* * *
A few weeks had passed since Danika met Mike. She took him up on the offer to text him the next day when the supervisor was being particularly harsh. His reply made her smile though it was only an instant. Later the same evening she called him and chatted about different things. She loved the distraction and held onto the moment as long as she could. Once they hung up the darkness clung to her again.
A month later she was called into the manager's office before the start of her shift. That burly supervisor made a complaint that Danika had been harassing her at work. It was all lies of course, but one she couldn't fight against. Everyone knew that woman was the favorite out of all of them. Danika pleaded to keep her job, knowing she had done nothing wrong, but the manager quoted policy at her. At the end of the lecture she remained silent, there was nothing she could do to save the situation. The manager asked her to return the uniforms and not to bother returning. On her way out, she could see that monster sneer at her. What did she do to deserve such treatment?
Dull colors whizzed past the bus window. That was the end for her, without a job she couldn't afford a place to live. She doubted she could stretch her savings to cover the rent due in a week. There was no time to find something else, not like anyone would hire someone as useless as her. As she thought, she remembered her savings would barely fill a grocery bag with food. She would starve and be homeless.
The sky remained overcast as she reached a park. It was the first place she explored near her apartment when she moved in. Danika had hopes and dreams back then. She looked to the sky as she thought back to the first day. She had been so excited to make her mark on the world. She would find that perfect job and work hard to get promoted. She had everything planned out and knew exactly how to get what she wanted. Then her spirit was crushed by weeks of rejections and, with all her supposed talent, she could only find a grocer on the other end of town to work at.
She sat on a bench next to the rapids. She couldn't move back home, that was a failure. She couldn't go to a government agency for help, that was also failure. She couldn't ask to postpone the rent, that would never happen. As she had student loans, from a program she couldn't even use, she couldn't borrow money. There was nothing she could do. She was at the end.
She really was a failure. Nothing she did ever turned out right. Even when she had done nothing wrong and kept to herself like a good little girl, she still lost. The world was a nasty place and she had no reason to belong in it. Danika always knew that she couldn't fit in, even in school she was at odds with fellow students. She wished she never existed.
The hours crept by but Danika remained on the bench. Soon the sun had set and the only light was from the lamppost nearby. Less and less people passed before her, not a one turned to look. Was that all she was, part of the scenery? Was that all anyone was?
Danika decided to put her plan into action. She couldn't live with the hurt any longer. What was the point of trying, of forcing herself to get up every day when it all ended the same. Life tore her apart every second and it was nothing compared to broken bones or cuts. Physical pain can be cured and seen but mental sickness was different. No one could see it and, unless she talked to someone, no one would know. She refused to suffer further. She couldn't do it.
She walked over to the short stone wall that kept the public safe from the rushing waters below. She climbed and stood atop of it. The white flow felt inviting. She always loved water, even as a kid, and she thought it was a fitting end. She had tried cutting herself and a few other tactics but none of them worked. Each attempt she stopped because of some useless fear of pain. It had to be something with no turning back. Something she wasn't afraid of, like water.
Danika's toes touched the edge of the wall. All it took was a step forward. One step and all her pain would be gone. She would be free and she couldn't hurt anyone again. She couldn't be the disappointment she knew she had become. A lump rose in her chest as she thought about it. Her parents would be sad but only for a little while. Her brother's wife was expecting their first child and it was all her parents talked about. They looked forward to it. There was nothing so brilliant she could give to them. All she'd be is a lesson they'd warn the child about. Don't follow in your aunt's footsteps they'd say. Don't be such a waste like her they'd warn.
The rushing water was so enticing. One step. No! You can't. Yes, one step. Just one step. Tears flowed from her eyes. She could do this. It's just one step. One step Danika.
Someone yanked hard on her coat making her fall backwards. She cried out when she landed on the person. She swung her arm around and hit whoever pulled her with her elbow. They stopped her attack, making her fail again. She failed at the one thing that was supposed to be easy. Why couldn't she just die already!
Rough hands pulled her into an embrace. “What the hell are you doing Danika?” She froze. Mike had found her. Out of everyone it could have been, it was him. He had pulled her off. It was his fault she had to continue with the pain.
She forced herself out of his arms. “Why did you stop me? I wanted to jump. I don't want to be here anymore!”
“I know that. I've known that since I saw you on the bus that day.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “That's why I wanted to talk to you. I could tell this was where you were headed.” His eyes welled up with tears. “There's so much more than the pain Danika. I know it's all you see right now but it gets better.”
“You know nothing of what I've been going through! Why can't you leave me alone?”
“I do know what it's like and that's why I can't let you do this. It's why I've got my scar.” Mike sat on the stone wall and held his hands. “I was going through a difficult time. In school, I was picked on and even after I graduated for living in this part of town. Nothing ever went right for me. Even my girlfriend ran off with my best friend.
“I tried to hang myself in my parent's garage.” He looked away from her and to the dirt below as his body shook. His knuckles were white as he gripped the wall. “The rope snapped and I hit my head off the workbench. My parents found me there in a pool of my own blood. The doctor said I was lucky to be alive but it certainly doesn't feel that way someday. Not when my memory is crap.
