Away with the Fairies

*°•○Part One○•°*

The loud clap of thunder finally stirred her back to reality.

Louise noticed the first huge raindrops disturbing the shiny surface of the large lake spreading in front of them, as a sudden gust of wind, followed quickly by another thunder, made her shiver.

"Hans, we should go home," she told her companion, who was still absorbed in reading his book.

Hans, the tall, lanky youth lying on the striped gingham blanket next to her looked up from his volume, only to have his glasses sprinkled with the raindrops of the oncoming storm carried to his face horizontally, rather than vertically, by the increasing wind. Realising at last that the sunshine they had been basking in only a while ago, so precious and rare in their town even in the middle of the summer, was completely gone, he stood up and closed his book.

"Come on, we must hurry," he said, stuffing his flat cap in one of the pockets of his jacket before the wind would carry it away.

As Louise stood up and smoothed out the creases of her faded, threadbare dress, he picked up their blanket and folded it quickly. More raindrops pierced their way through the thick layer of churning clouds that gathered above their heads as they took off running, hand in hand, towards the gate of the town's park.

Too soon Louise was gasping for air, her unhealthy lungs struggling for the oxygen. But she needed to keep up with her friend... Hans noticed, and instead of following the gravel path towards the wrought iron gate, he pulled her under the tightly woven branches of one of the tall, age-old trees of the park, finding a temporary shelter there. He clutched his book to his chest to protect it from the raindrops flying around them in all directions as he watched Louise leaning against the tree trunk, breathing heavily, exhausted by the short run.

"We... can't... run all the way home. We'll... get drenched. Your book... will be destroyed," Louise said with difficulty as she pressed her free hand over her suffering lungs.

She was right. They couldn't run home in the stormy downpour, which now reigned all around them, but not because of his book. Even though that old volume was his most treasured possession, the only physical memory of his father, Hans cared about Louise even more. Her health was too fragile.

Hans pressed her hand tighter in his. "We would get drenched, and they would scold us," he agreed, not telling her what he was really worried about.

The girl nodded thankfully, then looked up as some drops of rain found their way down through the canopy of leaves and branches spreading above them like an enormous, green parasol, knowing, but not saying out loud, that this was all her fault, that if Hans were alone now, he would have made it home easily.

Watching her intently, Hans shook out the blanket he held clutched under his arm, and Louise let him wrap it over her shoulders. As she looked at him with her large, sky blue eyes that seemed even bigger in her pale face hollowed by the lingering illness, his heart ached.

Even though he was still quite young, a child for all those older than him, Hans knew what he wanted to do in his life. He wished to write story books, earn enough money, then marry Louise; he was sure enough that she wanted it too. Unfortunately, Louise was ill now, and their parents' recent marriage meant that... that they have become siblings of sorts.

Gently, he pushed a stray strand of Louise's straight, blonde hair, darkened by the rain, back under her cerulean bonnet, earning himself one of her ever rarer smiles.

"The park keeper's shed. We'll hide there, then go home when it stops raining. Wait here," Hans said as he took off running again, towards a small copse of younger trees growing on the edge of the lake, hiding an old wooden shed. As soon as he reached it, he forced its door open without difficulty, the weather-worn wood, and the rusty latch presenting no resistance.