Fairy Eyes

Chapter 2: Belle

The thing is, Belle knows she is cursed. She is cursed with whatever you would call self-knowledge, or maybe even self-delusion. She has the power to see people for who they really are, what they believe, and whether or not they are controlled by good or evil. She has been stuck in this world for as long as she can remember.

It hasn't always been this way. There's been times that Belle could remember the real world, the human world, though she was just a toddler.

Her first memory that she remembered her mom drinking coffee. She remembered seeing her brother and sister - their faces as they actually are. Going to visit her father and his girlfriend. The typical things a child remembers. A lone plane ride to visit her grandpa. A dog licking her face.

One day, everything changed.

It was Christmastime. Lights glittered the city. Belle was excited about Santa coming this year. Kept reading the book The Nutcracker over and over with the hopes of soon finding her "prince". Kept imagining what it would be like to be in a fantasy world, faraway from the horrors of reality.

Belle always loved fantasy. Magic inspired her, the way it always inspires children. Beauty and the Beast. Cinderella. Peter Pan. Sleeping Beauty. The Wizard of Oz. Snow White. Fairy tales. They weren't fake to her, but real meditations on people and places that have an effect on all of us. When you are a child, you're more closely related to the spirit world. You're not plagued by belief systems. You're completely open to the possibilities. To an ultimate reality. Of course she didn't know that this reality existed, but she believed in it strongly.

Things scare you when you are younger. Adulthood, relationships, and responsibility are really menacing. Adults aren't just adults, they are destructive beings with the power to change the word. Animals are not really just animals, they are creatures with spiritual knowledge that far surpasses our realm of understanding.

Yet children, for all their own understanding, are still surpassed with their understanding by the reality of what is laying beyond.

Everyone came for the party. Her little brother was chasing her around, constantly trying to pinch her. Her older sister had been recently married. Her older brother was still trying to make it big with music.

All the cousins were there. It was a gathering of sorts, her mom's family for Christmas. Every year, her family had a gathering in a different location of her family's. Her grandad sat there in his red sparkly bowtie and his 2nd wife dotted over him. Her cousins were rattling on about their achievements, the things they've accomplished.

Aunt Katherine came - her aunt on her father's side. She was living in the city at the time, having moved there from Tokyo just recently. She didn't have anywhere to go, so she decided to come to the gathering for a quick visit.

Belle was so excited.

She came in, and everyone greeted her.

Her brother and her ran into her arms.

"Oh gosh, Merry Christmas you guys!"

"Aunt Katie! You came!" they yelled.

"Yes, and I got something special for you."

Out of her bag, she handed Belle a wrapped present. She handed another to her younger brother, Andrew.

"Can I open it now!?"

"Well, yes. I can't stay long. I have a gathering with my coworkers."

Shrugging, they tore open their presents.

"OH! This is so great!" yelled Andrew.

Out came a new packet of Pokemon cards. They were limited edition, the oldest ones you had to pay money to buy.

"How did you get this?"

"Let's just say, I know people. Very older men with lonely lives" she snickered.

Andrew scowled at her.

"Not that it says anything about you kid" she said, patting his head and watching as he ran off.

Belle opened hers.

It was a snow globe. Inside stood a pink castle covered with snow. Mountains lay in the distance, and stars hung in the sky above.

She sighed happily.

"Aunt Katie!"

She hugged Belle.

"I thought about you when I got this for you" she said.

"Why?"

"There's an inner world that is inside you. You're a child that sees people for who they really are, good and bad. You have a rich inner world, and I know someday you'll utilize it in a way to help other people."

Belle hugged her.

"It's more than perfect!"

She stared at it for the most of the night while her cousins, aunts, uncles, parents, and grandparents talked to each other.

Eventually, her mom called and said that it was time for bed. She moved them up the stairs even though they didn't want to go.

"Mom! We want to stay up and see Santa!" shouted Andrew.

"He's coming back next year" laughed their mother.

They protested again, and she was less nice. She watched as they brushed their teeth and tucked us into bed. She turned out the lights in our rooms.

Belle could not go to sleep even long after the party guests had left. She tried turning her head but still found her eyes wanting to stay wide open.

She went down the stairs.

She opened the fridge, pulled out pieces of salami. Her parents had always looked down on her midnight snacking, due to the pudgy stomach that had begun to form. If all boys were like her little brother, why would she care about being fat? She loved food.

Then when she was done and had put them back, Belle looked around the living room. There, next to mom and my stepdad's room, was a door that she had never saw before.

It was a brown door with vines encrusted into it as if carved. Sparkles shone off the wood, but when she touched them they would not come off. The door was rusted so that the hints of the original gold color had gone. She felt an immense energy from the door, as if she wasn't supposed to go in there but couldn't help herself anyway.

She tried blinking her eyes, only to find that this door was still there. She looked back at the living room, all the comfortable familiarity of it, and debated on whether to stay in the familiarity or not.

Then Belle turned, took a deep breath, and opened the door.