The Stringless Puppet.

As the puppet lay motionless on the road, He felt so lost. All his life, he had strings attached to him, going which ever way the strings pulled and dictated. Yet abruptly, He lost all his sight, vision, and his dreams. He looked up to where the strings used to be, yet all he saw was broken threads.

Throughout his life, he has never noticed what the strings were, but as he sat, he realized that the threads had tiny prints, words he has never realized were there. The words were broken, but he knew that if there were complete, it spelt Family, religion, Fear, Hope, happiness, sorrow.

He Thought to himself, “ I do not need these strings, these strings only made me move where they wanted to, it controlled my life.” As he looked around, he saw other puppets, moving as the string wished, and he let out a roar of laughter.

“Look at those fools!” He said, moving as the threads directed them to.

All of a sudden, The puppet master picked the string-less puppet up, and placed the puppet in his palm, facing him, and asked “ Why do you laugh? Do you feel happy that you have no strings to guide you along, while they do? Or do you feel sad that you have lost all that you have since you existed.”

“Look at all the other puppets.” The puppeteer said. “ Have you tried moving without your strings? Your strings were there to guide you, to help you along, without your strings, you would remain motionless, without a clear path, You would remain at your lowest until darkness devours you, and you would vanish, erased from the memories of those who loved you, who cared about you.”

The puppet felt so stupid, and looked sadly towards the land below. From high above, he saw threads binding the puppets together, seamlessly, invisible from the realm below, but it formed such an intricate pattern when seen from above, it seems to interweave, but it does not tangle.

The puppet asked “ What is that fine thread? Binding all of those puppet together”

The puppeteer replies “ That is called fate, it binds all of the puppets together, be it one way or another, the puppets are all connected through the fine string.”

And the puppet saw another strange thing, he saw a very fine metal string connecting groups of puppets, yet there seems to be something odd about those string.

The puppeteer knew what the puppet saw, and moved in towards the land below to let him have a closer look.

The puppet saw that the strings, ranged from the Purest white, So white it made him smile at the beauty of the string, and Some So dark, so black, so... Evil, That it made him revolt in disgust.

He asked the puppeteer what those strings were.

“ Those strings represent friendship, Whenever a friendship is formed, the string automatically binds them together, The Whitest string represents a pure, sincere friendship, one that is based on trust, selflessness and love, while the Darkest strings represent a friendship built on lies, greed and selfishness and hatred.

The color of these strings are determined at the lowest point of your life, When you hit rock bottom, and a person that helps you up, giving you everything, and aids you to the best of his abilities, yet expecting nothing in return, based on because he felt it was the right thing to do, Those are the true friendships.

Those people who at the lowest point at your life, say words to influence you, to drive your hatred, to harbor the thought of revenge, those who do nothing to help you, These people form the black strings.” Said the puppeteer”

Then at that very moment, the String-less puppet saw two puppets, start to quarrel.

The string connecting them seemed be heating up, as though it was being burned by an invisible force, eventually the string all but turned into liquid and all was lost between those two.

And then he saw another, yet this time, the string stretched for miles, and the puppet thought “ nothing could go wrong with this, as their friendship could not be liquidated by some petty quarrel or fights.”

He was right, the string was not melted by any heat. Yet, the string appears to freeze, So cold, that ice started forming on the thread. And in a gust of wind, the brittle thread broke into a thousand pieces, scattered into the air.

The Puppet looked at the puppeteer, horrified.

The puppeteer then said in a sorrowful voice” Friendship is a very strong yet fragile thing. Even the strongest metal can melt under high heat, and even the most resilient one can crack under extreme coldness, friendship is no difference.”

The puppet then asked “So if I do not quarrel nor ignore my friends, The friendship would last?”

The puppeteer roared with laughter and said” You are naive young one. Simply put, friends are like teabag, you wouldn’t know how strong are they until you put them in hot water. Conflicts between friends are common, its how they stick it though that makes their friendship stronger.”

The puppet was confused and said “What if I put my trust in someone, and he leaves me to drown in hot water?”

The puppeteer sighed and replies “And what if he doesn’t? In everyone, there is goodness in them, beneath the mask they wear for the world. Alone, they could never show the world who they are inside, it is up to the people around them to draw it out.”

The puppet still had so many questions, Countless, but the puppeteer knew, and said “I am tired now, if you still want more answers from me, Attach back the strings you have cut away, pick yourself up and find out the answers for yourself. To give you a head start, I have already connected one of your strings..

Belief.”