By Diana Campos

Jelli Girl’s eyes scrunched away in annoyance from the bright sunlight sneaking in through her blinds so early in the morning. She threw her fuzzy plaid duvet over herself, ready to block the sun out when she made an early observation within her mind. Spring is now eclipsing winter; she now knew the sun would be striking earlier now, the day’s now longer, winter ready to shred itself away. She rubbed her eyes to wipe her sleep away, shaking off her slumber to awaken from the cold winter days, pondering to herself how to awaken from the winter rut she was in. Her first thoughts as she lay there were that she no longer shuddered at the thought of cold temperatures and dark, isolating, short days.

She turned to the side, taking note of the calendar on her side table, “SPRING” in bold letters flashing right at her. She peeked over the other side at Lil’ Guy, her sweet flan companion, wondering what the Spring days had in store for them. She looked at him sweetly, deciding she would let me sleep a bit more while she got herself ready.

Yet, as she tried to stretch to wake herself, she noticed she was still encased in her winter skin. She looked from finger to finger, arm to arm, looked down at her body, and she hadn’t changed with the season. Panic settled within her chest, and a fluttering of fear spread through her body. Her eyes went wide with an unsettling sense that she was already behind, her breathing staggering from the panic within her. She fell out of her bed right onto the floor, creating a loud thud that woke Lil’ Guy in a panic, too.

Both let out a giant scream, and when they finally quieted down, they erupted into blasting laughter from their fit of fear. Then their laughter died down into nothingness; only the cars blasting by were the only noise within the vicinity. They looked at each other in awe and wonder, trying to figure out what’s going on so dang early in the morning for this to happen, when Little Guy got caught lingering his eyes on Jelli Girl for too long. She pulls away, feeling vulnerable but comforted by Lil’ Guy's gentle presence, trusting that their friendship will help her face her fears of change.

Rather than do just that, Lil’ Guy stepped away and rummaged through Jelli Girl’s desk, pulling out a hand mirror and her music player from one of her drawers. He hands over the mirror, urging her to take a glance at her reflection. She shudders and hesitates to look, but Little Guy urges her on by pushing it right on her face. With hesitation, she grabs hold of the mirror’s handle, shaking with trepidation in anticipation of what she is to find staring right back at her. She looks right at her own reflection, noticing the greyish hue on her body, something close to a shiny film, like a caterpillar cocoon.

She props the mirror down on the floor, making sure she’s careful as she shakes and tears up at her appearance, burying her head into her arms, letting each salty tear of deep blue drip off her cheeks down to the wooden, cold floor below her. She wants to fall deep down into a cold isolation, forcing herself away from the world so that they can avoid her depressing appearance. Lil’ Guy, always sweet as pudding, pulls her into a warm embrace, comforting his dearest friend in her time of need. Holding her close, he provides her with the answer without a single word being spoken between them.

Without any notice to Jelli Girl, she finds her iridescent pearly colored music player wrapped in her favorite pair of yellow earbuds, propped right into her lap by none other than Lil’ Guy. Slowly lifting her music player to see, her face brightens as an idea sparks right inside her brain! “I’m going to shed this winter skin one way or another, and I’m going to make that happen by piloting myself out to the rhythm of music!”, she exclaims. Bursting with energy, almost equivalent to the burning rays of sunshine outside her window, she jumps out of her slump and props herself down on her desk, eager to embrace the new season and all its possibilities.

Opening her laptop, she hovers over and clicks open her music app, in search of the right songs, the right rhythms to welcome in the spring, and to alleviate her “condition”. As she drags each song into her music player, she notices cracks and grey scaling plaguing her skin. Her heart starts to pound to the pulse of each song, moving her body to the rhythm of each beat and note. She takes note of this exciting change of events boiling within her, so much so that she notices the scales shedding, flake by flake, revealing a brighter, more vibrant layer beneath, symbolizing her personal growth and renewal.

With her giddiness so infectious, it starts to make the flakes fall off quicker, when suddenly a glowing ray shines through each crack in her skin. “It’s working Lil’ Guy, just look at my arm!” she beams with wonder. Noticing how effective it is, she aims to complete her playlist as part of her goal to shed her drab winter coat once and for all.

With a final drag of a file, she completes her essential spring playlist, Jelli Girl spins in amusement, and with each spin she moves her body to the rhythm of each song, flinging scales off in a whirl. As the final note of the song played out, she noticed the floor covered in grey scales that had once been on her body was no more.

She ran to her full-length mirror, staring precariously at what she was looking at. She saw her winter skin fully shed; the drab grey faded into obscurity. She ever so slightly touched her skin, her appearance resembling rays of sunshine. She felt reinvigorated, as if rain had washed away the depression of winter into a roaring river.

In celebration, Jelli Girl ran towards her kitchen, making her and Lil’ Guy a breakfast so grand and enormous that even a buffet would be jealous of it. Lil’ Guy looked on in awe, watching her energy and spirit come back, all due simply from the tunes that spoke of reinventing and reinvigorating the new season to come. Jelli Girl packed everything into a woven picnic basket, grabbed her music player, and out the door, hand in hand, with Lil’ Guy. As they shared the earbuds blasting Jelli Girl’s new spring playlist and inhaled the delicious breakfast placed before them, they both thought, what a wonderful way for spring to welcome us in. Winter has finally shed its cold, dark release, each soundtrack bringing a breath of spring.

Soundtracks of Shedding

Sugar, Spice, & Everything About Being a Person

Pull the String