Exiled Love

Being exiled from the village was not as bad as I had once thought it would be.  I did not expect me or Clumsy to still be alive from living in the dangerous wildness, yet here we are still living and breathing.  Clumsy could have returned to the village after his fifty year sentence, but refused to leave me after I tried to make him go.  He wanted to stay right by my side to the very end.  I love him for that.  This smurf has always been so loyal to me, even if I have not been entirely faithful myself.  He adores me for reasons I cannot even begin to comprehend…he puzzles me, but I knew it would be a puzzle I would never be able to solve, so I threw it to the back of my mind to never be thought of again.  

I looked at him as he slept by my side, while holding my hand in his.  I did not mind him doing this…I do not really mind anything that much at all anymore.  Being out of the village for so long can do that to a smurf.

We have been smurfing in this cave for seventy-five years, and it was only twenty-five more until I was allowed to return to the village.  I know none of the other Smurfs will accept us with open arms, not after what Clumsy and I had pulled…well mostly me.  I had used Clumsy to do the job, and he had smurfed it well…had it not be for that infernal Farmer Smurf and his genie, the task would have been a huge success, and I would not be smurfing in this cave!

What was it that I had done?  I tried to become Papa Smurf; I no longer wanted to be his apprentice!  The first one hundred and seventy-five years of apprenticeship was fun and all but still doing it two hundred and twenty years later was just getting a little too old for me.  I was through with being second best to that old hack, I wanted to be number one, and the only way I could do this was for Papa to give me authorization to become leader or he had to be smurfed off.  He wouldn’t give me the authorization so I did what a human would do, once you become power hungry your mind becomes just a little too unsmurfy…

~ 75 years ago

“Ya alright Brainy? What did Papa say?” Clumsy asked me, his southern drawl almost comforting.  I could always rant to him and he would always listen.  He was the only one in this whole smurfing village who would take the time to listen to me.  The only smurf who really did care about me.

“He said I am still not ready to take on the task of leadership.  Three hundred and ninety-five years of being his apprentice and I am still not ready?!  How much more ready do I need to be to run a simple village?!” I yelled.

Clumsy sat up from my bed and smiled as I leaned against my desk, “Maybe ya gotta grow a beard first!”  The look I shot him made the smile fade away, so he got up, and smurfed my hand to pat it, “Jus’ give it a little more time Brainy.  I’m sure in five more years, as soon as ya turn four hundred, he’ll smurf leadership over ta ya!”

“I am through with waiting Clumsy!  I am so sick and tired of it!  I should have been leader when I turned two hundred and thirty-five!”  I snapped.

“Jus’ don’t worry ‘bout it!  Papa’s almost eight hundred and somethin’ years old.  He’ll smurf over the position ta ya soon enough.” He smiled, still holding onto my hand.

Wait, Clumsy just said the answer to my problem.  Smurf over.  The only way for me to become leader if Papa did not give me the authorization to do so, he would have smurf off!  Papa was a careful smurf, so he would grow to be as old as Grandpa, and that smurf is still kicking.  I would have to take this position by force.  I had to make this look like an accident or of natural causes.  The plan I was forming was so devious, I could not help but to grin at the thought.  Clumsy mistaken my grin as me liking the idea of waiting a little longer…he had no smurfing idea that he had just planted a very unsmurfy seed in my head.

“Clumsy, get my potion book, I have an experiment I want to try.” I smiled.

“Alright!” He chuckled, releasing my hand, and went to the shelf to locate the book.  I started to set up my glass vials, the grinder, and mixing bowl.  Once he had given me the book, I gave him another order.

“Fetch me a mouse out of the woods will you?  It does not matter the age.” I told him as I started to flip through my book.

“Alright…wait this ain’t gonna hurt the lil fella is it?” He asked me with pleading eyes.

“Not one bit.” I lied with a smile.  Clumsy smiled back and ran out of my house.  That smurf trusted me too much.  Trusted me with blind loyalty, like a dog to a human.  I could possibly use Clumsy for this “experiment”, but I like him too much to try it on him.  That smurf helped me without question and had my back when no other smurf did.  He gave me the answer to my problem.  This would be the greatest moment of my life thanks to him.  No smurf but me could take over the village.  Not King Smurf, not Hefty, not any of the other senseless pitiful smurfs that made up this village.  It would be just me.