“I talked to you that day on the bus because you reminded me of myself during that time. You feel so lost, so alone, that no one would care if you're gone. It's not true.” Mike moved and sat next to her on the ground and held her hand. “You parents will care, your siblings will care, your family and friends will care Danika. I will care.”
She squeezed his hand. “But I can't do anything right. I've lost my job, I can't afford food or rent. I'm going to lose my apartment. If I go back home or get any help then I've failed. I can't fail when I've worked so hard. It's not fair that I've tried this hard to get nothing.”
Mike rubbed her hand with his thumb. “That's not failure. Throwing away your life by jumping, that's failure. When you've hit bottom the only way to go is up, even if a little help is needed.” He helped her from the ground but didn't let go of her hand. “I hate to do this but I gotta take you to the hospital. I can't have you throwing yourself off a wall again. I may not be around to catch you next time and I can't have that.”
Danika followed him slowly. How was it that a stranger understood her so well? No that wasn't right. Mike wasn't a stranger, not any longer. He was the only one to be there when she needed someone there the most. Perhaps her destiny never had a prince and, for once, she could live with that. So long as her knight was right there beside her.
The End.
About the Author: J.W. Goodwin
J.W. Goodwin is the author of the novel By The Light of a Darkened Forest. She was born and raised in Northern Ontario, Canada where she still resides. That is where her love of nature grew and her writing flourished. Even when she had moved away for a time in her heart she knew she would always return home.
Books by J. W. Goodwin:
By the Light of a Darkened Forest
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JessicaWGoodwin/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JessWGoodwin
Cyber Space Fairy
By Mari Collier
“Well, look at who just floated in!” The Fairy Godmother sounded rather indignant. The Tooth Fairy, Nephele, the Blue Fairy, Ariel, and Lillie White looked up from their tea.
In the doorway of the Fairy Lounge hovered a multicolored fairy with red hair on one side of her head and purple on the other side. Tattoos ran down her arms and legs. A nose ring of silver adorned her light blue face, and little bolts of yellow shot off from her wings whenever she moved. The new arrival floated over to the older fairies, her bolts floating harmlessly upward.
The others tried to hide their inward shuddering. The Cyber Space Fairy had been such an adorable multi-colored sprite just forty-odd years ago. How could she change so?
“Hello, Cyber Space,” the Fairy Godmother smiled. “And where have you been?”
The yellow eyes looked at her. “Why in Cyber Space, where else would one want to be?”
The Tooth Fairy smiled at her. “Why in a child's bedroom, seeing their angelic faces, and leaving a nice crisp dollar bill. Just knowing how happy they will be is heartwarming.”
The Cyber Space Fairy laughed. “Oh, that is so silly. Most of the time the parents have left far more than a dollar. You even have a real problem finding them asleep so you can return before break of day, plus in today's world a dollar won't even buy a sack of candy, let alone the electronic equipment they are already playing with when they are awake and losing their baby teeth. Admit it, gaining access to their domain is difficult when they are still awake playing games or sending text messages. What do you do? Just toss the bill in their direction and say you delivered it?”
Fairy Godmother gasped. “Really, you don't need to insult your elders. We all perform important needed tasks. Just because you had a failure or two doesn't give you any right to be so snide and cast aspirations at others.”
“What failures? My net is up and working seamlessly.”
“Oh, I heard from one of my clients and she cannot find her web domain and part of the connection to another site seems to be missing. Then there was an entire group of people without internet service in the Los Angeles area that I read about in Fairy News. I could go on, but you see what I mean.”
Nephele, the created cloud daughter of Zeus, snorted. She was so upset she changed from blue back into the color of the cloud Zeus used to create her. She shook and returned to the color of the sky. The blue didn't clash with light blue of the Blue Fairy sitting next to her. Then Wee Willie Winkie arrived in a grey-white sleeper, carrying his candle. He crawled up onto the sofa, blew out the candle, and stuck his thumb in his mouth before closing his eyes.
The Storm Fairy arrived in her customary flash of lightning. Bolts shot out from her wings and lodged in the ceiling. Black clouds surrounded her and then rearranged into a long, slinky black dress. “Hello, dahlings, having a bit of tea are we?” She winked as she sat in the remaining empty chair.
Nephele shifted in her seat as her left side seemed ready to float away. She used her wing to bat it back and it aligned itself into the proper body shape again. At least Wee Willie and Stormy had interrupted Cyber's rude speech.
Cyber, however, glared at Stormy for daring to interrupt. “In fact, none of you perform the useful tasks that I do. How many young, handsome Prince Charmings are there left in the world, Fairy Godmother? There are maybe one or two, but their security is so tight you'd never be able to get an unknown into a ball where they are. I've heard they do not attend such events. Horses wouldn't be allowed on the streets, and who goes home at midnight in a coach drawn by horses anyway? As for nobility, that is a laugh. They might exist, but for the most part they are just aging figure heads.”
