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Fantasy

Nope. I am not going to do that. I am not going to get the fairies in the pen anymore. They scare me. They bite my toes and annoy me constantly. I know that they are much smaller than me and kind of scared me. To be honest, there are so many things in this crazy world that frighten me. I am much to scared to do my job. I know that being a fairy gatherer is not that hard of a job, but for me in this crazy world, it's very hard. I wish that I wasn't so scared of everything. That I could be a hero. But, nope, I'm not doing that crazy task.

Even though I'm scared of people I wish that I could be heroic. To make my mark. Maybe once I can do my job without cowering in fear of the faries biting me I would be able to be the hero. Maybe then people would respect me, and I wouldn't be the weak kid who is afraid of everything in this world everyone's seen me as. I want to be more than that. I go down to the doc. I see my best friend, one of the merpeople, swimming with her family. She jumps out of the water, sees me, and waves. She swims over. She tries to pull me in. I attach myself to the doc.

I am afraid of what's in the water. What can devour me. That's her world, not mine. She says we can go to the river. There's a little stream connected to the sea at the edge of Fairytale Town. I walk along the bank and she swims beside me in the water. It's fun, as long as we don't run into a card. Then we have to scram. The queen of heart's cards are as tough guards as any. I'm most afraid of them. They will find a reason to behead you, with the queen's permission. She says yes almost everytime.

I should explain all the parts. There's the queen's circle, of her and her card. She has a husband, but no one respects him. They have a very selfish son. He is very ugly. Then there is Mother Goose. You come into her area and you might as well be a baby. She babies everyone who comes there, and everything. We keep away from her. Then there's the sea. This is where the merpeople live. Peter and his group stay in the woods. Sometimes they scout by flying over us with their pixie dust.

Oh yeah, and you may have heard of my dad, who was Jack. The one who jumped over the candlestick and the one who climbed the beanstalk. But we don't go up the beanstalk or touch the golden egg. It's supposed to be a heirloom. It's not as special as you would think. It's shineir and more yellow than all regular eggs. It's the same size. It also never goes bad. Not that special to anyone but us. After his peak when he was a teen and got the egg, he had me with Little Red Riding Hood who ended up leaving us to take care of her grandmother and mother a few towns away.

She did not want to settle down. She just wanted to have a child. My dad says women are a waste of time. He relies on me to make our earnings. The boy who crid wolf gave up his job. It was faries who he was taking care of, and it was the same wolf from Riding Hood. He gave up because no one listened to him. I took up the mantle. I support my family that way. Any way, Maya, my best friend had to go home. I went into town and found there was going to be a dance competition. But the Prince had already signed up.

I decided I was going to beat him and sign up, because everyone else wasn't going to. And when I signed my name, everyone was in shock. I practiced my best dance moves in front of my dad, Maya, the faries, and Mother Goose. I went a few towns over and even showed my mom. Peter Pan and the Lost Boys wanted to play the music I did it for. (They started to be a band more than anything else.) They had the perfect tune and I agreed.

The day before the Prince came to my house. "So, you're going to try to beat me? Challenge me? Be the town's hero for dancing? Ha! As if?" He says mockingly. "I have always won this competition. My parents have only seen me win. You give up now, or there will be consequences." I try to hide a laugh. You are not to laugh at the prince. His voice is much more high pitched than I had ever imagined. And taller.

"No." He gets mad and slams the door. He says something about regret. I shake my head. I practice and practice. I herd the faries. For the first time in forever, I'm not afraid of the town or this world. I feel in control. And the next day in the competition room I felt the same way. My dad gave me the best pep talk. He never looked so proud. Not only that but my mom came. She even sat next to my dad. I danced my heart out. Peter Pan and the Lost Boys had their first grand debut and we got an outstanding round of applause. But then it was the prince's turn.

He was a bore. It was a weird ballet with some modern mixed in. I was super confused by it and so was the rest of the audience. But of course the queen was the head judge. She gave the win to him. Putting me in second. First loser the prince told me. I told him it's only because his mom was the judge. He looked mad. But I had discovered my true talent. And I wasn't afraid anymore. In everyone else's opinion, I had won. And so, I was the town's hero. I may not be as special as everyone else, but I certainly have talent. And not a hidden one. Not one That people spite me for. One that makes me the upstander to bullies like the prince.

March 02, 2022 14:25

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