1 Fairy Queen

I breathe in the fresh air, it's that earthy scent that I have always loved. The trees softly rustle in the slight breeze. This is my favorite spot to be when school is over, I always come here because school is awful. I'm not like any other student that just hates school, to hate it. I don't like it because there is too much concrete, and building stuff. Too artificial, I prefer natural surroundings. Not only is it peaceful, it just makes you feel like you're part of something.

I walk to the small creek and wade into it in my bare feet. I never wear shoes out here, I hate wearing them anyway. The water feels cool against my skin, and the rocks are smooth from eroding. "Shall I go for a swim today?" I ask the trees. "May you lead me to the river?"

They don't say anything back, I don't expect them to, but sometimes I wish they could. It would be nice to have someone to talk to, I have no friends at school. They always pick on me and call me a tree-hugger. I will admit that I love to hug the trees, but I don't see why it's such a bad thing. Everyone should hug trees, they have done so much for us, why can't we do something for them?

I follow the creek and go to the small river. My family is relatively rich, and they have quite a bit of land, so I get to spend most of my time out here. The only condition that my parents gave to me is that I attend every party they throw, and eventually find a suitable husband. I find that to be very stupid, the only thing I will ever love is nature.

I walk along the small pier, the wood is rather old, but it can stand my weight. I've thought about fixing it, but I don't want to hurt the trees. I take a deep breath and dive into the water. It's rather cold, but I find it rather stimulating. I feel like my senses get heightened with the cold. Suddenly I hear a branch break, and I quickly look around. I see deer a few yards away, drinking from the river. I smile, and continue swimming, just as I thought, it was nothing. I continue swimming for a while and then I head to the shore. When I get out I am confronted by a boy. He comes to me and stares.

"Hey, you're that girl from school right?"

I look at him as I squeeze out my hair. "I'm sorry, do I know you?" I ask.

"I have a confession to make to you." He says, ignoring my question.

"Okay."

"I like you and I want you to be my girlfriend." He looks down at his feet and awaits my reply.

"No."

He looks back up at me, with a sad look on his face. "What?"

"I said no, I am not looking for love, besides, I have no feelings for you. So please, get out of my slice of heaven."

He stays silent for a long moment and then I see a smirk on his face. "No one refuses, me."

"I'm sorry?"

"Nobody says no to me."

I look into his eyes, and I see that look. He's insane, he is so used to getting what he desires that no one can say no to him, and he will kill them if they say no.

I slowly back away, as he pulls out a pocket knife, and opens it.

"Please, you don't have to do this." My heart pounds as if it were going to break from my chest.

"You have to pay the price for saying no." He lunges at me.

I started running from him. Trying to find somewhere to hide, I know this place like the back of my hand, but the main question that I have is how he got in here. My family has guards all around this place, how did he get in? Knowing what he wants from me, he probably told my parents that he wanted to ask me to be his girlfriend. I shake my head, there is no time to think about this right now. I find my way up a large tree, and then I sit there and minimize my breath. Hoping to conceal my location, I stand closer to the trunk and crouch down.

After a moment I see him walk below me and slowly look around.

"Come out my sweet! It's your fault that I am here. I just want you to love me as I love you. I don't want to hurt you."

Yeah, like I'll believe that crap. My mother always told me to not believe everything I hear, and I believe her.

My weight on the branch slowly makes it crackle under the pressure. I try to climb onto a different branch, but by the time I reach one, the branch collapses under my weight and I plummet to the ground. When I hit the ground I try to break my fall by putting my hands out, but that was a mistake. A hear a small crack, and I know that my wrists are broken, and the wind is knocked out of me. I lay there gasping for air, and I feel a slight trickle of what may be sweat running down my cheek.

I look in the corner of my eye, and I see him smile. "There you are, you had me worried for a bit." He takes his pocket knife and then stabs me in the chest.

The pain is severe, but I try not to scream, I won't scream, not for him. I cough up blood and struggle to take a single breath.

"Remember, my sweet, no one says no to me." He gets up and starts to walk away, leaving the knife in my chest.

"Spoiled...…..brat..." I manage to say before he leaves.

He looks at me one last time. "At least I'm not the one who is going to die."

Dick, at least I don't kill people to get my way.

He leaves and I am forced to just sit here and wait to die. I can feel my blood start to pool on the earthy floor. By now I don't feel any more pain, but I feel like I can't breathe.

