The Fairy and the Human: # 1, The Beginning

Judy leaned back in her seat and gave a loud yawn. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and slapped herself awake. The dim light of her desk lamp was the only light on in the whole house. She glanced back at her disorganized project for her English class. The mythical creatures book laid flat on the desk, showing imagines of tiny sprite creatures, mostly girls wearing only petals and riding butterflies or dragonflies. Judy felt like ripping out all the pages in frustration. If she had to see another winged tart, she was going to scream. Her off-the-wall English teacher just had to pair her with the crazy anime girls and they had to pick fairies as their mythical creatures. Now Judy was forced to stay up all night to finish a project that wasn’t even worth doing. She finally got to the last question in the project and she was able to give out an exhausted sigh.1

“Do you believe in your mythical creature?” Judy muttered aloud. Without hesitation, she answered in a release of bent up frustration and lack of compassion to her sleeping sister down the hall.
“I don’t believe in fairies!”2

With that release, Judy was able to connect her fingers to the keyboard and type up the last bit of the essay. Her partners were in charge of gathering everything together for the presentation part of the project. She was on the last sentence when a soft cat’s cry and a thud alerted her. In no mood to deal with the sister’s cat, Judy threw open her bedroom door. Glossed in the dim light was the family cat, decked out in white fur. Between the paws was a small rag doll. At the sight of the intimidating Judy, the cat dashed down the hallway into the safety of the younger sister’s room, leaving her toy behind.
Judy bent down and inspected it. It was a boy doll, probably her little sister’s. It was a little scuffed up from the cat. It was very detailed; every tiny stitch of the jeans was in place, the skin, a perfect shade, and the sweater was knitted perfectly. It even looked like it was there was red like blood from the cat but Judy quickly dismissed it as dim lighting. The doll was only five inches tall and had sandy blond hair, perfect for any teenage girl to fall madly in love with. It reminded Judy of a smaller, more natural and younger looking version of the Ken doll. She picked it up and on closer inspection; it had tissue paper thin wings, just like a fairy in the books. It was a fairy doll, complete with a plastic star wand clutched in the mini hand. It glowed dimly in the light.3

“This would be perfect for this stupid project.” Judy thought out loud. 4

She brought it back to her room and tossed it on her desk. It landed and made a soft groaning sound. Judy ignored it and presumed it was a talking doll. She continued on her paper, and finally finishing, printing it and relieved in her fine work. A sudden movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. She turned her head and on top of the fairy books, the doll began to move and rose onto shaky legs. The doll held its head in one hand and the fake wand in the other. 5

“It feels like I got into a drinking contest with a pixie, and won.” It muttered. Judy froze. Children’s dolls don’t stand up and they certainly don’t make comments like that. The doll got its bearings straight and glanced at the human staring back at him. They both locked eyes and couldn’t turn away. Each felt their heart racing and their breath quicken but they didn’t make this known. Judy stared into the deep brown eyes of the tiny boy and the boy stared into the icy blue reflecting pools of eyes. Judy licked her lips and was the first to speak.6

“I’ve been working on this project way too long.” She muttered aloud, finally breaking away from the stare. The boy cocked an eyebrow.7

“What is that suppose to mean?” He demanded. 8

“It means that I need to get some sleep if I’m seeing little fairy boys on my desk.” Judy explained.9

“First of all, you’re only seeing one and second of all, I’m not a boy.”10

“Whatever, it doesn’t matter, you don’t exist.” Judy said off-handed. The boy looked like he’s been slapped.11

“What?! I do too exist. If I don’t exist, how come you’re seeing me right now?”12

“Because when you spend hours working on a project about fairies, no doubt that you would begin to hallucinate and see little flighty buggers too.”13

“I’m not a flighty bugger and I do exist!”14

“Well, if you’re a fairy, prove it. Fly or do magic or something.”15

“I can’t.”16

“Why not?” 17

“Because you said that you don’t believe in fairies.”18

“You mean because I said that, you can’t fly or do magic like Tinkerbell off of Peter Pan?”19

“Exactly. Words are very powerful and whenever a fairy is in a certain radius of a human that uttered those words, then the fairy is rendered wingless and magic less.” 20

“Hence you being attacked by my cat.” Judy thought out loud. “So what do I got to do, clap my hands or something?” 21

“No, all you have to do is say that you believe in fairies then I get my wings and magic back and we can get back to our regular lives.”22

“But I’m still not convinced.” Judy gave a sly smile. “I mean, look at your wand.” She snatched it out of the boy’s tiny hands. The boy tried to reclaim it but being wingless, he just fell flat on his face.23

