1
Annelies Lippert
“Have you heard back from them yet?” Silence. “They would have HAD to accept you. There’s no way you didn’t get in” he said. Sigh. I glanced up from the calculus problem I’d been working on and met those familiar green eyes.
“Look Emmett, I appreciate you trying to cheer me up but seriously you need to stop! I don’t want to hear another word about whether or not they HAD to accept me. I’m sick of talking about college and work and growing up! I hear about it all the time! It’s getting old and it hasn’t even officially started yet.” I shot him the look and he immediately grew quiet. I heard him mumble “sorry” under his breath and immediately felt regret. We’d been best friends since freshman year. If anyone understood how I felt at this exact moment in time it was Emmett. I blew out my breath and raked my fingers through my hair. “I just want to be back in our Neverland.” I whispered. When I looked at him I saw that look. The one that only people who have lived through moments with you can share. The look of longing for something that you cannot have. That is what our Neverland was to us. It was the dream and the breath-taking adventure that our entire beings waited for. But it was also the one that we knew could never return to us. In the silence when our eyes met they spoke a language of their own. I could see that he understood. I didn’t have to question it because I could see it clearly written in his eyes. He missed it too. We both longed to be back in a place where the troubles and cares of ordinary people did not exist. Our own paradise, our Neverland, where we first met.
I have no recollection of how I made it there. No one knows. I just found it one day. It was like something inside of me just knew it would feel like home. It was beautiful in a way that words can’t describe. The way the light from the sun filtered in through the majestic trees made me like a trespasser on sacred ground but the forest accepted me just like they all did. I was alone but it didn’t feel that way. It felt like I had friends watching out for me everywhere I went. I didn’t realize how accurate that feeling would turn out to be.
I wasn’t expecting to see another person. Those curious and penetrating emerald green eyes caught me off guard but I wasn’t alarmed. He emerged from the bushes slowly, as if he were afraid I would turn and run. When he was exposed we stared at each other until he said hello. He told me to follow him and a voice inside my head told me it was okay so I did. We walked in silence but it was comfortable, almost as if we had known each other our entire lives. The woods were quiet too, even the river was calm and content. When we came to the river we got to a place where it was tricky to cross. He offered his hand to me and as I took it I looked into his eyes. His blonde curls had fallen into his face and he pushed them away at the exact moment that I tripped and took him down with me right into the water. I gasped as I went down but when I came up it wasn’t silent and still as it had been before. Instead, I heard two noises: the first being the boy’s laughter and the second was lovely singing. I stopped and strained to hear the singing. He knew I had finally heard it because he helped me up and as he did so he whispered in my ear one word: fairies. I looked at him questioningly and I would never have believed him had I not seen what happened next. He looked at me dead on and then slowly put his empty hand out in front of him. Without a moment’s notice, his empty hand was filled by a tiny, beautiful little creature no bigger than his smallest finger. I blinked and rubbed my eyes and then braved another look at his hand. I was certain I was dreaming. The boy grinned at my disbelief and then whispered something to the fairy. The tiny figure flew gracefully through the air and hovered near my face. I held my breath, I didn’t want to scare her. She smiled at me and then spoke. The voice that she claimed as her own was the most angelic sound I had ever heard. I loved listening to her but I couldn’t understand what she was saying. The boy watched me with admiration, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He spoke in the fairy’s language and then he too was looking at my face, very closely. I was not at all prepared for the shower of sparkles, light and glitter that fell over my face. The fairy and the boy continued to talk but this time I understood what they were saying. They both laughed as my expression changed from confusion to understanding. The fairy was in the middle of accusing the boy of being impolite because he hadn’t yet asked my name. He looked at me with those vivacious green eyes and sincerely apologized. I blushed at his look of anguish and told him my name, Emberlee Mortensen.
