julia's adventures: fairies and love potions

Part 1

Julia let out a sigh of relief as she heaved the last box out of the attic, down the set of stairs leading up to said attic and onto the landing of honeysuckle cottage. aunt tilly had decided the house needed some spring cleaning and had asked Julia to help her empty the attic to clear some space. As a reward, she offered that Julia could take any of the antiques in the attic for herself and the rest would be up to her and uncle Jake.

Julia smiled to herself as she thought about all of the old trinkets packed neatly away in the cardboard boxes that once dwelled in the attic and still smelt faintly of dust and cobwebs. Once upon a time, they where loved and used like any other household object and she was sure each of them had a story to tell that had been lost to time. thankfully, Julia loved to listen.

kneeling down, the redheaded 15-year-old girl combed through the stuff she had found in the attic. they where photo albums, old lamps, old fashioned dresses and even a gramophone, but at first, nothing seemed to catch her attention. that is, until she saw a box with black biro spelling the name Abby.

Jessica felt her heart beat a little faster as she took a look at the box. she knew her uncle and her mother had lived here when they where kids, but she didn't expect she'd find her mum's childhood things in the attic. with what felt like an entire cloud of butterflies in her stomach, Jessica opened the box.

inside where so many pretty items. one was a beautiful pop-up book that told the story of Cinderella, another was the entire collection of jane Austin's most famous works. yet another was a few of her mum's old sketchbooks which had beautiful water-coloured fairies sketched throughout the pages.

Julia smiled sadly to herself. her parents had died in a car crash when she was only six months old so she hardly had any memories of them. she new plenty about her dad as it was easier for uncle jake and aunt tilly to talk about him. she knew him as the adventurous type who always had a great story to tell. it was actually one of the things that had attracted her mother to him in the first place. when it came to her mother though, the only thing uncle jake could bring himself to say was that she looked identical to her apart from her blue eyes which she got from her father. Julia understood her uncle's reluctance as he'd lost his big sister in that car crash and was still processing that feeling of loss today.

"Julia, have you finished clearing out the attic?"

Aunt tilly's voice broke Julia out of her thoughts as her aunt came up the stairs to check her niece's progress on her spring cleaning. tilly was wearing one of her usual floral shirts with blue jeans, a painter's apron and her blonde hair in a small ponytail. what was harder to see was the small bulge in her stomach that showcased the tiny life that was growing inside her.

"yes aunt tilly, I'm almost done. I found a box of mum's old things and I was wondering, is it okay if I have some?"

aunt tilly looked at the box and with a small smile and a sparkle in her emerald eyes, told her it was all hers. Julia smiled from ear to ear and took the stuff into her bedroom and began to unpack it. the first item that she took out was a small wooden box that had a heart with the words dreams come true carved into the lid. with slight curiosity Jessica opened the box and found a beautiful gold necklace with a gold heart-shaped charm that had the words I wish inscribed on it.

Julia felt and urge to wear the necklace and when she placed it on her neck, she felt a warm and fuzzy feeling come over her. when she looked at the box again, she saw that their was a letter inside as well. she was about to open it when aunt tilly called her down for tea and biscuits. Jessica decided she would read the letter later and went downstairs to have some tea.

after enjoying her afternoon snack, aunt tilly gave Julia her permission to have some free time and watch a movie on Disney plus while she made dinner. Julia sat herself on the sofa and grabbed a small remote to control the TV. While she tried to find a movie to watch on Disney plus, she found a movie she hadn't watched in weeks but really enjoyed.

"Strange Magic." she said to herself, "Been a while since I've watched that."

With a click of the remote as she pressed play and the movie started. As she watched the feisty and brave fairy princess Marianne defend her little sister dawn from a giant lizard and stand up to her cheating scumbag of an ex, Roland, Julia closed her eyes and imagined herself in the movie. she also wished she could sing, fly and swordfight as well as Marianne could.

whenever she watched a movie, Julia always wished she was in the movie and experiencing the plot with the movie character as well. while she did love her life with her aunt and uncle in Wales, she had always hoped for just a spark of magic or a hint of adventure in her day to day life. she wished that one day, she two could star in her own adventure.

after the movie had finished, Julia did her schoolwork, then had dinner with uncle Jake and aunt tilly. uncle Jake noticed she was wearing her mother's necklace and smiled to himself, saying that the necklace had also belonged to his own mother and had given it to his sister as a present for her 11th birthday. Julia smiled to herself, happy to learn a bit more about her mother.

after dinner, Julia had a shower, dressed in her pyjamas and as she was getting into bed, she remembered the letter in the box. after debating with herself whether to read it or not, Julia decided to place the letter on her bedside table and open it tomorrow.

after turning off her bedside lamp and snuggling under the sheets, Julia felt her thoughts once again drift to strange magic and her desire for adventure. without even thinking about it, she sleepily whispered "I wish I could be in strange magic".

as her eyes closed and she drifted of to sleep, Julia didn't notice that the gold necklace was glowing...