The Legend of the April Pixie

Chapter 1

“All the mystery and madness in the world can always be traced back to a small and seemingly innocent creator.  Something so small you can barely see it,”  Mother said.  “Would you like to know why we celebrate this creature every year on the first of April?”

I shook my head, slowly, knowing that mother tended to go over board with the folk tales she told me, swearing up and down that they were true.

“I don't know, I have school in the morning and it's getting late,” I said.

“Oh, come on, don't be such a downer.  Besides it’s only one story,” she said, trying to convince me.

My mothers hazel eyes sparkled with excitement, her brown hair tickled my nose.  I pushed her hair away from my face.

“Fine, but only one story.” I said.

“I knew you’d come around,” Mother said.

Chapter 2

On the night of April first a pixie was born under the stars.  Her name was Thallia grew to be very mischievous, and was often caught by the royal pixie guard playing pranks on the rest of the village pixies.  One night, Thallia went overboard with her pranks, and pulled one on the queen. The queen ordered Thallia be outcast from the village and into a realm with no magic.  Our realm.

Thallia, with tears running down her face walked through the realm gate, and fell out of the magical realm.  When she woke, she looked around and saw very tall and strange creatures, sad creatures with looks of only gloom on their face.

“I know what to do,” Thallia said. “I’ll cheer up the creatures and make this place as magical as the pixie village.”  

Thallia reached into the pouch that was tied around her waist, and grabbed a handful of pixie dust.  Thallia lifted her hand in the air and gently sprinkled the dust over her head, and grew taller and taller, her brown hair felt longer on her back, as she realized the flower she used to tie her hair was too small,  her hazel eyes could see up higher than before.  The dress she wore felt longer against her legs and she could feel the ground beneath her feet.  It was cold in this world, something she hadn’t noticed before.

Thallia shook and shivered, rubbing her hands against her bare arms, as the dress she wore had only short sleeves.  A stranger approached her, and Thallia looked at him, wondering if he could help her.

“Excuse me sir, could you help me?” Thallia asked.

The man stopped dead in his tracks looking Thallia up and down wondering if she could be dangerous.

“Could you possibly tell me what day it is.” Thallia asked, hoping he would answer this time.

“March 31st” He answered.

“Could you tell me where I am,” Thallia said.

“You’re in New York,” The stranger said.

“New York, I like it.” Thallia said.

The stranger walked off, and Thallia followed.

“I’m Thallia, by the way, and you are?” Thallia asked

“None of your business.” The stranger said, annoyed that this girl was following him home.

The stranger had blue eyes and brown hair, he was tall and thin.  He lived in a big apartment building on the 4th floor apartment 422.  Thallia followed him up the stairs and to his door where he politely slammed the door in her face.

“How rude” Thallia huffed, reaching her hand into the magical pixie powder once again.  She sprinkled it over the door knob and slowly turned the handle to the left, hearing a clicking noise she opened the door and went inside.  Thallia looked around the glum apartment, with it’s beige couch and matching curtains, she felt sad just looking at it.  Thallia once more threw pixie dust into the air turning the once boring apartment into a colorful wonderland.

The man walked into the living room from where he was down the hall.

“How did you get in here.” The man asked.

“Magic.” Thallia smiled. “You never told me your name.”

“It’s Jack, but I locked the door.” Jack said, still in shock.

“Jack,” Thallia thought about it for a moment. “Jack, I don't know how I feel about that name.”

“Well that's a little rude.” Jack said.

“Sorry” Thallia said apologetically.

Thallia walked to where Jack stood and stuck out her hand. “Let's just start over, I’m Thallia.”

“Jack, nice to meet you I guess.” Jack said, hesitantly taking her hand.

Thallia shook his hand vigorously,  Jack pulled it away after seconds of non stop shaking.  He looked at Thallia as if she were an alien.

“What? Is there something on my dress, I did fall quite away.” Thallia said, happily as ever.

“No, where are your shoes,” Jack said. “And what's with that dress?”

Thallia looked down at her bare feet and then to his shoes confused.

“Shoes, and what's wrong with my dress?” Thallia said, confused.

“Never mind, do you have a place I could take you too, how old are you even?” Jack asked.

“I’m 21 tomorrow, as for a place you could take me too, I don’t think so, I just got here.” Thallia said.

