Ever since I was little, I wanted to be a fairy…
Evergreen
X770
"C'mon everybody, let's play over there!" The high-pitched voice of a little boy says. The 'there' that he was pointing to was the park's new playground; it was recently expanded due to the town's budget surplus.
The crowd of children all agreed in unison, "Yeah!"
"I call the swings!" One chubby girl said.
"No fair! I was thinking of the swings first, copycat!" Another boy said. In all of their different times, the children began to discuss their plans at the place. It seemed like just another day in the park, however…
…from the sidelines was a little Evergreen watching intently with her mother. Accompanied with the young girl was one of her oldest toys, a fairy princess doll. She was playing with it when her mother, who was watching the little children interact, gently nudged the little girl to look into their direction. When she looked up, she saw those kids and immediately shook her head.
She turned to face her mother and pleaded, "Please, please mommy, don't make me do it! Please!" Her face was scrunched up almost as if she was preparing for a cry.
Her mother pushed up her black-rimmed glasses that was sitting on the tip of her nose and gave her an encouraging smile, "Oh Evergreen, please try!"
"No!" The six-year old pouted and crossed her arms over her chest, "They'll just make fun of me again!"
"No they won't, darling. There are some new kids. They don't know anything about your gift."
The little girl went silent. Her mother was right, but she couldn't do it. She was too nervous to even deal with them. Suddenly, she felt a warm rub against her head. She looked up at her mother who flashed a warm smile. She leaned in closer to her daughter and whispered, "And even if they did, I'm here for you. I want you to remember that, okay?" She kissed her cheek an sat back up.
Evergreen looked over the group, which were still fighting on who-gets-what and what game to play, and then looked back at her mother. "A-Are you sure?" She asked.
"Yes, Ever. I'm sure that this time it'll be different. Just you watch and see." Her mother replied, her tone was as motivational as ever.
"O-Okay." She nodded.
Evergreen looked over at her doll—named Titania because it means "queen of the fairies"—and kissed it. Wish me look, Titania, she thought to herself. The little girl jumped out of her seat and walked over to group. Here we go, she thinks. She could feel her heartbeat race faster the closer she got to them. When she reached them, she turned her head back to her mother who was continuously nodding, signaling that she could start now. She turned back to face them and took a breath.
"Uh-Um…uh…excuse me." She said, her voice just above a whisper. As a result, she was ignored by the crowd that continued to go on about their favorite games.
The soft-spoken little girl cleared her voice again and this time, she tapped on the shoulder of one of the boys and said, "Excuse me!" She was trying to sound more mature with a deepened, much louder voice.
The crowd then turned to face her. Many were confused seeing her since they had never done so before. The leader of the pack turns to face her and asked, "What do you want?"
She immediately looked down before looking back up and shyly asking, "Uh—can I-can I play with you guys?"
The crowd grew silent before the leader of the group, the boy, faced her. He quickly examined her before looking up at her face. "I know you."
"Huh? You do?" She said as she pushed up her glasses with her index finger. I don't think I've ever met him before, she thought.
"Yeah, my brother told me about you. You're the stone freak." He said with a smile.
"Stone freak? Why is she called that?" The inquiring crowd asked.
"Because, if you get too close to her she'll turn you into stone." He said, making the crowd step back in fear.
"W-What? N-No—uh—that's not how it works!" She pleaded.
She could hear the murmurs of the kids warning each other, "S-Stay away from her!" Saddened, her head fell as she tried to hold back tears. Her mother was observing from the bench, laid her face in her hand, and sighed, "Oh brother!"
"Please, it's not like that!" Evergreen replied. She looked around at the faces that were a mixture of fear and disgust.
"Leave us alone, Stone Girl!" One of the members said.
"Yeah, stone girl! Get outta here!" Another member said.
The leader of the pack jumped in front of her and got in her face, causing the crowd to anticipate in fear. "You heard them, Stone Girl. Leave." He said with a grin.
Feeling a wave of frustration, she looked up at the boy with newfound confidence and asked, "Sure, but can you look me in the eye and tell me that?" She said as she adjusted her glasses' position.
"Huh?" He asked, taking a glance at her eyes.
That was all she needed to turn him into stone. The crowd gasped in horror as they witnessed their leader become petrified. A satisfied Evergreen stepped back and flashed the crowd a smirk, "I didn't want to play with you losers, anyways." She turned her back to the stunned audience and made her way back towards her mother that was giving her a disapproving look.
"What was that, Ever?" She asked. Her daughter could hear her disappointment in her voice.
"What? I didn't do anything! It was his stupid fault anyways, he was asking for it!" She replied in annoyance. Sheesh, mom!
"But still, you should've never done that! What did I tell you about petrifying people?" Her mother nagged.
"Don't use it unless you're in danger, I know. But-" She was interrupted by her mother.
"No buts', Ever!" She exclaimed, "Now I gotta clean this mess up."
She looked over at the crowd that was facing their direction. Sighing, with the wave of her hand, she undid her daughter's spell. Her daughter, on the other hand, was none too impressed and was focused more on Titania than anything.
"I didn't wanna play with them anyways. You made me."
"Because if I didn't, then you would still be stuck in your room playing with that doll and drawing pictures of fairies."
"Oh yeah? Well, fairies are more fun than stupid kids. Isn't that right, Titania?" She looked over at her doll.
Stroking its soft brown hair, she adjusted the white wings of the shoulder-less green dress and sighed. Someday, I'll be a fairy. And when it happens, I'll be the Queen of all Fairies and these kids will be my subjects. If only that day could come…
