Endless Love

I sigh, wiping off a film of sweat that gathered on my brow. The sun was shining bright. I gazed up at the sky, shielding my eyes with my hand. There were no clouds in sight.

I was stuck outdoors thanks to my mother, to learn how to appreciate nature. It sounded ridiculous. Nature is what fairies are all about. How could I not appreciate it? Just because I like to cozy up on the couch and read a book all day, doesn’t mean I was trying to avoid the world around me… okay maybe I was a little, but I never thought of myself as a non conformist.

As many other girls my age would say, being a sixteen year old can be tough. Especially if you’re in a family of a single parent and an only child. My mom was the only person I came home to in the evenings and the one I ate my meals with. I appreciated her immensely, but sometimes days could feel suffocating trying to live up to her ideals.

I never met my dad. I was only a sprite when he passed away. I had given up pressing my mom about what had happened to him. She would never give me an answer. I didn’t know one thing about him. What was he like? I tried to draw a picture of this father figure in my head that I was supposed to have, but would always come up with a blank.

Us fairies are widely known for enjoying flights outdoors, making plants grow with our green thumbs and being buddy-buddy with all reaches of nature. But we’re best known for our big, delicate and beautifully intricate wings. I’ll tell you a secret though: Not all of us have them. That’s right. In fact, fairies aren’t born with wings, but rather earn them. We call it the “metamorphosis”. Think of us as squishy caterpillars transforming into exquisite butterflies. Metamorphosis occurs, when a fairy uncovers the deepest part of who they are. It doesn’t matter what age this happens. There are some babies already flying around their nurseries; whereas, there are elderly seniors who have had to walk their entire lives.

I still didn’t have my wings.

This was a problem for me. I felt like I knew myself pretty well. What more could I do to discover my true self? Was I judging myself wrong?

I took a seat on a patch of grass under the shade of a willow tree next to my house. My mom and I lived in a small cottage near the outskirts of Silver-fern Grove. It was a large forest that expanded for hundreds of miles. Most folk preferred to live in Nutter, a large village with bustling streets and shops to browse. The Silver-fern Grove was quiet and peaceful. My mom and I preferred it there.

I let out a soft sigh, twirling my finger around a blade of grass. I would have used magic to make it grow, but there wasn’t much power flowing through me without wings. Just like any other flightless fairy, I was restricted to using more mundane methods like watering the plant with a can and feeding it the proper fertilizer from a bag.

My mind wandered into memories of my grandfather before he had passed away from old age. I was four at the time and he was teaching me how to plant raspberry seeds. You see, my grandfather had no magic - no wings. I could never wrap my mind around how he still had yet to discover his true identity. I felt like I knew who he was very well. He was my grandfather, what more was there to it?

“Once you dig your hole, sprinkle the seeds in and gently cover them up with the dirt.” He had said. He had pointed at a small hole in the ground we had made in the backyard garden. I smiled and held my tiny hand out with the raspberry seeds tightly kept in my first. With an encouraging nod from my grandfather, I opened my fingers up and let the seeds drop into the hole. We both worked together pushing dirt over the top of them, him giving a small pat on the mound after we were finished. “Good job. Now, it needs some water and sunshine.”

As if she was there listening all along, my mother came out of the house with a watering can in her hand and handed it to me. She fluttered her wings happily as she enjoyed watching her father and I bond over caring for something so little and yet putting all of the effort into nurturing it. Using magic was easy. Doing everything with your own bare hands was hard. But it was rewarding and she knew that.

My grandfather had helped me lift the heavy watering can over the dirt mound and we tilted it, letting the fresh water trickle down into the soil. He smiled supportively at me. “This is what it means to work hard. To really put your heart into something.”

His words had always stuck with me.

I was drawn out of my thoughts when a presence landed next to me. I had hardly noticed him standing there until he spoke. “Someone looks deep in thought. Don’t worry, I don’t blame you for missing me.” It was Derrick, my childhood best friend. He leaned over to the side to level with me, letting his sweaty dark brown hair flop over his cheeks.

I rolled my eyes with a smile on my lips. “You would like that, wouldn’t you?” We both laughed, giving each other a teasing poke in the side.

