Between the Willow Trees [NaNoWriMo 2013] (Editing)

2. How it all Began

Chapter 2: How it all began

It all started when I was only five years old and easily influenced by a mysterious shadowy figure who told me all about magic. He was a young man with longish unkempt black hair and eyes that shone green but they changed colour at times too. I had always been intrigued by anything magical, and I still am now. That’s why I was so enchanted by him.

I never realised just how out of time this mystifying man was when I was younger. Looking back now I know how out of place he was with his big black cloak that flowed in the wind and his puffy white shirt I’d only seen pirates wear. He carried a sword at his belt too, which completed the whole pirate look, and matched his big black leather boots. Plus he had that shaggy black hair and a stubbly beard. He was just like a good looking Captain Hook in appearance, though I’m certain his personality could never match the villain’s.

Around his neck he wore an intricately designed silver pocket watch attached to a long chain. I didn’t realise it at the time, but the pocket watch didn’t always work. The other odd thing is that it doesn’t stop at twelve; it goes up to the number thirteen. Even when I was little I knew that this was strange and that it couldn’t possibly be an ordinary pocket watch.

As a child I had been fascinated by him. He was so beautiful and out of this world, like a hero that had stepped right out of one of my favourite fairy tale books. By the way he spoke I knew instantly that he wasn’t a part of the real world. He sometimes used odd formal words that a normal person wouldn’t use and he wasn’t very familiar with some of the modern vocabulary that I would often use. He never used contractions either, which made him sound ever so proper. I can remember trying to teach him to speak like a normal person but he could never get the hang of it. He’d start to use apostrophes in words that wouldn’t usually be shortened so in the end I told him to just continue speaking the way he always had. That’s what made him even more special to me though.

He also had a problem using modern technology. The first time I showed him the television he was so confused. He tapped on the glass and examined all the wires that stuck out of the box. Simple things we take for granted like kettles and toasters would amaze him. We spent many days just investigating anything electrical. It made me smile to see him so easily astonished by these things because that’s exactly how I felt about him and his magical world.

The first time I’d seen him I had been playing in the garden all by myself. I had no siblings then and my parents wouldn’t ever have another child. I suppose that might’ve been because I already caused them enough stress. I was forever going on about the mystery man to a point where it made my parents mad. They thought that I was crazy and I suppose I was. It was dangerous for me to have such a strong attachment to this man. I depended on him too much. What would I ever do if he just disappeared for good one day?

Anyway, it was the middle of a long, cold winter when I first met him and I had been wrapped up by my mum in a big oversized purple coat with mismatching gloves, a yellow hat and a green scarf. My brown hair, which had been shorter and a lot curlier back then, whipped around my face in the icy breeze. I tried so hard to ignore the cold that bit at my fingers and my nose and fought to continue playing with my toys in the flowerbeds. If my mum saw how cold I was then she would force me to go play inside. I didn’t want that because it wasn’t as fun playing indoors as it was out in the garden. Outside it was much easier for my imagination to flow. My dolls were fairies that lived in the lavender bushes and rode on the backs of birds and butterflies. They swam in the birdbath pool and played in the mud. Fairies love to be outside, not indoors.

On this particular day the wind had remained fairly constant throughout the morning but all of a sudden it completely died down. It felt much warmer without the wind and my younger self didn’t realise how strange the sudden occurrence was so I continued to happily play with my toys. Then a huge gust of wind came out of nowhere and my green scarf unwound itself from around my neck and darted off down the garden in the breeze. I immediately dropped my toys and chased after my scarf, almost managing to catch it at one point, but then it flew in between the two willow trees at the bottom of the garden and it disappeared into thin air.