The Westbury Faery (contest entry)

THE WESTBURY FAERY

And as the seasons come and go, taking away the fragments of his memories one by one. Many springs scattered flowers around me, but none like the spring I first met him. And many autumns died in front of me but none more sorrowful as that one that separated us. We were 10 when we first met, and 13 when we separated. I didn't hear anything from him till one day. And I knew that this day would come, as we held a deep secret in our childish hearts that grew older with us.

"Is it from him?"My lips quivered, as I took the envelope from my mother. It was a brown envelope addressed to me in a neat hand writing scrawled in hurry. I opened the envelope with shaking hands, because somewhere at the back of my mind, I knew what it meant.

"My dear Grace,

It has been a while, and it feels strange writing to you again. You must be married to a respectable man and have beautiful little blonde kids. I know, you must be angry that I never contacted you. But a lot has happened in my life too.This is how life is, not stopping for any one. It shall continue, no matter what happens.

I don't know whether you will receive this or not. But I would try my best to fulfill my promise to you.You must be wondering Why you received a letter from me after so many years?

My dear, it could mean only two things. Either I am dead. Or in great danger. There are things I want to tell you. You are the only person I could confide in. I found her. You were right, she existed. The sketches you drew were all true. I am sending you a wooden box, that I have constructed myself. There's a lock that only you can open with a key that only you could decode. You had it with you all along. 

Spread the truth. Never stop. World needs to know about The Westbury Faery. You must have proceeded with your own research too. You were always the seeker of truth. With your research and the evidence I'm sending you, contact with an organization called WORLDFAERYSOCIETY.

This is all I need from you. 

Love,

Phillip Ripton."

The wooden box held a mirror, a Tea caddy and few folded papers tugged inside a diary. The golden Letters PR was engraved at the leather cover. I placed the diary aside and picked up the folded papers. It were the sketches torn from my sketch book. One of them was a red cheeked boy standing in a garden. It made me recall a Summer afternoon.We went deeper in the forest that day. I wanted a perfect spot to set my drawing board, and Phillip was helping me find one.I remembered Phillip stepping over few mushrooms. And after that, both of us had no recollection of the incidence. But I dreamt about strange creatures after that and drew these sketches. I drew fruit trees, yellow iris flowers and weird winged creatures. Phillip must have torn these pages before I left with my father on a voyage.

I opened Phillip's diary and there were few marked pages. 

July 17,1824
Skibbereen,Ireland
Something strange is going on. And I still can't figure out the truth. I thought, I saw something in the forest that day. But Grace isn't ready to talk about it.
But I saw her sketches. She remembers too. But why isn't she talking about it?

I left the town on 20th July and we never talked about it. I quickly turnt the pages to find another folded diary entry. Many pages were torn from the diary. It seemed that these were the only entries he wanted me to read. Maybe, they told the tale that he wanted me to read. 

17th October 1836
Skibbereen Ireland

Married Lauren McNeil, the bright love of my life. I finally feel the puzzle pieces settling down. 
Finally, the curse would be gone. And everything would be perfect again.