Fey and the Blood-Red Vials

Submitted into Contest #96 in response to: Start your story with the arrival of a strange visitor in a small town.... view prompt

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LGBTQ+ Horror Fantasy

January 12, sometime around 11:34 am

A taxi -yellow with a monochrome checkered line plastered across the side of the thing- hunkered into a sudden halt when it reached the borderline that separated the outside world from Myrefall. It wasn't tangible, the border, but it existed. One step or leap across the borderline came with a shiver followed by the eruption of goosebumps; that was when you knew you were there.

The tires of the taxi screeched a little as it crossed the invisible border and rolled into a halt. The townsfolk watched with their heads cocked to the side as a person stepped out the door - bald, odd, and bewitching all the same. They carried a large doctor's bag and their outfit was the embodied antonym of colorful -it was as monochrome as old films. I couldn't help but stare at them through the filth of the fogged window, vaguely making out their sharp jawline tilted up at the sky.

The taxi was gone, by the time the stranger started walking towards us.

____________________

February 20th, 3:00 pm

The bald person, I learned not long after, had a name and that name was Fey. That was all. Not much was said through their mouth, and yet they managed to completely memorize the landscape of the entirety of the town without any help. Fey carried around the leather yet not-so-leather bag everywhere, as if separating from it would result in a fatality. I stared intently through the glass and couldn't help but pursue my lips at what they were doing.

It was quite peculiar.

Fey got on their knees, clicked open their bag and it did just so with delicacy -as if they had done this a plethora of times before. I remained to stare at them, entranced, sort of, by every single move this person made. They held a vial of red sort dangling between their long fingers, tipping and plopping to each side like a captivating creature. The townsfolk didn’t really understand what it is that they were doing, and yet no one deterred them from doing so. It wasn’t fear that kept them from doing anything to stop Fey, but rather an insane level of blinding trust that allowed Fey to roam about. As I spent days and days simply watching Fey from the abundant windows of the house, all I could do was watch. Watch and pray that Fey was doing more good than evil with those blood red vials.

____________________

March 19th, 2:45 am

It wasn't long after that Fey started to grow hair - this was inevitable, of course, as Fey was still human. It grew like the pricks of a porcupine but darker and coarser. Their routine hadn't changed much since last month. If anything, Fey circled Myrefall twice as much with her blood-red vials. Strange things have been occurring in Myrefall since Fey came, and yet this peculiarity was not something to shun. I felt myself getting reeled into the outside world -the world beyond the confinements of this wooden dwelling. The border was still there, though. yet somehow, for some unknown reason, I felt it begin to dim. We, felt it begin to dim. Fey looked up - their stormy grey eyes piercing into what was left of my soul, through the blurred tint of the window, and kept them there for a little while. The grey and the twinkle of the sunlight glimmered in those orbs as Fey scrunched their brows. Fey's expression was a peculiar one- one that mediated between sadness and determination. Not long after, they snapped their head back towards the blood-red vials in their hands and continued circling Myrefall.

Again.

____________________

April 23rd 8:00 am

A rabbit stepped through the border. Hopped, rather. It hopped right across as if nothing was there and it continued to hop while the townsfolk stared. The rabbit was white and fluffy, as rabbits were, and its cheery pink nose twitched with every heartbeat.

I could not help but stare. Rabbits did not cross the border. Rabbits did not enter Myrefall. Rabbits could not have entered Myrefall.

Right through the panes of glass, Fey smiled a darling smile.

Perhaps it was Fey who brought it in.

____________________

June 21st 6:00 am

Fey, with vials of blue in between their fingers, was shouting at the top of their lungs in a strange tongue. It had clicks and hums and sometimes both, and for some reason, the townsfolk could not resist the temptation to get closer. Myrefall was full of animals other than rabbits. Strange.

And yet I could not help but feel a warm heath crackle in me.

Myrefall was the place where spirits gathered to suffer

As Fey continued with their peculiar chanting, I stepped out the window. The ground below had never felt so tangible, and yet here I was -standing on the very corporeal ground. My lifeless form suddenly felt full of light and wonder, and I couldn't help but suspect foul play. Spirits were incapable of feeling the ground because we were just that -spirits; Ghosts without a vessel but with a simple mission -existing. Our purpose was to remain purposeless. Our purpose was to suffer within the confinements of Myrefall because that was our never-ending fate. That was what separated spirits from humans; us from Fey.

The border had been there since the beginning, and nothing would erase that.

Until Fey came, that is.

As they continued on; chanting in strange tongues, I felt lighter. The townsfolk seemed to have been lightened too. Fey continued shouting their chant, and everyone started to cheer. We weren't sure why, but we did. I could feel the border melt away like the wax of a candelabra and I could feel the chain that tethered me to the ground, snap like a twig. The bonds around my ankle had left a mark, but I didn't mind. At least my feet would never touch the ground again

As we started to ascend, higher and higher into the sky and away from the Earth, Fey started to get smaller and smaller- until they could only be discerned as a dot beneath.

Fey had been melting away the border, with those blood-red vials. They had been melting away the curse. They managed to melt away the chains that tethered our spirits to the foul Earth. Fey was the reason we ascended. Fey snapped the chains and released us from eternal misery; damnation, some might call it.

Fey released us Spirits, by melting away Myrefall.

Fey came and brought peace.

Fey came and ended our story.

June 03, 2021 14:43

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