A white light starts showing from the sky, it looks very bright but it doesn't hurt my eyes. A boy shows up and disrupts that light, his long green hair, gently touches my cheek. I feel his presence, slowly getting closer to me. I hear a soft flutter, he must have wings.

"Don't worry," he whispers, "I won't let you leave this world."

I feel his lips against mine, they are warm and soft. I breathe in his scent and it reminds me of the roses that grow in our front yard. I don't know what the fuck he is doing, but it makes me sleepy. After a minute or so I give in to sleep, I just hope that I will be able to wake up again.

I wake up in my bedroom, with the doors to the balcony open. The white curtains gently flowed in the breeze. I look over, and my mom is by my bedside. She is asleep and holding my hand. I feel a little groggy still, I move my hand and gently touch my forehead, which has a damp cloth on it.

My mother wakes up and her face instantly lights up. "You're awake, thank God. I thought we lost for a moment."

"Where am I?" I ask, without realizing that I already know the answer.

"You are in your room at home. There will be a doctor coming to see you soon. He may have to take you to the hospital. You did have quite the fall, and not to mention you have a high fever."

"Where is he?" I ask, still exhausted. My breath is still ragged, but at least I am alive.

"Who?"

"The boy with the green hair, he rescued me."

"Rose, there was no boy with green hair when we found you."

"But he was real, I felt his hair on my cheek, and he kissed me. It was very nice, and warm."

My mother sighs. "You may have a concussion from the fall, I will let the doctor know about this." She leaves the room and has a conversation with dad, who is also worried.

I roll out of my bed and stumble onto the balcony. I look out and it's almost dark out. How long was I out for? I look at the tree line, and for almost a split second, I see him hide behind a tree. I don't know why but I reach my hand out, wanting him to reach out for me.

I close my eyes and sigh, I want to see him up close, to know who he is, and what he looks like. Is he like me?

I open my eyes and he is there fluttering his wings in front of me. I fell backward, surprised to see him. "Jesus Christ, don't scare me like that."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to do that. But I did hear your thoughts about me. I found them very sweet."

"I didn't think about anything," I reply, slightly blushing.

He chuckles. "All right, whatever you say." He hovers and lays himself on the railing of my balcony.

"What exactly are you?" I ask out of curiosity.

"I am what you call a Woodland Fairy. What are you?" I can easily see a smirk coming on in his eyes.

"I am a Human Being. I thought that was obvious."

He smirks. "See, now that is where you are wrong, my dear." He sits up, twists around, and swings his feet on either side of the railing.

"How am I wrong? I know that I am Human."

"You see, when I kissed you out in the forest, I kinda turned you into a Woodland Fairy."

My upper lip starts to twitch and my blood starts to boil. "You did what?"

His eyes slowly widen and he hovers once again. "I'm sorry, just be glad that your family still remembers you. But you only have one more day before you are forced into the forest. I will be back when that time comes." He gives me a pitiful look and then flies off into the trees.

How is it that I only have one more day with my family? What am I supposed to do? I walk back into my room and sit on the edge of my bed. I run my fingers through my hair and try to think. What can I do, to spend the last day with my family?

I shake my head and go downstairs.

"Oh, you're finally awake. You're just in time sweety dinner is done."

I smile and sit at the table, and so does the rest of my family. We started eating for a while and I just sat there and played with my food.

"What's wrong honey? You seem down." My dad asks.

"It's nothing," I reply.

"Are you sure? You can tell us what's wrong."

"You know, I have been thinking. Maybe we can go out and do something as a family."

My parents think for a moment.

"That's not a bad idea. What do you want to do?" My mother asks.

"I'm not sure, got any ideas?"

"How about going to the Festival in town?" My sister chimes in.

"I like that idea." My brother says.

"Do you guys want to go to the fair?" Dad asked everyone at the table.

I nod. "I'm down."

"Same." My brother and sister say at the same time.

"Alright, looks like we are going to the fair tonight."

We finish eating and get ready to go.

I changed into my purple floral dress with ruffles on the skirt and purple high heels. I curl my hair and add a small purple flower to it. I just picked it out of the small garden today. And just for fun, I add a few small purple gems around my right eye. I look myself over and I think I look good. I head down the stairs and wait at the door.

The rest of my family comes down and looks me over.

My mom smiles at me. "You look so beautiful. Are you ready to go?"

