Fairy Punishment
Copyright 2015-2016 Stephen Brandon
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Table of Contents ~ (ToC) ~
Authors Note
Prologue
Chapter 1 Fairy Redemption
Chapter 2 The Forrest
Chapter 3 Flying
Chapter 4 Flying Higher
Chapter 5 Contact
About Stephen Brandon
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Author's Notes
I was sitting around looking over some old files. You know how it is, like junk you've got to clean out of the attic, basement, or garage. It kinda put me in the mood to pull the wings off some flies. Unfortunately, I'm not fast enough to catch flies anymore, plus it's winter in Texas.
I found an old short story {Prologue and Chapter 1} I wrote for Renee several years ago when she was compiling An Anthology of Modern Fairy Tales #1. Loki was the only one around with wings so I pulled them! Enjoy!
The other stories, turned into chapters, I wrote at different times when wing pulling felt appropriate.
These stories are works of fiction. All characters, organizations, incidents, and dialogue are from the authors imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or other persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Real and fictional locations are used for background only.
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Prologue
The Fairy Court is now in session.
“Loki, you have been charged with disorderly conduct, causing mystic damage, and injury to another fairy.”
“How do you plead?”
“Guilty, your honor.”
“Mr. Prosecutor, do you have any suggestions or comments before I pass judgment.”
“Yes, your honor. The injured party requested lenience. She also emphasized the fact that Loki is young and immature. She also claimed, if allowed she can repair the mystic damage.”
“Well, in light of her request, I'll have to review all the facts, his history, her plea, and come up with a suitable punishment.”
A week later the judge called informing everyone that he was ready to impose punishment. The next morning everyone concerned assembled at the judicial tree. A fresh new rope hung from a lower limb.
Calling the court to order, the judge began by reading the charges. Then he said. “Loki, you are immature. Most fairies grow up before they start manifesting their magical abilities. Yours started manifesting at the age of sixteen. These last five years you have had numerous incidents. Pranks and mischievous infractions all accumulate. You attained adult status just before this prank and the resulting accident.
“The same prank several years ago would not have resulted in her injury, or the damage to the magical field surrounding our forest homes. Due to the fact that you now have mature powers, you are a danger to yourself and the community.
“Hence, the punishment this court imposes will consist of several parts. First, you will be stripped of all your magical abilities except self-preservation and second sight. Second, without your magical abilities you will be ejected from the magic forest. Third, you must earn your right to possess magical abilities, and return home. You are assigned to a human family. Punishment is final and the court will monitor your progress.”
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Chapter 1 Fairy Redemption
There were three soldiers from base headed to a friends house in town. There was a pickup pulling a horse trailer, just starting from a stop sign and pulling across the road turning left when the soldiers car came around the curve. They saw the pickup and trailer stretched across their lane, turning left toward them. People say that when you are about to die your life flashed before you. Bull! Others say that when an accident is about to befall you time slows down and you see everything. Maybe more bull!
Tom jammed his foot on the brakes. Like all good ABS brakes they chirped once and started pumping to prevent the tires from locking and the car started slowing down. Tom realized that there wasn't enough room to miss the pickup and trailer.
He realized that time didn't slow down for him, he saw every detail, like a picture. In an instant he saw the left side of the truck and trailer and it was burned into his eyeballs and brain. The front left fender had a dent on top with a little rust. The drivers door was painted over and the shadow of a commercial logo cast a hair thin shadow in several spots. The window was down and the driver had his left elbow sticking out with his left hand on the steering wheel turning it left. His tan hair was almost the same color as the horse trailer, slightly darker than the color of the pickup. The bed of the truck was piled high with cardboard boxes with a bright yellow rope lashing them down. Then the gap where the heavy duty trailer hitch connected to the truck. Only one chain was visible.
Suddenly his car hit a patch of sand or dirt and started sliding. The steering wheel went loose.
The horse trailer was tan and had all its windows down. The left fender was concave where people had stood or sat on it above the two tires. One was a whitewall and the other was black. Both had tan rims. With a shock he realized the trailer was heavily loaded because it didn't have much room between the tires and the downward curve of the side of the fender, plus the tires were squatting in the turn.
Instantly he knew that the truck had actually stopped at the side road stop sign, because it was moving so slow. He'd even rolled through that stop sign several times himself, and knew most people did, too. Turning his steering wheel he realized he'd lost all traction and was in a slide. His two buddies had started screaming, he could tell that they'd taken a breath. Quickly glancing down he could see that the car was still doing almost 50 and slowly rotating to the left. That meant that his right tires had started sliding first. Looking down the road he saw a dump truck pulled over on the shoulder and two guys at the back right corner looking back toward his car. One had a cellphone to his ear.
