+1+
My alarm clock didn’t need to go off the next morning.
I was getting the fuck out of this town today. I hadn’t even told Jerry or Logan yet. I figured I’d scratch out a resignation letter and leave it on the desk. I wanted it to be something along the lines of :
It cost me more money to drive here than I made. Thanks for nothing, Gramps. See you in the next 15 years.
Or something like that.
I stretched and took in the usual tranquility of the morning, but before I could get too nostalgic I jumped out of bed and pulled on a wrinkled undershirt and flannel.
I picked up the flip phone, my worn O’Conner polo and name tag, I wouldn't be needing any of these things anymore. Slinging my duffel over my shoulder I walked out of that cabin for the last time.
I took the trail to the welcome center a little slower than usual. I figured wouldn’t see many trees once I was back in the city, might as well enjoy it now.
When I got to the welcome center I reached into the freezer behind the counter and heated up a breakfast burrito, thinking over my plan. I figured I would hike to the bus station and make my way home from there.
I set the phone on the table placing it ceremoniously on top of the polo and name tag. It’s . . . quiet. I’d expected at least one Drifter to call complaining about the AC or satellite reception.
I go outside and listened. I mean really listen.
It’s too quiet. I can’t even hear the bugs in the woods or the birds. Like everything was--
“No. No. No.”
I dash behind the counter and open the door to the downstairs office. Jerry’s still slumped on his cot that’s squished between a safe and the desk. He's turned at an odd angle.
I touch his neck.
He’s still breathing.
“Jerry”, I shake him, “Jerry”
“Cillian”, he says it as a slur, “. . . don’t go. . .I cant. . .to”
“Jerry ?”
He slurs my name again and again but his eyes are shut tight. I shake him some more but it’s useless. He won’t wake up. He’s. . . trapped in a nightmare.
“No”, I say to myself.
I run out of the welcome center and to the cabins by the lake. Peering through the windows I can make out Drifter’s slumped over kitchen tables, laying in the grass or laid out in living rooms. Like they all just feel asleep mid sentence.
Slowly they murmur and turn, slowly being taken in by their nightmares. . . their fears. I run just to escape the impending screams.
“Shit”
I grab Jerry’s car keys and speed through the woods and into town. I feel like I’m the only man alive in a town of the dead. Well sleeping.
I stop the car in the middle of the street. None of the ‘Open’ signs are out. Not even a gust of wind moves through the town. My first thought it to get to Ty’s.
I jump when I hear a car horn. I swear I almost let out a holler when I hear Trace Adkin’s damn song blasting from Logan’s car.
“Logan.”, I jog to the driver’s side.
He’s all smiles with his unruly blonde hair pulled up into a frizzy ponytail.
“What up ?”, he says through the window, “Where is everyone ?”
Crap. How do I explain this to him.
Logan steps out of the car. . . then he falls. I catch him at the last second and his body goes limp. I gently lay him down on the road.
“No”, Logan whispers
“Logan, you still there ? It’s not real. Wake up. Wake up--”
“JERRY”, he screams
He starts to turn and twist in the dirt, screaming Jerry’s name. It’s so loud and raw I want to cover my ear.
“Wake up , Logan”, I should, “It’s just a nightmare. Wake up. It’s not real-“
I stop midsentence as a black moth flies in a circle around me. I study it hard and I’m surprised to find I’m not afraid of the silky looking black wings. I have other things to fear now.
Another moth joins the first one, they follow one another in the same pattern above me. They are joined by another one and then what seems like hundreds of them circle Logan and I. My legs are shaking now because somehow they seem dangerous as a group.
They abruptly change their pattern and dark forward in a smooth succession.
Squinting I see a figure approaching from the mist that has appeared by the town line. Her dark dress is vibrant, big and flowy against her pale skin. The moths surround her, their wings moving in unison with hers. Her large violet eyes glow frosty, her lips are pure black.
She is dragging an unconscious Penelope behind her. She let’s go of Penelope and her sleeping body tumbles forward, in a mess of white purple curls. Penelope’s dark glasses fall off revealing a serene expression on her face.
“You.”, she says, “You were going to let her destroy me. You thought she could stop me.”
“What have you done April--”
“Not you”, she snaps and her voice chills me. It’s hypnotic and harsh. It practically vibrates through me.
I realize she is looking past me and I turn to see Ty step out from behind a tree. She has her hands up and slowly steps over Logan’s sleeping body.
“Ty?”, I question, “You’re awake ? How”
“I learned to withstand her curses a long time ago.”
“I always knew you’d be a problem”, she said.
“Stop this”, Ty warns, “Before someone gets hurt. End this now.”
“It’s never going to end”, She says, “This is a warning to those Dark Fae who let Thesia throw me away like I was nothing. I made the entire town Cascade Falls fall sleep. I want the Unseelie Court to know what I can do and what I will do to them. Soon no one will be able to escape their nightmares . . . unless they answer to me.”
“If you want to be queen this isn’t’ the way.”, Ty dares to get closer.
