The Queen's Riddle: A Faery Story

The Game

Come away, O human child!

To the waters and the wild

With a faery, hand in hand.

For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

- William Butler Yeats

***

"Get out of the car, Nora."

Nora stopped braiding her doll's hair and met her mom's serious gaze in the rear view mirror. The mall parking lot was packed with cars baking away in the hot summer sun. The air looked blurry from the heat rising up from the faded black pavement and no other people were in sight.

"Do I have to, Mommy? It's hot out there."

"Yes, you have to!" Dee shouted, turning around and glaring at Nora, before glancing down to her doll. "Don't make me take Bell."

"No, not my dolly." Nora snatched Bell away as Dee grabbed for the doll's lopsided braid.

"Well then, get out of the car," Dee said in a low, sinister tone. "We're gonna play a game. You like games, right?"

Nora swallowed the lump forming in her throat and nodded her head. But something in her stomach told her this game wasn't going to be fun.

"That's a good girl. You just go stand over there on that curb and count to 1,000. When you reach 1,000 I'll come back and we'll go get ice cream. What do you think?"

"Can I have chocolate with the sprinkles and marshmallows?" Nora asked, her tiny hands clutching onto her doll.

"Sure. Whatever you want. Now, get going."

Nora pulled down on the metal door handle as a blast of hot air entered the car. Her feet didn't reach the pavement as she swung around, so she hopped out and shoved the door shut.

Clutching her doll to her chest, Nora held her head high as she watched her mom squeal out of the parking lot.

"Okay, Bell. We're gonna go to the curb like Mommy said and then count," Nora whispered to her doll. "Don't worry. I can count to five because I've been that old forever now. I'll be six soon."

Nora's white sandals clicked against the pavement as she made her way to the curb and stood under the shade of a small tree.

"One ... two ..."Nora took a deep breath and felt her bottom lip start to quiver. "Three ... four ... five ... six ... seven ..." Nora scanned the parking lot but there was no sign of her mom's car coming back.

"What comes after seven, Bell? Oh yeah, eight ... nine ... ten ... eleven ... twelve..."

Tears formed in Nora's eyes and she scooted closer to the tree, clutching her doll to her chest. "I can't remember what's next, Bell. What? You don't remember either? Now what are we gonna do? Mommy won't come back if we don't count to 1,000." Small tears fell from her eyes as she wiped her face with the back of her hand.

Panic spread through Nora's stomach as she tugged on her purple shirt that was beginning to stick to her belly from the sweat. Tears streamed out of her eyes as she realized she wouldn't ever be able to make it to 1,000. "Mommy's not gonna come back, Bell. We gotta remember what comes after twelve."

Nora thought for a few moments as a growing alarm spread through her body. Suddenly, she broke out in a run towards the parking lot, flying past cars, and trying to remember the way her mom had drove in but it was useless. "Mommy!" Nora screamed. "I'm sorry ... I don't remember what's after 12!"

Gasping for air, Nora collapsed on a curb with a small patch of grass. "Mommy! Come back!" Nora yelled towards the street. "I said I was sorry!"

"Are you okay, sweetie?" A kind old woman with a wrinkled face was walking towards Nora with her arms full of shopping bags. "Where's your Mommy?"

"I ... I ... don't ... know..." Nora said, choking on sobs. "She said she'd come back ... but I ... can't ... remember what's after twelve..."

"Let's take you inside. You're all red and sweaty from the heat. We'll call someone to find your mom."

"But she'll be mad at me. I don't wanna make her mad."

"Why would she be mad, sweetie?" the woman asked, leaning down and looking concerned.

"'Cause I didn't play her game right. She said she'd come back if I counted to 1,000. And I couldn't. I don't want Mommy to hit Bell again." Nora clutched the doll to her tighter, trying to hide the scratches on Bell's face from her mom throwing the doll across the room last week.

"Let's just go inside the mall and cool down first. I bet your dolly is hot, too. Then we can figure out what happened to your mom. Okay?"

Nora glanced at her doll and slowly nodded her head. "Okay," she slipped her tiny hand in the woman's wrinkled palm and walked inside. The cold air was a welcome relief as the woman led her up to a mall security guard standing by the door.

"Excuse me," the woman said. "I found this little girl wandering around the parking lot. She was crying for her mom ... It seems like she was left her out there. Lord only knows for how long..."