A Faery Tale - Finished

- Cara -

Slightly drunk on the darkest night of the year, Cara was halfway down Conyngham road before she noticed the lights in the Phoenix Park. She was almost certain they hadn't been there a minute ago but now she saw beaming lights protruding from the trees and flashes of light in various colours echoing across the sky. She followed her friends, staring at the lights in wonder.

"What do you think those lights are for? A rave or something?" she said, half to herself.

Her best friend, Louise, stopped shouting at her boyfriend long enough to look around quizzically. "What lights?"

Unwilling to wait for an answer, Louise turned her attention back to her boyfriend, continuing the shouting match as if there had been no interruption. Cara gazed at the park, longing to go over and see, not really bothered that her friend hadn't seen anything. They were heading home and she was already late but when the others stopped into the nearest chipper for a few bags doused in salt, vinegar and grease, she decided to cross the road and check out the strange lights. She told herself she would be back before they even noticed her gone. They were used to her wandering off on nights out, they would wait. She hoped.

She crossed over when the traffic lights turned red, weaving in and out of the cars to cut across two roads before making her way straight through the entrance. As soon as she stepped past the gate, her ears filled with the sounds of the strangest music she had ever heard. She followed the lights but they seemed to move further and further away all the time. At first she had expected to go as far as the monument but she found herself heading past the zoo and not stopping. The music was calling to her now; she could feel it vibrating in her veins with every note.

She wanted to stop. So stupid, she told herself, always doing the impulsive thing without thinking about it. She needed to turn back and walk the rest of the way home with her friends. But her feet kept moving forward, faster and faster in time with the music that almost seemed to build up into a frenzy. It was pitch black and the park was dangerous at night, she had to be careful but she didn't feel in control of her own body. Her mind was there, her thoughts and wants were there but nothing seemed to connect them with the rest of her body. All of the street lights blackened as she moved along. A fleeting look behind her showed her nothing but an empty expanding darkness. She had to keep moving just to stay within some light. Light was safe, avoid the dark, she thought but it seemed to creep up behind her, forcing her to move further into the park.

Even more worrying was the fact she hadn't seen a soul since she left her friends. The park was usually full of life at this time of night between drug dealers and prostitutes, customers and Gardaí; it had never been this lifeless. Somehow their absence screamed that something was wrong. If the lights were from some kind of party then surely there would be voices, shouts, laughter, anything. The only sound she could hear aside from the drumming of music was the wind rustling in and out of the undergrowth of the many overbearing trees. In the dark, they seemed to lean towards her, as if meaning to snatch her up in their barren branches.

Cara shivered, trying to push the childlike imagery of boogey men and evil trees out of her mind. She ended up in a part of the park normally used by joggers, dog walkers and the odd junkie. She was soon surrounded by the thick trunks of ancient oak trees that she couldn't remember ever seeing before. But the lights had stopped moving. And so did her feet. At last. Glistening and inexplicably more compact and vivid than before, the lights hovered above a clearing. The ground almost looked dead, it was so unexpectedly barren in the middle of so much nature. Empty except for dead leaves and twigs. In the very centre was a large fissure in the ground. The lights dipped inside.

Cara's feet no longer led her against her will. It was her own curiosity that persuaded her to approach the widened gap in the soil. Peering downwards she was startled to note a set of stone steps leading underground. Glancing around first, she took a tentative step forward. Immediately, the steps lit up, transforming them into something warm and inviting. The music she had heard was louder now and it no longer sounded strange. More appealing than odd.