The Fairy Discovery

"You discover faries when hiking in the mountains."

Elayna fell to her knees in the damp soil as another mountain loomed up before her. She had been lost in this god forsaken forest for three days and she was quickly running out of food. Tears began to fall down her cheeks and she brushed at them in frustration. She was never going to find a way out of the forest. She was going to die here. The thought caused a wave of hopelessness wash over her and she put her face in her hands as she knelt on the ground. Taking a deep breath in an attempt to regain control of her emotions she leaned back against a tree trunk.

‘Elayna’ a familiar voice called to her. She sat up straight and looked around her in shock, trying to find the person talking to her. There was no one else in the forest with her, she was alone and she was going crazy. She closed he eyes and leaned back against the tree trunk, deciding she must need to rest.

‘Elayna!’ The same voice called again with more urgency and a tone of concern. Elayna stayed still with her eyes closed. She must be going mad; there was no way her mother could possibly be there. Her mother had been a victim of a failed experiment at one of the chemical plants years ago. No, this was just her mind playing tricks on her. She sighed and wriggled around trying to get more comfortable amongst the roots of the giant tree.

‘Elayna, wake up!’ The voice was more insistent this time and Elayna opened her eyes, if only to prove to herself she was hallucinating. She leapt to her feet in shock when she opened her eyes and hovering right in front of her face was a fairy. Not just any fairy, it was her mother. Her mother was a fairy. Her brain struggled to understand what was happening, but could come up with no explanation.

‘Elayna,’ her mother’s voice was gentler and more soothing this time and the little fairy reached out her hand to touch Elayna’s face. She tried her best not to pull away, hoping desperately that this wasn’t just exhaustion.

‘You need to go home, Elayna.’ Her mother’s voice was soft but still carried the same authoritative tone she remembered.

‘I don’t know where I am. I don’t know how to get out. I’m going to die here, mum. Please don’t leave me here alone.’

‘No, you’re not going to die here. I will take you home. It’s going to be okay.’ Elayna could only nod as tears fell down her cheeks. She couldn’t believe her mother was here, a fairy.

‘What-’ She tried to form the question but couldn’t find the words to ask. Her mother smiled warmly at her before replying.

‘It was the chemical spill at the plant. They wanted to create an immortality serum. Those that have the serum in their blood can’t die like normal people. They die, and it hurts, believe me it hurts but they live on, like this, in the forest. The body still decomposes and is buried but the spirit is removed and born into a fairy. You remember all those stories I told you about fairies?’ Her mother stopped and smiled at Elayna fondly before sighing.

‘We need to go, love. You need to get home.’ Elayna looked up at her mother sadly. How could she possibly go back to her old life knowing that her mother was still alive here. She knew from the stories her mother had told her when she was a child that fairies couldn’t survive in human cities and humans couldn’t survive in the fairies groves either. She leaned her head back against the tree and sank back to the ground as hopelessness swept through her again.

‘Elayna!’ Her mother’s voice pierced through her foggy mind. She just wanted to sleep, that’s all that was important now. She opened her eyes slightly to see her mother still hovering in front of her with a concerned look on her face. She closed her eyes again.