The girl had just a short time to live. The reason for this was unknown with the doctors left baffled by her blood tests and marrow erosion. It seemed as if something was eating the girl from inside-out. The girl, however, felt nothing and, to be honest, did not have the slightest care to it. She knew that she would die in the end – with her illness or not – so she felt no reason to be sad. Her life was going down-hill anyway; her grades were dropping drastically; her father was dead; her mother was always drunk and she had no friends. At least no real friends.
Although she could not see them, she could hear their voices. Although she could not feel them, she could touch them. These small creatures would come to her room every day and speak to her. They were her life-support – the reason why she never took her own life. It seemed that, to the other people, the girl was turning insane, talking to herself. But she was never mentally unstable. In fact, she was very smart and kind.
She even had her own rules of life: Never show people your bad side; always treat others kindly; never get depressed or cry; and NEVER forget the fairies.
That was the most important of all her rules because if she woke up one day with no recollection of there being any fairies, even if she remembered later, they will disappear from her remaining life.
The fairies had told her a secret that she vowed to keep: “If you believe in us fairies, even after death, you can come and live with us in the afterlife.”
Many people, if not all, who were told that would see it just as a fairytale. But indeed, it is a fairytale, a story that was passed down through generations and generations of fairies who were once human themselves.
The girl had frequent visits from the same fairy that went by the name Momo, who claimed she was once human herself. Another, Jack, said he was the one who guided Momo through her life as a human, before she died in a car accident.
The girl, upon hearing the sad tale of the fairies, believed them and never ever took their visits to her for granted. She couldn’t wait for her time to come so she could be away from the painful world, and into one with warmth and kindness. But to make her dream come true, there were a few rules:
1- The human must never take their own life or they will never go to the fairy world.
2- The human must never speak of the fairies to other humans, or they will never go to the fairy world.
3- The human must never speak ill of the fairies to other fairies, or they will never go to the fairy world.
Being both respectful and excited, the girl had agreed to those terms with a solemn promise. Of course, the fairies had to test her to make sure she would never break any of the terms.
So they began to entice her to gossip to the fairies about other fairies, but she refused and only spoke good of them and praising them for being by her side. They tried to go after the doctors and nurses that entered her room on a daily basis, to try and make her spurt out the word ‘fairies’ to them. But she refused and pretended to not see them, trying to grab the people’s attention so they do not notice the floating vase of flowers or the draw-it-yourself pencil, doodling on the walls.
No matter what the little fairies threw at her, the girl remained true to her promise. They thought of a way to thank her for doing such a great job protecting their secret and keeping her promise, but did not know what to do.
So they decided to go to the fairy godmother to ask her if she knew of a way to thank the girl. She told them in a soft voice “You have already given her a gift.” The fairies looked at one another confused. They did not understand what the fairy godmother was implying, nor did they ask. They just politely nodded and went back to the girl’s room.
But when they got there, the girl was gone. The fairies looked under the sheets, under the bed, in the wardrobe, under the flower vase but no sign of the girl or her medical equipment. They looked at one another worried. Momo wiped a small, crystal tear from her eye as Jack tried to comfort her. The other fairies looked at each other depressed.
Then all of a sudden, a shimmering light appeared in front of the fairies, blinding them with a piercing ray. As the light dimmed, a small, winged creature fluttered in the air. Her small clear wings and her burgundy hair shimmered. Her wide eyes smiled at the fairies. That was when the fairies realised what the fairy godmother had meant.
Standing before them was the girl in all her fairy beauty, smiling happily at the fairies, thankful that she had kept her promise…