Derrick fluttered to a spot next to me and sat down in the grass. He had the most amazing pair of wings I had ever seen. They were angled like dragonfly wings, shimmering a baby blue with a hint of green swirled at the edges. He had earned them a few years ago, saving a young sprite from drowning in a powerful river. He had discovered he was a protector over others. No matter what traits he had along with it, protectiveness was his identity.

“What are you doing here? I thought you were babysitting the nursery sprites in Nutter.” I said and leaned back onto my hands.

Derrick ran his fingers through his wet hair and smiled as warmly as the sun. “They all went home for the day.” He paused to shake his head. “Though Mabel figured that meant she was going home with me. Took three of us nannies to catch her mid flight from following me home like some lost puppy. She was zipping around all over the place.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. Derrick was great with kids and it always brought me joy to listen to his stories from the nursery. “You’re just a charmer.” I said as I smiled. “Maybe you should be meaner sometimes.”

Derrick chuckled, his face now a flushed light pink. “Really though,” He tried to divert the attention away from himself. “What are you doing out here by yourself? Shouldn’t you be inside reading?”

I rolled my eyes as I replied. “My mom thought it would be a good idea to have some fresh air and connect with my fairy roots. She thinks I’m avoiding my duties by reading all day.” Derrick gave a hearty laugh and held his stomach to stop himself from toppling over. I narrowed my eyes on him. “What’s so funny?” I asked.

Air filled his lungs as he took a deep breath and comfortably leaned his back against the willow tree. “You’re always in some other world when you’re reading. It’s just kind of ironic. Besides, I kind of agree with her on this one.” He smiled warmly at me as he noticed me folding my arms and opening my mouth in defense. “Relax.” He put his hands up in a sign of a truce. “Your mom has your best interests at heart. Don’t be such a shut in. I have to admit, it’s nice seeing you outside. It’s like the sun’s rays were made to shine on you.”

I couldn’t help but feel my cheeks flush pink at his comment. He always had a way with words. In an attempt to hide my flustered feelings, I huffed. “Alright… Maybe I’ll make more of a habit to step outside.” I pointed my finger at him. “But don’t expect me to stop reading altogether.”

His touch was soft as he gently brushed a strand of hair from my face and kindly smiled at me. “I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

Books were the most pure kind of magic to me. Despite not possessing any incantations or spells, the words within them had always enchanted me. The idea that someone could write down a mix of words to create worlds, characters and emotions, was in a way, its own kind of magic. My favorite ones were always the books that told about mythical people called humans. They would always drag me into their pages and it would be hours before I would find my way out.

It was quiet for a few moments and I found myself looking behind him at his wings. The shimmer that danced around as the sun reflected off of their fine scales mesmerized me. It only took Derrick a moment before he met where my gaze was at. Slowly, he opened and closed his wings while glancing at them over his shoulder. His thoughts were true to our history as friends. Knowing exactly what I was thinking, he turned to face me and searched my face with his dark blue eyes. “It will happen Jen. I promise.” He said.

My desire to have my own wings sprout from my back was never something I could hide from him. He reached out to place his hand on my own. His touch was soothing.

I gave him the best smile I could muster up. “I know.” Patience was never one of my strengths and I’ll admit that it still wasn’t. How could I not feel disappointed? To have this constant lingering doubt on your shoulders telling you that you’re missing something important was more than uncomfortable. The sting of the emotional slap in my face each time I thought about it would always make me recoil. I liked who I was in that moment and to know that I wasn’t entirely who I should have been, was an emotional whiplash.

Letting out a deep sigh I had been holding, I squeezed Derrick’s hand. “It’s getting late. I should probably head home. Maybe my mom won’t make me sleep under the stars tonight.” Derrick watched as I stood up. I brushed off some lingering strands of grass stuck to my tulle skirt.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” he asked.

I nodded my head. “Yeah, I’ll come visit you at the nursery.” We both smiled at each other and I turned to walk past the gate surrounding the house and up the steps.

