“Hurry, Ben! They might discover I left,” cried the little boy to his firefly friend.

Now the firefly was not the type of friend to complain when things get slightly out of hand. He had been a good friend after all to the boy, listening to his stories, playing with him after school, even trying to help him with his homework. But that gloomy evening, the firefly was not at all eager to follow his friend!

“Do we really have to do this?” asked the firefly.

“We’ve already talked about this,” the boy replied.

“Uh-huh. But if I remember it right, I was totally against this, wasn’t I?” the firefly said, wondering if he could ever change the boy’s mind. Just then, lightning flashed across the sky followed by frightening peals of thunder.

“This doesn’t seem to be a good sign,” fretted the firefly. “Not good at all.”

“Well, it’s now or never. I have made up my mind,” the boy said, his face now splattered with rain.

“You–you have made up your mind?” asked the firefly. “Since when? Since yesterday?”

Now the little boy was not the reckless type who suddenly makes decisions without thinking about them well. He may have informed Ben only recently, but he has planned his journey long ago.

“I’m going back to Mama’s house,” the boy said as he darted towards the nearest tree. “Maybe I can get some clue there about my name.”

“Is it really necessary?” the firefly asked as he followed the boy. “Can’t we–can’t we just give you a new name?”

“I don’t think so,” the boy replied, and the firefly almost slapped his own face in dismay.

“What’s so important about your name?” the firefly inquired.

“Because maybe...maybe my name could tell me...what I’m supposed to do,” the boy answered as soon as he reached the tree. “Just look at you. You’re a firefly. You’re good at flying, and you are like a fire at night!”

“Well, that may be true,” said the firefly, suddenly feeling a bit proud of himself. “I mean–ahem–I do have another name–but if you put it that way...” And the firefly tried his best to hide his smile. In a way, it did not feel right to feel so good of himself while someone else was feeling down. For the first time, however, the firefly wondered about the boy’s real name. Was there really anything in it that could tell him what he’s good at?

For a while, nothing could be heard but the strong downpour and the occasional rumbling of thunder from the sky. Hungry and tired, the boy sat silently as he leaned upon the gnarled roots of the old tree.

It was one of those days when you’d wish you could just go back and pretend as though nothing has happened at all. You’d wish you could pretend you didn’t run away. You’d wish you could say you weren’t drenched by the rain. But no matter how you’d wish, you’d still hear the cracking noise above you and you’d still feel the cold wind blowing against you. You’d know you have gone that far, and there’s no way you would be turning back.