Innis Fae

May stepped out into the sunshine, wincing at the bright rays. Her weary eyes were sensitive and puffy from the tears of the night before. A flash of pain seared her heart when she seen the beautiful fields and mountains that rolled out before her. Innis Fae or the isle of the fairies as her Irish grandmother referred to it. Sheila often told her wild tales of the romance of the isle, and of the “Fae” the Fae were fairies and often featured in her stories of home, Sheila seemed to have a complicated relationship with them one day playing with them and another just barely escaping being enslaved by them forever in one of her more dramatic tales! Sheila also told of the old fairy fort or ring that stood in the middle of the yellow meadow, how if two lovers were to cross over on the night of the summer solstice and lay side by side in the ring that they would be blessed by the Sidhe and granted a life of happiness and love. The stories fascinated May but she always took them with just a grain of salt, on the one occasion that she accidentally giggled and half rolled her eyes at one of Sheila’s wilder stories, Sheila sharp as a tac caught her and turned very serious, “ oh you may mock all you like girl, but take it from me I escaped with me mortal soul that night” she scolded an embarrassed May. May’s mother Soairse swooped in just in time to Save May a further telling off. “Now Mammy don’t be frightening the girl half to death” handing the cup of tea to Sheila, she gave a side long glance to May.

Sheila had moved to California before May had been born, she met her Grandfather Paul when he spent a summer on Innis Fae working on Shiela’s father’s farm. He swept her off her feet and away to California. May adored her grandmother, she was funny and warm and always had the right words to say in any situation. Except when May introduced her to her Fiancé Brian, she stared at his hair and asked if he had “swam there”, May half giggled but Saoirse shot her mother a stern look. Later May could hear her mother scolding Sheila for being rude, “It’s not my fault, he’s a gobshite with too much hair gel” Sheila offered by way of defence. “Hold your whist mammy” Soairse half snapped and giggled. Although Saoirse had lived all her life in California and only visited Innis fae once when she was small. She managed to inherit a slight Irish accent that was exaggerated when she was mad! Sheila on the other hand had never lost her accent and for reasons known to herself she became more Irish by the minute while telling stories of her shenanigans with the Fae. May was always amused at how she would begin a tale by shrinking down in her seat and leaning slightly forward, she’d cast a cautious glance around the room and begin in hushed tones as if afraid to summon them “Oh, you’d meet your match in them lot, always up to devilment and trickery!” “ The little heathens are always one step ahead of ye, but I was on to them” her emerald eyes would light up into a grin as she retold the story of when they had trapped her in the farm field at twilight “but sure hadn’t I me wits about me” she gave a knowing nod and a wink “I took me Geansi off and quick as a flash before they could get to me I had it back on me inside turned out” Sheila’s legend had it that if you ever found yourself trapped by the Fae, you were to take off your “Geansi” or jumper and quickly turn it inside out before they could get to you and they would have to set you free.

Fresh tears flooded down poor Mays puffy cheeks as she held her Grandmothers urn close to her chest, their home in California had been quiet since she passed away at Christmas time. May would love to hear her romantic stories of the isle of fairies. It was the reason May had decided to have her Irish honeymoon here, to meet her relatives and lay in the stone circle with Brian and have everlasting love, but her everlasting love came to an abrupt halt a month ago when Brian professed that he was not yet ready for commitment and wanted to go and “find himself” and find himself he did, in the storage cupboard at work with his secretary Tina. “He was a Gobshite Granny” May Said out loud. She had decided to stick to her plans and visit the island to scatter Sheila’s ashes in the fairy ring, as she had always requested.

May made her way down the long green cow field towards the meadow

She could see the vast acres of yellow flowers that spread out in the distance, it reminded her of buttery toast. When she reached the gate, she realised it was locked, and after a search around she established there was no key. “Up and over girl” a loud cheerful voice boomed out behind her startling her so much she almost dropped the urn. “Oh, jeeze girl be careful, Sheila will have your guts for garters if you drop her here on the cow field” from the small round frame and pleasant face May recognised this friendly lady to be Sheila’s cousin Mary! “ aw May mo chroi” Mary smiled “come here till I have a look at you” May smiled and welcomed the bear hug that followed, it took her by surprise but after what she had just been through, she welcomed it with open arms, well arm to be exact as she clung tighter to Sheila. “Did you think you were going to get away with doing this on the quiet girl?” she half asked, and half laughed. Turning to face up the hill of the cow field Mary let out a roar that was far bigger than the woman herself “over here lads” Almost instantly the cow field was filled with what she could only guess was the entire population of the town! “She was well got your granny” Mary said with a cheeky wink.