Inside, the house was quiet. My mom must have been out shopping at the market in Nutter that day. Assuming that she would be home soon, I walked to the kitchen. I pulled out some leftover chicken pie from the fridge and scooped some into a pot to heat up on the stove. Once steam was floating up through the pie’s center, I split the food onto a couple of plates. It wasn’t much, but she would at least have a meal ready for her when she got back.

Moving to the kitchen table, a plate in each hand, I paused as something flickered through the far window. It was almost like a shadow danced by the white picket fence that surrounded the house. It must have been a play of the light. I placed each plate of food on the table and took a seat. The cool wood underneath me was a stark contrast to the heat from outside. My eyes were drawn to the window once again, and I swear there was another movement outside. Were my eyes playing tricks on me again?

Curiosity getting the best of me, I stood up and wandered to the front door and opened it. A quick summer breeze flew by me and into the house. Derrick was gone. I was the only one there. Shaking my head, I turned to head back inside, when there was a snap behind me and I immediately whipped back around. My eyes searched the front yard for any sign of an intruder.

“Hello?” I called out.

Everything was silent. I couldn’t help myself. I reached for the fence gate and opened it, unaware of my feet moving me in the direction of the woods. It was as if I was in a daze and my body had grown a mind of its own.

Fallen leaves crunched under my feet with every step I made. Several minutes later, I came to a stop. Thick vines snaked around the trunks of the trees, which in turn appeared to grow taller in an escape. The chirps of the local birds had gone quiet long ago. I scanned the area as if I had just woken up from a hazy dream. Darting this way and that, my eyes tried to locate a familiar landmark, but didn’t recognize anything.

Another snap pierced the silent air and I took a step back. My heart was racing. “Is someone there?” I called out once again. I hesitantly took another step back, when the ground was suddenly swept up from under my feet. The world spun upside down for a split moment. A small yelp escaped my lips. Taking two slow breaths to clear the unexpected nausea that came with the ordeal, I opened my eyes. The spinning world came to a stop.

A thickly woven rope surrounded me, bunching my knees up to my chest and swung me precariously six feet in the air in the tree. I had walked right into someone’s trap.

Grabbing two strands of rope in my hands, I tried yanking them apart to no avail. My heart dropped at the gravity of the situation. Was someone going to come and help me, or was this an old trap long forgotten?

“Help!” I yelled out. “Is anybody there? Help!”. I yelled a few more times, and the strain in my throat promptly asked me to stop. There was no one. I was alone.

Darkness enveloped me as the sun set. I had been hanging there for an average of three hours and a strand of rope was dangerously getting close to giving me a wedgie. None of my efforts to escape proved successful. Was this my fate? To pathetically waste away in someone’s deserted game trap? My heart sank at the thought.

Gazing up at the sky, I could see the moon brightly emitting its light through the tree’s leaves rustling in the soft breeze. The moon was beautiful and beamed brighter than all of the stars combined. I sat back in thought. I had never truly been outside long enough to see how beautiful the night could be. Instead, I was typically in my room reading a book. Even the night skies written in the best novel were no match for what I was seeing in that moment.

A chill rose up my arms as another gust of air moved around me. Wrapping my arms around myself, I looked at a couple of robins settled within their nest in the branches above me. A few chirps quietly rang out here and there. What were they saying to each other? Fairies never had the ability to speak to animals, but gnomes always enjoyed boasting their talent of doing so.

A rustle behind a ninebark bush interrupted my thoughts, immediately drawing my eyes away from the robins. The ninebark was only a few yards away. If someone was there, they were bound to hear me if I called out. Drawing up the courage, I called out. “Is someone there?”

There was no answer, besides a few more rustling movements from behind the bush. The sound intensified as its branches vigorously shook back and forth, as if something was stuck inside it.

An assortment of possible creatures that could be hiding within the ninebark flooded my mind. Was there something dangerous lurking in its shadows? The worst I could imagine was a snagglepuff. Those things were vicious. Don’t let the name fool you. What comes out appearing like a fluffy bunny at first, would certainly always morph into a large ravaging beast. They were rare, but there were no accounts of any surviving encounters of the beasts.

The rustling from the ninebark grew louder and I shrunk back behind my knees. I was completely vulnerable. There was nowhere I could go. Shutting my eyes tight, I awaited my impending death as footsteps approached me. Then, all went silent.

