ImagineTale

The Child

(Image drawn by me)

There once was a child. A small child who lived in an orphanage in a small, forgotten town in a country that no one ever thought about.

The child was always lonely, always sitting underneath a tree in the courtyard of the orphanage, staring longingly at all the other little children who smiled and played and were adopted, none of which ever happened to the poor lonely child.

No one would spare a glance at the child. No one ever approached them and offered them a spot in their game, no one ever asked if they were lonely, no one ever started a game of tag with the child.

The child doubted they even knew they existed.

One evening as the child sat underneath their tree with their drawing supplies and a few sheets of paper, they noticed one of the children being taken away with their new parent. Tears formed in the child's eyes as they saw the happy smile on the adoptee, and the even bigger smile on the adopter.

The child looked away and began to think. What would their parent look like? They pictured a big woman like their caretaker, with a big warm smile and soft doughy eyes. Arms always open for comfort in hugs and mittens always present on their hands for their baking. She would speak with a soft but bold voice and would walk with a commanding yet elegant grace. The perfect mother for the child.

Without realizing the child had drawn their fantasies on their drawing paper, exactly how they pictured in their mind. But their was something slightly off about it.

It looked like some sort of animal.

The child knew they weren't very gifted in the art category, especially on humans, but they never expected to be this inexperienced.

The child thought for awhile. If they couldnt draw a human, then their imaginary mother will just have to be a loving animal! Animals loved their young, even more than humans loved theirs! So surely this new animal mother would love the child with all of their heart.

But which animal loved their children the most? The child thought and thought until their mind stumbled on a memory of a documentary their caretaker was watching. If they recalled correctly, it was on goats. Surely goats loved their young!

And so the child set to work, erasing the human like features of the drawing and instead replacing them with cartoony goat parts. Once finished, the child looked at the drawing and looked with pride, convinced that this was their best creation yet. Now she just needed an amazing, mothering name.

Toriel.