Turning to a Tall thin man in a black suit and a tweed cap Mary pointed out that “someone forgot to leave the key for the gate under the rock last night” May recognized the tall man seemingly being accused of the crime as Mary’s husband Joe, it was like all of her grandmothers photographs had suddenly sprung to life, or animation more so. Joe tipped his hat at May and upon spotting the urn in her hand he popped it off his head and held it to his chest in a wringing motion, “ I was sorry to hear of your grandmothers passing, She was a fine woman Sheila” and with a kick to the shin his attention was back on Mary “No finer than me” she glared. Joe cleared his throat and swallowed a lump and continued “indeed Mary indeed” “erm anyway” his voice became almost a whisper, and he had adopted that same look of caution as he slowly scanned left and right “I locked it last night to keep the. You know who out” Mary gave him a you do right nod turned back to may with an arm extended towards the farm gate. “After you me darling” May took this as her que that she would indeed be scaling the gate. She approached the gate and placed her grandmother’s urn on the other side through the gaps in the steel, then she slipped off her flip flops. The morning dew on the wildflowers had dampened her feet on the way over and she had learned from experience the consequences of a slippy flip flop! Just as she was mid climb she looked back and noticed that the entire crowd had begun to remove their shoes and line them up beside her pretty while flip flops with the daisy flower, she had planned to reach back through and grab them upon landing on the other side but amongst the whispers of “oh good idea” and “ better to be safe than sorry” it had dawned on her they thought she knew of another fairy superstition, she was Sheila’s granddaughter after all. Barefoot it was!

She made her way through the sprawling yellow flowers that grew in every direction, a small foot worn path seemed to lead the way. As she was walking, she was imaging Sheila running through these fields and playing with the Fae, she laughed to herself, she could see how such a place could evoke such an imagination. The long procession was stoney silent, so much so that she could literally hear the rustle of the flowers in the faintest of summer breezes. They eventually reached a clearing and May couldn’t believe her eyes when she was met with the grey granite-coloured stones, so evenly spaced and formed into a perfect circle.

She hugged her grandmothers urn close to her chest and went to take a step forward, just as she did she heard Mary spoke for the first time, it was the faintest of whispers but she swore she made out “I’ve got her Sheila” just on time for May to trip over a giant root that had seemingly grown in the middle of nowhere, Mary grabbed the back of her dress and pulled her back to standing. Giving May a look of caution she whispered from behind her palm “you have to keep your wits about you around here love” May was grateful to the woman and tried to explain that she had tripped over a root, but when she pointed to the ground there was nothing to be seen.

Mary said nothing instead signalled for her to start the proceedings, everyone formed a circle around the outside of the rocks and faced towards May who was standing at the pathway. she welcomed them all and thanked them for coming. she read out one of her grandmother’s favourite poems “the isle of Innis free” the towns folk came up to tell stories and Mary had them all in stitches telling tales of the antics the pair of them got up to. It gave may a lot of peace to know how loved her grandmother was. She was just about to step through between the stones to release the ashes, when Mary put a gentle hand on her shoulder “no love, only Sheila” May understood and opened the lid, just when a small wind blew and seemed to carry the blue grey ashes round the ring. Tears rolled down mays face as she said her final goodbyes to her grandmother.

Mary wrapped her arm around her waist “come on love, they will take care of her now, you’ve done her proud”

As the two women approached the gate they were shocked to see it wide open, and even more surprised when she noticed that one of her flip flops had gone missing, to her dismay she started to realise she wasn’t the only one, everyone’s left shoe had gone for a hop. “What in the world.” she began to speak when Mary interrupted her “don’t question it dear, you need to pay them no heed” Surely, she didn’t think that this was the work of the Fairies? But as she looked around and noticed the entire town hobbling up hill with only one shoe on, she thought better than to ask again.

