Queen Bee

In a farm not too far from the coast of the island, there was a young girl named Theresa. She was the most beautiful girl you could lay your eyes on. Her skin white as snow, her hair was long, black, and soft, she had piercing green eyes and the most stunning smile. You would swear she belonged in the biggest and charming castle. However, she worked on a farm with her dad, David. He was the roughest and toughest, always worked hard keeping his farm in check, and to protect his dearest daughter from her deadly allergy.

You see, David owned a bee farm. It was given down generation by generation, it was a huge honor for him to have the opportunity to have owned such a fantastic farm. However, the problem came in when Theresa was born. Not only because he had to raise Theresa by himself, but also because she was deathly allergic to a single bee sting. Or at least that’s what David thought. David dreamt about his daughter dying, by a single sting from a one of his worker bees. He would have recurring nightmares convincing him his daughter was deadly allergic. This fear led Theresa to live a very sad and lonely life stuck inside the house.

Separating honey from the wax, filling jars, making honeycomb, sweets, soaps anything you can imagine. This was a huge task as she was always busy with her honey. After years and years of practice Theresa would beg and plead for her dad to let her, at least step foot outside, to feel the fresh grass under her feet, the wind in her hair and the sun reflecting on her skin. Her father would always refuse, until one day, she decided to disobey her father for the first time in her life.

On a sunny morning in the spring air. David had to run out and get supplies for the house and his beehives. David left, kissing his daughter on the cheek on is way out. Theresa took her chance. She stood by the window watching as her father got on his horse and rode away to the merchant stalls. She climbed out the window that she had been picking the putty out of, specifically for this day. She sat on the window frame scared and nervous as she slowly put her toes on the grass outside, the sensation was new and weird, but she fell in love with the smell of all the flowers her dad had worked so hard to maintain. Theresa roamed around the farm until she saw the beehives, she stared at them, and grew a much deeper connection with her dad, as she could see what he loved about the farm so much. She walked closer to the hives, forgetting about her allergy, until there was a tiny voice saying, “Your Majesty, what are your orders?”

“Who’s there?!” Theresa screamed in fear. Her heart thudding in her chest she was scared, what was she to do but wait for a reply. The tiny voice responded in a confused tone, “Uh, your Majesty I’m down here... On your shoulder.” Theresa looks down at her shoulder and her heart drops, she suddenly remembers all about her allergy and runs back into the house not thinking twice. She sits on the floor and sighs; she looks up and sees the bee in front of her.

“Why did you catch such a fright my Queen, it was only me?“, the bee questioned Theresa.

“You can talk? I can actually, understand you. No ways? I’m going insane! Oh my, I’m talking to myself.” She says embarrassed with her head in her hand.

“Your Majesty, if you’d like to play hide and seek you can just ask, instead of hurting my feelings.”

“Okay, I’m sorry, why can I understand you? Why do you keep talking to me as if I am royalty?” Theresa questions, thinking that her mind is playing tricks on her from being locked up for so long.

“Because you are the next in line Queen bee, your mother won’t be alive much longer and we need you to help keep our hives up and running. We have been looking for you for years, your mother has been in a lot of pain trying to stay alive until we find you. We really need your help.”

“That’s not possible! My mother died after I was born there’s no way what you are saying is even true. And even if she was, she was definitely not a bee, and obviously I’m not either. I’m human, like my father.” Theresa starts to laugh as she realizes how crazy she sounds right now. Suddenly the front door slams open, leaving a huge noise, and ends the tea party. She looks up at her dad, he looks nervous and unsettled. She walks towards her dad and sees he’s not alone. There’s someone holding a shotgun towards him, ready to shoot if needed. And then there’s someone else, very big and bulky, someone you definitely don’t want to mess with. Theresa stands still. In shock. She doesn’t know what to do. She stares at her father waiting for him to give her instructions, but he looks down at the floor, his face full of regret.

“Dad? What’s going on?“, Theresa questioned cautiously.

The big thug turned and faced her, he scanned her appearance, soaking in the beauty standing in front of him. “Darling, your father here has been stealing supplies from us and we want our money for the products he stole.” He says aggressively glaring at David, “We caught your father around our tents again after we warned him about what would happen if we caught him again.”

“Well, how much does he owe you? And what supplies has he taken maybe you can take what we haven’t used.” Theresa looks down at her father, giving off a disappointed grin.

“Drugs darling.” Theresa shakes her head in disbelief, she walks to the medicine cupboard and pull out all the drugs that her father owns. The thug takes out a big bottle of vitamins, that looks tiny in his hands, he says, “This is it, your dad still owes us for the missing stock that he has been taking without our knowledge. Bring it to my tent tomorrow afternoon before the last merchant closes. Thank you for your help.” The two men leave quickly. Theresa follows and locks the door behind them. “Care to explain dad? Why would a pair of thugs get so angry about you stealing some silly vitamin gummies?” she looks down at her father, still sitting on the floor. He shakes his head in disbelief of what had just happened.

