow, in the world of covered in yellow."
"She was a blue snail in a yellow world. She didn't belong and she knew it and they knew it as well - the other creatures."
"Come and play with us! the others would shout at her from the distance - her blue setting herself apart from the yellow."
"Really me, you don't mind that I'm blue? she would ask."
"Of course, you're always welcome to join us! the yellow creatures would answer and thus the blue snail tried to play together with the yellow creatures."
"Days passed by as the blue snail tried to learn their games."
"Hop over me! one of the yellow creatures would call out and the blue snail would try to comply. But couldn't... she was a snail."
"Chase me! another one would call out to her..."
"I'm coming she would answer, but the snail was just too slow to catch up. Without legs and couldn't fly, she couldn't even slide forward quickly, how could she chase?"
'Why am I a snail? She would question herself. Why do I even try? she would ask right after. "In which case, she would tell the other creatures that she couldn't play with them and she gave up."
"We'll think of another game that you can play for tomorrow, the other creatures would reply and nod as they giggled and went to play amongst themselves."
"Everyday they would invite her to play and every day she would decline and instead watch them play without her. She didn't fit in. She was a snail. A blue snail in a yellow world."
"Why was I even born? She would continue to ask herself as she watched the other creatures play."
"Why can't don't I just go and offer myself as lunch to one of them, like a good pal? That way, my existence may be useful, she suggested to herself as she shook her head. As time passed, her mind became plagued by more and more saddening ideas. But the ideas were true to her and were a true reflection of who she was. She wasn't a cheerful yellow but painted gloomy blue. She wasn't optimistic, but pessimistic. She was blue - a blue snail."
"As the days passed her by and she grew older, same did her clouded mind. She began to hate the cheerful world around her, but more so herself."
"And one day she decided that it was time. She couldn't wait anymore, nor think about it."
"Gathering her courage she knew that it was time."
"It was time to die."
"And so, she offered herself as a meal to the yellow creatures that had first invited her to play with them."
"Are you sure? the yellow creature asked - the same one that asked her to play with her for the first time years before. Yes. She replied. It's time."
"And so she was eaten."
"A blue mixed with a yellow."
"A sprout of green." the man finished as he leaned back in his chair, it creaked as he did.
...
"Hey dad..." the girl mumbled weakly after a few minutes.
"Yes...?"
"What... what do you think the point of the story is?"
"I think it's to teach you about the importance of mental care. You see the blue snail had a lot of issues fitting in because she just didn't and she decided that dying as the only solution to her pain."
"I... don't think that's true." his daughter replied as her eyes cracked open and she glanced at the sagging face of her father.
"Oh?"
"I think that she knew that... that the world was missing something. A world of yellow... and she was the only dash of blue. She... she was what the world was missing and deep down she knew that dad... the whole time she wasn't thinking about herself. Her mind wasn't plagued... plagued by horrid thoughts, but thoughts of saving her friends who were cheerfully prancing around with no care. Just because you're sad all the time... doesn't mean you would want to end your own life. And just like an ideal cheerful world... I... I think won't be the best world to be in."
"I guess that's true. True life is full of strife and that's how we get better and further ourselves."
"Yeah, and I think the author knew that... when he or she ended the story with the line. A blue mixed with a yellow - a sprout of green... I'm sure... the blue snail sacrificed herself."
"I guess that is one way of looking at it..." the man replied. Chuckling he continued. "I'm surprised that you have such a mature way of looking at things."
"Of course..." his daughter mumbled as she closed her eyes once more. ".... I wish I can... be a snail..." she said as she drifted off into a deep slumber.
Noticing that his daughter had fallen asleep, the man bent over and kissed his daughter on the forehead. "Get some rest, everything will be back to normal after your surgery," he mumbled as he pulled back and slumped into his chair - falling asleep at her bedside.
...