I hesitantly peeked from under my lids and froze, not finding a large beast ready to devour me, but a hooded figure standing before my hanging prison. The figure was tall, with what must have been its head easily reaching my torso. They appeared to be a person from where they were standing. While the cloak’s tails hung loosely by their feet, I could see two arms and two legs. The hood turned upwards, a shadow casting on the face underneath. All that I could see were bright golden eyes gazing up at me. They looked me over before taking another step closer to me.

“This is some treat I’ve caught. Who would have thought I’d come back to find a girl awaiting me in my game trap.”

I immediately knew that they had to be a man. His voice was a tenor, melodic and whimsical and yet still had crispness to give him an edge.

“I, I uh…” I stammered. “It was an accident. Honestly, there’s not much of an enticing story to it.” I realized that whoever the hooded figure was, they could be my only chance to get free. “Would… would you mind letting me down?” I asked.

It didn’t take long for me to see that the man wasn’t in a hurry to lend me some aid. Rather than cutting me loose, he began circling around me, looking at me from each angle. “What’s your name?” he asked. He looked at me like I was a meal, rather than a damsel in distress.

There was no way I was going to tell him my real name. “Avery.” I said the first name that popped into my head, hoping I sounded confident enough that he would believe it. The more that the man walked around me, the more impatient I grew. “Can you please cut me loose? I’ve been stuck up here for quite some time and I’d really like to head back home.”

He turned away and I could feel my stomach drop thinking that he was going to walk away, but instead he found a large rock to sit on matter-of-factly. “Avery huh? Pretty name, though I wasn’t on the hunt for any Averys. However, you did walk right into my trap now, didn’t you?” He rested his chin on his hand. “Don’t you like it up there?”

I was taken aback by his nonchalantly cynical tone. Did he seriously think I meant to end up there? Who would want to be stuck hanging from a tree? I could guarantee he wouldn’t have liked it either. “No!” I shouted back. “Why would anyone want to be stuck in this mess? It was an accident.” Narrowing my eyes, I glared at him, hoping that I could instill the same effect that his eyes did on me. “Let me down… please.”

My face fell when a laugh escaped the darkness where his mouth should have been. It was loud and crisp and oh so lovely, but I wasn’t going to let that get to me. “Don’t laugh, I’m being serious. Do you know how long I’ve been hanging here?” I asked. Before he could answer, I continued. “Four hours! My legs are feeling cramped and I had to go to the bathroom, like yesterday. So please, cut me down.” My second request for freedom only made the man laugh again. He was beginning to get on my nerves.

As I groaned in frustration, he stood up from his rock and pulled a long sword out from under his cloak. “You’re funny Avery,” he said. “I like you.” Reaching up towards his hood, he slid it back, revealing a young man. His silky blond hair flowed down to the nape of his neck, curling ever so slightly at his cheeks. The smile he gave revealed perfectly straight teeth, while a small mole peeked out just under the outer corner of his left eye. Every feature of his was angular as if he were sculpted from stone. My eyes were drawn to his long pointed ears revealing themselves through his hair.

I had to admit that he was really handsome, but it was no wonder he was so frustrating. He was an elf. Elves were known to always be “perfect”. They liked things to end up their way. They were stubborn, arrogant, self absorbed and had a way of getting what they wanted one way or another.

“Let me introduce myself,” he said. “I am none other than David Klitterfield.” He waved his hand extravagantly while taking a deep bow. I stared at him in silence, unamused. “I’ll cut you down,” he continued, “But you have to promise not to wander off into my traps from now on.” Before I could react, he swung his sword in the air and let it cut through a single rope. I opened my eyes with realization, before I swiftly landed on my butt.

I let out a groan as I struggled to untangle myself from the rope and sit up. The dirt I landed in swirled around in the air as if to give a flamboyant flare to David’s heroism. Once I had slipped out of the rope and tossed it to the side, I stood up and brushed the dirt off of me. “Thank you,” I began, but fell silent as I looked around. David was gone. I was once again, alone. I stood there for a moment, trying to listen for any sign of him, but the night was still. Shaking my head, I began walking home.