“Well, I can’t just throw you out on the street, I guess you could sleep here for tonight.” Jack said.

Around 10:47 Jack came into the living room, carrying pillows and blankets to make up a bed on the couch.  Thallia watched as he struggled to fold the couch out.  Finally it sprung out and with a thud sent Jack falling onto the floor.

“Ugh I hate that stupid thing.” Jack quietly yelled.

Thallia laughed and reached into the pixie dust pouch, then sprinkled some on the fold out bed, suddenly it was all made up with pink sheets and fluffy pillows.

“This will have to do I guess.” Thallia said.

Jack sat on the floor holding his head wondering “How hard did I fall?”  He got up and walked over to the magical pink bed that sat in the middle of his living room.

“How did you do this, Thallia.” Jack asked, still shocked.

“Pixie dust.” Thallia answered. “It’s simple really-” 

Jack cut her off. “ Fairies aren't real.” 

“I’m not a fairy, I don’t have wings.  I am a pixie.” Thallia said angrily.

“Sorry, I didn't know the difference.” Jack yelled. “ I need sleep, goodnight.”

Jack turned on his heels and headed for his room, as Thallia got cozy in her bed.

The next morning, Jack woke up and got ready for work, forgetting all about his unwelcome guest.  As Jack walked into his living room all he could see were streamers and balloons covering the floor, a sudden popping noise woke him up fully.  Thallia was back to being small and was flying beside Jack's ear.

“So, what do you think.” Thallia said, scaring the giant man.

“Thallia?  Where are you.” Jack looked around, turning left then right and back again.

“Jack, I’m right here,” Thallia said, landing on his shoulder.

“How are you that small?  What happened to my living room?”

“I decorated for my birthday tonight.” Thallia said smiling a smile only she knew was there. “Are you coming?”

“No, I have to work, plus I don’t know.” Jack said, brushing Thallia off his shoulder, before she hit the floor she flew up.

“You are so rude.” Thallia whispered to herself.

After Jack left, Thallia got bored and decided mischief was the way to go.  Quickly Thallia flew out of the 4th story window and spotted Jack walking down the sidewalk, He had on a suit and long coat.  Thallia flew to meet Jack, and landed back down, gently on his shoulder.  Jack walked quite away before entering a building to his left, an office building.  Jack worked as a publisher for the newspaper, his works were never published as the manager didn’t really like Jack.

Thallia looked around at the cubicles of sad gloomy people just like Jack, wondering if she could ever become this sad.  “I know what’ll cheer them up.” she thought, a mischievous smile spreading across her face.  Thallia hopped off Jack’s shoulder, and flew around the room to her first victim.  It was a woman sitting in the third cubical from the right, a sad look spread across her face as she typed, her blue eyes had lost their sparkle.  Thallia reached into her pouch and sprinkled the magical dust on top of the woman's head.

Jack walked to his office to start typing his latest works, even though he knew they would never be published, he liked to hope.  After what seemed like hours, he saw the all too familiar  sparkling of pixie dust.  “I can’t believe it,” he thought, running towards his office door.  When he was out in the open, it was chaos, Chairs were thrown across the room and cubicles were flipped upside down.  Computers were broken, and glass was all over the floor.

“Thallia, what have you done!” Jack yelled.

“Sorry Jack, I think I used too much pixie dust.” Thallia said.

“You think!”  Jack yelled.

Soon the Mrs. Lee, the manager came into the cubicle room.

“What is the meaning of all this no-” She got choked on her words.

Mrs. Lee’s eyes darted around the room trying to find what could have caused this.  They stopped on Jack, burning holes right through his face.  She strutted across the room to where Jack stood.

“I have a feeling you have something to do with this.” Mrs. Lee said, her finger pointing at Jack.

“I don't, I swear.” Jack stumbled on his words.

“I will find out if you had something to do with this”  Mrs. Lee said.

As Mrs. Lee turned her back she kept her glare towards Jack until she was out the door.  Jack turned round and round trying to find where Thallia had gone, but she was nowhere to be seen.  

“Right here Jack.”  Thallia said, waving from over by the window.

“You need to fix this before the word spreads around,  WWWDot is New York's best selling paper, and if this spreads people will think we’re nuts and will never buy another paper from us again.”  Jack said, panicking.

