Tilly the Turtle and the Heavy Backpack

Chapter 1: We Should Forgive

In a peaceful village called Pebble Pond, there lived a young turtle named Tilly. Tilly was thoughtful and gentle, and she loved her best friend Hugo the hare more than anyone in the whole pond.

One sunny afternoon, Tilly told Hugo a secret. It was a tender, private secret: she was afraid of the deep end of the pond and had never learned to swim there.

"I promise I won't tell anyone," said Hugo, crossing his heart.

But the next day at school, when the other animals were laughing and playing, Hugo wanted to seem funny. "Did you know," he said with a grin, "that Tilly is a turtle who's scared of water?"

Everyone burst out laughing.

Tilly's face burned. Her eyes stung. She pulled her head into her shell and stayed there until the bell rang. She felt as though a heavy stone had dropped into her heart.

That evening, Hugo knocked on her door. "Tilly, I'm sorry. It just came out. I didn't think..."

"Go away," Tilly said quietly. "I don't want to talk."

Hugo's ears drooped, and he hopped home.

For days afterward, Tilly thought about what Hugo had done. She replayed the laughter again and again. Every time she did, the stone in her heart grew heavier. She stopped going to the pond. She stopped smiling. She even began to feel tired all the time, as though she were carrying a backpack full of rocks wherever she went.