I nod. "Yeah."

We head out to the door and get into my mom's minivan. She starts it up and we head over to the fair.

We head up to the ticket booth and head inside. The fair is the only place I can spend a good amount of time with my family. I look at my siblings and ask. "Where do you want to go first?"

"I want to go on the zero gravity ride." My brother says.

"I want to try the one that spins around really fast and then goes backward." My sister chimes in.

I nod. "I like both of those, so you guys will have to play Rock, Paper, Scissors to see which one goes first. Okay?"

They play the game only less than a minute and my sister easily wins.

"Alright, we are going on the Matterhorn. I lead my family there and we get on. Unfortunately, my dad decided not to get on. He is always working and it feels like he is always consumed by it.

I try not to think about it too much and just have fun. We ended up going on just about every ride, and I got to try something new, I had no idea that you could deep fry cookie dough. It was pretty good, surprisingly. After a while, I look at my phone and check the time. It's almost eleven p.m. and the fair will close in a few minutes.

"Hey, it's time to go guys, the fair will be closing in a few minutes."

My siblings whine about having to leave but we leave and head home.

Once we get home we all head to bed, except for me.

When I get to my room I head straight to my balcony. I listen to the trees rustle in the slight breeze.

"So, did you have fun?"

"Yeah."

"At least you have memories to enjoy."

I turn around, tears in my eyes. "Why?"

"Why, what?"

"Why did you turn me into a fairy?"

"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me."

I sigh. "Right." I turn back around and stare at the trees. "You know, it hasn't been a full day."

"I know."

"Then why are you here?"

"Well, I figured that I would take you early. I never thought that you would do something. It's a shame, your family will lose that memory."

"You don't need to remind me about that," I say. After a moment or two, I turn back around and look up at the moon. I don't know why but it seems like it's crying tonight. "Let's get this over with."

"Alright then. The first thing we need to do is release your wings."

"I don't have them."

"Of course you do, you just don't feel them."

I can feel him hover close to me and then he unzips my dress a little. I turn around quickly and smack him across the face.

"What the hell was that for?" He asks.

"You don't just go up to a girl and start taking her clothes off."

He holds his cheek for a minute or so. "Sorry, I was just trying to help."

My face flushes red and I unzip my dress a little more. "What now?"

He heals his cheek and then stands in front of me. "The first thing you need to do is relax."

I take a few deep breaths and he continues.

"Alright, that's good." He turns me around and puts his finger in the center of my back. "Focus your energy at this point in your body, and then slightly move the muscles."

I try to focus, and then I can hear him slightly cheer.

"Good job, not bad for a first-timer."

"Have you had worse?"

"Yeah, but they were children trying to learn how to fly. Now I want you to try and flutter your wings."

I end up doing that and then he has me step onto the railing with him.

"Are you ready?"

"I have no idea, I am really scared at this point."

"Well if you want, you can hold on to me." He smirks just a little bit.

"No."

"Alright then, suit yourself, I will count to three, and then we'll jump together okay?"

"NO."

He sighs. "Now you're just being stubborn."

I frown. "Well forgive me for being afraid of heights."

He puts his hand over my eyes and pulls me closer to him.

Surprisingly, I hold onto him as tight as I can without hurting him too much. "So, what now?" I ask, nervously.

"Now, we fly." He pulls me with him as we drop off the railing.

I bury my face in his chest, scared that we will end up dying.

"Open your eyes." He says.

I don't feel like we are falling anymore, so I lift my head slightly. I am truly amazed at what the woods are like during the night. There are fireflies everywhere, and since we are flying fast, they look like comets going by. I look up and see his eyes lock with mine. For a split second, I felt like kissing him. I push those thoughts away and look around the woods some more, it's so pretty. .fdrgtedct

I can tell that I am starting to get tired but I don't want to close my eyes just yet. And when I look up at the sky, everything goes dark.

When I wake up, it takes me a minute to realize that I am not at home. I jolt awake and sit up. From the looks of things, I believe that I am inside a rose or some other flower. I look down at the bed and it's soft as if it were made of moss. When I look down I notice that all of my clothing is gone. I quickly ball up and cover my chest, where in the world did my clothes go? I don't have any more so this is a REALLY big problem for me.

The covers slightly move next to me, and when I look over, he is staring up at me. "Good morning." He smiles.

