The Fairy’s Tree

Being back home felt a little different without her. We went through her things and found pictures of us smiling, coming through the grass, looking behind trees and underneath bushes while she led us on the great fairy hunt. The backyard was special because it was her favorite place. Sometimes we’d catch her staring out at an old tree just looking and smiling as if she saw something we couldn't.

Mother always told us we had a fairy living in our backyard. We would run out before bed and check to see if she was telling the truth but we never found one. She'd say “fairies are real but you will only see them if you have an honest heart” As we grew we’d come to believe that was just something she made up to make us tell the truth.

There was only one more day left until the funeral and I was supposed to be asleep, I just couldn't. The weight of her not being here any longer was closing in on me so I went out to the backyard. I thought I would find her essence and it would relieve me a little.

As I stared out like she did, the backyard started to transform into a secret mystical garden. I pinched myself to see if my mind trusted what my eyes were seeing as she flittered about, her tiny body lifted into the air.

The idea was preposterous but she was made beautifully and I couldn’t get my heart to stop pounding at the sight of her delicate little wings.

Our backyard which normally looks like wildflowers and weeds in the day turned magical underneath the moonlight. Nocturnal creatures played among the flowers that glistened as the moon gleaming upon them.

On this night it started to rain and the holes in the tree made a glimmering waterfall that fell into large pools to the ground, and there she flew about around the old tree.

Dressed in a small gown, her wings flapped as she dashed through the air. Her fiery hair swayed in the wind and little glittery particles fell into the air from each movement and I was infatuated.

She took out a little pouch gathering water, taking it back into a small hole in a tree. You could barely see it except for the light that twinkled out of it. Though I should stay and admire her from afar, I was tempted to go watch her as she went back into the tree.

I stood up on the tree's roots and hoisted myself, my one left eye pierced into the hole. Above her were little crystals that lit up the room made within. She flew about, seeming to dance around. She then sat eating pieces of nuts and berries at a table and chair that belonged to my doll house I lost ages ago. She drank the water from her pouch and once she was done with her meal she propped on top a pile of feathers held up by twigs and snuggled cozily.

Trying to leave her in peace I stepped on a branch that made a crackling noise. At first I was sure she’d wake up, but she lay quiet as a mouse. Carefully stepping down I turned away from the fairy's tree.

Yet in a flash a puff of sparkling dust blew in my eyes. I fell backwards bumping my head on the tree trunk and there I laid until morning. When I awoke I rushed to look back inside the crack of the old tree. There was no sign of her, the only thing left was my little brown doll house chair.