Childish Imaginings

Amelia was a peculiar child. She always spoke about nonexistent creatures as if she spent time with them. So, when she spoke about wood nymphs and faeries we all just kind of ignored her and wrote it off as the imaginings of a small child. That was until something very strange happened.

It was Amelia’s seventh birthday and the whole family, which wasn’t but 5 of us, gathered to celebrate the special day. Mother made Amelia’s favorite cake, triple chocolate, three-layer cake with homemade chocolate buttercream frosting. Amelia insisted on making a flower crown and having us all hold hands to create a “faerie ring” around her as we sang “Happy Birthday.” Mom cut Amelia a big slice of the decadent cake, knowing she would only have a couple of bites before becoming distracted by her imaginings. After cake, she opened her gifts which all consisted of some variation of imaged creature gadgets she could use in her exploration of the faerie lands. Amelia immediately set out to use those gadgets. Me being the older sister, I was tasked with shadowing her on her adventure that day. As much as I protested, I actually wanted the escape from reality to break from my normal boredom.

That evening felt different for some strange reason. I couldn’t quite pinpoint it. The air seemed heavier on my skin and the breeze did not cool me like normal. I felt the need to stay close to Amelia just in case. Our property had a small creek about 100 yards behind our house, that was Amelia’s favorite place to play. She said the faeries, which were good, lived on the side of the creek closes to the house. The nymphs, which were not good, lived on the opposite side of the creek. The problem Amelia told me, was the faeries needed a particular berry that only grew on the nymph’s side of the creek and they needed her help to pick them. I, not believing the story to be any more than a child’s imagination run wild, decided to play along. I helped Amelia cross the small creek and as soon as we stepped foot on what Amelia deemed “forbidden earth” I had a strange feeling. I thought to myself that the heat must be getting to me or I had just imagined the almost vibrating feeling I had when stepping across the creek. I shook my head in an attempt to rid myself of the strange feeling and asked Amelia what berries we were supposed to pick. She described the berries as being deep red in color with white spots and a prickly stem. I had never heard or seen a berry of that sort before but I began searching anyway.

I was lost in thought searching for Amelia’s imaginary berries and not paying her much attention when I heard her short yelp of a scream. I turned around to see Amelia holding what appeared at first to be a small mouse. I stepped forward to take a closer look and realized, that was no mouse. It has tiny bat-like wings, beady red eyes, and sharp little claws. The creature had bitten Amelia’s ankle as she was picking the very berries that matched the description she gave me exactly, and she snatched it up to show me. I looked at my little sister in complete disbelief. She returned my stare with one of her own that said she was accustomed to people not believing her stories. She told me the tiny creature was a wood nymph and their bite was poisonous for us but would have been deadly for her faerie friends. She told me I would have to help her back to the faeries on the other side of the creek so they could heal the bite or she would become very ill.

I was completely dumbfounded, caught between thinking it was the heat playing tricks on my mind and actually believing my silly little sister’s wild stories. I was finally forced to settle for believing her because I had seen the creature with my own two eyes. Amelia instructed me on how to get to the faerie mound. I picked her up in my arms and started walking.

We crossed back over the small creek and the air felt immediately lighter. Before I could take a step in the direction of the faerie mound, tiny human-like figures started coming out from the flowers, rocks, and trees. Amelia explained to me these were faeries and they would help her. Faster than my eyes could follow, the faeries applied a poultice and leaf wrap to the bite on my sister’s ankle. As quickly as they had appeared, they once again vanished into the vegetation around the creek. I asked Amelia why they had revealed themselves to her and no one else. She told me they first trusted her because even though she spoke of them, no one believed her. They eventually saw her as a friend because she would help them gather the berries that were so important to them.

It was getting dark so I knew I needed to get Amelia home. I started to pick her up again, but she waved me off and showed me her ankle. It had already healed completely. When we walked back into the house, mom was bent over the sink washing something that looked like berries, deep red berries with white spots. Amelia and I looked at each other in disbelief with mouths gaping. Mom turned to look in our direction and when she spotted us with gaping mouths, she gave us a quick, knowing wink.