10 Years Ago Today

Chapter 3

Leon looked at his youngest brother and sighed. "Dude, I'm not that drunk."

"I knew you wouldn't believe me."

"But why do you say that?"

"Because he got taken away in a fairy ring."

"A what?"

"If I had my books here I would show you. It's called a fairy ring. When I tried to save him, he was getting sucked into one. I tried to save him but... they were really strong. I can feel him, though. It's like he's in the same world but not at the same time. I know sometimes he's in a lot of pain... I think they hurt him. But he keeps trying to get back to the gateway, which is the oak tree with the maple leaves that has the fairy ring in front of it." He said with a small pout.

"I will look up what a fairy ring looks like later, okay?" Leon said, standing up.

"Do you believe me?" Aelan asked, hoping his oldest brother would have some sort of confidence in him.

"I can't say for sure that I do, but I will look into it, okay? You seem dead set on finding this thing and what's the harm in taking a look?"

"You'll go see it?"

"Yeah, I'll take a look."

"You promise?!" he said, standing up as well and looking at his brother with hope in his bright blue eyes.

"Yes, I promise."

Aelan grinned and hugged Leon as Leon sighed. He didn't want to ever go back to that forest but there was a reason why Aelan was so determined about this. True, he was kind of labeled as crazy, but there was some interesting truth within his words. What was the harm in looking for the dumb thing anyway? It would put Aelan's mind at ease if it was nothing, but if it was something, at least Leon knew he'd be on the right track.

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Once Leon got his phone back from the holding center, he found two messages and three texts. He ignored them and went to the Internet on his phone as he walked out of the facility.

"F-A-I-R-Y R-I-N-G..." he said to himself as he typed.

The first thing that came up was a ring of mushrooms and an array of weed killer products. He figured the mushroom thing was more up the alley that Aelan was talking about, so he delved more into the mushroom thing to look for a more clear definition. As he scrolled down, he tapped on a numerous number of folklore and fantasy sites that all pretty much said the same thing: fairy rings were bad news. As he was looking, his phone rang again and he answered it.

"Ye----s?"

"Dude, are you ever going to come and get me?"

"I told Kaycey to have you spend the night. I don't have the money to post your bail."

"I have money to post my bail. If you weren't such an asshole, you could help me out."

"Fine, what? How do I get the money? How much is the bail anyway?"

"It's like $1000 I think? Hold on... Kaycey?!" he yelled away from the phone. "How much is my bail?! How much?! It went up a little! Fine!" Hael got back on the phone. "My bad, it's $1700."

"When have you ever had a full $1700?"

"I got my taxes done and got a good return."

"You seriously want to spend that money on bailing you out instead of saving it and just spending one night in jail for free?"

"Oh... shit, you have a point. Damn it..."

"Exactly. I can function on whiskey and gin, but you can't. Sober up, Hael."

"You too, Leon." He mocked.

He hung up and Leon pulled up to the forest. He stared at the menacing woods, remembering the last time he had gone there. It sent chills down his spine and he sighed, taking another shot from his ever present flask in the car. He opened the door and looked at the forest in front of him. It was going to take a lot more than a flask to ever make him feel comfortable going back into that forest. He took another swig and wished himself luck.

*********************

It was cool and misty, as mysterious as it always was. As he walked, he kept looking up information on fairies and fairy rings, hoping to find out some more information on the subject that seemed to consume his brother. He stopped walking when he found an article entitled "What are the effects of fairy rings on humans?" He clicked on it and started reading the article. The more he read, the more he realized that what was happening to Aelan was exactly what was described in the post.

"Oh my god... If all of this is true then..."

The forest got abnormally quiet and Leon looked around. His phone suddenly glitched and he turned it off, sticking it in the pocket of his scrub. I really should have brought my flask with me. This is some crazy shit...

"Why am I even out here? Oh, yeah, so that I can help my poor fucked up baby bro feel normal again..."

A weird sound made him jump and a bright light danced across his pathway just like it did ten years ago.

"Oh shit... oh shit..." He tried to keep from hyperventilating. "Okay... okay... Oh my god... I have to do this for Aelan... For Nate."

He breathed in again and went after the light as it went deeper into the forest. He was shaking, from both being drunk and being afraid. This was the last thing that Nate did before he disappeared and now here he was doing it as well. What if he was lost? He shook his head and after a few moments, he ended up back at the gnarled oak tree with the maple leaves and in front of it, bright and almost glowing...

"A fairy ring..." Leon whispered.

It was enchanting, that's for sure, as well a foreboding, creepy, and mysterious. The ball of light zoomed over to the fairy ring and Leon couldn't believe his eyes when it stopped glowing and a teeny tiny winged creature stood gracefully atop of the middle of the fairy ring. It took flight and a lulling sound made Leon step forward against his will. Just as he was about to step cross the fairy ring, something started to come out of the ground, catching his attention and breaking the trance. He looked down at where he had almost crossed the threshold and tumbled backwards, falling. He watched as the ground moved again and suddenly a dirty hand shot up from the middle of the fairy ring.

Leon screamed and ran out of the forest as fast as he could screaming, "I'm not drunk! I swear I'm sober! HOLY SHIT!"

Leon burst through the trees and ran as fast as he could to his car. He slammed into it, shaking to try and get the door open and got in quickly, slamming the door closed as hard as he could. He grabbed his flask and drank out of it with shaking hands, downing as much alcohol as he could.

"I thought he said fairies, not zombies?! What the actual hell?! I need a stronger drink..."

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oh my. looks like leon may have stumbled across something else besides a fairy ring, huh?