The Fairy's Forest

Short Story

26 Oct. 2016
The Fairy's Forest
    The breeze was green and rainy, the clouds enveloped the sky as if the world were trapped in an opaque snowglobe. Stepping out into the rainy afternoon, a somber wind ruffled the little girl's dark curls. Her autumn- colored eyes flitted around the rainy glen. Her mother had sternly cautioned her not to remove her sneakers but already the warning had vanished from her mind. The young girl started forward.
Her humble home soon vanished beyond the beckoning arms of the woods. Green ferns, stern stumps, bushes and prickling brambles circulated in and out of her vision as the little girl crept through the woods. Beams of sunlight drifted sporadically through the rainy clouds,  a few lucky rays penetrating through the heavy trees, but the little girl took no notice.
Blanket- like moss squished down under her worn sneakers. A sudden urge to feel the gentle moss under her toes overcame the young one and, without heeding her mother's caution, she pulled off her sneakers letting her feet onto the natural carpet.
Deeper and deeper she ventured into the woods, but no fear prevailed over her. Inhaling the crisp wetness of the forest, she believed the woods to be a good, happy place.
Crossing her vision, a flash of sunlight traveled through the trees. Startled, the girl looked down to see what was illuminated in it's beaming gaze. Curiosity pulsed through her as she tip- toed toward her new finding. A whisper of gold and silver entered the girl's senses and she blinked, unsure of what she was perceiving.
Huddling behind a leaf sat a tiny pixie, the size of her longest finger. The whisper of gold were the fluttering wings, attaching to miniscule limbs enrobed in a garment of petals. The pixie peered up at the young girl through wide brown eyes. Her appearance much resembled the young girl's dark complexion, black curling hair and melting eyes.
Being young, it did not enter the young one's mind to question the existence of such a mysterious creature. Surely the little sprite was one of merely fairy tales, but the girl did not care.
    A small buzz reached the girl's ear as the fairy lifted itself and zoomed away, its petite wings carrying the buzz with them.
Instinctively, the little girl rushed after, ducking in and out of branches and brambles. She halted in the middle of a glen, her eyes already frantically scouring the area for any sign of the creature. Wet droplets sprung up in her eyes- she had lost the fairy. With a thump she plopped down, letting the flustered tears stream down her face.
What was the use now? She could not find the fairy any longer.
The snowglobe- sky melted into gloominess with every small tear. For the first time since she had ventured into the woods she wondered how far she had gone. Fear pulsed through her as she lifted her head.
Fluttering demurely above the tops of a tree hovered the pixie. A surge of hope overwhelmed the small child and she rose to her feet, the fear diminished.
Beckoning her, the fairy's wide chocolate eyes peered down at the little girl.
Closer and closer the girl's footfalls came and soon she was at the base of a thick oak. Gazing up the trunk of the tree, she marveled at how normal- sized it had seemed from far away, but now as she was closer it  had turned grand and looming.
Her heart dropped to her feet as she realized the sprite was not coming down to greet her. How selfish she had been to assume that the fairy would come to her every want!
The fairy stayed hovering where she was, her welcoming eyes a stark contrast to the gloominess of the large oak.
An idea approached the young child's mind, so preposterous that she would never have done it before! But she had no time to ponder this new thought as she felt herself taking act. She reached into the oak's unwelcoming brambles. Finding foot grooves she pulled herself up into the large plant, more looming and cheerless than ever before.
The little girl pushed on, branches clawing at her face and hands. Leaves were not soft any longer as they were vicious flies biting at her skin. Pulsing stings corroded her feet as the footholds suddenly became less and less. For the first time her mind flew back to her abandoned shoes, hidden in the bushes somewhere back in the deep forest.
Scraping sobs built up into her tiny throat. It seemed as if she were a million miles away from the ground and a million miles away from the fairy. There was nowhere for her to go.
Where was the fluttering of golden wings or the whoosh of the sprite soaring through the forest?
Clinging onto the tree, she frantically peeled her eyes for the fairy, hidden above the biting canopy. Another sob threatened to escape from her throat, but she pushed it back just as her watery eyes fell on a break in the leaves. Heavenly light poured in and the petite pixie was visible once again.
A small hand stretched out toward her, and the fairy nodded encouragingly.
I can make it up the tree, the little girl told herself.
The distance no longer seemed unbearable. Her destination was really only a few feet away. The height of the tree was no longer towering above her. It was only a tiny shrub that a tiny girl like her could climb.
Breaking through the leaves she felt the warm sun on her face- she was out of the chilling forest once again. Opening her eyes she was ready to see her playmate.
"Ella! Dinner time!"
A brush of wind blew past her face as Ella turned towards her mother's voice.
Hopping off the shrub in the corner of her backyard, she left all thoughts of he pixie friend behind her.
Rays of sun pulsed out from behind the clouds more than ever and lifting her head Ella relished the warm sun on her face. Approaching the door, a small memory inkled in the back of her mind and running back to the garden she snatched her shoes out from behind the small flower pot. Ella looked back over to the shrubbery and squinted as a colored breeze blew by. Turning back toward the house she was unsure if what she saw was really the faint flash of gold and silver