Chapter 1 – Borrowed Time
Dear Diary,
I never thought she'd give up so easy, and I never thought she'd let me down. She didn't try to fight. She just stood there, looking dumbstruck as though my dad had just told her she was dying. Of course, I couldn't argue, or she'd have been straight onto me. I think she always knew that I had a secret, why else wouldn't I complain about the way she treated me? If she really hated me so much she would have left when she realised I needed her to stick around. She thought she was good at hiding her feelings, but I know she liked being my babysitter. I knew it was a cushy and easy, because my parents paid her more than she was worth and I always did exactly what I told. I didn't think she would ever leave, or at least I thought she would try to stay. But she didn't, she didn't even look at me. It sounds crazy, but I think she was crying. Maybe that's why she couldn't speak.
I trusted her. That's odd, to say the least. But I did. I knew that while I might not have been safe from Vicky when I was with her I was at least safe from everything else. She wouldn't let any harm come to me while I was in her care unless she inflicted it herself. She even stopped doing that in my later years, but she still protected me from everything else. She started to become vague with her orders though, as though she didn't care what I did as long as I wasn't around her. Maybe she got sick of looking at me. She used to throw insults at me left, right and centre, and I actually found it difficult to concentrate when she stopped. I couldn't clean the toilet properly when I had to keep looking over my shoulder to see if she was in the doorway, ready to throw something harsh my way. I never saw her slim frame standing ominously behind me though, not anymore. Not since I turned sixteen really. She became skittish around me, as if the only thing she had ever feared was teenage boys. I don't know what changed, maybe she was too old to hurt my feelings anymore. Maybe she grew out of being a bully. Maybe it was something else.
Maybe it was the same thing that kept her coming back to look after me even though she hated to do so. Well, maybe hated is the wrong word. She liked the money, she liked the hours, and she liked my spinelessness in the face of her temper. But I could see it was starting to pain her to come back, something deep inside her that she would never tell anyone I was sure, but I could see it in her eyes. Perhaps she felt a failure. While Tootie showed so much promise and talent, she was twenty-one and still babysitting part time for a living. She could have gone to college if she wanted, Tootie mentioned that she did pretty well on her SATs, but she stayed in Dimsdale, like she was bonded to the place. She got that job working at Palace Pizza, driving around and feeling thoroughly embarrassed about it, I could tell. And maybe, when she had to come and look after me I was reminder of how bad everything had gotten, how much she had given up. I don't know and now she's gone I guess I never will.
I'm angry with her. She knew I needed her and to spite me she just left. She didn't argue, didn't even try. She couldn't even look at me as she went, and not just because she didn't want me to see the tears. She couldn't look at me because she had let me down so badly it made even her feel guilty. She doesn't know exactly what she's done by leaving me behind, but there's no way I'll ever forgive her. Cosmo and Wanda will probably be gone by this time tomorrow and it's all her fault. Some people might judge me harshly here, and say that they would have had to leave sooner or later and that I'm actually pretty lucky to have had them so long, granting my wishes for me whenever I wanted. But that's the thing. I don't care if Cosmo and Wanda never grant me another wish just as long as they don't go. They're so much more than my fairy godparents now, they're my friends, and I love them.
Seven years we've been together, and they've helped me through so much. I can't bear to think that I might never see them again, just because of Fairy World and its stupid Rules. Even if they could just visit me from time to time while being some other kid's godparents I wouldn't mind. I'm just going to miss them so much. It's only a matter of time before Jorgen realises Vicky isn't babysitting me anymore, and then he's going to come down and take them from me forever. There's no way I can plead with him to let them stay, or let me remember. They've gone through hundreds, maybe thousands of godchildren in their time, and while they've probably been with me the longest that doesn't really make me anything special. It's so unfair. Sometimes I wish I had never gotten them at all, but then I think back to everything we've done together and I feel horrible. I wouldn't have missed that for the world.
It was my birthday today, and I've never felt worse. I guess Vicky left because she thought it would be the ultimate. There's nothing she could ever do to me that could be worse than this. There was nothing she could do to me that was worse than leaving me behind.
-:-
Timmy closed his diary and put his head down on his desk. His table light was shining brightly in his eyes and, irritated, he turned his head away. His fishbowl stood on his bedside table, seemingly empty. He knew that Cosmo and Wanda must be in the castle, no longer able to keep up the pretence that everything was going to be ok. He sighed; he wished they wouldn't hide from him. He didn't know how much time they had left together and he sure as hell didn't want to spend it apart. But then, he thought, the last time that he got to hang around with Cosmo and Wanda there would be an impenetrable air of gloom over the three of them, and that would be just as bad. Timmy growled. This was all Vicky's fault. If he could just go and see her, and explain that he needed her around without letting slip why, maybe she would come back and look after him again. He could appeal to her better nature he was sure of it. Assuming, of course, that she had one.
"Cosmo?" Timmy said faintly, not raising his head. "Wanda?" As usual his fairies appeared right at his side when he called their names. Wanda's eyes were puffy and red, and Cosmo was twisting his wand between his hands, not in his usual, boundless energy, but in his sadness and anxiety. At once Timmy felt a regret at calling them out here. They weren't over the shock of Vicky's departure and neither was he, but he was missing them around and he hated being miserable when he was alone.
"What's up sport?" Wanda asked bravely, smiling through her tears.
"I was just thinking, could I wish… for something?" Wanda and Cosmo exchanged worried looks. They could feel a denial coming on, something Timmy wanted that the Rules would never allow.
