Me and My Shadow

Trust Me!

Settled near the back of the bus, away from most of the passengers, Gerard stared at the tiny fairy, now resting on the back of the seat in front of him.

"Why do I have a fairy godfather?" Gerard whispered.

"Why are you whispering?" Frank replied quietly in return, even though he had no need to. "Have you even noticed that if someone whispers, the reply will always be a whisper too, even when no one knows why?"

Gerard shook his head; this guy was far too upbeat.

"I'm whispering so I don't get locked up in an institution for talking to myself!"

"Well, get your phone out," Frank suggested – a well-used strategy for engaging with humans: Fairy 101. "Pretend you're talking to someone else."

"Yeah, I'm going to ask someone on the phone why I have a fairy godfather!" Gerard hissed with a frown.

"Wow, you're really grumpy for someone who just hit the preternatural jackpot."

"The what?"

Gerard heaved a heavy sigh. He'd had the surprise of his life, followed by the belief that he was losing his mind, topped off with a beating. All that and still no job. He just wanted to sleep.

"You have a fairy godfather!" Frank stated with his arms outstretched, as if the comment explained everything. "Don't you understand what that means?"

Gerard lowered his head until his nose almost touched Frank's chest.

"No." He replied flatly before sitting back up.

Looking around, he noticed people were starting to cast furtive glances and muffled chuckles in his direction. Sighing he got his phone out and pretended to dial.

"Hi," he began. "What's going on?" he added, looking meaningfully at the fairy.

Frank shrugged and looked away with a slight mischievous smirk on his face.

"Frankie, this was your idea, talk to me!"

The fairy looked up at Gerard, at first giving nothing away, but guilt began to take over as he saw his charge's shoulders sag and the bleak, tired expression wash over him once more. Fluttering his wings, Frank showered Gerard in glistening sparkles of light the effect of which was to draw a smile to the man's face, as a warm, peaceful glow seemed to settle over him.

"I'm sorry, Gerard," Frank replied. "I shouldn't tease you, you're special."

"What?" Gerard's eyes opened wide.

Frank frowned. "Sorry, I probably shouldn't have mentioned that. I don't want to freak you out."

It was Frank's turn to be shocked as Gerard threw his head back, laughing loudly and drawing glares and sounds of disapproval from the few remaining passengers on the bus. Gerard didn't care, it was the first time he'd laughed in... he wasn't sure how long. He was going to enjoy it, no, he was going to revel in it!

"What?" Frank pouted, looking almost hurt. "What did I say? Gerard?"

Fluttering up to hover in front of Gerard's face, Frank balled up a fist and knocked twice on the bridge of his nose.

"Hey!"

Still smiling, Gerard began to bring his laughter under control and took a deep calming breath. Finally taking Frank's advice, Gerard pulled out his phone and pretending to answer, he held it up to his ear.

"Sorry," he chuckled, "but you do know that you've done very little but freak me out, don't you?"

"No, I don't know." Frank frowned. In fact, he looked a little hurt.