After Clumsy had brought me the mouse, I had to send him out so I could do this alone.  The so called potion I was supposed to be making was not really a potion at all.  It was more of a powder made up of a variety of beautiful plants.  Some nice plants like Atropa Belladonna, Oleander, Larkspur, Monkshood, Foxglove, and some Bleeding Hearts, that all had to be ground up perfectly.  After force feeding this powder to the mouse, I got the results I wanted.  The mouse started having convolutions and frothed at the mouth like one would when having a seizure.  The mouse died three minutes later, and this was everything I had hoped for.  This concoction made it seem natural enough…most elderly have seizures, who is to say that Papa could not have one?

I bottled the concoction in a glass vial and corked the top.  I left my house, closing the door behind me.  I was going to smurf this into Papa’s drink.  I was through being his little apprentice.  Through being his shadow, his second best.  Through with being disrespected.  It was time for a new era to rein upon this smurf village, and that rein would be mine!  It would be my legacy!

I smurfed to Greedy’s house and found that he had Baker and Chief over.  They were discussing what they could be making for dinner for tonight.  Greedy smiled when I approached, “Hey Brainy! How’s it smurfing? You need something?”

“As a matter of fact I do.  I wanted to smurf Papa a drink since he’s been coped up in his laboratory all day.  Do you have any smurfberry juice that I can give him?” I asked.  I could not use water for this, he would be able to spot my poison, but with the smurfberry juice, it was dark enough to mask the poison’s color and strong enough to mask its smell.

“Yep, just made a fresh pitcher not to smurf ago!” He chuckled, “I’ll go smurf it for you.”

“Thanks.” I told him as he left me with Baker and Chief.  These two were just visiting the village for a few days just like Tracker was.  Tracker always liked to travel to strange lands and these two went with him to find new recipes to make here at the village.  Usually they did not stay that long save maybe two weeks.  They taught whatever they learned how to cook to Greedy, so that he was left smurfing for the whole village.  Sometimes I thought it must be nice to travel, but then I would remember it is too dangerous and risky.  Some smurfs got taken up by birds or got eaten by Azeral once, though that cat was long dead like Gargamel.  That is what happened to Alchemist Smurf when Gargamel was still alive.  A bird had snatched him up while he was gathering herbs for his potions, and he managed to free himself, only to plummet to the ground and break his bones.  Before any smurf could help him, Azeral happened to be by and he ate him.  It was horrible to watch, not being able to save that poor smurf…maybe I should skip poisoning Papa and just take him out for a walk in the woods by some hungry birds or something.

“Here you go Brainy!” Greedy smiled, as he came back and handed me the cup.

I thanked him again and then smurfed away from his house.  Once far enough, I pulled the vial out of my pocket and smurfed the poison into Papa’s drink, and swirled it around so it would settle inside.  This was going to be a delicious victory.

As I smurfed to Papa’s house, I saw Clumsy smurfing my way.  He smiled pleasantly at me and stopped in front of me, “Oh hi Brainy! Where ya goin’ ta? Did yer experiment work out?”

“I was just about to smurf Papa this drink,” I said, but then cursed inwardly.  Clumsy liked to smurf at my house and wait for me to come home after I had been busy working on something.  I had not gotten rid of that dead mouse, or cleaned the materials I used or smurfed the book back.  This kind hearted smurf, would not like what I was smurfing up.  I had to go home before he did, so I held out the drink to him, “but since you are here, could you give this to Papa for me?  I need to check up on my experiment.”

“I’d be honored ta do it fer ya!” He grinned, as he took the cup from my hand.

“Thank you so much.  Now don’t drop it and whatever you do, do not drink it.” I warned him.

“I wouldn’t drink anythin’ fer Papa.  Ain’t ‘is drinks usually full of some kind of vitamins or some smurf like that?” He said, looking into the cup.

“Something like that.” I nodded.

“It alright if I smurf by after I drop this off?  I’ve got somethin’ I wanna give ya, but I want ta smurf it at yer house.” Clumsy asked, looking up at me.

“Of course.  I’ll be done by the time you smurf back.” I nodded.  He seemed pleased with the answer, and nodded back, and then trotted off to Papa’s house.  I ran to mine.

