0 comments

Fantasy Fiction

Elsie Nightingale. The daughter of Florence Nightingale. Could she sing? You may ask, well no she cannot sing. Her voice is like a cat's chorus. Her mother disowned her and she was adopted. Her foster parents persuaded her to try new things to take her mind off not being able to sing. She took up element collecting. As a magical elf, she collects the elements of the earth and turns them into beauty products. Her latest one is called an earth face mask, and it is made from earth, infused with magical bubbles and plants, to clear up people's skin. Since she founded the hobby, many magical beings have taken it up, using them for all different purposes. Such as making elements into necklaces, or having them as pets. They can be very lively. Especially lightning. Even though it’s the hardest to catch it is one of the most common pets. Every year the founders hold a convention for it, where people can sell their element catching phononems to awaiting customers. The year is 3047 and it’s the convention for element catching, with Elsie Nightingale as the host. 

“Welcome one and all to the annual element catching convention! This year we have some exciting new elements to unveil, but first please browse around and buy our organic and biodegradable weather products,” She gets down from the stage looking happy, but anyone who knows her, would know that she was deeply stressed. The convention had a high standard to live up to, and this year was just beginning. The commity could ban her, if she did a bad job. She placed the megaphone down on the cold hard floor and wandered over to her shop. A little desk with jars and creams on top of it, as well as other products for your skin. She grabbed a bottle and dabbed it on her forehead. The label reads destressing cream, mixed and infused with real wind and light. A customer walked up to her shop. 

“Hello ma’am, what can I get you?”

“Well, my ten year anniversary is coming up and I need some smooth skin cream, to look nice for the evening, do you sell that here?” 

“Certainly ma’am, we do all kinds of products, would you like the light infused one, or the cloud infused one?”

“Which one works better?”

“The cloud infused lasts longer,”

“I’ll go with that one then,” She passed the bottle of cream to the woman, she smiled and paid her. The woman walked off to another shop. Elsie sighed and sat down on her chair. It was almost time for the big announcement. She stood up and dusted her dress off. The deep blue flowers billowing as she drank some wind to calm her nerves. She walked over to the stage and grabbed the mega phone. Holding it to her lips she began, “Hello one and all, we hope you are enjoying your time here and have bought many helpful products, as mentioned before, there is an exciting new element that we have finally managed to capture,” She pauses for effect, 

“Drum roll please,” The crowd makes a drum roll noise and she smiled down at them, 

“We have now captured a hurricane!” She waves her arms about and unveils a large bottle filled with a live hurricane. She beamed down at the people as their applause sounded through her ears.  Suddenly the hurricane bottle wobbled. It tilted left, then right. It whirled around and finally came crashing down, straight through the middle of the stage. The crowd was panic stricken, Elsie held onto the collapsing wood as it fell through the hole in the center. Screams ricocheted around the halls, making her unable to think. A strong hand clasped hers and brought her back up. She gasped for breath and laid on the ground trying to take it all in. Thinking faster than humanly possible Elsie grabbed the lightning element off her neck and threw it at the hurricane. It bounced and broke open, striking the hurricane through the heart. It died down and stopped whirring and causing havoc. Elsie heaved a sigh of relief. She slowly turned to look back at the crowd. They stood all glaring at her, their hair a mess and their clothes blown everywhere. She simply smiled at them and ran off stage, tears crashing down over her cheeks. Her hair came loose as she ran. The crowd of people didn’t stop her. They shouted at her. Mean harsh things. She ran to the committee. They shot her disapproving looks and scowled at her. They were disappointed. She had organside this all. She had put innocent lives in danger. She had gone against the committee's rules. Never harm innocent people. She had done just that. They would kick her out for sure. All because she invented a new strange hobby, it may have gone viral, but it doesn’t mean that it isn’t dangerous. She kept running. All the way out of the convention hall. She ran to a tree and grabbed out a bottle of light. She held it up to the sun and recharged it. She drank it hoping it would calm her thoughts and fears. The angry mob of a crowd couldn't be heard from up here. She couldn’t even feel the committee watching her from up here. Everything seemed sfe. Somehow. The hurricane element had been a disaster but at least they now knew not to do it again. The sunshine bottle was working. She was feeling calmer by the second. Everything is going back to normal. The elements around her neck clattered against her chest as she climbed down the tree. She had to set things straight. She had to own up for her mistakes. The poor people who bought her stuff would never trust her now, let alone her skin care products. She begrudgingly walked back to the hall to face the fate of her future. Where it would lead her, she didn’t know. All she knew was that it was the right thing to do. 

January 27, 2021 01:27

You must sign up or log in to submit a comment.

0 comments

RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

Bring your short stories to life

Fuse character, story, and conflict with tools in Reedsy Studio. 100% free.