“Look at this thing. It’s like something a six-year-old girl would have. This is the dumbest wand on the planet.”24

“It’s all for looks.”25

“What?”26

“It’s all for looks. I don’t need that wand to do magic but when you’re in my profession, looks are very important and if I lose that wand, I’m fired.”27

“What is your profession?”28

“I’m a wish giver. I go to children who still believe in fairies and grant them wishes with dreams. I was actually doing that for your little sister but you had to scream out that you don’t believe in fairies.”29

“You mean you can grant wishes.”30

“Through dreams, yes.” The boy explained. Judy could tell there was something he was hiding if he really existed.31

“I’m still not convinced.” Judy leaned back in her seat. “I’ll tell you what, I’m going to bed and if I wake up and you are still here, then you exist and I’ll say you exist and you can get back to your work or whatever.” 32

“Wait but-“33

“Good night fairy that doesn’t exist.” Judy crawled into bed. 34

“You can’t do this to me! What am I suppose to do all night?! I got a job! I have to work!” The tiny pleads of help began to drown out in Judy’s ear as she faded off into slumber.35

Judy awoke with the irritating buzzing of the alarm clock. She felt like she barely got any sleep the night before, probably because of that project and that stupid dream. She slammed her hand on the alarm clock and sulked out of bed. She took off her pajama shirt and slipped on a bra.36

“That was a crazy night last night. I’m just glad it’s over and I can get this stupid project over with.” She thought to herself. She heard a soft sigh by her desk and swirled around. On it was the tiny fairy boy, goggling her. Judy turned deep shade of red and covered up herself.37

“Oh don’t mind me, I don’t exist.” The boy grinned. Judy picked up a sneaker and chucked it straight at him. It landed on top of him and practically crushed him. Judy continued to dress, obviously steamed at the still existing hallucination. She picked up the sneaker under the crushed boy when she was ready to confront this.38

“Alright, you thing, what are you?” She demanded. The boy frowned.39

“I’m not a thing, I’m a fairy and I do have a name. It’s Ashley.”40

“I don’t care. Why are you still here and not vanished?”41

“Because I exist and the only way I’ll ‘vanish’ is if you say you believe in fairies.” Ashley tried to explain but Judy would hear none of it.42

“Fairies don’t exist! They don’t and you can’t prove it to me!”43

“I’m standing right in front of you. What do you want me to do, dance and sing and grant every wish your heart desires?” That made Judy stop in her tracks. Ashley said nothing but it was obvious that he said something wrong by the look in his face.44

“I thought you said that you can only grant wishes in dreams.” 45

“Yeah I can grant wishes in dreams...” He faded off.46

“What about just regular wishes like the whole genie deal?”47

“Well, technically, I can…but only one wish per human. I’m not a gumball machine but since I don’t exist, I can’t grant any wishes.” Ashley commented with a hidden smile.48

“So if I say you exist, then you can grant me one wish?”49

“If you would like. Just say that fairies exist and I’ll grant whatever your cold unfeeling heart desires.” 50

“How do I know you’re not going to fly away or disappear or something once you get your magic back?” Judy demanded.51

“You’re just gonna have to trust me.” Ashley gave a gentle grin but that wasn’t much reassurance.
Judy frowned was not pleased with this situation. A soft mew outside the bedroom door caught both of their attentions and Judy realized a way to make the fairy comply. So did Ashley. He made a mad dash off the desk and rolled on impact to reduce breaking anything. Judy just rushed towards the door and flung it open. The cat flew into the room and spot the earlier prey and bent down low, its tail twitching back and forth. Ashley just froze, realizing his doomed situation. Before the cat could pounce, Judy picked up the cat by the nap of the neck.52

“You better grant my wish or Mr. Whiskers here will make short work out of you.” Judy gave a devilish grin. Ashley was not amused by the short joke and complied to the threat. “Alright you little bugger, I believe fairies exist.” 53

There was a pause as nothing happened to Ashley. He just stood there for a moment. One of his hands was behind his back. 54

“Well now, can you grant me my wish?” Judy demanded. The fairy grinned.55

“Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to make a deal with a fairy?” 56

Ashley flew up into the air like a lighting bolt; just a flicker of him was seen. He headed straight towards the window. With same speed and intensity, Judy dropped the cat and grabbed the nearest object to her, a tennis racket. In one stunning motion, she swung the tennis racket with all of her might. It came into contact with something and crashed into her closet. It landed with a soften thud on the carpet. Ashley lay on the ground on the verge of unconsciousness, his wings flickering. Judy stood over him, racket at ready.57

