Chapter 5

It takes them several hours of walking to reach the end of the forest, but eventually they do. As the sun is starting to fall, a valley opens up before them and off in the distance is a town.

"Well, there it is. The town of Turmoil." says Leo.

"It is gray!"

"It isn't always gray. It is only gray when somebody is feeling bad about himself or herself. Sometimes it is the color of the rainbow, but then the town is called Giggles." clarifies Hugs.

"Giggles?" laughs Lacey.

"Yep!" says Charlie. "You see, how we are feeling inside affects our perception of things. How we see things. When people are happy, things seem pretty. When somebody is hurting they often only see ugliness, and that is why it is so easy for them to bully other people."

"Oh," says Lacey, stopping to think about that. She pulls out her pen and writes this in her new tablet. "I wonder what is hurting Beulah? Am I pretty and kind because I've been treated prettily with kindness? Hmm, I'll have to think about that some more."

"You ready, babygirl?" asks Leo.

Lacey looks up at her knight-in-shining-armor and quickly nods her head. She can't wait to learn more.

"We should be there just after nightfall," says Charlie.

Lacey takes Leo's hand. Lacey is beginning to understand that nobody can hurt her when Leo is around. She is also beginning to learn that she has the power about how she responds to other people's actions. It is still important to understand the world can be very cold and cruel, and you should not put yourself into dangerous situations unnecessarily.

When they get to the town, the streets are deserted and everything is glowing orange from the torches that are hanging everywhere for light. It is a little spooky, so Lacey takes a tighter grip on Leo's hand.

They begin to walk through the town of buildings made of wood on streets made of soil. As they go along, Lacey starts to see that this town is actually very pretty with all the flowers, but even they are drooping like they are sad.

Even though it is barely past dark, the only people they see are people who are peeking out their windows from behind closed curtains to make sure nobody is looking their way, which could signal rising trouble.

A chilling wind starts to blow, and on it an eerie howling sound begins. As they continue to walk, the sound of the wind turns to more of a moaning sound as if a ghost is trying to warn them of coming danger.

Just then they hear a great roar. The bully desires to intimidate any who would even think to stand up to him or her. Lacey is a very smart girl so she asks, "Leo?"

"Yes, Lacey."

"If this place is called Kindness, then why are there bullies here?"

"That is a very good question, dear. It is also a very complex question. I will do my best to explain it. First of all you have to understand nature. Nobody is all good and nobody is all bad. Good people do bad things and then feel sorry about it. To assume a bad person is all bad is to be unfair, short-sighted and quite frankly cowardly.

"We all started out as blank slates, and our experiences and the type of people around us help us grow into an individual. Ultimately, we are responsible for who we become. How we respond to outside influences and how we let people affect us. But you have to understand life's cycles to fully grasp it. What I mean by that is in the same way our moods affects our perceptions; our moods that can be affected by our natural cycles can also affect how something affects us.

"If you are in a good mood, something somebody says or does may not bother you. But if you are in a bad mood or a sad mood, what they say and do could hurt your feelings. Maybe even if they are not trying to. What was funny and okay to you yesterday, may not be funny and okay with you tomorrow. Remember we must continue to grow and learn new things, or we risk becoming weak and stale.

"I'm not sure if I am explaining this correctly for a little girl. What I'm so poorly trying to say, is even though everybody in the magical realm of Kindness have good hearts, that doesn't mean they are always going to be in a good mood. That is also why just because somebody is a bully now, that doesn't mean they can't be shown some compassion and understanding. So just maybe what's hurting them in the first place starts to heal, and then they won't feel the need to build themselves up by bringing other people down.

"Is this helping at all?"

Lacey looks up at him with a confused look on her face. Hugs tries to explain. "The Earth has weather cycles. Winter, spring, summer, fall, with hot days or rainy days. A flower has a life cycle. It grows, sprouts into a pretty flower and then dies. It is the same for people. It is the same for people's emotions and even actions, I guess. This is very hard to understand and I am proud of you for trying.

"Think of a cycle as a circle with different points of your personality, growth, experiences and so on, along the way of the circle being completed. Let's say somebody hurts your feelings. Whether you realize it or not, your mind is already looking for a way to make yourself feel better.

"Take a bully, for example, if somebody is mean to him or her they feel bad about themselves. That is called a trigger. Then to make themselves feel better they pick on somebody else. But because they are not naturally mean they feel bad about it, even if it is on a subconscious level, and that starts the whole cycle over again. Understand?"