The Fairy Trail
Page 8
“Do you always read into things people say?”
“I guess when people talk about you in a certain way all the time, you become…sensitive to it.”
The fairy walked over to the edge of the log her home was perched upon. She crossed her arms. Shimmers of red light moved as her dress moved, bathing the darkness of the forest in a luminous, ruby colored light.
“Poor Margaret. So what is it you require this time?”
Maggie’s posture changed by the stinging nature of the fairy’s words. “Maggie. My name is Maggie.”
“Your name is Margaret. That is your birth name.”
Maggie stood up in anger. She snorted. “Who gives a kid the birth name of Margaret? No one names their kid Margaret.”
“Your parents named you Margaret.”
“That’s right—parents who didn’t want me. Parents who wanted to make a mockery of me.” Her body sank to the ground with the motions of a rubber raft being deflated. “You know, I never asked for help the first time. The Fairy Blue offered!” she shot back.
“Yes. Yes, she did. So I ask again, what is it you require?”
“I wouldn’t ask anything of you, but my mom gave me an ultimatum.”
“She did. And what was that?”
“It seems mom and dad made a deal. When one died, the other would do whatever they could to get me out of the house because they never wanted me there in the first place.”
“So….” The fairy walked to the other side of her porch. “Leave.”
“And do what? I’m failing my classes that mean instead of one more year, I have two. There’s nothing to do in this town. I need to go to college, and that won’t happen if I flunk.”
“You used to be such a good student. What happened?”
Maggie glanced at the fairy in the flowing red dress. “If you know that, then you know how it happened.”
“Hmm. So what is it you require?”
Maggie slapped her forehead with her hand. “Oh, my, God. I can’t fail.”
“Then I give you the gift to not fail. It is a gift I bestow upon you, and you must not misuse it. The gift will be yours until your next birthday. But…if at any time before that you abuse my gift, you alone will reap the consequences, and the gift will come back to me.”
“As if I haven’t heard that before,” Maggie muttered under her breath.
The fairy eyed her. If you don’t want the gift….”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You don’t seem very interested in my gift.”
“What’s your name?” Maggie asked.
“That’s an odd question.” She studied Maggie. “My name is Cerise.”
“Well, Cerise, I don’t want to seem ungrateful, but I don’t know what the gift of not failing means. What do I do with it?”
“You do what you want. The gift is for you to use how you see fit to use it. There are no pamphlets with instructions if that’s what you’re looking for. You make the choices, the decisions.”
“Then why are you all giving me these gifts?”
“Why, Maggie, you asked for our help. Now, I need to go…much to do. Good-bye, Maggie.”
“Cerise, wait.” But in the moment she blinked her eyes, the fairy was gone, and the house began to fade.
Maggie left the forest muttering. “The gift to not fail. There’s one month of school left. There’s not enough homework or tests for me to bring my grades up. What do I do? How do I not fail?”
Chapter Nineteen
Maggie stared at the test paper. The words and numbers blurred into each other. There was no way she was going to pass her math test. She hadn’t studied. Instead she spent the evening with Mike. He told her he was interested in Christy, the head cheerleader. He didn’t want her to be upset, but it had been a fun ride. That’s what he said…it had been a fun ride.
She was weak. She pleaded for him not to break up with her, but he told her they were in high school, and he needed to be free. She asked how seeing the head cheerleader made him free. He kissed her on the cheek and took her home without answering.
When she walked in the house, the lights were off. Her mother was asleep in her bed. At that moment, Maggie felt more alone than she had in a while. Even though she knew the truth about how her parents really felt, it was as if her mother had made the final move to give up on her.
Maggie shook her head to clear it. Cerise gave her the gift not to fail. She picked up her pencil. Then she wouldn’t fail this test.
For the next month, Maggie aced every exam and every bit of homework. Teachers were dumbfounded. After the first few one hundred percent grades, they began to keep a careful eye on her. Rumors swirled about possible cheating. When she was called to her counselor’s office to discuss the possibility, she told them the truth—well, half the truth.
“I got too caught up in a boy—one of the worst mistakes I made. He dumped me—one of the best things that happened to me. Can I go now?”
“You realize that even though you’re back on track, you still won’t move up to your senior year. You’d have to repeat this year.”
A single tear fell down Maggie’s cheek.
“But, I’ve mapped out a program for you. If you go to summer school and work hard in September to do a little more catch up, I believe you can move up and finish your senior year with your class.”
Maggie wiped at her cheek. “Really?”
“Really. Is it something you’re willing to do?”
“Absolutely.”
Throughout the summer, Maggie religiously walked to the bus stop every morning and sat in classes until noon. When she got home, she studied and completed homework. Then she made dinner for herself, studied some more, and went to bed.
She didn’t pay attention to where her mother was anymore. She continued her routine whether her mother was home or not because it didn’t matter. Her goal was to give her mother what she wanted—her daughter out of the house.