I had to get rid of the dead mouse body and clean all those vials and materials.  I did not need some smurf seeing this things and connecting me to Papa’s death.

~

I buried the mouse in the ground with the left over poisonous plants, not too far from the village, but far enough to where no smurf could find it.  I had just finished cleaning up the materials when Clumsy, ran into my house slamming the door behind him.  I turned to look at him, and he had a panicked look on his face.  So my plan worked.

“What’s smurfing you?” I asked.

“Some smurf jus’ tried ta poison Papa.” Clumsy said.

“Tried to poison Papa?” I asked.

“Yeah, but Farmer was there and when he saw Papa twitchin’ and frothin’ like that, he summoned his genie, and smurfed up in antidote in time.  They’re tryin’ ta figure out who done it now.” He said.

I cursed inwardly.  That was not supposed to happen!  Smurf Farmer and his smurfing genie!  This was not good….no this was smurfing horrible, it was only a matter of time before—

“Ya done it didn’t ya?” Clumsy said suddenly.  I looked up at him, and I knew I had given myself away.  I could never hide my disappointment or anger well…and now was not a good time to not be able to hide it.  Clumsy suddenly hugged me, “Oh Brainy no!  Please no!  Don’t tell me ya did it!”

“I did do it.” I whispered.

“Brainy why?!  It was only a matter of—”

“That time was supposed to be now! I did what I had to and now that didn’t work!  The old smurf just won’t smurf off!”  I growled.

“But Brainy, they’re gonna find out it’s ya!  Yer the only one who knows how ta do those complicated potions and poisons!  Brainy, they might smurf ya!”

“They’re not going to smurf me!  Papa’s too tender-hearted to see one of his “little smurfs” be smurfed off.  The worst he would ever do is ban a smurf for a few years.  The least I’ll be gone is twenty years.”  I said.

Clumsy had a look as if some smurf had just been brutally murdered in front of him, “But I don’t want ya ta be exiled!”

“As you said Clumsy, I’m the only one with the knowledge for poisons.”  

“What poison did ya use Brainy?”

“It’s not important Clumsy.”  Already I could hear Smurfs gathering outside my door.  Papa already knew I tried to smurf him, after the argument this morning, he had every reason to suspect me…but that did not stop me from keeping my head held high.

I pushed Clumsy aside gently as Hefty came into my house, “Brainy Smurf, you are under arrest for the attempted murder of Papa Smurf, try to resist and we will resort to force.”

“When don’t you use force?” I asked in my usual snarky tone, but I did as I was suppose to.  I followed Hefty to my holding cell before going to my trial.  The last I saw of Clumsy was him watching me leave, then looking at my something on my desk…I never knew what that something was until much later.

~

“Order! Order in the court!” Papa Smurf exclaimed as he hammered one fist down onto the alter.  All Smurfs quieted down and listened to what Papa had to say.

“By taking in the evidence, and by what some smurfs have told me, I am forced to have you exiled out of the village.  Is there anything that you have to say for yourself?”

What did he want from me, an apology?  I had nothing to say to him or these other smurfs, so I shook my head to answer the question.  Papa let out a sigh as he said,

“Brainy Smurf, on the attempt on trying to claim my life I exile you from the vil—”

“Wait!  Stop!  Brainy Smurf did not act alone in this! I helped ‘im!”

A gasp erupted from the others, and I was shocked to see Clumsy coming up right beside me, holding onto my potion book.  What was he doing?  He had no idea what I was smurfing up to.

“Clumsy?”  Papa said, looking at the smurf puzzled.

“Brainy didn’t do it alone! I helped him smurf the powder and I delivered the drink ta smurf ya wit’!” Clumsy said.

“Clumsy what are you doing?” I hissed.

“Did you let Clumsy help you Brainy?” Papa asked me.

“No!  I only told him to give you the drink, but he didn’t know what was inside!”

“I did know what was inside!  Ya told me not ta drink from it because ya smurfed the poison in ‘is drink!  The poison I helped ya make using the deadliest plants these woods have ta offer!” Clumsy said.

“Clumsy Smurf, do you understand the seriousness of this trial?  You will be exiled from this village for no reason.”

