flight of the wingless pixie

flight of the wingless pixie (2 of 3)

“Now, I know I just said that Pixies cared not for people and talked to them rarely, but it was not unheard of for a Pixie to interact with humans. You all know that old abandoned farmhouse on top of the hill, with the giant round window?” The old man stopped and paused for a second to observe his audience. The crowd was so thick now that it was impossible to see through the maze of bodies in the fire’s dim, shimmering light. The shadows were long and darkness sat perched carefully around the edges of the brightness and its safety. It crept onto people’s faces, changing and covering their features, melting them together. It reached into their shadows, stretched forward, but the flame was enough to keep it away and the old man relaxed. The children had scooted in closer to the fire and to the storyteller, sitting mere inches away to ensure they missed nothing of his story. Now that he had stopped briefly they began to exchange hurried questions about the haunted farmhouse on top of the hill. They all knew it; the house burned down years prior trapping an entire family in it. No one ever dared rebuild on that spot so the carcass of the house remains to this day, slumped against the cold hard ground, empty and vacant except for the terrible memories left within its hollow frame. But now the old man cleared his throat and started up again.

“Well, years ago a family lived in that farmhouse. They had a son named Anders. Anders loved the lake. He used to sneak out at night to go swimming in it, especially in the early days of summer when the water is still cold from the winter frost. Most people found it unbearable to swim in water that cold before the sun warms the lake, but Anders liked the water early in the season. Because people hadn’t started swimming regularly yet they hadn’t managed to upset the lake’s natural order. The animals still lived around the edges of the water or came to drink from it, the grass hadn’t yet been trampled and the water was crystal clear. Anders came almost every night and swam for as long as his body could handle the cold.

One night he came just as he always had, took his clothes off on the shore and jumped in. The day had been particularly gray and no sun had shone through the clouds so the water was even colder than usual. Anders didn’t care though and he began swimming the length of the lake. He swam and the moonlight traced his way, tiny ripples created in the water following neatly behind him. He was in heaven. He didn’t even notice the little girl with pigtails approach the shore quietly and steal his clothes. It was a Pixie! She saw that a man had come to the lake and had started swimming around in it, and having known people to come and upset the lake with their noise and their garbage she wanted to play a prank on this one. She came to steal his clothes so that he would have to go back home naked. She was also going to go into the village and make lots of noise so that everyone would be awake to see him come home nude and wet and embarrassed. And she would laugh and laugh. But Pixies aren’t like people, and they can sense things. The moment she touched Anders’ clothes she could sense his character through them and she knew he wasn’t like most people and was only here because he respected nature. So she paused. She contemplated still pranking him out of principle and she was just about to argue this dilemma with herself when she looked up because suddenly there was a noise. Anders was out in the middle of the lake and the cold water had gotten the best of him. He went out too far and wouldn’t make it back. He was drowning.

Now, Pixies might be tricksters and they might care little for the trials and tribulations of man but they are not evil creatures, so this one flew straight to him. I say flew because pixies do not merely float in mid-air as the foolish drug abusing priest reported earlier, they have wings which move so quickly that a regular human eye can’t see them. So she flew to the boy’s aid, grabbed Anders and pulled him from the clutches of the Reaper. He was shivering cold and he had swallowed a lot of water. His lips turned blue and his skin an ashen gray and his eyes were rolling into the back of his head and the Pixie knew he was dying.