Anthology

Once upon a time there was a lonely ant. He'd got lost from the colony where he worked. The ant had everything an ant could ever want ...and more. The colony grew and progress was fast, though the ant was troubled as he could not understand his instinctive urges. One night he wandered alone beyond the leaves, these leaves diminishing by the day but necessary for the colony survival. The lonely ant had no plan, and met a pretty ladybird in the distant grasses.

“Where are you going?” asked the ladybird.

“I don't know.” answered the ant with an air of melancholy.

“I'm going there too.” decided the ladybird.

The ladybird had always been a solitary creature, unlike the ant who had been part of a larger society. And the ladybird was admired for it's pretty appearance, compared to the ant that was labelled as a pest. On first impressions they were very different.

The ant and ladybird set off in no particular direction, through the long grasses until they came across a clearing of loosely packed soil. A worm popped up and seemed to take measure of the two insects that had stopped in it's wake.

“Where are you going?” asked the worm.

“We don't know.” replied the ant and ladybird in unison.

“I'm going there too.” decided the worm.

The ant, the ladybird and the worm set off in no particular direction. After a while they came across a neatly trimmed patch of land with luscious green bushes, fertile ground, a perfect home for the worm, plants for the ladybird and leaves for the ant.

“Heaven!” they all exclaimed at once. “This is where we shall make our home” the ant declared. For weeks the ant, the ladybird and the worm lived in paradise, away from the threats of the wild. This was what we didn't know thought the ant.

One day a shadow cast over the worm as it was disturbed and lifted from the ground. It was placed in a plastic container and after some time removed. Then a spiked hook pierced it's body followed by a splash as it submerged in a river. After a while of suffering the initial cruelty, the worm was dead, snapped by a fish as it had served it's purpose and the fish reeled in.

A week later the ladybird was settled on a leaf that became detached from the main stalk of a plant. It found itself in a jar, it's wings useless as a lid with holes prevented any escape. A pair of eyes observed the jar and occasionally opened it to replace the leaves. The ladybird was now a prisoner of the God like figure that had plucked it from Heaven.

Now the ant, who had started the journey into the unknown, and found the apparent utopia. While grazing one day the ant was disturbed by a bitter taste. As the day progressed the ant was finding it difficult to move and it's insides were melting, like a poison. It must have been that spray the Gods had treated the plants with yesterday. It wasn't long before the ant was dead.

The Garden of Eden the ant, the ladybird and the worm had discovered was not Heaven. It was a garden that was curated and manufactured with no connection to nature. This was the preferred environment of the human Gods and Heaven was a cruel deception.