The shock that registered on their faces was enough to send me into a panic. I asked what was the matter and instead of answering me they started talking too fast for me to follow what they were saying to one another. I only caught a few phrases here and there like “Emberlee isn’t a common name. Perhaps it is her and she came to help us!” the fairy responded “Emmett, we need to think about this before we get too excited. We can’t just waltz in and present her without knowing if she’s the right one!” I finally said “Excuse me, what are you talking about? Why did you lose your heads when you heard my name?”. The boy, I believe was called Emmett, turned and said “how old are you?” I stared at him and said “I just had my eighteenth birthday yesterday. Now will you please explain to me what is going on?”. He smiled at me then and said “Of course, Emberlee” putting an emphasis on my name. “My name is Emmett. I’m nineteen and it seems that we share the same birthday. I think what you’re asking about is better explained in a story. I promise I’ll tell you but would you mind if I tell it like that?” When I nodded he continued. “If you’re like me, and I’m guessing you are, you don’t remember how you got here. You don’t remember knowing how or why but you feel safe, almost like you’ve found a home you don’t remember having ever visited. Am I right?” Again, I nodded and he continued on. “We’re not the first ones to have found this safe haven. There was a girl before us named Ira. She was the first to learn the language of the fairies and the first to discover the many beautiful creatures in these woods but she was also the first to uncover some of the less enchanting secrets of the woods. She had lived her life in the ordinary world until the day after her eighteenth birthday. Then she found herself here. She didn’t know how or why but like you and like me, she found her way home.” I smiled as he said that word. Home. The more I heard it associated with this place the more I liked it.
Emmett continued, “We don’t keep time here as the ordinary people do in their world; so Ira had no idea how long she had been there and was content to forget about the life she had previously known entirely. She believed she was the only one that had come from the other world and she was right in that sense but she was wrong to assume that she was the only person here. One morning as she was having a conversation with one of the fairy folk she was startled when suddenly her friend vanished. She had appeared to be frightened and Ira was curious as to why. The creatures in the woods got along splendidly, but perhaps above all the rest, the fairy folk seemed to get along with everyone. Apprehensively Ira turned around to see a boy with black hair hanging in his eyes studying her. He said his name was Rey and immediately Ira had a bad feeling. Even the forest seemed to shudder at hearing the boy’s name.” Emberlee felt herself shudder as well. She didn’t know why but she didn’t like the way this story was headed.
“You see, the fairies are attracted to light, they can see it inside of others and they’re always drawn to it. But even Ira who wasn’t a fairy could feel the darkness that seemed to course through this young man’s body. He smiled at her and had she not seen that he was a human she could have easily mistaken him for a snake. His eyes were cold and unfeeling as he mocked the fact that the fairy had left. She asked him how he got here and instead of answering her he laughed an awful laugh. He told her that the forest had made him and that he was the first one to ever step foot in these woods. Rey stated very clearly that he was jealous of Ira and how the forest had accepted and welcomed her presence while Rey was always alone, in the shadows; but he had grown to like it there. He liked to strike fear into every creature in the woods, including Ira. He told her how he would one day claim the woods as his own and poison it all so that it too would become dark and dreary like himself.” Emberlee could hear the sadness in Emmett’s voice and somewhere within her she felt a powerful anger towards Rey. She had never even met him or Ira and had only known Emmett for a little while but nonetheless had already developed a sense of belonging to the latter. After glancing at her and noticing the fear in her eyes Emmett took her hand and then continued on with the story.
“He tried a few times to poison the forest and he came extremely close this last time. The fairies and other creatures have tried everything to find out where he hides but to no avail. It’s like some part of the forest is protecting him and nobody knows why. Ira has frantically tried everything she can think of…” he trailed off and I interrupted. “You mean to tell me that she’s still here?! Ira is here, in the woods like you and me?” I suddenly had an overwhelming desire to meet her, to thank her for being the first one here. Emmett looked at me in a funny way and said “You thought she would leave?”. Embarrassed I said “Of course not, I just was worried that that guy would have tried to hurt her or something.” Emmett’s face grew dark as he said “He didn’t try, he succeeded. He has hurt her in more ways than one but most of them are unseen wounds. The one that isn’t can be seen by all, a burn that covers most of her body. Her legs, arms and face are all scarred.” I wanted to cry. How could that monster have become so twisted and filled with hate that he would harm such a kind person as Ira?
