Where Fairies Sleep

Wil trembled. It was the invisible feet pacing his bedroom again. Except this time they were louder. Much louder. “Maybe they’ve come to get me this time,” he whimpered. He didn’t know who the feet were or where they came from. He only knew they’d started up months ago when his mother became pregnant. A clatter of feet clambered across the hall. Then a shock of his Dad’s hair curled around the door.

‘‘Wil! The baby is coming! We’re getting in the car. Granny is on her way. Don’t move!”

Typical!  – on the night before his eleventh birthday. The baby couldn’t even let him have that.

“Okay Dad.”

“Good boy.”

Always being ‘good’. But always being shouted at: “This Wil! That Wil!” No one cared about him anymore. It was all about the baby. The baby they’d been told they’d never have. Then – a miracle. His mother  – pregnant!                                                         The past seven years had been sweet.  

“They try harder,” Eric had teased, “when you’re adopted.”

“Go to hell Eric. What do you know? Just because you have REAL parents.”

Eric and Wil had always been ‘besties’. Their birthdays were only two weeks apart but Wil always got bigger, better presents than Eric.

At least Eric had been there for him during these past few months. They were comrades in arms. Wil was going to run away to find his real mother and Eric was going to come with him. That’s what he’d promised, but knowing Eric, he’d chicken out anyway. Then again, Wil might chicken out too. After all, she had abandoned him. Wil – the rejected and it hurt like a great big, monster munching deep inside his tummy. As the days drew closer to the baby’s arrival, the feet had grown louder too. “Must be the goblins,” he whimpered, “silly, stupid goblins.”

Goblins were the bad fairies. That’s what his Dad once told him. They used to be real fairies but then they became wicked. Wil’s village was full of Irish fairy stories. In fact there was a real fairy ring in Farmer Ryan’s garden right next door. No one dared to chop down the fairy tree but that didn’t stop Wil and Eric from testing its branches. “We’ll sort out the goblins,” they braved. They never did.

Wil waited for his parents’ tired Ford Fiesta to grumble down the drive. “Trust the stupid baby to ruin my party,” he growled.

He’d been looking forward to his party for weeks. Anger pulsed through him like hot water squelching in his tummy as he crept into the kitchen and kicked a pile of wrapped gifts by the kitchen door. “Don’t knock the baby ones,” he mimicked but as he surveyed the pile upon the floor, one of them began to glow.

He knelt down and picked it up with a pang of guilt. If they hadn’t bothered to wrap it properly, they couldn’t blame him for opening it. He turned it over in his hand, poking and prodding it until the whole package came away in his hand. A note and key fell out:

“Write your wish to the fairies and use the key to unlock the door. If the fairies take the key – you’ve let them in.”

He hadn’t asked for a fairy door but he’d always secretly wanted one. Not a sissy pink one like you the ones you get in shops but a proper one, a real one. He examined it closely. It looked old and hand made. Now…what could he wish for? “Maybe if I ask the fairies to take the baby just for a little while,” he whispered.

Grabbing the pencil on the mantelpiece, he replied in his best writing:

Dear Fairies,

Please can you take my new baby sister away for a little while. I don’t want anything bad to happen to her so please don’t let the goblins get her.

P.S. You’re welcome in my house anytime. 

Wil.

He tiptoed back to the baby’s bedroom, unlocked the fairy door then carefully placed it on the windowsill. Maybe it would be a good birthday after all. (As Wil fell asleep, something outside the window stirred).

*

“Wake up Wil!” bellowed Granny. “You have a beautiful new baby sister.”

Wil yawned and stretched. Then he remembered the fairy door. He crept into the baby’s bedroom. There it was – just as he’d left it but the key and note were gone.

“Gran – did you see the key to my fairy door?”                                           

“Goodness – No! You shouldn’t meddle with the little people, you know!”

He continued to search high and low but the note and key were nowhere to be found. Oh well. It was done now. All he could do was wait. Minutes yawned into hours. Then Wil heard the familiar crunch of the garden gravel. He raced to the front door, throwing it open.

“Look at your baby sister Wil. Isn’t she gorgeous!” beamed Mum.

She wasn’t gorgeous. There was a huge bandage over her eyes and her body looked thin and sickly.

“Just need to watch her around the clock, Wil. T’will all be fine.”

It wasn’t fine. The monsters were munching in Wil’s tummy again. Perhaps the fairies had started their work already. He peeped into the crib. She was so tiny. No bigger than the size of his two hands. Maybe his note to the fairies hadn’t been a good idea after all.

*

That night the invisible feet grew even louder. “Why can’t you leave me alone!” Wil cried. “Go and torment her for a change”

Pit pat. Pit…  pat, pit pat.  

Wil stared. The feet had turned around and were pacing right out of the bedroom. Grabbing his nightlight, he slipped out of bed. That’s when he saw it – a pale blue light coming from the baby’s bedroom. Crawling on his hands and knees, he peeped around the door. It was shining from the fairy door on the baby’s windowsill. He crept closer and closer until he was up right against it, then raised his trembling hand to touch it.

