Title: "Sarah's Stories"
Author: Pirate Turner
Rating: G
Summary: He's always liked his big sister's stories best.
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, names, codenames, places, items, fandoms, titles, and etc. are always © & TM their respective owners, not the author, and are used without permission. Any and all original characters and everything else is © & TM the author and may not be reproduced in any way without the author's express, written permission. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Author's Note: 244. That's the number of stories that were sitting on my hard drive collecting dust because I lack the energy and time to take care of them as I once did. My betaing pattern has always been to write, then type up if written on paper, the story, read it aloud to my beloved Jack and our children, editing as I go, and then finally format and post. Sadly, this part is simply taking too much of my time and energy, and my beloved Jack and I have too little time together in person these days to be able to keep up with my stories. So what to do? Give up writing? I actually considered it for a while, tried to make excuses to myself other than the large number of stories collecting cyber dust on my computer, as to why I lacked the energy and Muse to write new tales. And then, with the turn of the new year, I decided to stop running and face the problem. The problem is, quite frankly, that once one gets so bogged down in formatting and editing that writing is no longer a pleasure but the actual posting of those writings becomes a hassle and - egad! - work, it's time to cut something out, and that will never be the writing process. So, in short, yes, there will be mistakes in this tale. Yes, it's missing about half of the header information I usually include. But I wrote it for pleasure and am posting it in hopes of sharing that pleasure with others. Do with it as you will.

He loves the stories his big sister tells him best of all. She actually still believes in magic, fantasy, Fairies, and goblins too. He can tell from the way she tells him the stories. She doesn't need to read from a book. They come from her own mind and lips, and never once does she slow in her tellings or stumble over a word. Her words, instead, flow with the steady truth of some one who believes in them.

He wishes he could believe, too. It would be so cool to have Faeries and goblins existing in their modern, dull, and utterly magicless world. Their King sounds the coolest by far. Toby likes to picture him as his sister tells him about him with his eyes closed. He's majestic, regal, and so powerful that he makes Toby shiver inside. The shivers are unlike anything he's ever experienced before. He's more fearsome than any horror movie and cooler than any action star will ever be.

Yet, when he opens his eyes and the story's over, Toby is forced to return to the modern world. His mother is yelling at them to go to bed, and all he wants to do is hear one more story. Sarah tucks him in, kisses his forehead, and promises him there'll be another story tomorrow night.

There are always more stories; her imagination never runs dry. He wishes again, as his eyes drift closed, that he could believe as she does and find remarkable things in their ordinary world. He will never know the truth of his big sister's stories, however, or that she always leaves a nightlight on for herself because she knows her stories are more than fairy tales. She knows they're real, and she'll protect him from the horror she sees in them until her dying breath.

The End