Fiona and Sarah were best friends for their whole lives. They were only born a few months apart and grew up together. Both of them loved to explore, especially new places. Fiona and Sarah had been apart for a week while Sarah was on vacation. To make up for lost time Sarah planned on staying the weekend over at Fiona's house. They looked at pictures of Sarah's trip and talked about how nice it would be if they could do a vacation together. Fiona was a little jealous that Sarah got to swim with dolphins, but one day she would get to do the same.
Sarah looked out the window at the bright sunny day and had an idea to brighten up Fiona's mood. Sarah crawled over to the closet and pulled out a big purple plastic bin.
Sarah popped off the lid as she gave a crooked grin. "Let's get dressed for an adventure!" The girls started to pull out a variety of costumes and scatter them across the floor.
"What will our adventure be?" Fiona was wearing a safari hat and holding a fairy wand. Sarah thought about it for a moment before feeling inspired by what Fiona was wearing.
"We will be fairy scouts exploring the jungle! Your Dad will let us go in the woods right?" Fiona was struggling into a pair of wings. "Y-yes he likes it when I want to play outside." Both of them now dressed in fairy wings, safari hats, and armed with wooden swords rushed down the stairs.
Fiona's Dad was in the garage half under a propped up car. "Dad, we are going to play in the woods!" Fiona called out excitedly as her Dad scooted out from under the car.
"Oh ok. Don't wander off too fair." Seeing the girls dressed for their adventure he just smiled. The girls turned on their heels and dashed through the house and out the back door. The forest was mostly filled with pine trees that gave off a pleasant scent.
"The Fairy queen told us to scout this way." Sarah said as she posed holding an invisible map.
"Let's hurry before the dreaded Shadow king discovers we are out of the safe zone." Fiona gripped her sword and followed Sarah's lead.
"He he he." up ahead of them came the sounds of kids playing and laughing.
"It is my turn!" called out a boy's voice.
"It sounds like a party!" Sarah said, picking up the pace towards the sounds.
"Are you sure it's ok Sarah?" The trees started to thin out and suddenly there was an opening. Standing in the clearing was an old playground. It had a jungle gym, slides, swings, a seesaw, teacup spinner, and a fort connected to a tower by a rope bridge. What made them both stop dead in their tracks was the playground was empty. There was not a single person in sight. "Sarah ?" Fiona said with worry. Sarah held her sword in front of her with both hands as she looked around.
"Sarah, we should go." Fiona whispered, turning her back to Sarah she checked behind them. The area was so quiet and still, and the feeling like someone was watching them was intense.
"Fiona, what if it's them?" Sarah whispered.
"What if it's who?" Fiona's little heart was racing as she got chills.
"The Fairies."
"No, that is pretend." Fiona thought back to the stories her Dad would tell her about fairies and how they would live in flowers and trees. The fairy kingdom was invisible to humans until the fairies decided to show themselves. Leaving a bit of wonder in her mind as she looked at the trees.
"I don't think so. They are hiding now. That is why we could hear kids before and now everything looks abandoned." Sarah let her sword hang down at her side. Fiona followed Sarah to the middle of the playground.
"If this is the fairy kingdom how do we get them to trust us?" Fiona asked while sitting down on the seesaw. Sarah sat on the other end looking like she had an idea.
"It is said fairies like to play and they like kids, so let's have fun and invite them to join us." Sarah pushed off the ground, sending herself up.
"Ok." Fiona said as she kicked off of the ground. Taking turns raising each other up they would call out when they were up in the air.
"Join us!" said Sarah.
"It is so much fun." added Fiona.
"We just want to play."
"Don't be afraid."
"We can be friends," said Sarah.
Then the girls felt a chill and heard a little boy's voice. "Can you hear me?" he said hesitantly. In shock the girls stopped pushing the seesaw.
"Yes! Yes I can hear you." called out Sarah. They sat there in silence, but heard no reply. "I think fairy magic is fun, Fiona. Let's keep going."