Papa knew I would not let Clumsy of all smurfs to help me with a potion or powder, no matter how harmful or harmless it was.  I never let anyone help me unless I was manipulating them to help me.  Clumsy needed to stop this.  He did not deserve this, but before I could say anything, Clumsy surprised us all.

“Deadly Nightshade known as Atropa Belladonna, Larkspur, Foxglove, Oleander, Monkshood, and Bleed Hearts.  Is that not enough ta know that I helped try ta make ya look like ya died from a seizure?  Brainy may have came up wit’ the plan and did most of the powder work, but I helped all the same and I’d do again fer ‘im in a heartbeat.”

Somehow Papa still knew that Clumsy lying.  He knew that Clumsy would follow me to the ends of the earth, even when not asked to.  I could not change Clumsy’s mind, no smurf could.  Papa let out a sigh as he delivered our sentence,

“Clumsy Smurf for aiding Brainy in this horrid act you are exiled from this village for fifty years, as for you Brainy Smurf, for abuse of power, knowledge, and the attempt to claim my life, you are exiled for one hundred years from this village.  Hefy, Gutsy, Handy, smurf them out of here.”

Now not every smurf was as smurfy as Papa was, as soon as the three got us out to the woods that is when the beatings began.  Handy refused to take part, but he also did not stop Hefty or Gutsy.  Clumsy took most of the beating, because he kept trying to shield me from them.  I did not want Clumsy to shield me, I did not want him to get hurt, but after they were through beating us senseless, they left us there, wiping our blood from their hands on Clumsy’s leg.  Handy looked back at us as if wanting to say or do something now, but he just ran after his group leaving us behind.  That was the last thing I saw before I blacked out.

When I finally woke again, it was the middle of the night.  One of my lenses was cracked, making me see fragments of the woods, part of it blurry where some glass pieces fell out.  The other lenses had surprisingly enough managed to go unscratched or broken.  This was a good thing, without my glasses I was blinder than a mole coming to the surface.

Clumsy was still on top of me unconscious, the poor smurf always did so much for me…why did he say he helped me?  He had no idea what I was doing.  I used him to get the job done, when I should have done it myself.  Do what you can for yourself, rather than rely on others.  Wasn’t that one of the advice I used to tell the other smurfs when I was younger?

I pushed Clumsy off of me and sat up stiffly.  Clumsy and I could not stay here that long.  Come dawn time, I knew there might be a round two, and neither of us would be able to survive that.  I stood up and my body protested the movement.  I ignored this and carefully picked Clumsy up, and made my way through the woods.

I could have left Clumsy there to make it easier for myself, but I was rather fond of this smurf.  Not only was he my best friend, he was my only friend…and besides, two was always better than one out in these woods.

Come daylight time, we soon came to the ruins that had once be the house that belonged to Gargamel.  After Gargemel had died from pneumonia, his nephew, Scruple, had inherited it when he was sixteen.  It was no surprise that Scruple self-taught himself through the black arts of magic, but what was a surprise was whom he married when he turned twenty.  He had married the good witch, Brenda, and the two had three children.  Scruple remained doing the black arts while his wife remained in white magic.  The two couldn’t have been more opposite…but that was a long time ago.  The only descendants now were the great-great-great-and so on, grandchildren of these two.  None of their descendants did magic…magic was now becoming a dying art in this world.

I decided to stop here for a little bit, I had to rest a little before I could further.  Gargamel’s ruins was just a short distance away from the village and I knew those smurfs would come looking for us here, if we stayed too long.  I smurfed Clumsy down and took a seat on a small stone.

Sitting here gave me a little time to think and reflect on what had just occurred in the village, and I knew now that I should not have smurfed that task to Clumsy to poison Papa.  I should have let him just go to my house and feel sorry for the mouse I had killed…or really I should have just waited a little longer to poison Papa.  In my eagerness, I had miscalculated some steps, I had been reckless.  Had I taken the time to settle down my wrath, I could have smurfed this better.  I would have been alone with Papa or at least have another smurf in the room with me to witness the “seizure”, whom did not own a magical, two-bit, redundant genie.  I hate Farmer.  Why did he have to be at the right place at the right time?

As I sat there pondering warily, Clumsy started to wake up.  He sat up with a groan, holding his head as if were just about to smurf off his neck.  He looked around for a second puzzled, but smiled when his eyes came upon me.  “Are we dead Brainy?”