It was during that summer Maggie lost what little love she had left for her mother. She developed blinders for school that allowed nothing else to blur her focus from passing her classes. Unfortunately though, she was ignoring the rest of her life that was still happening around her.
She missed her mother coming home in better moods. She didn’t spend time with Bella or any of her other friends from the ‘in’ crowd, so she had no idea if Mike was screwing the head cheerleader. She didn’t care—her motivation and concentration was on one thing—pass, graduate, and get out of the house.
***
Maggie looked up from her seat in the cafeteria to see Charlie holding a lunch tray.
“Mind if I join you?”
Maggie saw two blue marble eyes focused on her. For a brief second in time, she felt the same tingle flutter through her body the first time Mike approached her, and during the next brief second in time, she scolded herself for letting it take her away from her studies.
Charlie didn’t wait for an answer. She sat down.
Maggie dropped her eyes to the physics book opened in front of her. “I’m studying.”
“I won’t bother you. There just weren’t any other seats.”
Something made Maggie look around the cafeteria. Indeed, there were no empty chairs, but that wasn’t what bothered her. Seated at the table across from where she sat were Bella, Jennifer, Ali, Mike, and his new cheerleader girlfriend. Their eyes were fixed on her, and they were talking, laughing and pointing.
It was the first time since Cerise gave her the power not to fail that she noticed something other than her studies.
Charlie followed Maggie’s gaze, then looked back at her dry macaroni and cheese laced with hamburger. “I still can’t figure out why you became a part of that group,” she said quietly.
Abruptly, Maggie looked away from the ‘in’ crowd and out a window. She fought the urge to scream at them and even more not to cry. She wasn’t sure which one was stronger, but she knew it was best not to give in to either.
Charlie pointed her fork in their direction. “Really? That poor excuse for friends?” She took another bite of her lunch. “In my book, friends don’t desert you when you need them most.”
Maggie slammed her book shut. With hard, quick movements, she picked up her materials and stuffed them in her book bag. Then she stood up and leaned slightly in Charlie’s direction. “In my book, it’s none of your business.”
She walked out of the cafeteria and out the front doors of the school. She kept walking until she stood in the front foyer of her home. By then, her eyes were dry, and she was ready to get back to her studies. So, she ate a quick lunch and walked back to school hoping to make it in time for her last class. She could not fail.
***
Months passed with Maggie becoming more and more of a loner. She was almost back to where she was before she became a member of the popular crowd—one of those teenagers who was taunted for anything and everything.
It seemed as if her smart and beautiful clothes were no longer the latest in fashion and often became a source of ridicule from the students she had once called her friends. Every time Mike walked past with his girlfriend, he planted a long, sloppy kiss on her lips then glanced back to see if Maggie was watching—which she was. As soon as she caught his sight, she quickly turned and continued to wherever it was she was going.
On a cold day close to the Christmas holiday vacation, Maggie was at her locker when she heard laughter coming near. “Don’t look, don’t look, don’t look,” she murmured to herself, but she just couldn’t break her pathetic cycle of needing to know. Once again, Mike and his girlfriend approached, and he drew her in for the religious kiss.
Maggie was shaken out of her misery by a loud bang on the locker next to her. Charlie’s back was leaning against it. The laughter grew louder and Maggie knew what it was all about.
She stared at Charlie. “Do you enjoy making my life more miserable than it already is?”
“Mags, you’re the only one making your life miserable. You are so caught up in your work that you’re forgetting to live a little…and hopefully not with that group.” She nodded in Mike’s direction, and then pushed herself off of the locker. “One more thing; why do you let them get to you? You’re better than they are. For once in your life, let them know it.” She winked at Maggie and left.
She studied Charlie as she walked down the hall. Charlie’s head was high, her walk was brisk and strong, and she paid no attention to the chattering that went on about her even when Maggie could tell it was about her. What really made Maggie stop and think was Charlie not only looked happy, but she was happy, even with the continued teasing and hazing she was often subjected to.
The next day when Maggie was leaning against her locker, she caught a glimpse of Mike and his girlfriend with Bella and her new boyfriend, Nick, in tow. Mike went in for the kiss but stopped when he saw a smile form on Maggie’s lips. The cheerleader pulled his face toward hers, but he kept his eyes on Maggie, and just as they passed her, she threw him the finger.
Satisfied with herself, Maggie started for her next class. Charlie was walking toward her and gave her a thumbs up hidden behind the folder she was carrying.
Chapter Twenty
When Maggie got home from school for the second time that day, she found her mother in the kitchen having drinks with a man she didn’t know. She stayed in the hall and watched for several seconds. Her mother had that look in her eyes—the one where she was getting sex and hoped that because of it the guy would stick around.
Maggie knew better.
They bantered back and forth, flirting in little obscene ways that disturbed her so much she burst into the kitchen.
Her mother looked up surprised by her daughter’s entrance. “What are you doing here?”
Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the man watching her.
“School’s over.”
“Oh…well…Doug, this is my daughter, Margaret.”
