Written Word Attempt- Short Story

Wrote this about two years ago for a class dedicated to the art of the short story. Honestly, it was a waste of money. At any rate, I turned this out and was actually quite pleased with it. Its a first draft and perhaps at some I will decide to edit it, but don't hold your breath. Next month is totally and completely devoted to the novel and the challenge that is NaNoWriMo.

Not sure what category this would be placed in and I don't feel like trying to place it in one myself. Whatever, just read it. Bah!

Your Innocence Kills Me

It whispered through the silent trees and caused them to awaken in a flurry of whispers. It glided through the tall grass which bent to it's will as if bowing to their ruler. It darted over the calm sands and whipped them into a frenzy of upwards movement. It sailed over the gentle sea causing it to rise up and try to embrace it. It flitted through the mighty mountains causing it to break against it's will. Until at last, after days of travel, it landed to rest in a young girl’s hands.

Slowly it unfurled itself, a layer at a time, until a minute and hardly visible form stood there, doubled over in adoration for the small child. Beside herself with fright, thinking her wishes would never come true, the child dropped the small figure to the ground and retreated to the other side of her tiny bedroom. The form was hardly surprised and caught itself mid fall, only to beat her miniature iridescent wings and land safely on the windowsill she had flown through.

A voice, ethereal and laughing, spoke, “Turn down the lights, child.”

The voice echoed around the room, causing the poor child to jump in fright, but she obeyed none the less. As she faced the wall the child couldn’t help but be reluctant to turn around; things that are normal by most lights are always worse when those lights are turned out. For one so young she was well versed on the creatures that haunted the night and lived in the wild, but as she turned around a radiant light unfolded across her room and affronted her eyes.

The light, which had once almost had not been there, radiated off of the Otherworldly creature as it stood in the moonlight. As the impish creature glowed, she came to realize that she was blinding the poor child with her glow. Giggling to herself for having been so foolish in the first place, she let the glow retreat and allowed the dark a temporary advance.

“Look, Evelyn.”

Evelyn slowly removed her protective covering and timidly peered out around them. What she saw most people would say was impossible but impossible things, both mundane and imagined, seemed to constantly happen in Evelyn’s world. Before her, no bigger than half a pencil in height, stood a being not made of flesh, but the most gentle and gossamery of being made of nothing but light. Even her wings, which had carried her over far and distant lands, were only pulsing light.

Suddenly not afraid, Evelyn walked over to the windowsill and gazed at the light pixie. Feeling light-hearted, the delicate light form began to dance her way across the sill. With wide and curious eyes the girl watched on in awe; it was a mystery as to how such beautiful a creature, how delicate a being, could move as if there was nothing in the wide world holding her back. The light flowed and soon the shape of the pixie had all but vanished and was replaced by a swirling of light. It dazzled and enchanted Evelyn, who clapped to an inaudible beat and giggled with merriment.

All too soon however the being stopped the dance and rested back in its original form. Hardly exhausted, but still over-come with emotion, she sat on the windowsill while gently swinging her legs until Evelyn noticed that the being had stopped moving. The child came over to the being and sat cross legged on her bed. A momentary silence passed between them where more than enough was communicated as they looked at one another and smiled.

“Are you a fairy?” Evelyn asked, breathless and excited.

“I’m what ever you want me to be. You chose my form in your dreams, Evelyn, don’t you remember?”

The girl shook her head in reply, having not recalled any dreams about light beings, “What’s your name?”

“We don’t normally go by names, Evelyn, but for the time being you can call me Eve.”

For a moment all conversation stopped as Eve turned her head towards the moon as if listening. The tree outside Evelyn’s window rustled in the breeze and the grass shook with excitement; a message that no human girl could hear or understand was being communicated to this light being. Suddenly Eve drew herself up, nodded, and gave a sigh.

“It seems we don’t have much time and there’s much I have to tell you. We’re going to go on a little journey.”

“A journey, where to?” Nothing could contain the bubbling glee that welled up inside the girl’s heart.

“To my home. There’s no way to say this, but you’ve been gone for a very long time; your soul left our home to come here to the visible realm of Earth and now your parents, the King and Queen, are waiting.”

Evelyn’s face broke into a wide grin; she had always known deep within her heart that she was a princess from a far away place; she had known it for as long as she could remember. While the child contented herself with her wild fantasies Eve’s expression changed from that of happiness to melancholy. The color of her body, which had been pink, shifted to a deep blue and threatened to almost vanish from Evelyn’s sight if the child hadn’t come out of her day-dream with a thousand bursting questions.

“Why did I leave? What are they like? Was I as small as you?”

Common questions any child would ask, but Eve didn’t really have the heart to answer them. “You left us because you were head-strong and wanted to live another life. So you came here to inhabit a human body and write a story all your own, away from our people.”

The trees whispered again and Eve turned an ear to them. Each wave of what seemed to be wind through the elements cause the light being’s spirit to drop. There was no doubt about what would happen next and what her task was; it was such a pity to claim someone as vibrant, young, and full of life as their own, but they needed her and they needed her outside of her human body.