The nose of his car slowly rotated till it was aimed at the trailer hitch on the pickup. It disappeared from view as the hood started to crumple from the corners toward the middle. After all the maintenance and rebuilding he'd done on his car, he tried to remember if he'd hooked the airbag sensors back up after replacing the front bumper. Five to ten pounds of impact was supposed to activate it. Tom felt his steering wheel jerk left and then right as the front wheels impacted. His head was halfway to the steering wheel as he saw it split in the middle and the plastic cover exploded outward. The gray bag looked wrinkled as it followed the plastic. The pain across his chest wasn't the airbag, so it must have been his shoulder harness. Damn, it hurt. He knew from the safety training films his dad had shown him that the airbag would hit him like a wall, then it did. From the corner of his eye he could see the bed of the pickup crunch past his side window. He was amazed that the boxes were still in the bed, although he could see where one had come out from under the yellow rope. As the airbag wrapped itself around his head he lost sight of everything.
Something slammed into his back as the the airbag collapsed. He knew he was going to have a big lump on the back of his head. He could feel the pillow on the headrest split under the pressure, and the pain between his shoulder blades from the metal in the seat. After a second everything seemed normal including the moaning from the back seat where Jim sat. His neck burn
ed as he turned to look at Ed in the passengers seat. He wasn't there. He'd told Ed several times to fasten his seat belt and watched him fasten it, but Ed was Ed. One of his shoes was on the floor and part of his red shirt was hanging from the frame of the windshield. He heard Jim ask, “Are we still alive?”
“Yes, but I think Ed is gone.”
“What do you mean.”
“Jim, can you move, I'm stuck.”
“No, I think I broke my arm.”
Suddenly white powder filled the car choking him. He heard someone yell, “Hold still, we'll get you out.”
After some pounding and the screech of metal the drivers door was wrenched open and he felt his seat-belt release. Arms grabbed him and dragged him sideways out of the seat. The pain in his left leg was unbearable as it bounced across the ground til finally he was leaned against a tree. Minutes later he saw another guy dragging Jim over, but he laid Jim down before running off.
Then two guys carried a sandy haired guy over and laid him by Jim. He was moaning as he reached up and grabbed at the gash on the left side of his head.
Listening he heard one of the guys tell someone that there were three survivors of the wreck on highway 52 by the old town cutoff. An ambulance was needed immediately along with a firetruck to put out the burning cars. In the distance he could hear sirens.
Something was tugging on his arm, so he looked up and saw a little kid with shriveled wings babbling, “Don't give up, you will survive. Just hang in there.”
“What about Jim and Ed?”
The kid said, “Jim will walk again, but Ed is gone. Joseph, the guy in the truck will be OK too.”
“Who are you?” Tom mumbled.
“My name is Loki, I'm a fairy.”
“I don't believe in fairies.”
“Tough, you're stuck with me until my punishment is over. Now get up and help Jim. You need to talk to him.”
“Why?
“He's in great pain and about to give up. No one but you can see and hear me, so you need to tell him he'll live and walk again. Encourage him.”
“I can't walk, my leg.”
“Just your knee is busted, it can be replace, now talk to Jim before he gives up and dies!”
Rolling over on my right side I could feel the bones in my knee pop and the pain wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Reaching over I grabbed Jim's arm and said, “Jim, you'll be OK.”
Jim answered with a groan and then mumbled, “I'm dying, I hurt all over.”
“No you aren't going to die if you don't give up. A fairy told me that you'll walk again.”
“A what?”
“A fairy. I know it sounds weird, but he said he was assigned me for punishment.”
Jim replied, “Don't kid me.” as a cough wracked his body. “Fairies are a kid's story.”
“I thought so too, but this kid has wings.”
“Gremlins and ghosts I believe in, but fairies are nuts. You've gone nuts Tom.”
Just then a medic checked the other guy and one rolled me over on my back and started to check me. “I'll live, help Jim, he's hurt bad.”
A look of amazement flashed across his face and then he turned to Jim. A second later he yelled, “Code blue here. How's the other guy?”
“He'll live, I'll get the kit and call in.”
I could hear him yelling as he ran to the ambulance. Also I hear someone saying, “We hit a deer and pulled over. We were calling in when the car came around the curve and started sliding. It hit right between the pickup and the trailer.”
I could feel something hitting my leg. Glancing down I saw the fairy hitting my knee. Then he said, “Tell the healer that Jim is bleeding from his back. He needs to stop it.”
I said twice before the medic looked at me, “Jim is bleeding from his back. You need to turn him and stop it before he dies.”
With a puzzled look he lifted Jim's hip and saw the blood on the ground. He immediately called his buddy and they turned Jim over and found the cut. Cutting his cloths off they applied a yellow patch and watched the blood stop. Then they put tape over the patch and rolled him on a green stretcher. I then knew that the post medics were here too. The sound of a helicopter was faint but coming closer. I closed my eyes and the fairy started hitting me again. “Quit that,” I mumbled, “leave me alone.”
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Tom woke up just as the nurse was leaving.