“Not yet” came a voice. Wil froze. There was a strange lady sat outside the window. A grey hooded cape hid her eyes but her face looked young, like his Mum.

“Who are you?” he croaked

         “They’re coming to take the baby, Wil.”

“Who?”

“The fairies.”

“Can’t we stop them?”

“Only the one who has summoned them can stop them. That’s you Wil. Isn’t it?”

“How do you… know my name?”

“Do you want the fairies to take her Wil?”

“No. I don’t think so.”

“Well you better be sure about it. It’s a dangerous cross over.”

“If I go, will I…come back?”

“That’s up to you. Meet me here the night after tomorrow when the full Moon

is at its highest and give me your answer.”

And with that, she was gone. He checked the baby was still breathing then crept back into bed. The feet didn’t come back that night but Wil couldn’t sleep. Soon, he heard his Mum’s slippers shuffle into the baby’s bedroom.

“Mum?”

“Wil! What are you doing up?” 

“Can’t sleep”

“Do you want to help me feed her?”

Before he could answer, his Mum was lifting the baby into his arms. She looked happy. She’d always wanted a baby of her own. He knew that.

“Look! She likes you,” she cooed

“How can you tell?”

But Wil was feeling a strange, warm tingling in his heart as the baby’s little finger clutched his. For the first time in a long time, he felt whole, complete – the baby and his Mum all wrapped up together.

“We love you so much Wil. Anna needs you to protect her. My big strong

boy.”

Wil’s tummy grew heavier. How could he have wished his baby sister away? He was lost, fixated on the scary bandage over the baby’s eyes when his mother reappeared in the doorway.

“Here’s your birthday gift, Wil. It’s the bow and arrow you asked for. Now

you can really protect her from those goblins of yours.”

“Thanks Mum – it’s beautiful.” He hung his head. Little did she know what he’d done.

*

The next day, all Wil could think about was the fairy door and the muffled drum of nurses’ voices when they thought he wasn’t listening. He knew he had to tell them. Then they would know what was really wrong. “Mum, did you or Dad leave me a fairy door for my birthday?”

“Heavens, no! We didn’t know you still believed in such things. Look! Eric’s here. We thought you could have your birthday sleepover.”

That was it. He could tell Eric. He’d know what to do. “Hey Eric. Want to play?”

Wil could hardly wait until they were both safely hidden in his bedroom. “Eric, there was a glowing fairy door and a key and I wrote a note to the fairies to take the baby away and now the key is gone and there was this lady.”

“Slow down, Wil. It’s probably caught behind the radiator.”

“It’s not there and the lady outside the window said I had to come.”

“Wil – are you sure this isn’t one of your nightmares?”

Wil’s head hurt. He hadn’t slept. “Maybe. Don’t know.”

That night, Wil and Eric stayed up well past bedtime as they both watched the Moon rise outside the baby’s window.

         “Look Wil – the fairy door. It’s glowing,” exclaimed Eric

 “I told you I wasn’t making it up,” whispered Wil excitedly.

The blue light flickered and danced about the fairy door, growing brighter and brighter until it lit up the whole room.

“Real magic!” exclaimed Eric. “It’s so… beautiful.”

         “Sshhh, ” urged Wil. “The lady said she’d come tomorrow night when the Moon is full.”

“Maybe if you put the fairy door in your bedroom – the baby will be safe.”

“Then they can take me,” added Wil brightly.

“Eric – will you keep your walkie-talkie on and tell them if I don’t come back?”

“Don’t you want me to come with you?”

“Only I can go.”

“Oh yes, I forgot- special Wil!”

“Don’t be like that Eric,” but Eric had already disappeared back to Wil’s bedroom so he curled up by the baby’s cot and fell fast asleep.

*

“Wil, wake up. Eric has gone home. Did you two have another fight?”

He knew by his Mum’s blotchy face she’d been crying again. “They’re going to take Anna back to the hospital, Wil. Just to make sure everything’s okay.”

He wanted to hold her, to tell her it was OK. Then a giant lump swelled up in his throat. “It’s my fault, I’ve made her sick.”

“Don’t be silly Wil.”

He couldn’t blame her for not believing him. All the times, he’d made up stories about goblins.  So he watched over Anna and held her. “I’m sorry Anna. I’ll protect you. I didn’t mean for them to take you, not really.”

That night the fairy door shone brighter than ever and Wil knew time was drawing close, but this time he had his bow and arrow. He was ready. He tested the walkie-talkie. “Eric are you there?”

Crackle.

Nothing. He must have really upset him. As he stuffed the walkie-talkie into his pocket, something outside the window stirred. It was the strange lady.

“Wil. It’s time.”

“I’ve changed my mind. I want the fairies to take me instead.”

“It’s a little late for that now, Wil. You’re the only one who can bring her back.”

“But how?”

She signalled to the baby,  “put your hand on her heart.”

Wil placed his hand on the baby’s warm beating heart and the walls of the bedroom dissolved. It was cold – very cold. An army of trees surrounded him, their angry limbs lurching towards him. He sprang to his feet then froze. A giant white creature with the face of a human but the form of a lion confronted him:

“All the fairies have fallen asleep,” the creature mewed.