Stormy raised her eyebrow, and her cup filled with tea floated over. “Cyber, why would you pick on Fairy Godmother like that? She is in her dotage you know.”
“Dotage? How dare you!” The Fairy God Mother stood. “Just because you have been raising havoc with your tornadoes, flooding and snowstorms, you think you can insult us that do good works?” She turned, flew to the door, and swirled around to announce, “I shall return when the company returns to normal.”
With those words, she flew to the anteroom. Now what could she do for some poor wench that couldn't afford a ball. She sighed. Maybe there was a high school student somewhere that needed a Fairy Godmother to make her teenage dreams come true. Fairy Godmother left the building behind and flew off to begin her search. It had been a long time since she created a coach drawn by four matched horses. She wondered how many mice would be in a normal household now.
The others watched her leave and Cyber was smiling. “You see, she can't stand the truth. Thanks, Stormy. It's good to see you again.”
Stormy's dark hair shook and her scarlet lips smiled. “You look like you've been busy, Cyber Space. What is it with all those tats?”
“Oh, these?” Cyber held out her arms. “They are such fun to have. See how I can change them.” The tattoos of blue and green swirls became red and green dragons, the circles and animals on the other arm rearranged their position.
“As for what I have been doing, there is a new force on the net and information highway. I can now move what people say, do, and watch to where it is broken down into advertising data to be shared with the providers who pay for more and more cyber ware and faster access. That helps to create even more room on cyberspace.”
Nephele looked at Cyber Space as though she were a mad child. “And how is that useful?”
“It makes the people happy to be so connected and the companies richer. As they build bigger and bigger data banks it makes me more powerful. I'm not like you old, useless fairies that really have nothing to do anymore. Stormy is the only other one that has driven or ridden more powerful forces across the world.”
“What happens when that new force you spoke about becomes even more powerful? Does that leave room for you? By the way, what is this new force? Does it have wings?”
Cyber Space laughed. “You really don't know anything about the world out there, do you? We are all so connected and interdependent now. People are able to fly through the air in machines they have created and be in another country within hours. When they wage war, one weapon kills hundreds or more. So much for the striking power of the old gods, like your old man, Zeus. Transporting themselves or their favorites to other places or killing one mortal or semi-mortal with one bolt just doesn't cut it.”
Nephele gasped. “That is blasphemy!” Her outrage was so great her body began to disintegrate. The Tooth Fairy and Lillie White both wrapped their arms around her to hold her together.
“Now look what you've done!” The Tooth Fairy was shouting. “How can you be so cruel to our oldest and dearest member?”
Cyber Space shrugged her shoulders. “Just name one reason why she exists. At least Lillie White Fairy can predict when Spring will happen, but since she can't talk no one really knows when it will happen, and so humans look at a stupid ground hog and pay no attention to a silent fairy fluttering about in the air. Which when you think about it, they can't see her either. She needs a tablet to post her petals online.”
“You need to quit criticizing. The world of fairies includes you,” snapped the Tooth Fairy. “It seems to me, Stormy is the only one humans as a group pay attention to any more. At least there are some children that still wait for me.”
Cyber Space stood. “You are so wrong! Humans do pay attention to me. Who do you really think is Siri or Echo? It certainly isn't the Echo of fairy tales and myths. As for you, Tooth Fairy, when was the last time a child was excited about you or tried to stay awake long enough to see you? You can't name anyone, can you?”
Silence filled the room. “You see, you are all totally useless except for Stormy.” She waved at them and flew to the door. “Ta, ta, darlings, but I must be off.
The Net is calling me.”
“Well,” sputtered Nephene, “she was obnoxious as a child, but she has taken it to new heights!”
Cyber smiled with satisfaction as she lifted upward and caught the first electrical current. It carried her deep into the world of game avenues, videos streaming across space, and the messages crossing and crisscrossing the world. It was exciting and she summersaulted across the landscape when flashes of light interrupted her journey.
She used her wings to soar higher and surveyed the gray landscape to locate where the flashes came from. Was it something that required her expertise to keep the net flowing? Then she saw them, two rangy male fairies battling for a site.
The Malware Fairy was dressed in blue-black, his broad, black wings were soundless as they whipped the air and he moved sideways, up and down, twirling, and throwing his bolts at the red and deep blue Trojan Fairy.
Cyber sent her own bolt of electric particles flowing through the space between them. “Stop, you are forbidden in my world,” she screamed.
The two male fairies emerged singed, but upright, and both turned towards Cyber to aim their next bolts at her. Before they could let loose, Cyber unleashed another blast that tossed them upward and then down. Both landed on their knees, flailing their wings to be upright, and Cyber flew upward to unleash the killing throw. She did not notice Nephene appearing behind her or see the electric bolt that hit her back, burning away her wings. She tried to stand, but another blast from Nephene sent her rolling over and over, spooling through the spaces she once ruled.
Nephene nodded and turned towards Malware and Trojan. Malware had regained his wing power and was about to send another bolt into the struggling to rise Trojan when Nephene's next bolt cut him in half and he smoldered away into blackness.
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