I hold myself even tighter, and I feel my face go red.

The petals above us rustle a little bit and then a female fairy lands on the yellow floor, which I assume is made of pollen. She bows, "Good morning your majesties, I assume you are ready to get dressed?"

"Of course, Alma, I always am."

"Would you like to go first, my lady?" She asks, ignoring him.

I shake my head. "No thanks. I am not comfortable going first."

"As you wish, my lady." She lifts her hands, and some sort of sparkly stuff comes from the tip of her fingers.

Suddenly the blanket is taken away and made into a wall of some sort. Blocking anything from seeing in.

"Are you comfortable now? He won't be able to see you in this state."

I nod. I get up slowly and walk over to her. "So, are there any normal clothing options here?"

She shakes her head. "We have always used the things available to us. But don't worry, we do have some stylish options."

"Okay, pick whatever you think will suit me the best."

She nods and bows. After she looks me over a bit, she leaves.

I awkwardly stand there and wait for her return.

"So, how did you sleep last night?" I hear him ask behind me.

I turn around and he is standing right there at the edge of the bed.

I quickly look around to find something to cover myself with, and the plan fails.

He wraps me in his arms. "Don't be shy, we will be like this every day, for as long as we live."

What? That is insanity! I can feel the tears poking at the edge of my eyes. I hold them back pretty well.

Alma comes back with some clothes for the both of us. She deals with me first, she puts me in what seems like a crop top, but it is made out of a leaf I think. She laces it up in the back and I notice that there is a small lotus flower on my left side. The skirt is a little different, it has several of the same sizes of leaves on it, but it looks like they have been sewn together.

I look at my entire outfit, and suddenly Alma uses her magic and instantly french braids my hair.

"What do you think?" She asks.

"Do you have any small pink flowers to put into my hair? I think that they would look great with the rest of the outfit."

She uses her magic and a lotus flower seems to grow in my hair.

"Do you like this?" She asks.

I nod. "Thank you."

"It is no problem at all."

I turn to him and ask. "What is your name? I never got the chance to introduce myself."

"I am Zeer, it's a pleasure to meet you." His clothes magically appear on him. All he has is a green shirt and shorts.

"Oh, I am Rose."

"Not anymore."

"What do you mean?" I raise an eyebrow.

"I have decided to give you a new name. I hope you like the name, Melva. It suits you very nicely."

I sigh. "Am I able to do anything of my own free will?"

"Of course, you can do anything you wish to do. As long as you stay by me."

"Why?"

"I want you to stay safe here. There are some fairies out here that will try to whisk you away from me." He pulls me close as if in dance and we twirl around for a few minutes.

I don't realize that my cheeks turn slightly red.

Zeer leans in close, wanting to kiss me. I lean in a bit as if in reflex, and then I snap out of my trance.

I pull away quickly and fly out the door, I don't know how far I fly, but I fly far. The next thing that I know, I am in a field of flowers. I looked around in surprise, who knew that there was a place like this? This place is so pretty, with all kinds of flowers from different places.

I hear a slight buzzing noise and I hide in a tree. I didn't realize that I was back to my normal size again, luckily the leaves keep me hidden from whoever is coming.

"Melva!" I hear him calling me, I hate that name, my name is Rose. "Where are you?"

I look around once again and find a small patch of golden roses. I fly into it and hide inside the petals as my size changes once again. I am not sure how I am doing it, but for some reason I am.

I watch him as he looks around.

"I saw her fly this way, she couldn't have gone very far." He looks towards the roses and I swear I see him slightly shiver.

Once he is out of earshot I leave the rose bush. One of the thorns catches my arm and cuts me. "Ouch!" I hold my arm and take a look at it. I'm not bleeding much, that's good.

"Are you hurt?"

I quickly turn around and see Zeer standing there.

"What's wrong? Why did you fly away?"

"I had my reasons. I don't want to be a fairy. I want to go home."

"I know that you want to, it's going to be difficult to adjust-" He looks at my arm, and then back at me.

"I just got nicked by one of the thorns, no big deal."

The blood drains from his face. He quickly grabs me and drags me back as fast as he can.

"What's wrong?" I shout over the raging wind. I've never seen him fly this fast, or look this serious before.

"Those roses are deadly to us, I need to get you back now."

My heart drops.

We flew as fast as we could to the village. He takes me to a tall lilac bush, each flower is its room.

