The Fairy of Time

Promo

It was a dull and cloudy afternoon as I went outside with a watering can. My neighbor looked at me with a confused expression as she and her kids unloaded groceries from the trunk of her car into the house. I spared no glance towards her and continued in my trance as I walked to my dead plants, trying to bring them back to life.

However, they would never come back to life, even though I knew that, I still continued to water them in the hopes that they would make my mundane life any better than it has been these last 10 years.

I watched as my neighbors’ kid dropped a bag of groceries, the sound made me jump and I saw that the kid dropped a bag of eggs. It made a mess all over the floor around the boys’ shoes and his Ipad that had also fallen to the ground. I watched as the mother ran to her kid, but I couldn’t hear what she was saying to him. The boy cried and ran inside the house, leaving the mess of eggs and the Ipad on the ground.

I turned around and walked to my next plant, reminiscing about the past for a bit. It’s not something I actually like doing, but when I’m alone with my thoughts, I can’t help but think of what made my life become this way.

As I absentmindedly walked over to my last plant, I felt the ground beneath my feet disappear and my stomach felt queasy. I let go of the watering can as I tried to reach anything from the top. I screamed from the top of my lungs, hoping my neighbor would hear me and call for help for me. I clawed at the edges of the hole I had fallen into, but the dirt was wet and moist from when I watered and so I kept falling.

The fear of death rushed over me as I tried to scream louder, but my screams only echoed and soon, the top of the hole disappeared and I was engulfed in darkness. The fall seems never ending and my memories rushed back into my head. The feeling I felt back then, the outcast I was, everyone turning against me and watching as I suffered.

Regretfully, if I had the chance to go back, I would definitely try and clear my name. Living in a place where no one has heard about the horrible things I’ve done is the closest thing I have to peace. But I miss them, my family, my friends, my child, everything was taken away from me in the blink of an eye.

As I made peace with the fact that once I reached the end of this hole, I would be dead. I prayed to myself, and to a god if there was one, “I would do anything to see my child once more, please let me rest in peace with him, please forgive me!”

Soon enough, a feeling in my gut started growing. I felt it, the end was near. Once I hit the ground, I will be reunited with my child! The thought made me smile as I spread my arms outwards from my body. I felt the ground collide with my body as I made a loud thud, but the feeling didn’t hurt at all.

I kept my eyes closed, but the smell that entered my nose made my eyes shoot wide open. Jumping up from my bed in fright, I notice that I am drenched in sweat all over and gasping for air as if I just had a nightmare.

Looking around, I noticed a lot of familiar things. There was the chair that I piled all of the clothes I’d worth, the mirror that I rarely clean so it was filled with dust and fingerprints, the corkboard filled with a collage of polaroids I took with my friends in my senior year of highschool, and blooming orange roses on my dresser next to a picture of my ex-fiance.

I held my hand to my head and rubbed my temples. “This has to be a dream! Ugh this can’t be happening.” This was my room, my old room in my parents house. Seeing the flowers and the portrait of my ex-fiance, it seems like I’ve gone back 10 years in time. I looked back at the orange roses and remembered the events that are about to take place soon. My ex-fiance, Essen, will soon propose to me. The orange roses symbolize passion and excitement, meaning that he was ready to take our relationship to the next level.

However, upon a closer look, I narrow my eyes as I take in a sudden appearance. There seemed to be a ghost at the edge of my bed staring at me. A ghost with flowy blue wings and long white hair. I wasn’t about to notice it at first because of how transparent the ghost was, it was barely visible.

I rubbed my eyes and looked back only to see that the ghost now had a bored expression on their face and I sucked in a breath. The ghost repositioned itself and sat while hugging their transparent knees and rested their chin on top.

With my breath still being held, the ghost finally spoke.

"Well, you seem to be okay. Do you know what happened?" As the ghost asked, I let out the breath I’d been holding and shook my head.

“I’m not sure if this is a nightmare, or I’ve gone back in time, or I’m just dead and reliving horrible memories.” I answered back while watching the ghost’s expressions. A small smile appeared on its face and the ghost stood up.

“I guess it’s all of the above? I’m not so sure myself actually. This is the first time I'm doing this!”

The ghost spun and I looked down and saw that it actually had feet.

“I’m confused. . ?” I trailed off as I stared at the ghost, the fear soon going away and a new feeling creeping up. I could be high. I had been using drugs to escape my thoughts, however I don't actually recall taking anything this morning.

“No need to be confused! I will explain what I know right now. First off, my name is Vel, the only Time fairy to ever exist! Although I say that I am a fairy, I am also a spirit, meaning that I have no reproductive organs, and therefore have no gender like you humans. However, I fancy myself to be a girl, so like you guys do it, you may refer to me using the she/her pronouns!”

Vel seemed excited to tell me everything about her as she sat back down on the bed and scooted closer to me.

“So now, I used my powers to bring you back to this time! No one else has powers like me, so it's hard to tell what kind of power I have exactly. That’s why my goddess said to practice my skills on a human, that way I can understand them. But I cannot say for sure if this is a dream or not. I am only 83% sure that I really did bring you back in time and that this is not a dream.”

As I listened to Vel’s explanation, I thought to myself that I really must be high. I probably did take some drugs this morning. This must be happening because I miss my old life so much that I conjured this fairy from my mind to make me believe that I have gone back in time.

I decided to ask Vel, “So you're telling me, that you're practicing your powers on me because you're the only one who has these powers? But why me?" I go along with what Vel is saying for now because even if this isn’t real, even if I am high, I wouldn’t mind seeing my family and friends one last time before everything gets taken away from me.

"Hmmm, because a lot of humans want a do-over for so many events, but you're the only decent one that I found that only wants a do-over for 1 event!"

Wait, if Vel is talking about that, then-

"So you brought me back to re-do this event?"

"Yes! Let's do-over this event together"

I look at Vel with shocked eyes. I had assumed that I woke up 10 years into the past, but it seems like she brought me right up to the day before I am to be proposed to by Essen, which is about 10 years and 5 months back, right before I turn 21. Essen decides to propose to me on my birthday, and then from the excitement of it all, I also get pregnant.

Well I did want to see my child again, but this time, I’ll have to make sure they stay alive. With a burning determination, I decided to believe that I was actually in the past and had the chance to re-do everything that’s about to happen. “Alright Vel, I’ll help you in this experiment.”

With my answer, Vel smiled and with one blink, I am now able to see Vel quite clearly.

“I’ll help you every step of the way, but first you need to tell me your name!” With no hesitation, I tell Vel my name, “My name is Heidi, Heidi Whittney.” With a smile, we then shake hands.

***
The chapter is titled promo cuz I don't actually know what I want to do with this, but I just thought it was interesting so I want to leave it here 🤷‍♀️ hopefully I figure out an idea and complete it.

🌸Zanna