Tumbleberrie's Arc

Chapter 6 of 6

Tumbleberrie woke up on pageant day with a crack in one of their flowers. The pink petal hung loose, barely attached to the bloom. They touched it gently, and it fell onto their pink sweater. Panic shot through their body. The judges would see this. Everyone would notice. They practiced their poses in the mirror, but the gap in their flower crown looked wrong from every angle. The missing petal made them look unprepared and messy. Tumbleberrie sat down hard on the floor. All the practice and learning felt useless now. How could they win when they weren't even whole? They needed answers. Tumbleberrie grabbed their gardening kit and headed into the desert to clear their head. The tall rock formation came into view, the one that cast deep shade across the sand. Desert flowers grew thick around its base. Tumbleberrie walked into the shadow and sat down. That's when they spotted the broken watering can half-buried in the dirt. The metal was dented and scratched, like someone had stomped on it. Tumbleberrie picked it up and turned it over. This was the same kind they used at home. They looked closer at the ground and found crushed flower petals scattered near the rock. Someone had been here recently, damaging equipment and flowers on purpose. The crack in their own bloom suddenly made sense. This wasn't an accident. Someone had sabotaged them before the pageant. Tumbleberrie dropped the broken can and walked back toward town. They had no proof, no time to fix their flower, and no idea who had done this. The pageant started in three hours, and they looked damaged and unprepared. Tumbleberrie walked past the Hall of Fame on their way home. They stopped at the wall covered in dried brown ivy. The plants clung to the stone in delicate patterns, but the leaves had turned brittle and dead. Someone had planted these seasons ago to celebrate a win. Now they just hung there, forgotten and fading. Tumbleberrie touched one leaf and it crumbled in their hand. Even the champions from before had lost their shine. Their gardens grew messy. Their decorations died. Victory didn't last forever, and sometimes it didn't come at all. Tumbleberrie stepped back from the wall and looked down at their pink sweater. The fallen petal rested in their hand like a tiny failure. They walked home slowly, knowing they would show up to the pageant looking broken. The sabotage had worked. Someone else would win today. On the path back, Tumbleberrie spotted a large cactus lying on its side. The plant had toppled over, its body surrounded by wild desert flowers and tangled growth. Nobody had tended this cactus in a long time. Its arms sprawled in different directions, covered in blooms that grew wherever they wanted. The whole thing looked messy and out of control. Tumbleberrie stared at it and thought about their missing petal. At least they still stood upright. At least their flowers still had shape and purpose. This fallen cactus reminded them what happened when you gave up completely. Tumbleberrie touched their sweater and felt the empty spot where the petal had been. They turned toward home with two hours left before the pageant. Maybe broken was better than not showing up at all.