The Magic of Merlin's Cove

It had been twenty-four years since she had last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same. The icy blue water ran over the bed of rocks that were home to the bustling aquatic life below. Moss covered the edge of the cove, fading into the mist that added to the mysteriousness. She closed her eyes. Twenty-four years. As a girl she spent her days here running around barefoot, free. Now, with three children of her own and a soon to be ex husband, that magic was gone. She had traded her life here for a life in the city. She had traded the soft green grass and the wild flowers for a desk in a legal office, for a man in a suit.

She thought back to the reason she needed to escape. She looked back at the crumbling cottage that sat on the hill and remembered. The magic stopped on that hill, in that house. This cove had been an escape from the terrible man in the cottage. Her father. As a child she pretended to be a princess who was captured by an evil man. This place had been her refuge. Her escape. As the years of her childhood escaped her she realized she no longer saw the things that helped her cope.

There was a time when she saw fairies flying in the mist. Trolls rolling balls of moss towards their rock homes. There was a time she had danced amongst the magic of Merlin's cove. She wasn't sure if they were ever real or just real to her. Either way, they were her only friends. The only reason she survived at all.

She sat on the edge of the water, removed her shoes, and dangled her feet in the water. It was as cool as she had remembered. She stared into the mist and felt the calming effect take over her body, her soul. Twenty-four years. Almost a lifetime.

Her mother had died when she was born and her father blamed her for that every day, silently, by withholding any emotion. He fed her. He gave her a place to sleep. That was all. Other than that she was an unwanted child, a burden on the cold hearted man. So each morning, after she did her chores, she would run here, where she was wanted. She would run to the magic with open arms and it would embrace her.

She stood up and stared towards the cottage. She began walking up the hill, then decided to run. When she got to the top of the hill she stopped, caught her breath, and wiped the tears from her face. The front door was hanging off its hinges. She lifted the door up and open. The door fell to the ground. A flock of birds flew out. She walked into the main room and looked around. Dust. Webs. Memories. Pain.

A picture of her mother still hung on the wall. It was the only picture in the cottage. She took the picture and wiped the dust off the face of the woman who had given her life and lost hers in the process. She looked like her mother, but smiled less it seemed. She returned the picture to the wall. She walked towards the kitchen, a place that should be filled with memories of family meals and warmth. That wasn't her experience. There had never been a family meal. She had eaten every meal alone, in silence. She ran her hand over the wooden counter.

She opened the door that led to the small hidden drive and walked towards her car. Her car. Fancy. She had been so proud of this car. A gift from her husband. Her soon to be ex husband. He had purchased it around the same time that he found a new love interest. At the time she didn't know, but the car was a consolation prize. She planned on giving it back, buying a truck. Something more like her.

She stared at the front of the house. Cold. Lonely. Empty. She pulled two packets out of the front of the seat and signed the first. Divorce papers. She threw them back onto the seat. She took the second set of papers and thumbed through them. Her father's estate. He had given her Merlin's cove. It was the only thing she had asked for in the divorce other than her children. She hugged the papers to her chest. Her father hadn't given her a loving childhood, but maybe, just maybe she could give that to her children. Maybe she could bring love back into this house. She could watch her children dance in the mist with the fairies and the trolls. Maybe she would see them again.

She opened her trunk and pulled out the broom, the mop, tools, paint, cleaning supplies. She had two days to fix the house, before her children came home from their fathers. Two days to bring magic into this house. To fill it with the love it never held. The love that had been robbed from her childhood. She would make sure her children had that. As she swept the porch, the mist creeped from the cove up the hill towards the cottage. The crickets began to chirp in the evening light. She breathed the mist in and a calm fell over her. She would be alright. She would get through this. She was strong. This place was hers. Nobody could take it away from her.

She put the broom down on the wooden porch and walked through the mist towards the cove. Lightning bugs danced around the water and bull frogs croaked. She sat down on the side of the water and watched the sun move across the sky. She closed her eyes and listened. She could hear the flitting of wings. The rolling of moss. She stood up, with her eyes still closed and danced. She twirled through Merlin's cove. She felt the magic all around her. And even if she never saw it again, she felt free. And that was all that mattered.