“I wish.” I told him.

“That sh-ore was a smurf of a beatin’.  I’m surprised they hadn’t smurfed us.” He smiled, shaking his head at me.

“Well, they might if we stay here too long.” I told him, ignoring his smile.  I don’t know how he can smile at a time like this.

“Where we goin’ ta?” He asked me as he started to rub his neck.

“As far from the village as we could possibly go, while avoiding humans and other deadly creatures.” I told him.

“Is that pretty far?” He asked.

“The further the better.” I nodded, “Those Smurfs want me dead, Clumsy.  They won’t kill you, because you didn’t really do anything, you’re just trying to cover for me.”

“Yeah, I couldn’t let ya smurf this alone.”  Clumsy nodded as he shakingly got up on his feet, “Did ya carry me all the way here?”

“Yeah.  It was either that or drag you.”

“Ya could have jus’ left me.  I could have slowed up down fer ya.”  He smiled at me again, and that’s when I noticed one of his teeth was missing from one side of his moth.  I shook my head gravely at him.

“You’re the last smurf I’d ever consider to be left to die.”  I told him as I stood up, “We need to smurf out of here now.  Let’s hope they don’t encourage Tracker to come after us.”

Clumsy nodded and continued to smile.  As we were about to walk, I noticed that Clumsy had a very bad limp in his leg.  This smurf had risked his life to protect me and for what purpose?  I couldn’t figure it out, but I could wait for the answer.

We smurfed our way through the woods and were careful where we stepped, and listened for any sounds of another smurf or creature amongst us.  The part of the woods we were traveling through was a dangerous place.  Many birds and snakes resided in this side of the woods.  After a few hours of traveling, we stopped by a bush that had some berries on them.  These weren’t the poisonous kind, so we were able to eat them.  Clumsy was happy to have the break, he said his leg was smurfing him.

“Ya think they broke it?”  Clumsy asked me.

“It’s a possibility.” I told him as I smurfed my hat off, and then my glasses.  I cleaned the uncracked lense with my hat, and then smurfed them back onto my face.  I looked up to see that Clumsy was looking at me with a funny grin on his face, “What?”

“I jus’ ‘membered this one time when we were younger, yer glasses got broken, and I had to smurf ya ‘round….those were fun times.”

“It was unfortunate that they had to end.” I said.

“Why did they have to end?” Clumsy asked.

“We grew up,” I shrugged, “and when you grow up you see the world with a different point of view.  When you’re young and stupid, the world feels like it’s nothing but rainbows and sunshine.  Then you grow up and see that the rainbows and sunshine just mask a greater evil that lies beyond the horizon.  The world may seem like a nice place, but then you realize just how hard and cruel it becomes.”

“That’s some pretty dark thinkin’.” Clumsy said, propping his elbows on his knees, and smurfed his chin on his palms.

“You’re talking to the smurf who tried to smurf Papa in.”  I said plainly.

“True…but the world ain’t always a dark place ya know.  Ya say that the rainbows and sunshine mask a greater evil, but I don’t think they do.  I think the rainbows and sunshine are just happiness and ya have ta know how ta let ‘em in otherwise ya become jus’ as dark and gloomy as the world ‘round ya.”  He chuckled, “I smurf in rainbows and sunshine all the time, even now.”

“How so?” I asked.

“Well, every time I’m wit’ ya, I jus’ feel like I’ve seen the sunshine and rainbow fer the first time.  Ya make me happy Brainy.”  He grinned.

I scoffed, “I don’t see how I can bring you happiness Clumsy.  You call being exiled and beaten up happiness?”

“Now I didn’t say that.”  Clumsy chuckled, “No.  If I were alone I wouldn’t call it happiness.  If I was exiled with another smurf, I wouldn’t call that happiness.  Ya are my happiness Brainy, and jus’ bein’ wit’ ya, I jus’ feel bliss.  I didn’t get exiled fer no reason, I got exiled ta be wit’ ya.  I would have no reason ta stay in the village wit’out ya.”

“I don’t understand.”  I told him.  I was perplexed.