"I think you're right! It is probably why only kids see fairies." Fiona kicked off of the ground again. After they both went up and down a few more times they could hear the boy again.
"Hello.. Hellooo… Are you there."
"Yes we are here, " Said Fiona.
"Can you see us?" asked the boy, sounding a little excited.
"No we can't." replied Sarah.
"She needs to say the words." A little girl's voice whispered. Causing many voices to murmur in the background. The boy's voice raised above the others in a panic.
"NO! No they don't." he was obviously not happy.
"What? They don't know the words. That is why they can't see us." The young girl sounded frustrated after upsetting the boy.
"We want to see you," said Fiona.
"Please tell us the words." After pleading this time they could hear all the voices start arguing. The wind blew through the sun ray speckled forest carrying a new voice. It sounded like a woman when it spoke it echoed all around softly.
"I want to stay. I want to stay. I want to stay." It faded into a whisper. Leaving Fiona and Sarah stunned.
"Should we say it?" They seem to not want us to see them. Fiona was sad as she kicked off of the ground looking to Sarah for her thoughts.
"I think we should say the words and they will like us when they get to meet us." Sarah was confident in this as she thought about how fun hide and seek would be with fairies. Fairies loved to play and so did they, there was no reason they wouldn't get along. "We can do it together."
"Ok, on 3." Fiona looked confident with a little smile.
"One." Said Sarah.
"Two." Said Fiona. Then lastly they said together.
"Three. I don't want to leave." As Sarah started to go down and Fiona was going up Fiona let out a cry of alarm. Behind Sarah was a shadow of something. It was tall, thin and fast. It looked to be bending over Sarah. In a flash the shadow and Sarah were gone. Leaving Fiona falling fast with no one on the other side of the seesaw. Closing her eyes as she felt the sharp pain of hitting the ground she gritted her teeth and opened her eyes. She was surrounded by kids all staring at her in shock.
"Fiona! Called out Sarah. Sarah pushed her way through the crowd and over to Fiona and helped her up. Fiona hugged Sarah while looking at all of the strange kids.
"Give them some room!" called out a boy's voice.
A boy with messy brown hair came up to them as the crowd of kids backed up a little. "Hi I'm Rohn." He gave a bright smile and a shy little wave.
"Is this the Fairy Kingdom?" Sarah blurted out. Rohn looked surprised by this question. He looked to be pondering something for a moment before he replied.
"I honestly have never thought of that but if this is the Fairy kingdom the fairies here are not nice or pretty." His little round face looked serious and the other kids looked sad.
"Oh no Sarah, I knew what I saw was bad." Fiona was crying as she held on to Sarah's arm.
"What did you see?" asked Sarah. Fiona did her best to describe what she got a glimpse of. The little boy Rohn shook his head and then explained.
"That is what we call momma shadow. If we ever need anything it just randomly shows up. Sometimes we see momma shadow leaving the things we need." A little girl piped up from behind Rohn. She was clinging to an old teddy bear tightly as she spoke up a little excitedly.
" She brings up food every day! Like breakfast. We get cinnamon rolls, pancakes, all kinds of syrup, and … blueberry muffins." Rohn plopped his hand on top of her head and shook her hair. The little girl smiled and calmed down.
"It is not all bad here, but we are stuck for now." Rohn said this while looking a bit irritated. Fiona was still sobbing as Sarah tried to understand the situation.
"Are you saying we can't run home?" Sarah looked like she was about to cry as she asked this, holding on to the hope that a proper plan would allow some of them to escape.
"We tried but it is just woods no matter what way you go. There's a pond and meadow not far from here but no houses. We tried to walk as far as we could and camp but we woke up back here every morning." Rohn realized how panicked the girls now looked. "Don't worry though. My brother knows we are here and he will find a way to get us out." Rohn seemed confident. Sarah and Fiona looked up to see multiple tree houses perched around the playground and gasped.
"Th-That wasn't there before!" Fiona stammered. Rohn smiled a little.
"We sleep in the tree houses and go looking for hidden doors during the day. Come on, I will show you where you can stay tonight."
-THE END-