“So that is why we need you. The fairies have had a prophecy that one day someone would come to help us defeat Rey. A young soul with the initials of E.M. Emberlee it must be you. It has to be you. Please, come meet Ira. Only she can tell”. I felt as if I had been punched in the gut. I panicked. “Emmett! Hold on, you can’t seriously believe it’s me, can you? I’m sure it’s not me. What about you, you’re first name starts with an E!” He smiled sadly and said “They thought it was me when I first came. I hoped it was so that I could help but when the time came to meet Ira she knew I wasn’t the one. She said I would help the right One come forth but that I was not the One. Perhaps you are the One that I must help bring forth.” I was dumbstruck. This couldn’t be real. No way was I the right person for the job. But out of respect and a desire to help I went to meet Ira. She knew I was coming and she wasn’t the only one.
On our journey to Ira we were attacked. I don’t think I could think of a word to describe the disgusting creatures that ambushed us. As Emmett scrambled to throw me a weapon I looked up to see another pair of eyes. Cold, unforgiving eyes and I think will haunt me for the rest of my life. They were his. Those dark hazel eyes belonged to Rey. He laughed and the sound made me want to punch him in the jaw. My fear was quickly replaced by the anger I had felt towards him earlier and suddenly I was leaping towards him. I caught him off guard and took him to the ground. And then there was someone beside me, not Emmett but a girl. Without communicating I knew it was Ira. We fought alongside each other and eventually we disarmed him and forced him to call off his creatures. Ira then banished him to the real world and he was gone. She had discovered how to get to our safe haven and how to get back. With that over Ira turned to me and Emmett, who had returned to my side and entwined his hand with mine, and smiled. She walked over to me and gently moved the hair that had fallen into my eyes away. “Thank you she said. You were the One and you helped us be rid of him hopefully for good.” And then she turned to Emmett and said “My dear Emmett, thank you for bringing her here. You have done well in protecting her from Rey. I am so grateful to both of you. Please, come with me to celebrate and share the good news that we are at last free from his darkness!” Emmett and I didn’t complain. The food was incredible and the company even more so but most of all I loved being surrounded by beings who felt like family. I was home. I looked over to see Emmett smiling at me and almost as if he could read my mind he said “Welcome home Emberlee.”
The next part of our lives was incredible. Emmett and I lived with Ira in the woods and spent every day talking with the fairies and exploring the woods and befriending the creatures that lived in them. I don’t know how long we lived that way, without fear or worry. We were content. We were immensely happy. We dreamed of always living there, together in this perfect paradise but it was not meant to be.
One day I awoke with a curious disease, one that could only be cured with medicine from the other world. The fairies and other healers in the forest couldn’t comprehend what it was and Ira was beside herself with worry. We never did find out what it was but we knew it was darkness. Darkness that was put inside of me by Rey when we fought against one another. And just as quickly as I had found my Neverland, it seemed to disappear. I saw my perfect world quickly unraveled. Ira had to send me back to the ordinary world. The place where fairies and magic don’t exist. I was defeated. I would have rather stayed and lived whatever was left of my life here. But Ira and Emmett wouldn’t hear of it. I had to go back. And as heartbroken as I was about leaving it could have been bearable for me to face it alone but what happened next was what broke me even further. Emmett insisted on coming with me.
“I don’t want you to come. I could never ask that of you! To see you every day and to both be stuck in that ordinary place where neither of us will be happy will kill me before this stupid darkness does! Please don’t come, Emmett. I’m begging you. I can’t take you away from your home” I pleaded with him. He stopped and turned so that he was looking at me straight on. He stepped towards me and brushed a tear from my cheek. I hadn’t even realized I was crying. He pulled me into a tender embrace and whispered “It is home but it only felt like that when you showed up and if you leave I’m afraid it will no longer be home to me. I want to come with you. I want to take care of you Emberlee Mortensen. Please let me follow you back to the ordinary world. We can go on our own adventures and make a home for ourselves there. Please?” I was no longer crying; now there was a steady waterfall coming from my eyes. Emmett chuckled and pulled me closer and right then Ira found us.
“I have a way for you to get back. You won’t remember the journey or how long it will take you to get there but I promise that if I ever find a way for you to return I will find you. You saved this place. You saved it for other lost souls who will look for a home and they will know of your bravery.” She pulled me in for a hug after Emmett had released me and she bid us farewell and then we were gone.