“Evelyn, I need you to be a good girl and do as I say,” the child nodded in ready agreement as Eve heaved a great sigh and went on. “I need you to lie on your bed, close your eyes, and say “I believe in faeries” over and over.”

Evelyn smiled in compliance and fell back onto her bed. The child began chanting with a smile on her face, believing with all her heart that she trusted and believed in faeries, especially Eve the light fairy. Quickly Eve cast a look around the room to see what the girl would be leaving behind.

A bookshelf in the corner was stacked with books on faeries and the Earth tales they came from. Next to it sat a hamster, who had fled into his house for a few hours of rest before sun-up. A desk lay near the window and on it was a sheet of half-finished Math homework and a planner next to it read Durnham Elementary School. Evelyn was a normal girl who partly lived in the real world of Earth and the other part of it in her own fantasy realm where she was the star; Eve suddenly wished that they didn’t have to take her back.

Eve shook her head and cleared her thoughts of all of that nonsense. As the child chanted the silly phrase over and over again, Eve pulled an object out of the light of the moon and swiftly flew over to the small girl’s chest. It heaved with her breath but it wasn’t enough to shake the small being. The light being kneeled over her heart and muttered something in another language that, to Evelyn, felt like a tickling wind and slowly, carefully, Eve lifted the object above her head and drove the object into Evelyn’s chest.

The chant stopped and before her eyes a small light flew out from the spear of light that was sticking in Evelyn’s chest. It bounced around the room for a minute before it managed to flutter its way in front of Eve and before her eyes was Evelyn, older in body and just as ethereal and beautiful as her. The light body of Evelyn gave a giggle and twirled around and around on her Earth bodies chest without care.

Grabbing her hand, Eve stopped her and tried to smile, “Come on dear, they’re waiting.”

“Will I be back in time for school?”

Ah, her naiveté, “Of course you will, Evelyn.”

With a smile Evelyn let her new wings lift her into the air, with Eve following close behind. Together they flew out the window and retraced the path the tiny light being had once took; they glided together on the Earth’s surface as fast as their light bodies could carry them until they reached the mountains where, hand in hand, they took off towards the loving light of the moon.

The next morning, Jane and Dan Midwich were up at six, the same time as they had woken up almost everyday this week. Today was Friday, the end of the work week, and though Jane was a stay at home mother now, she enjoyed the weekends when she could spend time with her family. The two of them showered and dressed before going down-stairs to start of breakfast.

Today was waffle day, Evelyn’s favorite breakfast, and it was strange that the young girl wasn’t down in the kitchen when they arrived. Jane and Dan looked at one another, shrugged, and seemed to communicate that perhaps she’d be down in five minutes. In silence they mixed the waffle mix and sliced strawberries up; five, ten, even fifteen minutes passed and still their precious little girl hadn’t shown her sunny face.

“Dear,” Dan said, turning to Jane, “would you mind looking in on Lyn? I’ll take care of the waffles.”

Jane nodded and turned over the waffle iron to her husband. Cleaning her hands on her apron, the loving and doting mother ascended the stairs to her daughter’s bedroom. She knocked twice on the door and when she got no answer, not even a groan, Jane turned the handle on the door and stepped inside.

Everything was how it had been last night and Evelyn was still curled up in bed. Jane, smiling to herself, walked over to the bed and stared at the small child for a moment, wishing that she too had the luxury of sleeping in some mornings. Gently she reached out and shook the girl’s shoulder.

“Lyn, it’s time to get up.”

There was no reply and Jane began to get worried.

“Lyn, come on, honey. You have school.”

Still no reply and Jane shook harder.

“Lyn, wake up!” she nearly shouted.

The body of the small child fell back from all the shaking and her peaceful face turned on her mother.

Jane dropped to her knees and screamed.

From down in the kitchen Dan heard the shock and dropped the waffle iron as quickly as he could into the sink and ran upstairs. Time seemed to expand as it took him twice as long to get up the stairs and run down the hall to his precious girl’s room, but as time expands it also has to compress somewhere. Though he remembered entering the room he couldn’t remember the events that lead him to the phone, or the events leading up to the paramedics arriving. Jane huddled against her husband and they waited, with bated breath, for the final verdict.

One paramedic came down first and led them to the kitchen while two others snuck behind them wheeling out the gurney. Both of them weren’t ready for the news and had no way of explaining the suddenness of what had happened to their precious Lyn. The paramedic said they were going to perform an operation that they hoped would help uncover the reason behind all of this. Overwhelmed, but grateful, they thanked the paramedic for his time as he lead them out to the ambulance.

There, under a white sheet, lay their daughter. Timidly Jane walked over to her daughter, took one look at her face, and began to sob. The reality of the last few hours had hit her and she knew that she would never see Evelyn again.
“Why, why did they have to kill my little girl?” She sobbed to her husband.

“Only God knows why and I don’t think he’ll be telling us anytime soon.”

The body of Evelyn Midwich lay there, lifeless. The childlike smile was still spread across her face and her eyes were still shut tight. She had died believing in faeries till the very end.