“The thing is, it has to wear off, I can’t just retract the pixie dust.” Thallia said. “It should only last until midnight.”

“Midnight!  What do you mean it should only last until midnight.” Jack cried.

“I’m so sorry Jack, I thought I was helping, people around her seem so sad, and I thought if I brought a little mischief  into their lives, it would make them happier.” Thallia said, tears burning her eyes. “I just wanted to help.” 

Jack felt bad for yelling at Thallia, she clearly has no clue how things work in our world.  Jack walked over to Thallia and scooped her up in his hands, cupping them so she wouldn’t fall out.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled.  You don’t understand how things work here.” Jack apologized.

“This is all my fault,” Thallia stopped to sniffle. “But I think I know a way to fix this.”

Jack got excited and almost threw Thallia up into the air.  He quickly, gently put Thallia onto the desk and ran out to where his coworkers were supposed to be.  Jack looked all around the office, and not one of his six coworkers were to be found.  Thallia flew into the room, beside Jack.

“Where is everyone?” Thallia asked.

“They’ve left the building.” Jack said calmly, not trying to freak out.

Thallia and Jack went over to the window to see Jack's coworkers running through crowds of people.  Swerving left than right, then left again barely missing the people walking the opposite way. 

“This is bad, everyone knows where we work, we’ll be the mockery of the newspaper world.” Jack cried out.

“All we have to do is catch them before midnight.” Thallia said. 

Thallia flew over to the middle of the room, and sprinkled pixie dust above her head.  A few seconds later she started to grow taller and taller, until she was only a few inches shorter than Jack.

“Lets go.” Thallia said, already running towards the door.

When they got outside, Jack and Thallia couldn’t spot any of the coworkers.  They started running the opposite way of the building, towards a park.  Thallia reached the entrance first, looking around she spotted four of the missing six coworkers.  She waved Jack down and pointed towards them, then quietly sneaked up on them.  Thallia managed to pixie dust three of them, and they fell onto the ground asleep.  Jack grabbed the last coworker and brought them over to Thallia so she could pixie dust him too.

“Now we only have to find two more.” Thallia said.

“We can’t just leave them in the park like this, we have to drag them back to the building.” Jack said.

“And how are we going to do that?” Thallia asked.

“I don’t know, I figured you had some magic fairy dust for that.” Jack said.

“It’s pixie dust!” Thallia snapped. “And no I don’t we’ll just leave them here.”

“Can we at least hide them in that very convenient bush over there?” Jack asked.

“Fine.” Thallia answered.

Thallia grabbed the arms of one coworker and jack the arms of another and started dragging them over to the very convenient bush.  Then they went back and grabbed the other two.

“Are you happy now?” Thallia said sarcastically.

“Yes” Jack answered with the same energy.

Thallia rolled her eyes at Jack, and started running to find the next two coworkers.  After about two hours of running, Thallia and Jack gave up, and sat on a bench.

“Where could they be.” Jack said panting between each word.

Thallia only shrugged.

“Do you hear that?” Jack asked, breathing hard.

Thallia nodded her head, looking behind her.  Jack reached back and pulled the curtain of leaves revealing the last two coworkers.

“There they are.” Jack said quietly.

Thallia hurried and put the pixie dust over them, and they fell with a thunk to the ground.

“Now we just leave them here, and they should wake up around midnight when the pixie dust wears off.” Thallia said.

“Ok, but what do we say when everyone asks us about what happened?  I’m pretty sure everyone knows that these people work for WWWDot .” Jack said.

“Just say it was a prank for April 1st.” Thallia said. “Where I come from, we call it fools day because it's my birthday, and everyone thinks I’m a fool.” 

“April Fools Day,” Jack thought for a minute. “ I like it.”

Chapter 3

“And that's why we have April fools day, which is in about,” Mother looked down at her watch “Three minutes.”

Mother bent down and placed a kiss gently on my forehead, and started towards the door.

“Mom, do you really expect me to believe that?” I asked.

Mother turned around to look at me.

“Yes, I do.” Mother said, placing her hands on her hips. “Now go to sleep.”

“Thallia!” Father called from down stairs.

“Just a minute Jack” Mother yelled back. 

Mother turned around and walked out of my room leaving a trail of a sparkling dust floating behind her.