+1+
Cillian -
Sorry I missed you last night ): So much paperwork for school !
- Thistle
It's cool C U @ Logan’s party ?
- C
Meet U there ! Can’t wait
X0- Thistle.
My big hands struggled to keep up with Thistle’s texting. It also didn’t help that I was using a tiny flip phone. I knew It was bad form to use a work phone for personal reasons, but Logan would understand.
It was bad also form to invite said girl’s cousin over while babysitting, in hindsight I didn’t think April would actually show up. For some reason she did. She showed up at the Coleman’s after 6 . She had on a long black dress with no sleeves and a thin cotton vest with a pair of big shades. The kids were eating dinner and watching a movie when she walks in.
She is caring a
shapless bag with a pair of black silk ballet shoes with long ribbons, she
stuffs them back in when she sees me looking. I just hadn't pegged her as the type/
“They made me”, she offers as an explanation for the ballet shoes and walks past me.
I knew I had to play it cool so the kids wouldn’t tell their
parents I invited a girl over, but also make it see like it wasn’t a bad thing to lie.
“Guys, this is my friend April”, I said. “She wants to hang with us”
April offers them a half wave and joins me on the Barcalounger , she looks at the kids and sits on the arm of my chair. The whole times my eyes are on her back, and I’m not thinking of what I usually think of when I think about what’s under a girl’s clothes.
I'm hoping we can talk after the kids fall asleep.
After about twenty minutes April sighs and shuts the TV off.
“Hey”, Mark and Anna protest
“This is boring”, she says folding her arms, “What kind of babysitter are you ?”
That comment is directed at me.
“What ?”, I say.
She waves me off like babysitting isn’t my responsibility and turns to the kids.
“Come on we are in Cascade Falls, your parents shell out thousands of dollars to come here and get that fresh mountain air. Let’s a least go outside”, she says more to the kids than to me.
They grumble but Mark is more willing to listen to April than Anna is. I followed wondering if I should let a crazy girl I hardly know hijack my babysitting job.
Once we are outside she folds her arms and looks around trying to find something to do.
No so easy is it, April.
“Let’s play hide and seek”, she finally says like it’s a big
hassle for her to have to come up with all the ideas. Even though no one asked her.
She takes my hand and forces me in the middle of the field.
“Close your eyes, big guy”, she whispers in my ear, she is so
close I can smell the violets and sugar on her. She has to bend down and I
realize how much taller she is than me thanks to her scary pointy shoes.
She pulls on my arms and forces me to spin around a few times.
“Count to 10 and come find us."
I hear Anna laughing as they run off, when I open my eyes I almost trip over April and Anna’s shoes. I pretend to look around the pool first then head over to where the woods meets the yard.I easily spot Mark hiding behind a stack of logs.
Mark moves his eyes up giving up the location of April and Anna. I decide to give him a pass (bros before hoes and all) and pretend to be confused. Then I turn around and pull April down from the tree she is hiding in.
“Gotcha”, I say
“You cheated”, she says playfully and squirms in my arms, ”Boys.”
I spin April around a few times before I put her down, just to watch her struggle against vertigo. I easily find Anna where she is laughing at April from behind the tree.
After a while the kids really start getting into it, they are actually playing together which isn’t something I’d seen before. I start wondering stupid things like if April has any siblings or if she every played with her cousins like that.
After a few rounds Mark and I are stuck looking for April when I see her and Anna crouched by the grass.
“Everything alright”, I say.
“Yeah”, April says. Her hands are cupped in front of her
Anna who has been jumping up and down runs into the house giggling.
“Don’t forget the sugar”, April yells at her.
“What is it ?”, I’m afraid to ask.
“Don’t freak out”, she says
She opens her hands and perched on her palm is a bright purple and black butterfly. My first instinct is to run but April keeps her other hand gripped on my side.
“It can’t hurt you”, she says, “Just watch”
I wanted to say “I know” but I couldn’t, All I could feel was my heart trying to pound out
of my chest. Every part of me wanted to run. Fight or flight. Flight.
The butterfly opens and closes it’s wings slowly. They look
so animated, it fascinates me and scares the shit out of me at the same time.
