Defect

I stare through the window of the bistro, looking for them again. They hide among us humans and think no one will find out.

And they are right.

No one can see them through the glamour they put up. The Fae. They disguise themselves as us mortals and live among us. They never try to harm us though. I think they want to live life like us, that is their only motive. To live and experience life as mortals do. Fae were prohibited from our world after a war that took place between us humans and them. They were thrown out of a portal to the Underworld and have lived there ever since. But many remained here for they were born and nurtured in our world.

I do not feel any threat from them and given that they have lived with us for years without harming us counts for something, right? I never told anyone that they were still here because humans tend to be foolish and impulsive at times. I don't want to be a threat to them. I want to live with them and long for the portals to open again. So that those barred from our world come back.

How do I know all of this?

Because I was born with what I like to call a "defect". My eyes see more than that of any other human eye. I have an excellent vision and can see far and near alike, through any disguise even if it is magical. I was ten when I found out that not all the children at school looked the same.

Some of them looked just like me, with rounded ears and normal teeth. While the others had pointed ears and canines which could puncture your skin. No wonder I freaked out when one of my teachers smiled at me with fangs sticking out of her mouth.

I told my mother about it once. Just once. She looked at me weirdly and told me I should stop watching all the "idiotic" movies I did. It was not until I was thirteen that I realized I was different than others and that they could not see the Fae in their real form as I could.

Then it was my little secret and my defect. I never mentioned it to anybody again.

Now eighteen years into life, I have come to find pleasure in distinguishing Fae and humans. I sit for hours in the library reading about theirs and our history or spend my free time differentiating their habits from ours. There are not many. Maybe it's because they have been living among us for thousands of years now.

The only thing that I find disturbing is the fact that no one before me has had this 'defect'. Nowhere in the history books do they mention another human who could see through their glamour. But what if they were just not daring enough to record about their defect as I do?

A barista catches me looking through the window and I straighten quickly. She shakes her head at me as if I am the biggest disappointment to have been born in this world. I am used to these looks. People call me crazy, a lunatic, and so on because I am so obsessed with the Fae. Little do they know, I have made friends with a lot of them, though my friends don't know I can see them as they are.

My phone buzzes in my pocket, making me jump. I pull it out quickly to find my mother calling.

"Where are you, Hailey?" She asks.

"At the bistro," I answer.

"Thank God. I thought you were at that gods-damned hell hole again." I can feel her rolling her eyes.

"It is called a library, mum." I correct.

"Shut it. I want you home by six today. One minute late and you are grounded." She warns.

I sigh into the speaker and end the call, not bothering to confirm. I know I will be grounded. I tend to get lost in my world sometimes.

I walk away from the bistro, hands in my pocket, towards my favorite place in the whole city. The library or as my mother likes to put it, the hell hole.