Clumsy laughed, “I didn’t get exiled jus’ ‘cause I’m yer best friend Brainy.  I did it ‘cause I love ya.  I’d do anythin’ fer ya.  I’d lie ta say I tried ta kill Papa Smurf fer ya.  I’d get exiled wit’ ya so ya’d never be alone.  I’d take a beatin’ jus’ ta keep ya safe.  I’m not doin’ this ‘cause I have ta, I want ta do this fer ya.  I want ta be there fer ya.  Whether or not ya return the feelin’s ain’t no problem fer me, I’d still be loyal ta ya, and ya alone.”

“But why?”

Clumsy shrugged, “Ya can’t pick the people ya fall in love wit’ Brainy.  Logic and feelin’s are in two different worlds that are so far apart ya can’t make heads or tails ‘bout it.  I’ve been in love with ya since the first time we met, always have and always will be.”

“You did all this just because you love me?”

“Yep.  It’s kinda like somethin’ ya once said when we were young, ‘Love makes ya act like a fool, and makes ya act crazy.  Ya have no control over yerself and all ya see is jus’ that one smurf ya want in yer grasp, and ya will stop at nothin’ ta obtain that goal.’  Ya smurfed that when everyone was so fixated on wantin’ ta smurf Smurfette.”

I half smiled, “You remembered that?”

“I ‘member lots of thin’s ya say.  I like listenin’ ta ya talkin’.”  Clumsy smiled.

“Well that makes one of us.” I said, standing up, “Come on we have to get smurfing.”

“Do ya love me Brainy?”  Clumsy asked as he stood up, and limped to me.

“I can’t say for certain that I do, Clumsy.”  I told him slowly, “But I think I might otherwise I don’t think you would be here with me right now if I didn’t.”

Clumsy smiled, shaking his head, “Well it’s a start my friend.”  He smurfed my hand and squeezed it gently.  I squeezed back and held it tightly.  The road that laid ahead of us now was going to be a rough one.  It would be dark and gloomy, and yet some sunshine would shine through.  We had each other, but I didn’t know if having each other was enough.  One of us could die out here…both of us could actually.  Clumsy was accident prone and I was nothing but a narcissistic book worm.  Neither of us were fit for this kind of world, but having each other just gave us hope.  Hope for what was beyond me.  We had no home to go back to.

~

We had traveled for weeks, dodging Smurfs, animals, humans, poisonous plants, and the weather.  By this time our bodies were less stiff, but Clumsy still walked with a limp.  It was not as bad as it used to be, but it was still noticeable.  This limp had almost gotten Clumsy and I killed plenty of times.  It was hard to run away from animals with that limp, and I had to help him.  Because of this bad limp, I was determined to find a place where Clumsy could be safe.  This Smurf meant a lot more to me then I let on.  Without him, I would have died a long time ago.

It had been fortune that brought us to the cave we now dwell in.  We had been smurfing from a hawk, when Clumsy tripped over a rock, and had smurfed me down with him.  We fell through leaves and cob webs to hitting the rock floor of the miniature cave that dwelled underneath the ground.  It had no exits or tunnels.  It was only four feet long and six feet wide.  It was large enough for us to live in, and hidden well enough to where no smurf or creature could find us.

I had pushed Clumsy off to first explore this cave, and Clumsy was excited about.  “Gee Brainy look!  We smurfed ourselves a smurfy little place.”

“The only way in and out is from the top.” I told him as I pointed up to the hole we had just fallen through.

“Well that’s good.  Least we know somethin’ can’t sneak up on us in here.”  He smiled.

“Well it has its advantages and disadvantages.  Yes we are secure enough to where no smurf or thing can creep up on us from any side, but then again, if something were to come down here with us, we would have no place to run off to.  We’d be trapped.”  I stated.

“Well I think its cozy in here.”  Clumsy smiled, sitting on the cave floor, “Nice and cool ta.  Now we ain’t gotta sleep in those dangerous grasses, tree trunks, logs, or ground anymore!  It’s our own lil home away from home!”

I shook my head at his simple-ness.  There were times I wished I could live in ignorant bliss like him, but to fortune and misfortune I was gifted with a brain that yearned for knowledge.  Knowledge beyond the scope of understanding for a simple mind.

“Can we live here?”  Clumsy asked me smiling like a smurfling.

