Title: The Scab Fairy
Spotlight on: Abby
Word Count: 1077
Summary: Abby's experiences with the Scab Fairy, starting back when her dad first tells her the story. References to Episode 5.
Gleefully, I stared down at the quarter in my hands. "I knew it!" I whispered. No matter what Ty said, here was proof.
The Scab Fair existed! And I don't mean phonies like Helena Globin. I'm talking about the real deal.
Way back when I took my first bumble down the stairs and cried as loud as Baby Ty, Dad told me all about her.
"Now, now," he'd soothed. "There's no need to cry. In fact, you should be happy!"
"Habby?" I sniffled. "That's right! Tonight, Daddy's little girl gets her very first visit from the Scab Fairy!"
Awed by the mention of a fairy, I hurried to dry my tears. "The Cab Ferry?" "Close enough!"
A normal little kid might have been disgusted at the thought of a beautiful fairy collecting scabs, but it's a well-known fact I love all things gross. Why else would I become a grossologist? And honestly, the Tooth Fairy's overrated.
Dad picked me up and settled me on his lap. "When this boo-boo on your elbow-" he gingerly poked the sore spot, "forms a scab and is ready to fall off, the Scab Fairy will come! She'll take your lovely little scab in the middle of the night and leave behind some nice shiny coins!" My eyes widened and my sixth sense began tingling…
"Story!" Boo-boo forgotten, I bounced up and down excitedly.
Dad smiled and began, "Once upon a time, there lived a fairy named, ah, Scabrina. She and her fairy friends lived in, uh, Fairysville and spent their days, um, playing volleyball! Yeah, and Scabrina was their best spiker, scoring many a point for their team!"
…even back then, my dad's love of volleyball was evident.
"Anyways, one day, a mysterious old wise fairy came to Fairysville…"
I could see it all in my mind! The old wise fairy bestowing Scabrina with her treasured Collecter's Wand and explaining her true destiny, the newly appointed Scab Fairy traveling around the world collecting scabs, all the townspeople bestowing Scabrina with coins from their piggy banks because they were so grateful.
"In those days," Dad informed me, "scabs weren't taken away by the Scab Fairy. They grew into huge piles that cluttered the towns and, er, ruined the crops!"
Scabrina's evil twin, Brinascab, jealous of the Scab Fairy's new wealth, cursing her so every time Scabrina took a scab, she had to give the child a coin back. And the Scab Fairy, selfless and generous, gladly placing quarters under childrens' pillows!
After hearing the tale, I eagerly watched my scab, waiting for it to fall off. One morning, I finally rushed down to breakfast holding aloft the treasured quarter.
I began to treasure every scab, waiting for the Scab Fairy to appear. I could care less about losing a tooth.
But of course, not everyone believed in the Scab Fairy. I faced my first non-believers at preschool. "Freak!" Paige would taunt.
I think that's when I first starting hating her guts.
"The Scab Fairy's all in your freakish head!" Tossing her blond hair arrogantly over her shoulder, she announced, "Everyone knows that the only fairy is the Tooth Fairy!"
"Abby's a freak!" Paige's early groupies chanted. "Abby's a freak!"
This, I expected. But the true blow came when it was Ty's turn to hear about the Scab Fairy.
He had run into the kitchen, not watching where he was going. As was to be expected, he ran into something and cut his forehead. "Looks like that cuts going to scab up!" Dad proclaimed as he stuck on a Band-Aid.
I was excited. Super excited. Now my brother got to be let in on the secret! We could try to stay up and spot the Scab Fairy together, and go buy gumballs with our quarters!
Impatient, I sat next to Dad as he told Ty the story. "Nuh uh." He stubbornly told Dad and me when it was over. Shocked, I screeched at him, "It's true! It's true!"
"Nuh uh." Ty said, poking his Bain-Aid. How could my little brother not believe?
"Then were do scabs go?" I challenged him.
"Places."
"But that would ruin crops!"
"Ty dunno what crops are."
"Aha!"
"But the Crab Ferry still not real."
"Aargh!" Frustrated, I ignored Ty for the next week.
To my surprise, when Ty came racing down the stairs with his quarter, he was excited. "Look!" he commanded us. I jumped out of my seat. "Awesome! The Scab Fairy left you a coin!"
"Abby, the Scab Fairy isn't real. Ty knows. Doesn't Abby?"
Stubborn to prove Ty wrong, I continued to believe in the Scab Fairy, long after Ty was over his talking-in-third-person stage. I was the only one. Over time, I repeated Scabrina's story to myself and rejoiced over every measly quarter. Every time I triumphantly came downstairs, Ty and I would argue over breakfast.
"Grow up, Abby!" he told me, "Nobody believes in that stuff anymore! The Scab Fairy is mythical!" I refused to believe him. I could care less what others thought.
I might have openly believed in the Scab Fairy forever if not for Derek.
"There's a new transfer student at school!" I announced at dinner. "Really?" Dad asked, "What's his name?" "Derek." Mom giggled, "Is he cute?" I nodded, "Very!" "So?" Ty said, ending the conversation.
But I didn't speak to Derek until we were paired up for a project in history. The instructions were simple: Research a tale about a mythical creature and write a report about what era it was from, etc.
"What's wrong?" I asked Derek as he scowled at the books. "I don't see the point. Aren't we supposed to learn history? As in, stuff that actually happened? They're called mythical creatures for a reason!" "So," I shifted in my seat, "you don't believe in fairies, unicorns, or any of that stuff?" Derek snorted, "Of course not!
"Why, do you?" "No way!" I answered, nervously thinking about the Scab Fairy.
After that, I decided it would be safer (if I ever wanted to get a date) to hide that I still believed in the Scab Fairy.
The years passed quietly, well, for me. Then, following Helena Globin's defeat and the loss of my scab, I found a shiny quarter under my pillow. "I knew it!"
No matter what Paige, Ty, or any cute guy said, the Scab Fairy existed. I continue to believe that, even if Ty did say he spotted Dad outside my door.