Fairy Tales

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, sweetheart. There’s nothing there.” Gina was becoming exasperated, but her child was insistent.

“I know I saw something, Mom! It looked like a dragonfly, but it was a tiny person. And it flew there, under the TV stand” Lila pointed and stomped her foot in frustration.

“Don’t you dare speak to me like that, young lady.” Gina’s eyes narrowed at Lila, which caused the girl to shrink from her previously bold stance.

“Sorry, Mommy.” Lila looked down at her red sneakers, using a toe to fidget with the untied laces. Gina sighed and took Lila’s small hands in hers.

“I believe you thought you saw something. But I need you to let it go, okay?” Lila looked up with tears in her eyes.

“But, Mom, I know I saw something. It looked right at me. It really did. Why aren’t you understanding?” Lila ran into her room. Muffled sobs came through the closed door. 

The truth was, Gina did understand. She'd had a similar experince as a child. Which was why she couldn’t let Lila persist. Gina's greatest fear was Lila being taken from her. Now that the fae had appeared, Gina knew there was nothing she could do to prevent it. 

“Fate is cruel.” She said to herself as she knocked lightly on the door.

“Yeah?” Lila quivered. 

“Can I come in?” There was a pause.

“Okay.”

Gina gently pushed the door open and sat next to Lila on her blue, mermaid strewn bed. Lila's face was still pressed into a pink seahorse pillow. 

“I…I know what you saw. And you're right, it was a person with wings.”

“I KNEW IT!” Lila exclaimed, sitting bolt upright. “I knew it was real! Mommy, was that a fairy? Did you see it too?” Lila's eyes shown with the type of excitement reserved only for the very young.

“It was a fairy. I didn't see it just now, when you did. But, I also met one when I was about your age. Lila, honey…”

“Why didn't you tell me before? Wait…” her small face crinkled, “why didn't you…why did you….I'm confused. Mommy, you're confusing me.”

“I know, baby. I'm sorry I didn't say sooner. And that I tried to tell you it wasn't real. That was wrong.” Gina hesitated, unsure how to go on. “Sweetheart, you know the stories Mommy's told you about the fairies? How they're not always very nice?”

Lila nodded, her eyebrows knitting together. 

“Well, they aren't just stories. Mommy was hoping she could protect you. I've told you the stories to keep you from thinking they’re cute and sweet like those Tinkerbelle cartoons. Fairies do terrible things. And if one shows up, you shouldn’t be excited. You should be worried.”

“What are you scared of?” Lila asked.

“That they'll take you away, just like they took me away from my mommy.” Gina pulled her daughter close and kissed the top of the girl's head. “I won't let them. I can't. We’ll find a way.”

“But why would they want to take me? Why did they take you?” Lila pushed her mom back. Her brilliant blue eyes still shiny from crying.

“Fairies need young children, innocent children.” Gina looked over her beautiful child's golden curls and her round cheeks, dappled in freckles. Maternal instinct caught the words in her throat. She wanted to wrap her baby up and steal her away. But, she'd already done that once, and the fae still found them. Gina took in a resolute breath. 

“The fairies are damned, cursed by some being even I can't name or comprehend. Whatever it is, they were so angry with the  fairies that they all have to undergo a…a rite of passage. They have to travel through, what is essentially, Hell. Many do not make it and are trapped there. The ones who do make it through are often bitter and traumatized. At some point, one of them made a deal with a demon, that if they brought him innocent souls, he could make it so the humans endured the punishment, and not the fairies. He gave the fairies the ability to shrink so they can travel alongside the human double. In exchange, he gets the souls. Is any of this making sense?”

Lila shook her head, ‘no’. Gina contemplated how to help Lila understand. 

“The fairies use human children like a raft to get through a scary journey. They become so small, that, as long as the human is there to draw attention, they can get through without getting hurt.”

Lila looked off into space for a moment, taking in what her mother had told her.

“I think I understand. But, Mommy?”

“Yes, lovely?”

“Were you a boat? Er…raft?

“I was. And I made it out, just like you will.”

“Mommy….I'm scared.”

Tears began rolling down both their cheeks as thry held onto each other for dear life.

“I know, baby. I know. I'm not going to let you go alone. Mommy was trapped there longer than most. I ended up being Wed to the prince, then escaped shortly after you were born. I know it well, I think I can get back and..”

Something caught the corner of Gina's eye. A shadow, flitting about the room.she turned around to look for it, but nothing was there. When she turned back, a fairy was poised over her daughter, a bag of pixie dust in hand.

“No! Don't!” She screamed, but it was too late. Lila had vanished.

Gina sat, frozen. The silence stretched on until her chest filled completely with the pain of realization. When she finally released it, the scream was primal, like a raging beast from prehistoric ages. No one, not even those little pixie beasts would take her child from her. 

She went to her room and dug out a box from the back of her closet. A fine dust puffed as she opened it. In it was a fine, silver baby rattle with intricate engravings of flowers around it. Gina held it in her hand a moment, remembering the pure joy she experienced holding Lila for the first time. She set it down and picked up a heavy, bronze key, a map, and a silver chain as fine as spider’s silk. Gina placed the chain around her neck and instantly sprouted wings. The light reflected a collage of bright colors onto the wall.

“I'm coming, baby. Mama’s coming.” With a subtle “poof”, Gina shrunk and headed to the TV stand, eyes blazing.

Hell hath no fury like a mother.