“I suppose we can try it out…but we will have to smurf something that can cover the hole, otherwise we will drown if it rains.”  I said.

Clumsy cheered excitedly and hugged me happily.  At first I didn’t understand why he was acting this happy, but then I remembered that Clumsy used to collect rocks as a hobby.  This cave had a few large stones inside of it…this was a dream come true for Clumsy because we were living in a place made of stone.

“Oh Brainy, this place is gonna be wonderful!  We’re gonna be so happy here!”

I could not help but to smile at his enthusiasm.  I don’t understand how this smurf could be so smurfing happy all of the time.  It was as if nothing ever bothered him.  I wish I could be optimistic like him…but I couldn’t.  That was the problem with having knowledge…knowledge can make you miserable when you know too much

“You’ll see Brainy, we’ll be happy here.”

And that is when the Smurf did something I would never forget.  He gave me a quick kiss on the mouth, and then turned on his heels to look around the cave, leaving me there to stand dumbfounded.  For the first time ever, I could actually kind of happy.

~

Years had passed with us staying in the cave.  We had built a sort of door to cover the top of the hole, and even made a ladder.  When we had first entered it, I had to get Clumsy to get on my shoulders and climb out to where he could smurf the materials to me so that I could build everything that we needed.

We lived comfortably in this cave for quite some time, until Clumsy’s fifty years finally came up.  I had kept track of the days to know of the day he could finally return to the village.  When I had told Clumsy that his sentence was over he shook his head.

“No it ain’t.”

“Yes it Clumsy.  You can smurf back to the village now.  You don’t have to stay with me just because you think I’ll be lonely.”  I told him.

“I ain’t goin’ back wit’out ya.”  He said stubbornly.

“Clumsy, there’s nothing here for you with me!  You should go back to the village!”

“No!  I ain’t leavin’ ya Brainy!  We have smurfed this long ta’gether and I’ll be smurfed if I’m jus’ gonna up and leave ya!”

“Why are you so fixated on being with me?!”

“Because I smurfin’ love ya, smurf it!  Why can’t ya get that through yer smurfin’ thick skull, Brainy?!  I haven’t spent most of my life wit’ ya fer nothin’!  I’d be a sorry smurf if I left ya out here alone!  I want and need ta be wit’ ya Brainy!  I didn’t get exiled because I wanted ta!  I got exiled ta be wit’ ya, ya alone!”  He exhaled in annoyance, and for the first time I had known him, he was actually glaring at me.

“What could you possibly be in love with, with me?  I could have framed you for killing Papa!”

“Yeah, but ya didn’t!  Ya could have said I used yer potion book, could have said that some simple, smurfin’ idiot used yer lab and made the poison, where ya were genuinely tryin’ ta get Papa a drink, and that I smurfed it from ya and poisoned it!  But ya didn’t!”  He snapped.

“That’s because you are a smurfing idiot!  You couldn’t pull that off on your own!” I snapped back.

“Neither could ya!”  He hissed.

We both just stood there glaring hatefully at each other, daring the other to make a move or say something else.  We were going to rip each other’s throat out, until we suddenly lunged at each other and made out profoundly.  It was as if the fight and just ignited a passionate fire within the two of us.  We smurfed there in that cave, and we would smurf there again and again for as long as we are exiled…maybe even longer.
Twenty-five years later, we are in this cave.  Clumsy sleeping right beside me, holding my hand, as if every second of our time together was a precious gem.  He could have gone back to the village, could have left me behind, but he wanted to stay here right by my side.  He was loyal to me in ways I could not believe.  He lied to stay with me, he tried to protect me, and he loves me.  He adores me for reasons I cannot even begin to comprehend, but find that I do not really need to understand them.  I love Clumsy.  I love him with blinding trust and I adore him for being so faithful to me.  He was everything I could ever ask for a smurf, and he was mine and mine alone.

Being exiled from the village was not as bad as I had once thought it would be.  I did not expect me or Clumsy to still be alive from living in the dangerous wildness, yet here we are still living and breathing.  We live peacefully here in this cave together in love and somewhat harmony.  We knew the village would not welcome us with open arms, but then again we did not have to return to the village if we did not want to.  We had each other and that was enough.  Twenty-five years was all I had left before I could return…but I wouldn’t return if Clumsy would not come with me.

The End.