[ID: A short comic story by Allison Zai.
[Wide rectangular panel] The first scene shows a small house shaped like a beehive. The house is a dark yellow-orange with a red door, brown roof, and red chimney and two porthole windows on each side of the door. The house is at the top of a hill, with a tree on either side and a red mailbox to the right of the door. There is a brown path with stones leading away from the door, and there are four clouds and the sun in the sky.
[Small square panel] Inside, a yellow bee wearing a blue-green shirt sits at a table on a laptop. The inside of the house is pink. The bee is sweating and saying, “God. Why is it so hot”
[Small square panel] The bee searches “why hot” on the internet, and the result shows an image of the sun. It says, “The Sun. Location: Sky. °C/°F: Hot”
[Small square panel] Still sweating, the bee adjusts their glasses, which they had not previously been wearing, and says, “The sun?”
[Small square panel] The background turns red as the bee says, “Not a fan”
[Small square panel] The bee’s hands are shown wrapped around a red mug filled with dark liquid. On the table is a piece of paper with a simple drawing of the sun.
[Small square panel] Zooming out, the bee is shown resting their head on their right arm while holding the mug with their left. The background is green now, and there is a green pencil on the table next to the drawing of the sun. The bee looks annoyed and says, “I discovered the cause of my problems today”
[Small square panel]The bee holds the drawing up and says, “Sun”
Someone else says, “Oh”
[Small square panel] A closeup of the paper is shown. The bee has written “Plan” at the top and drawn some water droplets with an arrow pointing at the sun. They say, “Yes. I learned about it today”
[Small square panel] The bee examines the sheet of paper, holding it in both hands. The other voice says, “Didn’t you go to college”
The bee replies, “Yeah it was a financial mistake” to which the other says, “Obviously”
[Small square panel] Now wide-eyed, the bee says, “Well anyways I’m going to get rid of the sun”
The other voice says, “Ok but why”
[Small square panel] The bee crosses their arms and rests them on the table. “Too hot,” they say.
“Ok listen,” the other voice says. The text of their words is cut off as they say, “I ha … no idea how you … know this first o . . . sun provides lif … How will you even go? It’s not like you have a rocket”
[Small square panel] The bee is shown standing outside on the hill, a remote in their hands. They are gesturing at a white rocket with red fins, a red nose, and grey trim. There is a small glass window in the middle. “Surprise asshole I do have a rocket,” the bee says.
[Large square panel] The rocket takes off with a “fwooosh,” cutting through the white clouds surrounding snowcapped red mountains. The sky in the background is a light blue.
[Small square panel] “Bye,” says the bee, looking out the window at Earth.
[Small square panel] On their phone, a navigation app shows the way to the sun. According to the app, the sun is 2 days and 98,000,081 miles away.
[Small square panel] The bee sits in the rocket with a water bottle. Their phone is plugged into an outlet in the wall of the rocket, and the panel says, “Nothing left to do besides wait”
[Small square panel] “At last,” the bee says, holding a bottle of H₂O and looking out the window, where the sun has come into sight.
[Small square panel] The next panel shows the sun looking at the rocket, which is quite small in comparison. The sun has a slight smile. “Oh my god,” the bee says.
[Small square panel] The bee’s eyes are wide with shock as the sun says, “Hi”
[Wide rectangular panel] “Um sorry, wrong address,” the bee says. The sun, seen from the front, looks confused.
[Small square panel] “Little man,” the sun says. The bee is sweating again.
[Small square panel] “Please exit your vehicle,” the sun says.
[Two small square panels] Stars twinkle in the background as the bee pops the nose of the roket open and sticks their head out.
[Two small square panels] The sun grabs the rocket and pours the bee out into their palm.
[Small square panel] Holding the bee up to examine them, the sun asks, “Why did you come here?”
[Small square panel] The background is red as the bee says, “Uh.” A single sweat drop has appeared on their head.
[Small square panel] In the palm of the sun’s hand, the bee says, “I came here to kill you.” Stars twinkle in the background.
[Small square panel] “This is the third time this has happened to me,” the sun is thinking as they hold the bee with one hand and stroke their chin with the other. “Why don’t we get a drink?” they suggest out loud.
[Wide rectangular panel] The bee and the sun are sitting in blue chairs around a table decked in red. The wall is pink, and surrounding them are potted plants. On the table is a small log on fire and two plates. One plate has a large green cube; the other a small red cone, a small blue sphere, and a small yellow square. There is a fork on the sun’s side of the table, and the both of them have cups.
“What is happening?” the bee wonders as the sun says, “This is my favorite restaurant”
[Small square panel] Sweating again, the bee says, “You’re very warm”
“I’m the sun,” the sun says.
[Small square panel] As they eat, the sun looks at the bee and says, “It was very chaotic of you to come here” to which the bee responds, “I think it’s b/c I have a lot of personal problems”
[Wide rectangular panel] The panel has zoomed out to show the sun taking a sip from their cup as they say, “So does everyone else.” The green cube and yellow square have been partially eaten.
“That’s valid,” the bee says.
[Small square panel] Going on, the bee says, “Recently, I’ve been feeling very alone in this world”
“Cheers to that,” the sun replies, and they touch their cups together.
[Small square panel] “Are you this nice to everyone?” the bee asks. The panel is focused on the sun, who responds, “I try to be”
[Small square panel] The table is shown again. The sun is looking off into the distance and gesturing as they say, “You know, it’s weird, being alive”
The bee is thinking, “I think I’m in love”
[Small square panel] “Shall we go?” the sun asks. The panel is focused on the bee, who says, “Yes”
[Wide rectangular panel] The rocket is flying through space, with orange stars in the background. The sun and the bee are sitting on top of the rocket as it flies. “I’ve never met anyone like you before,” the bee says.
[Small square panel] The sun closes their eyes and holds a cigarette up to their mouth. “Little bee,” they begin.
[Small square panel] Lighting the cigarette with their finger, the sun opens their eyes and says, “You have no idea”
[Wide rectangular panel] The bee and the sun are shown on opposite sides of the panel. They are looking at each other. “We may never see each other again, isn’t that sad?” the bee asks.
“Even if that was true,” the sun begins.
[Wide rectangular panel] The bee is shown against the stars in the sky and seems to be glowing. “Isn’t in profound, how such a brief experience can be so special?” the sun asks.
[Small square panel] The bee holds a hand to their chest and says, “Deeply, I will miss you. How can I cope?”
[Small square panel] The sun holds up their cigarette, and their words spill into the next panel. “I have been through this many times. It becomes painfully lonely. You will feel this in your heart. Then slowly, the pain will fade and you will be left with a beautiful memory.”
[Wide rectangular panel] The bee’s face and the sun are shown on opposite sides of the panel, the stars twinkling in the background. “It was nice to bee in your company,” the sun says. A single tear leaks from the bee’s eye.
The reblog is a single large panel. The bee is shown from behind standing in the hills with evergreen trees sprinkled around. The rocket seems to have crash-landed into the ground and is sitting with its nose buried in the side of the hill. Small pink flowers are growing on the ground by the bee’s feet. The bee is looking up at the sky, which is orange, pink, and purple from the sunset. There are a few clouds, and between them the sun, now faceless.
\End ID]
