Love is a game (Love in the air collection)

Fairy Child

Nine year old Phayu moved through the forest lost in his own thoughts. He felt the anger still bubbling up inside of him. Normally Phayu didn't have a bad temper but this time he was furious with his twin. What had happened hadn't been fair. He shared all his toys with his brother, but the model car hadn't been a toy. He had saved up his allowance for months to buy the model car and had carefully and painstakingly put it together. Why had Saifah picked that one to play with? Worse, Saifah had managed to drop and break it. His parents hadn't even realized what a big deal it was, just promising to buy him another one.

A sound breaks through Phayu's thoughts, from the sound of it someone was crying. Phayu follows the sound to a clearing ahead. He is surprised to see a small boy there, at least Phayu thinks it's a boy, but he has never seen a boy with wings before. The boy seems to be around three or four, much too young to be in the forest on his own. He is sitting with his back to a fallen tree. He has his knees drawn up and his head resting against his legs. The iridescent wings flex and shimmer every time the boy sobs.

Wings or not, Phayu can't help but feel sorry for the boy. He goes to where he is and kneels down in front of him. "Are you lost, little one?"

The boy looks up at Phayu, but then throws himself into Phayu's arms. "I don't know how to get home." He says with a sob, "will you help me?"

"What's your name?" Phayu asks.

"Rain," The boy says.

"Rain, I am Phayu. Can you tell me where you live?" Phayu looks around, the forest seems to go on for miles. He wonders where the boy had come from.

"I don't know." Rain wails, "I saw a tree rat  and I just wanted to follow it. It was cute."

"A tree rat?" Phayu asks in confusion.

Rain sniffs and pulls away, "I don't know how to say in human," he says and uses a stick to draw the rough outline of an animal.

Phayu recognizes it from the tail, "A squirrel?"

"That's right, a swuirrel." Phayu can't help but to smile at the slight mispronunciation.  "It was so cute hoping from branch to branch and I followed but when I looked around, I didn't know where I was and I don't know where mommy and daddy are." Rain starts crying again at this.

"Shh, we'll figure out, I promise." Phayu tells him. "Don't cry little one."

Phayu figures Rain's parents are looking for him so staying where they are at is the best course of action. Hopefully Rain hasn't come far.

"If you won't cry, I will tell you a story while we wait for your parents to find you okay?" Phayu tells him.

Rain looks at him solemnly and nods.

Phayu tells him a story that he is pretty sure his mother made up on the spot when he and Saifah were small like Rain. "There once was a monkey named Stinky Butt."

"Stinky Butt?" Rain giggles as he and Saifah always had at this part.

"Yup, stinky butt. Stinky Butt never wanted to take a shower even when his mama told him to. So everyday Stinky Butt got stinkier and stinkier. Until one day a mean old tiger came into the monkey village. All the monkeys hid but the tiger could smell Stinky Butt because he was so very stinky. And you know what happened?"

"What?" Said Rain with wide eyes.

"Stinky Butt got all gobbled up." Phayu says dramatically tickling Rain and causing him to shriek with giggles.

"Rain!" Phayu jumped slightly because there was suddenly a man and woman there where no one had been a minute ago.They don't have wings like the little boy but there is a strong resemblance, enough for Phayu to think these are Rain's parents.