They’re beautiful, aren’t they? Hundreds of little yellow specks flickering in the summer night like stars. I was always fascinated with things like this as a kid. I was seven at the time I first discovered them. My parents would finally let me stay outside past 9:30. My excuse, of course, was to go outside and catch fireflies so I could use them for nightlights when I went to bed.
I waited all day for the sun to crawl back under the horizon. With a jar and fly net in hand, I was ready for my first official night of firefly hunting. It took a while for the lights to start appearing, but they did, quiet abruptly. I was having a blast, sprinting around the field area of my back yard snagging as many yellow lights as I could possibly handle. My firefly catching skills weren’t so amazing, so I didn’t manage to catch that many.
There weren’t that many fireflies in the front part of my yard. The field was open so it was easier for the flies to escape my clutches. I ended up getting very tired from trying to run down these things. The sun and its light was now completely out of sight. Sunset was over and it was notably dark outside. I was sitting, legs crossed, on the ground counting the fireflies I had amassed in my jar. Suddenly, an idea came into my seven year old.
I looked up at the forest directly to the left of the field in my back yard. Pine trees were towering the whole forest with different assortments of bushes and smaller plants covering the forest floor. It was the perfect spot for fireflies to dwell in. My assumption was right. On first glance, I saw at least fifty fireflies blinking in the forest. A broad smile formed on my face. I thought I could supply my entire house with the light source of the amount of fireflies I was about to catch.
That’s when I saw it.
In the distant bushes I saw a small, bright silver light flicker. I rubbed my eyes and looked down at my collection of fireflies, then back up again. I brushed it off, thinking I imagined it or something.
I rose to my feet and walked on over to the forest. There were so many of them. I could practically wave my net in the air with my eyes closed and catch a few fireflies. Spinning around in circles with my net in hand, I caught a glimpse of another bright silver light flash in the distance.
That’s when I had a “seven year old epiphany”. My mind concluded that the silver light was indeed a super silver firefly. It was brighter, faster, and larger than all of the other fireflies. My goal for the night was to catch this thing. I waited around for a bit longer, hiding in the bushes to avoid being spotted by the silver firefly. It only took a minute of two for it to appear again. This time it was a little closer.
I erupted out of my hiding spot and sprinted towards the location of the firefly. When I arrived there, the only fireflies that were in the area were the yellow ones. I caught a few and stored them in my jar.
I spun around in circles, searching for wherever the firefly might be. The silver light finally appeared once more in the corner of my eye behind a few pine trees. This time it was much deeper in the forest.
I contemplated going after it. I wanted to catch this firefly so bad so I decided to venture deeper into the forest. It was very dark outside now. With the light of my captured fireflies in my jar, I could only clearly see my arms’ reach away.
Then the silver light flickered again much further away than the previous spot. I thought the silver firefly was extremely fast, two times faster than the other normal fireflies and maybe even faster than me. I broke out into a sprint, screaming at this silver firefly, “I’m gonna catch you, super silver firefly” or something like that. I just remember mentioning the term “Super Silver Firefly”.
I feel like my mom heard my voice deep in the forest next to the backyard. I heard her voice yelling at me, demanding I return home at once. After all, it was getting close to midnight and I was up way past my bedtime. I regretfully complied and hurried back the way I entered.
Having a natural, firefly fuelled light source in my room at night was nice, but I was still a little angry that I couldn’t catch the super silver one. I tossed and turned in my bed, trying to get the thrill of firefly hunting out of my mind. I turned my head towards my window and I swear I saw a bright silver light flicker in the front part of the woods. That was the last time I ever saw the super silver firefly. I awoke the next morning completely forgetting about my firefly hunting experience. Instead of fireflies, breakfast was on my mind. This morning it was Captain Crunch cereal. I ate a quick breakfast then returned to my room to get dressed for summer day camp.
That’s when I saw it.
There was a Polaroid picture taped on the outside of my window. I was sitting down in the field next to the woods with me legs crossed with a jar full of fireflies in my hand and a net on the grass next to me. My house was right behind me. This could only mean that the picture wasn’t taken by anyone inside my house at the time.
I went around back to retrieve this picture. When I ripped it off of my window, I saw some words scribbled with handwriting worse than mine in sharpie on the other blank, white side of the picture. The writing said “Super Silver Fireflies” with an eerily drawn smiley face below it.
It took me until recently to realize what the super silver firefly actually was. What else could flicker like a bright and silver light, just like a firefly would?
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Credits to: Pswift777
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