“Didn’t your mother ever tell you that you shouldn’t mess with a tennis player?” Judy snapped back. “Now grant me my wish or you’re going to end up as a used tennis ball!” 58

“Alright, I’ll grant it, just leave me alone!” Ashley cried. “What the hell do you want?”59

Judy paused. She hadn’t thought about this. She had to think carefully or the wish could backfire. She had seen too many shows and movies where the wish always backfires. She already knew this fairy couldn’t be trusted so he could obviously twist the wish in any way he wanted to. Money was a bad idea because she would never be able to explain it or know what to do with it. She didn’t want a boyfriend and she didn’t want to be popular. There had to be a wish that would not backfire on her. A sudden secret wish that she had when she was little came to the surface of her mind. 60

“I wish that you were my friend as long as I live.” Judy declared. The fairy’s mouth dropped open.61

“What?”62

“I wish that you would be my friend for the rest of my life. You would have to come every time I call for you no matter where you are and you have to treat me like a friend.”63

Ashley stood there, dumbfounded. He tried to speak but no words would come out. 64

“You can’t wish that.” He finally spoke. He flew up eye level to the human. “That’s a dumb wish. Wouldn’t you rather wish for money or to be popular or something normal humans want?”65

“No, I want you as my friend. I’m not asking for a million wishes or anything too extreme, just be my friend.”66

“Why? Have no friends of your own?” Ashley laughed at his own joke. 67

“I have plenty of friends but how many humans can say they have a fairy for a friend?”68

“The crazy ones and the six-year-olds. You’re not allowed to tell anyone anyways. No one would believe you and if you do tell, the fairy council would have no choice but to erase your memories of me.”69

“Fine, I won’t tell but you got to grant the wish or you’re going to be really difficult to scrap out of the carpet.” Judy threatened.70

“Alright, alright, fine, your wish is my command.” Ashley muttered under his breath. He flicked his wand in an over exaggerated gesture. Nothing happened. Judy narrowed her brow. 71

“So? Did you do it or what?” Judy demanded. Ashley nodded.72

“Yup, whenever you call my name, I’ll poof to you immediately since that’s what you wished for.” Ashley rolled his eyes.73

“No, pick some other word. I have too many friends with the name Ashley. Something like ‘knock knock’.” Judy suggested.74

“You mean like a knock knock joke?” 75

“Yeah, and you have to poof here with ‘who’s there’.” Judy smiled. Ashley turned sour and was not pleased by this arrangement but what choice did he have. The magic has already been done and there was no way to reverse a wish. That’s how wishing magic worked, once the wish has been made, it cannot be reversed.76

“Are we done?” Ashley demanded, trying to think of some way out of this predicament. Judy nodded.77

“Yeah, I’ll call you after school.” She waved him off. “Oh, and by the way, my name is Judy Rosengard.”78

“You can just call me Ashley.” The fairy demanded and within a blink of an eye, he was gone. Judy couldn’t help but smile at this new found friend. She was going to have a lot of fun with this strange creature. Maybe she could add a few things to her project before she had to turn it in.79

Ashley burst into the Wishgivers’ academy library. Each bookcase seem to reach to the heavens itself. It was the dustiest and dimmest room of the whole academy but it was one of the largest. Ashley had spent much of his time in the library when he was younger but this wasn’t a time to get lost in a spell book. He was fuming. He was mad with anger. He could see his older counterparts out of his corner of his eyes but he could care less. He needed information. He needed someway to break this wish. How could a girl hold him prisoner, even a teenage girl! What’s worse is she’s a tennis player. He could barely see, so blind with rage. He crashed into another person and stumbled.80

“Calm down Wishgiver Ashley, you look upset. Did something happened?” Ashley glanced up and a mid-aged fairy, the caretaker of the library, stood before him. She had always been good friends with Ashley, ever since he first stepped into the library, lost and alone. Ashley gathered up his composer and was able to focus.81

“Something awful happened today.” He muttered. He explained the whole thing to the librarian. She frowned at the situation. 82

“This is not good.” She muttered. She spotted Ashley’s fallen face. “But all is not lost. I think I have heard of a case like this before. If I can recall, the only way to break this wish is to make the girl revoke the friendship.” 83

“So all I have to do is to irritate her so much she has to get rid of me?” Ash questioned. The librarian nodded. Ashley gave a devilish grin and his eyes blazed a mischievous green. “Well, that shouldn’t be too hard.”84

-To be continued
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