The Otherworldly
The light onstage dims to a deep blue, highlighting the glitter scattered copiously over your lithe body. I find myself sitting more upright in the hard, plastic seat behind the sound desk to see your sultry figure more easily. The audience falls quiet, all equally enraptured by the hypnotic gaze emanating from your eyes. As you glide towards the centre of the stage, murmuring to your captured mortals, you move with the unearthly grace and ease possessed only by the fey you portray. The edges of my world fade to black as you turn to face me. Now, it is just you and I alone, bathed in the eerie blue light, no longer produced by hot, artificial stage lighting, but simply the moon filtering through the thick forest canopy. No longer can I feel wooden slats beneath my feet, the floor is covered by earth and fallen leaves. The stage is gone.
You are dressed in black from head to toe, you possess the darkest of dark hair. The only colour on your body is your pale skin, a breathtaking contrast to your dark clothing. White is streaked through your hair, silver adorns your eyelids. Dark eyes stare unblinkingly at me through thick eyelashes, with a heat that brings a flush to my already warm skin. Your petite stature, slim, and not much taller than myself, lends to your almost feminine appearance, but you could never be mistaken for a woman, fey or no.
Gradually, a hand rises, and you beckon to me. I get up from my seat without a second thought and, almost in a trance, begin to walk towards me. At the back of my mind, I wince with every step I take. Next to your fey pace, my gait seems ungainly and heavy. Twigs crunch beneath my feet, where as you glide as if your feet did not even touch the floor. You are crouching before me almost without my noticing. Slowly, gracefully you rise to your feet. There is nowhere to look but your face, yet I try to avoid your eye for as long as possible. I concentrate on the sheen of your skin, the glitter present reflecting the light from the full moon. I focus on the natural arch of your eyebrow, giving you a look that told me you liked to play, liked to tease. You take a step towards me and I'm close, too close. Intoxicatingly, I am drawn to your eyes, unable to tear myself away. In the dim light, your eyes are as dark as your clothing. A heavy-lidded, passionate gaze reflects my wide-eyed stare as I feel one delicate finger graze the skin of my cheek. Gradually, mortal succumbs to faerie…
Time passes, how much, I don't know. I surface from the light hypnosis your gaze put me in, only to hear one crystalline word fall from your lips.
"Remember…"
White light fades in all around me and suddenly, the forest disappears. Actors fill the stage and I find myself absently preparing for the next sound cue. Did it really happen? I sit there in a daze through Pyramus and Thisbe declaring their undying love for each other. I make it to the end of the play, when a pair of dark eyes draw me out of my dazed state. I watch as Puck stands before me, telling the audience to imagine that what just happened was all a dream. Was it a dream? I don't know. The fey facing me looks straight into my eyes, that passionate gaze once more heating me throughout my body as he promises to make amends. Darkness falls, and he is gone.
Behind me is a lithe body, I feel him before I truly know he is there. A hand runs through my short hair, before taking my hand in his. I close my eyes as I feel a rush of cool air. When I open them again, I am back in the forest, yet this time, I know it is not a dream. My Puck has brought me home once more.