“Maybe people don’t believe anymore,” stammered Wil. He’d never met a talking lion and he’d never seen a fairy but here their poor limp, bodies were scattered everywhere. Who could have done such a terrible thing?

“This is what fear does,” mewed the creature. “It destroys everything. Now it’s up to you Wil to save them.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I think you do and you need to be quick about it. Time is running out. Come Wil! Run!”

So Wil ran faster than he’d ever run before, racing through shadows and half-light as the trees clipped his arms and scratched his face.

“I can’t take you any further,” panted the creature. “You’ll have to face them alone.”

“Who alone?”

But the lion was gone. From the dregs of the steaming cesspools rose green-eyed monsters. It was the goblins  – the goblin feet.

“Please! Please let me go home.”

But the green goblin shadows grew larger circling around him. In the reflection of the pools, Wil could see his parents crying and the baby in the hospital. Then he saw Eric crying and felt his loneliness. He’d just been afraid all along they wouldn’t be besties, now Wil had a sister. “I’m sorry Eric. I’m sorry Mum and Dad. I’m sorry Anna.”

As the goblins enveloped him, he glimpsed a reflection of his own shaking body. Is this what he had become – a selfish coward? It was no use. He couldn’t face the goblins alone.

In the distance, a blue light broke through the menacing sky. “Anna! It’s Anna,” he choked. Then he was rising up with his bow and arrow, towering like a giant as the goblins cowered beneath him.  He was ‘Wil the brave – conqueror of the goblins!’ The goblins screamed, ducking and diving, before  dissolving into a hissing slop on the forest floor.

“I’m coming Anna!”

As Wil rose to meet the blue light, he felt the heart of his baby sister beat in time with his and he felt love. Only love. He knelt down by the murky pool and touched his parents’ reflection:  “Mum, Dad. I love you. I’m going to save Anna.” Then he touched Eric’s face. “You’ll always be my ‘bestie’.”

All around him, sleeping fairies began to stir, stretching and fluttering their magnificent wings. Wil stared, transfixed. They looked paler than the ones in fairy tales with eyes like lakes that silently spoke to him:

“Thank you brave Wil. You’ve saved us. The goblins had almost destroyed everything.”

“Can you take me to Anna?” Wil whispered, shyly. 

Then he was flying until the sky’s blue light became so bright that Wil had to shield his face. In front of him, the fairies hovered over a sea of shimmering daisies. There in the middle lay Anna, with eyes so blue, they shone like the sky Wil knew from holidays. He swooped down, sweeping her up in his arms.

“Thank you fairies.”

“Thank you Wil,” they called but their forms were already dissolving as Wil fell through the fairy door, back into the baby’s bedroom.

He ‘came to’ with a thump, banging his head against the cot bars. He peered in. It was empty. He was too late! Gabbing the fairy door, he hurled himself down the stairs. There was a note on the hall table in hurried handwriting:

‘Gone to hospital. Granny on way. ‘

He had to go back but without Anna, he couldn’t connect with the fairy door. “Quick, before Granny gets here,” he thought. Then he was running, grabbing his bike, pedaling furiously. He felt the fairy door jangle in his pocket as he sped. An army of cars hurtled towards him, their glaring eyes, beeping furiously. A jolt of pain shot through him as the bicycle chain tore through his leg and he crashed to the ground. “No!” he screamed. From behind, he could hear the goblins’ roar pierce through the growling wind but he couldn’t go on. As the moon’s light broke through the swarming clouds, he felt Anna’s heart beat in time with his and a torrent of love pulsed through him. He grabbed his bike and charged onwards. “Be gone, goblins fears,” he boomed. “For I am Wil the brave and I AM LOVED”. Meanwhile someone was secretly following him.

Five miles became four, then three and although his leg tore, his heart was full. Through the hospital gates he charged. Battling the white army of nurses’ uniform – up the stairs. Third floor. Room 402: “Mum! Dad! Where’s Anna?”

“Wil! How did you get… she’s fine dear.”

The bandage was gone and in its place the same beautiful blue eyes Wil had seen through the fairy door. He searched in his pocket. The fairy door was gone! As his eyes darted about the room, he spotted the strange lady outside the window. She nodded and smiled and Wil knew it would all be okay. He turned to Anna and put his hand on her heart and just for a moment, they were one.  

*

Next morning, Eric appeared. “Hi Wil! I’m sorry. The walkie-talkie batteries gave out.”

         “Sorry Eric. I’ve been a lousy friend.”

         “It’s okay Wil. Look! This came for you. It was outside. Some lady just left it.”

It was the fairy door with a note and key:

To William,

The fairies thought you might like a spare key.

Love, M.

From that day on, Wil never heard the feet again. They’d been banished to another world – a world of fear. And on Anna’s sixth birthday and for many birthdays to come – they would both write a note to the fairies. And when Anna asked Wil who the second note was for  – Wil would smile and explain it was to a very special fairy lady.