Later that evening the town threw a party for old Sheila, the old cow field was transformed into a fabulous affair of fairy lights and hay Bale seating. There was music and dancing and an abundance of Joe's famous strawberry wine. At the end of the evening the crowd gathered round a large campfire to tell stories of Sheila. Just as Joe pushed another glass of his strawberry wine into may's hand she started to feel a little lightheaded and decided to go for a walk. without thinking she found herself at the farm gate at the end of the cow field which was locked again and to her surprise all of the left shoes were lined up in a neat row as if they had been there the whole time may rubbed her eyes in disbelief just how strong was this Summer Wine? Without thinking about it she had scaled the gate and was walking down the small clearing through the yellow flowers. Within moments she arrived at the opening and could see the stone circle before her; the moonlight overhead made the stones glisten almost ethereally. She hadn't noticed how quiet it had suddenly become, so very quiet, even the music from the upper cow field could not be heard. Tears rolling down May’s cheeks as tonight should have been the night that she lay here with Brian and instead she had laid her grandmother to rest. Thinking of Sheila’s story of the romance of the ring, May decided that there was no reason that she could not be the love of her own life. and in silent defiance stepped forward to make her way towards the stone circle. Out of nowhere May caught her foot on something in the undergrowth and plummeted forward towards one of the large stones, Eyes winced bracing for impact she fell forward and expected to feel the cold hard rock hit her incoming head, she seemed to be falling forever she opened her eyes and felt like she was falling into a dark void, she hit the ground with a loud Thud and passed out for a few moments. She awoke to something cold and wet being dripped onto her forehead and a bright light overhead. Sitting up rubbing her eyes she tried to look around to see where she was. She became aware of a faint whispering from around her but when she turned to see who it was the light would follow her and blind her vision. The whispers became laughter, and it felt like tiny little creatures had begun to crawl on her legs she tried to brush them off and felt sharp little bites on her hands and legs, “Ahhhh” she squealed they were biting her now, she the laughter came closer and soon she felt tiny tugs on her hair. She jumped to her feet and bumped her already sore head on the roof of what only could be described as a cave. But how? She had been in the meadow only moments ago. She could hear voices and laughter all around her but the bright light in her eyes made it impossible to see where it was coming from “who’s there” she cried out forming a shade over her eyes with her hand to try see past the light. “Mary is that you”? she could hear tiny mocking voices sing out all around her “Mary Mary” and then that laughter once again, May was beginning to feel uneasy now. she noticed that the light had started to move away from her “Nooo” she cried out, “come back please don't leave me here!” she started to follow the light but it moved more quickly away. She began running in full panic, afraid to be left alone in this dark place with these scary voices and laughter. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, it felt like she had run round and round in circles for ever when suddenly she heard a familiar voice from behind her “Slow down love, aren’t you a little warm in that jumper Darlin” she spun round to try see who was behind her but the light had followed her line of vision. She covered her brow with her hand to try see a little clearer, just behind the light she could see a familiar silhouette that disappeared just as quickly as it had arrived, tears of despair ran down her face as she cried out for her grandmother, only to be met with silence, no more laughter or voices just silence. She repeated her grandmothers warning in her head to try and make sense of it, what did she mean “Are you not too warm in that jumper” she pulled at the light knit jumper she had thrown over her summer dress and it struck her. She pulled it up and over her head turned it inside out and put it back on just as quickly. Just like that the blinding light that had harassed her endlessly went out and she was left in the pitch-black darkness. Terrified she begun to call out for help, “ somebody help me please” “Mary, Mary please come and find me” sobbing uncontrollably she was startled to feel a hand on her shoulder and a light shake, “May, it’s ok love, May are you with me” she opened her eyes to see a concerned looking Mary standing at side of her bed. May looked round the room in disbelief, how on earth had she come from the meadow to her bedroom so quickly. Relieved beyond belief she frantically began to tell Mary, “Oh Mary, they are real they are, I never believed granny but the Fair...” before she could finish the last word, Mary hushed her “ now now girl, it looks like you might have overdone it on Joe’s Strawberry wine last night” “ sure you must have passed out before you’d even managed to get yourself undressed” she gave a tug on May’s inside out jumper. And with a wink she half laughed “don’t worry love, we’ve all done it you just need to be a little bit more careful next time” May looked terrified, “Next time?” the two women laughed together.