"Uh, go ahead Timmy," Wanda said as she and her husband raised their wands.
"I wish Vicky was my babysitter again," Timmy said defiantly, a hopeful smile on his face. Cautiously, Cosmo and Wanda waved their wands and closed their eyes. Their wands deflated almost at once, and Da Rules appeared in front of Wanda in their usual unwelcome fashion. Wanda's eyes scanned the page, the forbidden wish always caused the Rule book to open in the right place, but she looked puzzled. "What is it?" Timmy asked. Wanda frowned.
"I don't understand why the wish would be denied by anything on this page," she said slowly, running the tip of her wand along the lines as Cosmo peered over her shoulder.
"What page is it?" Timmy asked.
"It's the page that explains how our magic can't be used to interfere with true love," Wanda, scratching her head with her wand. Timmy was just as confused as Wanda.
"Should I try again?" he asked, as Wanda poofed the book away.
"Sure," Wanda said warily, and she and Cosmo held up their wands once more.
"I wish," Timmy said in a slow, clear voice, "that Vicky was my babysitter again." Their wands sparkled momentarily and Timmy leaned forward, hope in his eyes, but he was quickly disappointed when the wands deflated again. The book appeared in front of Wanda and her hopeful look was replaced by and angry one as it opened up on the same page again.
"I just don't understand it," she muttered, mostly to herself.
"Maybe…" Timmy said slowly. "Maybe Vicky's met someone and if she baby-sits me she won't be able to spend time with him anymore." Wanda ran her hand along the back of her neck.
"I don't think so Timmy," Wanda said thoughtfully. "Babysitting isn't usually the number one cause of break-ups when it comes to true love."
"Maybe she's in love with someone who really hates me, and he won't let her see me," Timmy suggested. Both Cosmo and Wanda shrugged.
"Should we talk to Jorgen?" Cosmo asked.
"NO!" Timmy and Wanda cried at once.
"Sweetie," Wanda said gently to her husband. "We don't want to attract more attention from Jorgen than we already have. The sooner he knows that Vicky is gone the sooner he'll show up to take us away!" Cosmo slapped his hand over his mouth, looking horrified. Wanda gently put her arms around his shoulders as tears flooded her eyes once more, and she bit her lip to keep them at bay.
As if on cue, a tremendous thunder filled the room. The space between Timmy's desk and his bed was filled with the gigantic form of Jorgen Von Strangle, who had an angry look on his face as his muscles bulged dangerously. Timmy fell from his chair in shock. Jorgen rounded on Cosmo and Wanda. "Puny fairies!" he roared, pointing his wand at the two shaking figures, who were now holding onto each other for dear life. "I have come to take you away!"
"No!" Cosmo cried as his wife flung herself full into his arms, weeping unabashedly into his shoulders. "Please don't take us from Timmy Jorgen, please!" A quiet tear trickled down Cosmo's cheek. "I can't keep losing them Wanda," he whispered into his wife's pink hair. "It hurts." Wanda looked up at her husband, and guilt flooded her insides. But, she thought as she heard Timmy finally getting up from the floor, she would have to worry about that later. Timmy was all that mattered now. She was shocked to see he was crying and releasing shuddering sobs.
"Don't take them, they're my friends," Timmy said pleadingly, the tears magnifying the deep blue of his eyes and softening Jorgen's mighty heart. He rounded his wand onto Timmy, who gulped as he stared down the business end of it. He was aware that he was crying, and he hastily tried to wipe his tears away on the back of his hand, feeling ashamed.
"Timmy," Jorgen growled, but there was a touch of sympathy in his voice. "You cannot keep them forever. You knew this when they were assigned to you." Timmy nodded slowly, knowing he couldn't fight it. "Cosmo… Wanda…" he began, but Jorgen cut him off.
"But…" he said with an inquisitive look on his face, "you are not happy, and godparents are supposed to make you happy before they can leave."
"Are any of the kids ever happy to see their godparents go?" Timmy asked incredulously, before mentally kicking himself for trampling all over his own defence.
"No," Jorgen conceded. "But there is something else keeping you down. Until your godparents find out what it is and fix it, they will stay with you. Or," he added in a ferocious voice, "until the end of the month arrives. Then they go and you will be miserable." He disappeared in a macho burst of smoke and lightning, leaving Timmy, Cosmo and Wanda to throw themselves into each other's arms.
"It's only until the end of the month though sweetie," Wanda said gently.
"I know," Timmy said brightly, "but at least we can spend that time together having the best time ever. Then maybe you can have some really good memories of me when you go."
"We already do!" Cosmo protested, but Timmy shook his head and smiled.
"You guys know what I mean," he said. He sat down on his bed while his fairies floated gently beside him. "What do you think Jorgen meant? You know, about that other thing?" Timmy asked them. Both Cosmo and Wanda shrugged, with shameful expressions on their faces. "What's wrong?" Timmy asked them, feeling bad.
"Well," Cosmo said, bowling his head. "It doesn't seem right to us that Jorgen noticed there was something else bothering you when we didn't."
"But it doesn't feel like anything else is bothering me," Timmy said genuinely. "Except maybe that Trixie Tang won't go out with me, but I know there's nothing you can do about that."
"We'll help you with that though!" Wanda said earnestly, as though she would have Trixie and Timmy together by the end of the month or die trying. Timmy smiled at his godparents, their inevitable departure forgotten for a little while as he wished up a giant chocolate cake.