Walking now, Honey came upon the bee hive that meant so much to her. The bees were no where to be seen. It was past the bedtime for both the bees and for Honey. All 50 thousand or so of the bees were huddled in their hive resting and keeping warm preparing for another day of work. Honey stopped and, for a moment, marveled at the wonder of these little creatures. Thousands of individuals with a singular purpose: to ensure the good health of the hive. Her family of only four certainly couldn’t manage that! She doubted any family could. But bees can, and do. Not just this hive, but every hive around the world and every hive that ever lived! She envied the bees their companionship and security. The bees softly buzzing in the hive never betray their sisters and always work as a team. Honey crouched down and moved slowly towards the hive, careful not to disturb the sticks that obscure the bees’ secret home, lest the hive becomes overturned by her carelessness. Oh god, that would be terrible.
Honey sat as close as she dared. She took a deep breath through her nose so that she could take in the smell of the hive. Its a sweet honey smell mixed in with smell of a morning walk through the wooded park after a rain. Its so hard to describe, she’s tried in her journal, but Honey thinks that if love had a smell, this would be it. She leaned against a tree, listening to the hum of the hive. Deep in the park it drowned out the faint noise of the city. The sound reminded her of the white noise maker that mostly lived in the closet. Dad says it used to be the only way he and Mom could get Honey to sleep through the night. - Mom. Was she like the family’s queen bee? Without her the hive floundered. Now there’s a new queen bee, Justine. Maybe Bea is trying to be the new queen. Erik is a good for nothing drone. That makes sense. But what does that make Honey? a worker? What is she working for? Not for Erik and Bea, that’s for sure! Yea, her hive is definitely still queenless. She and her sisters will need to start building queen cells in the morning to usher in the arrival of the new queen...all hail the queen...Honey bowed.
“Wait, what?” Honey mumbled as she suddenly righted herself from a precarious slump. She wiped her face and checked her phone for the time. It was later than she thought. Did she just have some weird bee dream? Well, whatever, she better get back and try to make things right with Bea.
Honey was surprised to get home and find all the lights off except the porch light. Bea better not have left the house! Never mind that Honey stormed out, that was different. On the other hand, If Bea and Erik were making out in the dark, that might be worse. Honey was afraid she might puke.
As she walked up the front steps, Honey pulled her key off her neck. It was connected to a locket that had a picture of she and her mother when Honey was about 3. The locket, and thus her key, were with her always. The door was unlocked. Strange. The door locks automatically unless you set the lock to do otherwise. In a rare display of thoughtfulness, did Bea leave the door unlocked for her? Did that mean that Bea wasn’t home?
“Bea?” Honey softly called as she walked into the living room. No response. She flipped the light switch. Just an empty couch and a mostly empty bowl of popcorn from their earlier movie watching. Honey tip toed down the hall and stopped outside Bea’s room. She carefully pressed her ear against the door and held her breath. If Bea was in there, she was definitely sleeping. Honey gingerly turned the knob, opened the door slightly and peeked in. Just an empty room. “Bea!” Honey growled. She didn’t want to fight with Bea anymore so she tried not to get angry, but it was no use. Her rage boiled to the surface. With no one to vent it on, she slammed Bea’s door. Something clattered off a shelf. “Hah!” Honey thought, “I hope whatever that was, it’s broken!” God, now she was acting like a baby.
Honey stormed upstairs stomping all the way even though there was no one to notice how angry she was. She walked into her room, careful not to slam the door. What should she do? She couldn’t call Dad, that would put her hive at risk.
She pulled out her phone, it said it was ll:25 pm. She texted: WHERE R U!!!!!
(to be continued...)
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