Zeer kinda throws me into a room.

I look him up and down, he's flushed and out of breath. "Are you okay?" He asks between breaths.

I nod. "Are you?"

He nods back. "Just a little tired." His wings stop fluttering and he falls.

I quickly fly to him and catch him in mid-air.

A fairy flies to us. "Is something the matter, your majesties?" She attempts to come closer, but I fly back.

"Yellow roses."

"Follow me, quickly."

I follow her closely, but not too close to get her sick.

We end up at a bleeding heart flower a ways away from the hospital.

She opens the bud with her magic. "Stay in here until he's better."

I nod and enter the flower bud. It reminds me a lot of a hospital room, just made out of natural materials. I lay him down on a mossy bed, and cover him with a woven blanket made out of tree tinder. I wonder if they know that's flammable. After I practice hovering for a while, I lay next to Zeer.

"Why am I not the one to get sick? All I'm doing is causing more trouble than what it's worth. You should have just let me die amongst the trees." Tears well in my eyes, and all of my emotions seem to hit me at once.

"Don't cry." Zeer opens his eyes. "You were worth saving. I don't regret a thing." He places his hand on my cheek. "Everyone is worth saving."

I wipe the tears away and take a deep breath. "I'm surprised you're awake, it's only been a few hours."

"I'm a lot stronger than you think." He smirks. "Besides, my exposure was limited, I should be fine tomorrow morning."

"What do we do until then?"

He chuckles. "Well, there are a few things we can do." He winks at me.

I scoot away from him a little. "No way in hell am I ever doing that with you."

"You're no fun. Do you have any questions?"

I hesitated for a minute, I didn't think he was willing to tell me anything. Where do I even begin? "Why are the golden roses poisonous?"

He takes a deep breath. "It's been that way as far as I can remember. My parents told me that a fairy cursed those flowers."

"Why?"

"Mostly to get humans away from our homeland, but the curse backfired and it's harmful to us instead."

"That's why I'm not sick."

He nods. "You were once human, and will always stay with you. You're immune to just about everything." He looks at me with a smile on his face.

I sit up and lean against the wall. "Looks like the color is coming back to your face." I slightly smile.

"Why do you look so sad?" He asks.

"Well, everything in my life has changed so fast. I go from dying, to a fairy princess in less than a day. My family is gone, and I have no friends. I'm starting over with all the memories I've had. I feel so alone right now."

"Well, you're not alone. I can at least tell you that much. I know it's rough at first, but you can make new memories with your new friends." He gently takes my hand. "I know we met yesterday, but just know that if you have any problems I am here to help. All I ask is that you give me a chance, let me show you your new world."

I raise an eyebrow. "Well, you better get some rest first. I'm sure you have a lot to show me."

"It's that not anymore, with the human world developing more and taking more of our land. Eventually, we will have no place to live, and we'll die out. That's why we are grateful to have this place, even if there is a human home nearby."

I guess I saved them without knowing it. Luckily there are so many acres of land here, they can live peacefully. "Here's another question. Why a bleeding heart?"

"It has the most effective healing properties. But after we leave, the bud will die. This flower is the only one in the forest. So we have to use it very sparingly."

We talk for a while longer and I notice the walls turning brown. "Looks like it's already starting to wilt."

He sits up. "I guess we better take our leave then."

I stand up with him. "Okay."

With his strength back and fever gone, we flew around his kingdom. Looking at all the flowers that are homes, the tall bushes where they collect food. I even flew through the field of flowers, I wonder if one day we can spend the day here.

We finally get back to our home, which turns out to be a red tulip. After exploring the fairy world and seeing everything, I plop onto the mossy bed. "That was amazing," I say, slightly out of breath.

"Glad you had fun. I have some important business to attend to, I'll be back later."

"Okay, I am gonna get some sleep. I feel exhausted."

"You used a lot of energy to fly today, the longer you train your wings, the longer you can fly. I'll see you in the morning."

He leaves the flower, and I am alone. I climb into bed and wrap the blanket around me, it's not long before I fall asleep.

I wake up to the sound of petals rustling, Zeer must be back. I roll over so he has room to sleep. After what feels like a minute or two, I sit up wondering if he is even going to sleep at all. "Are you coming to bed?"

There's no response.

"Zeer?"

Suddenly, there's a hand over my face. I think I fought back, but all I saw was black.