As soon as she was gone Loki jumped up on his bed and said., “Well, everyone except Ed survived. I've tried to get away, but something drags me along behind you. I'm stuck here.”
“To bad.” Tom commented, “I guess I'm not hallucinating now.”
“No, I'm real.”
“Well, you've done your good deed, so leave.”
“Tom, I can't. I'm being punished. I can't leave until I earn my magic back.”
“Well Loki, can you grant wishes?”
“No.”
“Tell me the future?”
“No.”
“Get things for me?”
“No.”
“Scare people?”
“No, remember only you can see and hear me.”
“You're useless to me. What can you do?”
With a downcast face Loki replied, “I don't know, other than warn you if I see something that's bad about to happen and give you encouragement. Then again, only true love trumps magic.”
Three months later sitting in a wheel chair at the front door to the hospital, Loki popped up and said, “Your ride is here.”
Tom stood up on his good leg and stuck the crutch under his left arm and started toward the curb. The jeep pulled up and a sandy haired kid jumped out. “I'm Joseph, you can call me Joe.”
Loki announced, “That's the kid from the pickup truck you hit.”
“Joseph, I'm sorry about the accident.”
“Don't worry about it, I got a new truck and trailer. Most of my furniture came through intact. You and Jim got the worst of it.”
“Still, I couldn't avoid you.”
“No sweat. I picked up Jim last week and he still claims you are a safe driver.”
Back at the company the first sergeant looked at Tom and said “Well, no physical training until the doctor releases you, however, you will walk two miles every morning with the wimp squad until you can do PT again.
Three months later Joe invited Jim and Tom to a party at his apartment. His girlfriend and her sister were in town.
As Tom walked in Loki jumped up and said, “Watch out for the older sister.”
To late, because her hand impacted on his face and she yelled, “You almost killed my Joseph!”
“I'm sorry, I couldn't avoid him.” mumbled Tom holding his face.
The other sister looked at him and said, “We know, but Brenda just had to do that. I'm Sally.”
Tom felt Loki tugging on his arm and heard him say, “Watch out for that Sally, don't toy with her.”
After dinner Sally told Tom that she'd been in an automobile accident too. Whispering in his ear she said, “You have a guardian angel following you around.”
Tom replied, “He claims he's a fairy.”
Loki was yelling, “Sally is in love with you.” as he faded out of sight.
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Chapter 2 The Forrest
With a sigh Loki inhaled deeply and smelled the sweet odors of the forest. Listening he could hear the chirping of the birds and chatter of the squirrels. With relief he opened his eyes and looked around. In utter horror he realized he wasn't in his home forest. NO, it can't be. I did what they demanded!
Looking around he saw tall pines. Where am I? Then high in the sky, what he thought was a silver bird, except it made a whirring sound. Suddenly a crashing sound. Elephants are stampeding my way. Jumping up into a tree, he looked around.
Three humans walked into the clearing. Oh no, that's Tom and Sally. Why? What haven't I done?
Sally commented, “T
hat was quite a climb. Tom, sit and rest your leg. Billy, quit running around like the little gremlin you want to be.”
“But Mom, I wanna be just like the gremlin Dad told me about.”
“That wasn't a gremlin, he was a fairy that was being punished for mischievous pranks.”
“Sally, use words he can understand, he's only five.”
“Yes dear, Billy, when a fairy is bad they get punished. Loki was bad and was sent to help your Dad as punishment.”
“Was Dad bad too?”
“No, your Dad wasn't bad. He was involved in an car accident where he ran into Uncle Joe's truck.”
“But Uncle Joe's OK.”
“Yes, and we'll see him later today in the valley. Look around, but don't go out of sight.”
“OK, Mom.” As he took off like a rocket around a tree.
Loki dropped from his perch and Sally saw a shocked look appear on Tom's face.
“What's wrong Tom? Is it your leg?”
“No, Loki is back.”
“Where?”
“He's behind you.”
As Loki walked around Sally he lifted his right hand and said, “Tom, I thought I'd fulfilled my punishment, but here I am again. What have you been up to?”
Sally stood there with her mouth open in shock as Tom continued to talk to the air.
“Well Loki, I married Sally. Remember, you warned me as you disappeared. We have a rambunctious son. You saw Billy take off like a gazelle. I was medically discharged from the army and Joe helped me get a job. By the way he married Sally's sister Brenda. She still slaps me whenever she thinks back.”
“I warned you about her, but ...”
“Yea, I know. Why are you here now?”
“I don't know? Wait, I smell smoke!”
Sally screamed as she heard Loki say I smell smoke. “Bill Joseph, git back here now.” In disbelief she whispered, “Tom, I heard someone say I smell smoke, was that Loki?”
“Yes dear, we've got to find Billy and get back down the mountain quickly.”
Billy ran back into the clearing and said, “Mom, I wasn't doing anything.”
“We've got to leave now, Loki smelled smoke.”