Maggie flinched at the sound as if it was a fork scraping the surface of a porcelain plate.
“Hello, Margaret. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Hi.” Maggie felt her uncomfortable meter climb above ten. There was something about Doug she didn’t like.
Silence filled the room like an elephant as Maggie watched her mother a moment longer. Then she muttered, “I just wanted to let you know I was home.”
She backed out of the kitchen. When she reached the door, she hurried up the stairs taking them two at a time, wanting to get to her room and out from under the scrutiny of Doug as fast as she could. She scurried into her bedroom, shutting the door behind her wishing the lock her parents put on it worked from the inside and not the outside.
Leaning against the door, Maggie took a deep breath afraid of…she wasn’t sure what, but she knew she was scared. The man’s eyes were dark, and Maggie believed the darkness went all the way to his soul.
She sat on her bed and drew her knap sack beside her. As she pulled out her books and homework, she thought to herself, it’s going to be a long night.
She began reading when a noise downstairs caught her attention. She heard the scraping of chair legs on the floor, then tiny screams and giggles from her mother. Maggie searched her room. She settled on the solid, wooden desk chair, hoping that by jamming it under the door knob it might deter any unwanted visitors during the night.
She awoke to the sound of her door knob turning and the chair shaking. She started to move but stopped when she realized she had fallen asleep amidst her books and papers. She chose her largest, heaviest book—Physics—and got under the covers holding it next to her in a death grip. She waited for the door to open or the noise to stop.
Even though she had never been to church, and had no idea how to pray, she thanked God when the it did. However, grateful as she was, she held the book close to her as she waited for sleep to overcome her once again.
The next morning, Maggie cautiously opened her door. She could see into her mother’s room, but she couldn’t see the bed. She had no idea if they were in it. She contemplated making her way down the hall to better see into her mother’s room or just going down to the kitchen and taking her chances they wouldn’t be there, but before her decision was made, Doug stumbled out of her mother’s room
When he caught sight of her, his leer was so strong that she felt the aura it was sending out had fingers that were wrapping around her throat squeezing the life out of her. She was frozen in fear even though she wasn’t sure she really had anything to be afraid of other than her suspicions. She found it hard to breathe.
Maggie bolted out of her room, down the stairs, out the front door and headed straight for the forest.
By the time she reached the woods, she was out of breath on the verge of hyperventilating. She fell to the ground, tears streaming down her face, and put her hand on her chest in hopes of calming her fear so as to bring her breathing back to normal.
“My dear, are you okay?”
Startled, Maggie looked up into the trees half expecting to see a fairy house with a fairy staring down at her. There was nothing in the trees.
“Maggie?”
She looked around. At the bottom of a Birch tree a few feet away from her was a small fairy house made out of drift wood. The door was a different type of wood with a black window and black hinges. Standing inside the open door was a fairy dressed in light orange gingham.
Maggie didn’t answer at first. She was crying too hard to say anything. The fairy folded her hands in front of her and waited patiently.
“I…I need help.”
“Of course you do” The fairy said matter-of-factly.
“He’s going to hurt me.”
“Who is?”
“My mother’s new boyfriend. He’s evil.”
“What has he done to make you think that?”
“He tried to get into
my bedroom last night.”
“Oh, my. Are you sure it was him?”
Maggie made a sound halfway between a grunt and a groan. “Who else would it be?”
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe you’re mother? Did you ask her?”
“No, because her boyfriend was staring at me from her room. I wasn’t going past him.” She wiped at her eyes. “You don’t understand. The way he looked at me made my skin crawl. He scares me. I can feel it; I can see it in his eyes.”
“What do you see?”
“He wants to…he wants…,” she swallowed
hard. “He wants to rape me. I know it. I’m so afraid.”
“Oh, this is serious.”
“You think?” Sometimes Maggie wasn’t sure if the fairies believed her or were just toying with her.
The fairy’s expression dimmed; however, she didn’t seem offended by Maggie’s sarcasm. The look in her eyes was more concern and deliberation. She put her finger to her chin and scrunched up her face. Maggie watched as threads of dark orange light grew down the length of her light colored dress. The lines of darker color seemed to pulse with the changes in her emotions.
“What’s your name?” Maggie asked
“My name? I fail to see why my name has anything to do with this.”
“You know mine. All you fairies know my name, and they’ve each told me theirs…so far.”
“Ginger. My name is Ginger.”
“Thank you, Ginger. Can you help me?”
The fairy thought a moment and then spoke suddenly. “Well, you still have your last gift and normally we don’t give out two at a time. It’s just not done.”
“I’ll return the gift not to fail. I’m doing well in my school work and I know I can do it on my own. Please, you’ve got to help me.”
Suddenly, the fairy said with excitement, “I’ve got it.” She spread her arms out, palms up. “I give you the gift of harm. It can only be used once. It is a gift I bestow upon you, and you must not misuse it. The gift will be yours until your next birthday. But…if at any time before that you abuse my gift, you alone will reap the consequences, and the gift will come back to me.”