Category : Books-Fiction

Sub Category : Fantasy

At night, the fairy woke up with a start at the sound of a girl’s scream. Worried, she looked to the side of Dawn, and was heartbroken at the sight-

Dawn was clutching her pillow, and trembling in a ball, repeating frantically over and over “Dad! Don’t leave! Dad! Dad! DAD!” Dawn’s body started to shake as she sobbed uncontrollably. 

“Dad!” Dawn screamed, waking up at once, then looked around the room to meet the eyes of a very concerned fairy. 

“O-oh I’m sorry to have woken you up,” Dawn turned on the lamp and meekly apologized to the fairy, while wiping away her tears quickly with the cuffs of her sleeves. “G-go on and let’s get back to dreamland,” Dawn let out a forced laugh, then pushed the scarf/fairy bed closer to the fairy. 

The fairy continued to stand and stare with concern with her big, shining eyes, face in a pout. Dawn sighed.

“No, I’m okay now! Honest!” Dawn assured her with a slightly lopsided smile. She chided the fairy lightly, “Come on, I am not crying because of Dad, I can’t and won’t cry about him, I-I can get over h-his” Dawn started to hiccup and tears welled up in her eyes. 

The fairy now looked in shock when Dawn was crying again, and two streams flowed down from her eyes, and did not stop. Seeing the pain of the girl who had just saved her, who had just been her friend, made her determined to do whatever she could to drive away the pain. 

The fairy reached out her hand as far as possible with a lot of effort, and eventually reached close enough to wipe away one of  Dawn’s tears on her face. 

Meanwhile, Dawn stopped crying but instead, look on with awe as the fairy’s pale white wings started flapping under the moonlight. Seeing this, the fairy smiled shyly, which was reflected by Dawn’s new expression.

“You just flew! That’s amazing!” Dawn marveled, “You’re amazing!” The fairy blushed at the compliment, but then felt weak all of the sudden, and tumbled down into the folds of Dawn’s blanket. 

“Still needs more practice, huh?” Dawn said kindly, while unfolding the end of the blanket for the fairy’s head to peak through, and the fairy’s face was flushed with embarrassment. 

The fairy quickly regained her composure and sat down resolutely in front of Dawn with a serious expression on her face, knowing that Dawn was still hiding her emotions. 

Fondly, Dawn shook her head and sighed. “I guess I can’t hide anything from you. Actually, I never revealed this, even to my closest friends as there is never a need to bring it up, not that I don’t trust them of course!” Dawn winced, rubbed the back of her head and smiled, “but I didn’t want to worry them with my matters. Anyway, here goes: 

My father had always been a proud member of the military, and because of that, he didn’t come back home for periods of time sometimes, but when he did, we would hold a surprise celebration and cut a cake, yeah! Just like at a birthday. But one day, my mother and I were preparing the decorations and got an ice cream cake. Both of my favorite food at once! But instead of my dad, two men in uniforms showed up to talk to my mother, while I played dolls. But the next thing I knew, my mother was crying and yelling at the two men, shaking them by the arms. I got worried and asked her, ‘What did they do?’ But she did not answer me, even though I pestered her for the rest of the day, and she kept bursting into tears.

It was only after my father’s friends and mother and me gathered at the church for the funeral, then I realized that my father gone to heaven.

It was a really tough month. For weeks, my mother would not stop crying, and go on several days without leaving my parents’ bedroom, -well her bedroom. And she could come out with her hair messed up with dark eyes. Sometimes at night, she would wail for around a few hours until the neighbors knocked on our door. 

I tried to help my mother. I wanted to cry a lot and almost broke down some times! But I knew Dad would not like that, he’ll be sad too. I helped to do the dishes, clean the house when she couldn’t, and make chocolate filled sandwiches for her, but nothing improved, until one night in the kitchen. 

That night, I saw my mother walk around and I gave her an extra big sandwich with twice as much chocolate with marshmallows and love! As I handed that proudly to my mother, she started crying and I thought I did something wrong as she started scolding herself. 

‘I’m so stupid, how could I have neglected our daughter, Liam? I am such a bad mother,’ she said while she was about to slap herself, when I grabbed her hand. 

I can’t let my mother suffer like this, I thought as I tried to think as many happy thoughts as possible to smile. Smile and she’d smile, and I did, saying ‘It’s alright mom, I’m still happy that you’re my mother.’ And as I hoped, she began to smile and hug me. We stayed like that for a  while. It was so warm in my mother’s arms, I never wanted to let go.

‘Do you know why your father and I named you Dawn?’ She asked in a gentle voice, next to my ear. 

‘Why?’ I asked.

‘Because as Dawn is the first daylight that appears after the night, and you are the most earliest and most beautiful light that entered our lives, especially after we eloped together. Liam’s right, your smile can really chase away all the darkness in my life. Now I know what to do, as a parent  and as a wife,’ my mother stood up, and I could see a bright aura surrounding her figure as she spoke, with renewed energy.  After that, she looked through the newspaper ads and went to multiple interviews and got a couple of part-time jobs. She comes home late many nights, and we don’t get to talk as much as before, but I can tell that she loves me really much. She’s the best mom I could ever ask for! But it’s not the same, especially without Dad. 

Sometimes, I wonder about what my mother had said in the kitchen, and realized that the best thing I could ever do for my mother, and everyone else and my father, is to keep to myself and be as happy and cheerful as possible. I promised myself, never to cry in front of anyone ever again, and always smile my hardest when others are feeling down.” 

Dawn finished tiredly, but let out a genuine smile, “You’re the first one to hear this, so I guess my promise has been broken.” Dawn turned to gaze out of the window into the starry sky, “but I feel light somehow, after talking to you like this, and” Dawn paused before speaking wholeheartedly, 

 “thank you,” she said softly, turning towards the fairy on the blanket, who had been listening intently. Dawn reached out a finger to stroke the fairy’s long, dark hair. 

The fairy felt Dawn’s intense electric blue eyes stare into her own, which darkened its hue now that it’s nighttime, but still full of emotion, and filled with the tears that splashed in her eyes reminiscent of waves in an ocean. 

They stayed staring at each other and the silence spoke all the words they could never express. They were transfixed as if someone had casted a spell as mythical and peaceful as the moonlight streaming through the window that cast soft, faded white light onto the bedsheets, onto the two girls, and blended in with the pale amber glow of the lamp. There, a moment felt like hours, and somehow, their bond was like a warm coat which bound the two together in the time-frozen night.

It was an unshakeable promise between them, one girl would always display eternal joy and happiness, while the other would play the supporting role and guide that happiness.  

Dawn was her world’s sun, epitome of light, and the fairy was Sky, absorbing the light and break into color, blue, white, indigo, red for the world to see. When the sun needs to rest, the sky sends it to sleep, and wakes it up for the following day.

Sleep was what the two girls needed, and as the fairy returned back to her bed, peace was ushered back into the room as they entered their dreams when the lamp was turned off.
~~~
Leaning on the door, slightly hunched over, Mrs Falldew brought a tissue paper to her puffy eyes. Nothing could ever prepare her for the wave of both happiness and guilt at what her daughter just revealed. It was the first time she heard her daughter talk about her father’s passing, and in the end, Mrs Falldew settled with a smile as she walked away, proud of her best decision for letting a special friend to come over and stay. 

The next most selfish thing I could ask from her, of course, Mrs Falldew thought to herself as she went to the bedroom, was for that girl to stay with my daughter forever as best friends.