“You’ve always been jealous of me, haven’t you, Ty. You’re nothing but a third sister. . . never destined for anything great. You kept me from my heritage--my future because you didn’t want me to have what you never would. Now I have it. As long as Penelope sleeps. . . I will be queen,”
When she says it, it all seems so real.
With the queen’s focus on Ty I sneak over to Logan’s car. The keys were still in the ignition, the engine is still running. Slowly I put the car in drive and wait for my chance.
“No, I wanted to keep you from the cost you would have to pay if you did this. Now it’s too late.”, Ty continues
The queen’s eyes narrowed and the black moths began to move in unison again. Suddenly they swarm Ty.
I imagined the prickle of their wings against my skin, the brush of antennas, eyes and bones on my skin. I may not have been dreaming but this was my nightmare.
I slide into the driver’s seat and grab the wheel.
“Fuck it”
I punched down the gas, pushing open the passenger side door barreling straight towards Ty and the moths. In the midst of the swarm Ty reaches for the door slamming it shut while I pick up speed. The moths slammed into the windshield, a few sliding in through the open windows.
I focused my eyes on the queen, grabbing hard on the wheel I turned going straight towards her.
“NO”, Ty yelled.
“I have to . . . break the curse”, I said, “This is the only way.”
The queen didn’t move her, a daring smile on her lips. I closed my eyes and slammed the car into her. When I opened them I swerved across a dirt road. The car spun once coming to a screeching halt after making a 360.
“Holy shit”
The morning sky was overcast and gray, dotted with hundreds of black moths circling the town. Among the moths was the queen, her own majestic black wings rivaling theirs. I watched as they slowly opened and closed.
It was the most unusual and the most beautiful things I’d ever seen. A strange but oddly fitting part of the sky as she hovered there.
“She won’t come after us”, Ty said looking up , “Her curse isn’t strong enough to work without her in the town. . . not yet anyway.”
I nodded once and spun the car, pushing the gas and barreling across the town line. On the other side the world felt so loud and alive.
I rode down Rt. 15 and pulled over when we reached Desert Nights!
“Tirney and Thistle”, Ty said holding on to her locket. She opened it revealing a picture of her three daughter, “We have to get them out of the town. They looked so scared. . . trapped in those nightmares.”
“It’s not real”, I remind her, "Besides I don't think we want to go back."
“. . . I couldn’t wake them up. . . my babies.”
Ty opened the window and tried to fan away her tears. We both sat there for a long time in silence. I gripped the wheel and turned to Ty.f
“I figured it out.”
“What ?”, Ty said distracted
“Her name. Her real name I think I know where to find it.”
“Where ? How--”
"Apri--She told me her story once. I was thinking about it the day we broke up. I realized there is only one place where her name might be."
"Where ?"
“You’ve known”, I said, “You said only a fae and her name giver know her name. April must have put her name somewhere safe.. . . I think I know where“
She turned to me and smile.
“We don’t have much time. Let’s hurry”, she said
+2+
The Nightmare Fairy
Nightmare : An American Fairytale, Part 2
Nightmare : An American Fairytale, Continued
And so the princess kept her vow, that one day she would be queen, the greatest most powerful Unseelie queen there ever was. No one would deny or toss her aside again
The princess spent 7 years learning and practicing her craft of weaving nightmares, while living on the fringes of a small village.
She had grown sullen living among the human villagers, she tired of watching their antics day in and day out. Wishing she could belong, really belong just like them.
She wondered, as one does when one performs nightmares, what they feared. What was happening on the inside?
When it was dark and everyone was asleep, the princess would sneak into the villagers bedsides creating vivid beautiful nightmares. Here she learned their hopes, fears and failures. She found them to be silly and petty compared to her own.
One night as the princess made her rounds she found someone new had come to the village. She slipped in through the windows as she always did and as she began to work her magic she became enchanted by the newcomers dark fears.
She stayed a long time wandering how someone so young and innocent could have lead such a life. It fascinated her. The princess became reckless. She began to spend more and more nights exploring the nightmares of the boy.
One night as she began to create his nightmares the boy woke up. Startled he captured the princess out of fear. The boy was good hearted though so he let her go and promised to keep her secrets
Soon the boy and the princess became friends.
She told him her story and how she came to be exiled to this small village. He told her his story of how he came to be exiled in this small village. Soon the princess started to fall in love with him.
The boy, however saw something dark in the princess. He saw the danger and harm her nightmares could cause if she became to powerful.
He stood between the princess and her vow to become the most powerful Unseelie fae there ever was. He refused to stand by her as she claimed her place in her world. So, she let him go
They boy, though a troublemaker himself, refused to let her go. So he went in search of the only thing that could stop her. With him he took the wise and smart light faerie.
Her true name.
A fae’s name spoken out of true love an earnest could be a powerful thing. He would save her.
It was a short quest, maybe not worthy of a storybook, but he found it, exactly where he knew it would be.
When he and the light faerie returned to the village darkness had truly taken over. He only hoped he wasn’t to late
To be continued
