Voice on the Wing

8: Bond

The voices! The lights!

wolfwolfwolfwolfbigwolfbadwolfwolfwolfwolfwolf

I shook my head. I could understand them! I could understand them? How? Why?

fffffffffaerrrie

What? Did I just...?

faerrrieeeeeefaerrrrieeeeeefaerie

Fairy? Fairies didn't exist! This wasn't a Disney movie and Tinkerbell was the product of a Scottish author, therefore NOT REAL.

faerieofthefaefaefae

I tried to cover my ears. After so long being unable to understand the voices, now I could finally follow what they were telling me, I didn't want to know. Not ridiculous fairy tales. Not lunacy. And the beast! The wolf! 'Big bad?'

Was I dead? Had the creature attacked and killed me? Was my body sprawled on the stairs of my parents' house? Was this some sort of heaven? Or hell?

We were descending. I looked down but the lights were concentrated beneath me, supporting my weight. I felt us land and the lights released their grip on me, coalescing together to become a large orb, throbbing with light.

"What are you?"

faerieofthefae

"Fairies? Really? You expect me to..."

FAERIEFAERIEFAERIEOFTHEFAE

"OK! I get it! I don't believe it, but I get it." I realised the voices were no longer around and in my head. The voices were coming from the lights. "What's going on? What do you want with me? What is that thing?"

wolfwolfwolf

"Yes, I know it's a wolf! I could see that!" It was wolf-like, at least. It had the form and threat of one, though its bipedal stature belied the title.

bigbigbadwolfwolfwolf

"The Big Bad Wolf?" I shook my head. I must be dead. Or unconscious. Dreaming. Perhaps I was still five and I'd wake up screaming with Mum rushing in through the bedroom door.

bigbadwolf

"If you say so." I ran my hands through my hair and began to pace. I'd come so close to being killed. My parents were dead. Dave, whom I felt to be a friend even though we'd barely met, was dead. Why wasn't I?

becausebecausethebondbondbond

"I don't understand you! Stop repeating yourself!"

The ball of light shrank in on itself and started to spin. Its speed rapidly increased until it was a blur of bright motion then it suddenly exploded. I ducked, expecting to feel the sharp impact of the... faeries. There was nothing. When I looked up, they were moving around each other, creating swirls in the air reminiscent of Bonfire Night sparklers. As I watched, they began to take on a form. It was vaguely human, but parts here and there kept breaking apart as if the dots - the faeries - were struggling to retain the shape.

bondbondbond

I waited with no idea of what bond they spoke of. Listening was difficult. The words were there, easily heard, but there were so many layers to the voices as they interwove with each other, the repetition sounded like an instant echo and I struggled to follow.

bond becausebecause... because of the bond

I sighed. Finally. I slumped down to the ground, feeling the relief of a lifetime of ignorance slip away. The voices were speaking. I was hearing. I was seeing. Though I might fight the idea, I couldn't fight the evidence in swirling in front of me. Fairies or faeries, I wasn't sure of the difference, but they were clearly real.