April watches the butterfly with an almost sweet smile. I noticed how the moles
around her eyes raise when her eyes brighten.
She catches me watching her and for a long moment the butterfly and everything else is forgotten. My hesitant smile and the sound of Anna Coleman's feet break our bubble.
Anna comes running out holding a jar with sugar and water in the bottom. April carefully places in the butterfly and Anna giggles while she puts the lid on.
April holds up the jar and watches the butterfly fly around in the small space. It seems to reflect the same intense violet of her eyes. April catches me watching her and hands the jar back to Anna.
“Don’t forget to put holes in it.” she says more to me than
Anna.
“You’re actually pretty cool.” I say
“You’re not so bad yourself, big guy.”she decides
When it gets dark we light up the firepit in the backyard (cause I know how to do that now) and I steal a bag of marshmallows from the welcome center.
Anna and Mark (Mark with a lot of enthusiasm) take April’s hands and she leads them to the firepit, which I have become an expert at lighting now. They settle down on either side of her and I sit across from them, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.
“So”, she starts, “You kids want to hear a story ?”
Anna s nodded eagerly, but I think April is talking to me. She wants to tell me a story.
“How about a Fairytale ?”, April suggest, though this wasn’t really a question
Mark’s face soured but he would listen as long as April was telling the story.
“About princes and knights ?”, asked Anna
“No, silly”, she says tickling her, “This is a fairy tale about . . . faeries”
They lean in further and before she starts she looks up to me. I closed my eyes at the sound of her voice.
+2+
“Once upon a time in a faraway land, nestled between the greenest grass and most enchanted woods of Ireland is The Celtic Faerie Court. Now, the Faerie Court had two beautiful sisters who served as queens.
Tabitha, the Seelie Queen and Thesia, the Unseelie Queen.
Tabitha the Seelie Queen was a sweet and kind ruler. She ruled the ligh good faeries who brought true love, luck, happiness and inspiration into the world.
Thesia, the Unseelie Queen ruled the dark faeries, who while good natured, were skilled at bringing chaos, mischief and fear into the world.
As it goes with faeries each queen is given 3 daughters to be princess in the court. Tabitha welcomed and celebrated the births of her three daughters. The Seelie princess all had golden hair and bright blue eyes, the loving image of the Seelie Queen and so they were loved by the entire court.
While this happened Thesia remained childless. Over the years Thesia watched Tabitha and the Seelie princess with great envy.
Thesia was growing old and had yet to produce a child. After many years of hoping Thesia finally became with child.
The evening before Thesia was to give birth she gave her unborn daughter a strong Unseelie faerie name to protect and be hers.
The Unseelie kingdom readied itself for celebration at the birth of their princess, but it would not be. For when Thesia took one look at the newborn baby she saw a poor, sickly thing so undeserving of the strong name Thesia had given her.
Thesia made a rash decision.
In the dead of the night Thesia and her closest advisors Enchanted the sick Fae child to be human-sized. Then as quick as night the faeries spirited her away to a far away country and switched the sickly Unseelie princess for a healthy human child. With very dark forbidden magic Thesia disguised the human-child into a dark faerie and the human child was crowned The Unseelie Princess.
The true Unseelie princess was now a changeling.
The Unseelie princess now had a new human Mother, none the wiser that her human baby had been switched for an unwanted Unseelie baby.
The Mother raised the Unseelie princess as her own, she loved and cared for her, making sure all of her needs were met. And the Unseelie princess was very happy.
When the princess was 8 years old Thesia’s magic began to wear off.
Can you imagine the fright as the mother went to wake her daughter only to find that she had shrunk to just 3 inches tall !
She shrieked at her daughter’s deformity but did not cast her aside. Instead The Mother set to work making tiny clothes and furniture for her now tiny daughter.
Each morning they played and read together, spending afternoons planting in the garden and by night singing till the princess fell asleep in her little bed by the window.
These were the princess happiest days. Until she was 12 years old.
One night as the princess slept in her bed the window creaked open and a low soaring owl spotted the princess. The princess opened her eyes to see th large yellow bird eyes, she tried to run as the bird nipped at her.
