
The birds are singing beautifully on this day. They seem so happy to awaken to the beams of sun sneaking through the crooked branches that surround me now. I know that I am happy to be here. Walking along this man-made trail in this beautiful forest, I automatically feel my spirits rise. Rise even higher at the sight of a clear stream ahead of me. I'm almost tempted to drink from it. It's small luminescent waves peak just enough to carry a few oak leaves along with it's current. The warm air around me fills my soul with laughter. What a beautiful day this is! How happy we all who enter here are to be alive! Oh, the magnificence nature will share with you. And yet, suddenly I feel a presence. I am no longer alone. I feel something watching me. Something that is almost burning a hole through my shoulders with it's gaze... I turn around, but nothing is there. But I can feel it, I know its there. I can almost hear a faint breathing. But before I have a chance to look further, I hear a faint voice. "Over here child," I hear it say. It was the very faint, almost silent voice of an elderly woman. I turned once more but I could see no one. "Look in the tree darling," she said. But there are so many trees! How am I to know which one to look in? Then my eyes fell upon a very large one with a noticeable hole right in the middle, at my eye level. I looked inside and my eyes were filled with surprise. It was a fairy. "Hello, my sweet." She said weakly.
"Your-your-y-... a fairy! I would never believe it!" I was so very excited, a real fairy, how could it be so? I thought they were something I could only dream of. And yet this was the saddest looking fairy I could have ever imagined. The woman had long, black stringy hair, that had a total lack of sheen. Her wings had no glow, and were ripped in several places as if a dragonfly had flown straight through a thorn bush. She was a pathetic sight, and I couldn't help but feel sympathy for her.
"What is left of one, love." She closed her eyes sadly.
"If you don't mind my asking, what happened to you?" I couldn't help but be curious.
"Humans happened to me, my dear. What terrible creatures most of you are. Don't get me wrong sweetie, there are a very, very select few in which I hold some respect. Namely untainted children, such as yourself, but all others are destructive mosters whom I think deserve to become part of a dragon's cake." What was dragon's cake? A cake made specifically for dragons? Hmmm...
"I see. I understand. Anything that would do this to such a nice creature must have evil deep inside." I had to agree with her. Humans are very self centered things, and I was one of them. How silly I felt talking to her... as if there was anything I could do to help her. She looked on the verge of death.