“Theresa, its time I told you the truth. Those weren’t vitamin gummies. You and your mother suffer from some sickness, your mother used to talk to things that weren’t actually there. She would always say that she’s the queen bee and have full on conversation with bees as if they understood exactly what she was saying. When you were younger, you used to have conversations to things that weren’t there. I got worried and spent time trying to find people to help you. The people here thought your mother was insane. Its why I don’t let you out, this world is a brutal place and I’d rather you not sit and dwell on the rumors around town. I didn’t want you to think of your mother as crazy, because even if she was, I loved her with everything. I wanted to protect you.” A tear falls down his face as he finishes, “I hope you can forgive me.” Theresa takes a deep breath trying to compose herself for what she was about to say.

“It was not your choice, I could’ve handled the pain, the rumors, you could’ve been here and helped me through all of it, instead you decide to be cowardly, and hurt me even more. I’m a big girl now father, you need to understand I’m not a baby anymore!” She’s starting to scream at her father, trying so hard not to break in front of him. “I have the money he needs if you don’t, I will be going to fix your mess, and you have no say in what I do anymore.” David nods in agreement.

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Theresa stands outside in the moonlight, her bare feet soaking in the wet grass, she can smell the moist soil. She closes her eyes and tries to think about todays events. She knows she is no longer taking the vitamins; she would be lying to herself if she said she wasn’t even slightly worried about ending up “crazy” like her mother. She takes another deep breath and falls to the ground, she lies on her back, eyes closed. This might be the first time she feels like her true self. Suddenly her friend appears once again. “Your Majesty, what are your orders?”

Theresa doesn’t even flinch. All she says is, “You’re not real, you’re just my imagination.” She’s calm, collected, and free. The bee responds, “If I were, why would you be summoning me? Surely if you knew I wasn’t real you could just make me leave and never come back. But you don’t. Maybe because you don’t want me too. Maybe you want a friend.”

Theresa responds, still relaxed and calm. “Maybe I do, all I’ve even known is the four walls that surround me and never questioned a single aspect of my life. Maybe I want you here to show me how I need to live, to show me how to be normal. Even if it does label me as crazy, can you judge me? Being lied to, drugged and held hostage for all these years by my own father.” The cloud drift away, revealing the stars in the sky. Its beautiful, memorable, peaceful. “Why would he hide me from this?” She looks up at the sky, her heart hurts. A tear falls down her face as she squeezes her eyes closed. Theresa is lost for words; she knows what needs to be done. And she is willing to do anything and everything she can, to find a way to have a normal life.

The next morning, Theresa goes out and helps her dad with his hives. He hesitates looking straight ahead, bows his head in shame, and proceeds to teach his daughter the ins and outs of beekeeping.

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After working all day with her dad in the scorching sun, Theresa begins to get ready to drop of the cash David owes the big thug merchant. She draws herself a bath. The bath smells of honey and roses, it looks like a milk bath made for a queen. She slowly climbs into the bath, takes a deep, relaxing breath. The chest seeps lower into the bathtub and she starts to relax and forgets about all her problems. She closes her eyes for a mere second, before she hears a buzzing sound. Theresa brushes off this sound as it might be her little bee friend visiting her again. She feels a tingling sensation on her shoulder, she reaches to scratch it, thinking it’s her hair.

“Ow!” Theresa shouts. Hurrying out the bathtub she runs to the closest mirror to see what happened. She had her very first bee sting. Draping a towel around her she rushes to her room to figure out how to deal with this, without her dad knowing. Taking out the stinger, she feels relieved. Nothing seems to be wrong and she seems to be completely fine. She gets dressed and heads to the merchants’ stall.

After some time, she reached the stall where the big thug-like merchant is. The merchant makes eye contact with Theresa and waves his arm calling her over. As she begins to walk with her horse towards the stall, she starts to feel dizzy...

Back at the house, David is cleaning up and preparing for dinner. He walks into the bathroom needing to dehydrate his body. He notices Theresa did not empty the tub. Then leans over to pull the plug, when he sees a dead bee floating in the water. David drops his mouth and bolts out the house and runs to the merchants’ stall. As David arrives, he sees that Theresa is perfectly fine and standing, he sighs in relief. She turns around and looks at him, he smiles at her. She fell to the floor. David’s heart is pounding through his chest, he can feel his blood rushing through his body as he rushes towards her, pushing anyone and everyone out his way. He picks her up by the head, tears streaming down his face in such agony. He feels as though his heart has been ripped out of his body. He screams letting out the anger and regret he feels inside.

He brings her home, places Theresa on her bed. Goes down on two knees and prays, before getting up and continues to clean to distract himself.

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After some time, he goes back into his daughters’ room and finds that her body is no longer there. All he comes back too see is the body outline of her on the bed and a bee. He stares at the bee, tears falling down his face again. He looks up to the heavens and says, “Please protect her, like you protect my wife.” The bee flies across the room and hovers in front of David, he holds out his hand. The bee rests there, David unlocks the house, takes the bee outside and lets it fly away. “What a queen you’ll be, Theresa.”