The princess fell out the window and the owl grabbed the princess. They soared for what felt like hours and she was soon in the owl’s nest.
Quick as she could the princess climbed out of the nest, down the tree trunk and into the grass. Never had she been so far from home, so scared and alone.
The princess walked for hours till she grew tired, she settled to the muddy earth and cried for her tiny furniture, tiny clothes and Mother.
As her tears hit the ground she saw a bright light above her, she squinted as a woman just her size with full golden wings landed next to her and wiped her tears away.
Never before had the princess met someone her size and it excited and frightened her.
“Are you an angel ?”, the princess asked.
“No”, the light faerie said her voice low and comforting, “I’m your cousin, your real family”
And it was true for this light faerie was the youngest daughter of the Seelie Queen.
And so the light faerie told the Unseelie Princess of her
true birthright.
“Am I going to meet my real mother ?”, asked the princess.
The light faerie’s face fell into a grimm expression
“No, Dear. You see Thesia fears her court will find out her decit and not accept the stolen human child, Penelope, as the Queen when the time comes. So Thesia sent that owl after you, to kill you.”
The princess shivered in fright but the light faerie comforted her
The light faerie took the princess to her home where she lived with her threedaughters. They cared for and loved the little princess. They gave her a home and taught her to dance and smile.
They also taught her magic and how to harness her gifts.
All this time keeping the princess safe from Thesia’s wrath.
What was the Unseelie Princess gift ?
Nightmares
You see all faeries specialize in a gift and the princess being a dark faerie specialized in nightmares.
In the dead of the night, the princess learned to control and contort the dreams and nightmares of humans. As her gift grew so did her wings. At only 13 years old she had grown flush black wings.
Still, it hurt the princess to be living in secret.
To have been cast aside and forced to live among Seelie faeries. Among humans.
Never seeing her kingdom or taking her true place as heir to
the Unseelie court. All because she had been a sick child.
The Princess worked hard on her gift, creating vivid nightmares touching and breaking the very soul of victims as they slept.
She learned all she could from books about the Fae kingdom, magic and the life that was taken from her.
And so the Unseelie princess vowed that she would become the greatest Nightmare Faerie in all of The Unseelie Fae Court.
That one day she would become the most powerful dark faerie in all the land, and she would show Thesia the mistake she made when she tossed her aside and tried to kill her.
The time draws nearer for the princess, late in the night she heard her adopted family whispering about the wilting state of Thesia.
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”
April would have continued had I not had a grasp on her shaking arm. Her eyes were dark and her voice had lost it’s storytelling tone.
“The End”, I said
“That’s no an ending”, Anna seemed worried almost afraid of April’s story.
“I know, It's not that kind of story”, April said in her dark voice, "Isn’t it your bed time ? I promise I’ll tell you the end later”
The kids ran off towards to their parent’s cabin, and I’m pretty sure I more than earned my 50 bucks for the night.
April kept her eyes on the fire, she shivered a little even in the warm summer evening. My hand was still around her wrist, she felt warm her pulse thrumming.
I let go as she stood up, her skirt falling around her ankles.
“That was some story”, I said
“Yes, it is”, she responded.
“April I --”.
“Don’t”, she stops me, “You understand nothing. My destiny is so much greater than a teenage delinquents”
“You wish you had my problems, princess”, I said jokingly trying to
lighted the mood because for some reason I wanted to see her smile.
“You bet, big guy”, She looks at the fire. “Do yourself a favor, Cillian and forget me.”
"You're making that kind of hard."
She held in a laugh and that was close enough to a smile for me.
"Oh, Cillian you don't know what I'm capable of. What my destiny is."
"Yeah, well you're forgetting I have nothing to lose. My future is a stripped vest and a blackjack table."
Something told me if I turned around she would disappear so I just watched her, noticing the slight tremors on her back. She walks towards me and puts her palm over my eyes.
"Close your eyes." she asks. Because I'm crazy I do. It's quiet for too long and when I open she's gone. Somewhere. . . behind me. . . I think. I hear a whisper.
I'll see you in your dreams
