The Better Girl

There once was a girl. She was a lonely girl, a lovely girl, and she was kind. One day, while out for a walk in the woods, she was visited by a one of the fae, who granted her a wish.

The girl sat by a stream for hours wondering what she would like to wish for. When she finally spoke, she asked if she could have the power to make people's lives better.

What the girl really wanted was to make them smile, make them happier for having spent some time with her, which, by the way, she already had. The fae, however, liked to play tricks, as they do, and granted the girl her wish.

The girl went home feeling quite undiffernt than when she had left on her walk. She wondered if she had actually fallen asleep, and dreamt the whole exchange.

Time went on. The girl grew. Everyone in the town loved her, spoke well of her, and enjoyed when they met. She loved them as well. Each time she spoke with anyone, she would make it a point to leave them better for having come in contact with her. Whether it was by listening to them, offering encouragement, or by simply smiling her radiant smile, each one walked away feeling lighter. They ended up having a better day.

After a while of living life this way, she came to have a small circle of friends, and even a family of her own. She poured her philosophy of living into them all until one day she felt quite dissatisfied.

It felt as if, during all those moments in her life had been one sided, that the people took from her. And she had let them. She realized that she wanted more from life although she did not really know what.

She watched as her life fell apart. Her family split, her work was in shambles, and her friends were not really ever there when she needed someone to make her day better. She did that for herself, all on her own. Her days were lonely.

She knew she needed a change.

She decided to go to the woods. It had been quite some time since she had taken that walk. The walk that led her to have what she now believed was only a dream. As she walked on the path, she thought about that day, about the little creature that popped up before her who granted her one wish. She had remembered every detail even though she had not thought of it in years.

When she reached the stream, she sat against the same rock. Looking out over the running water she contemplated her life. It seemed like each of the people that she knew, spoke with, spent time with, had ended succeeding at what ever they tried. The moments in her own life rolled by. The people closest to her, that she had left, appeared to be living their dreams, while each of her dreams failed.

Their lives were better, hers was worse. Far worse than what she ever thought her life would be.

She hung her head and cried.

After some time, she heard a voice. She opened her eyes and hovering before her was the fae she had seen in a dream all those years ago. The fae looked the same, like no time had passed. She was older, wider, sad, and wrinkled.

She asked the fae if she was real, to which the fae replied she was very real, and landed on her knee.

The fae told her she had been watching her life go by after she granted her the wish. She spoke with a devilish glee as she detailed the people the girl met, the thoughts she had, and the way in which she had improved their days. She told her how each and every time the girl took the time to listen, encourage, or smile that she lost just a little bit of magic. That each little bit of magic lost had gone to those people, and made their magic better.

The fae laughed at her good joke, and continued. She told the girl, now old and done with life, that her wish had not been specific, which granted the fae leeway to interpret. She called her a foolish child for taking a wish from a fae, and a stupid one for wishing her magic away, which she did by asking that she make other's lives better.

As the fae spoke, time flowed by in a weird way. Vines crept up the legs, body, arms of the old woman who had given all her magic away. And she drifted off to sleep.

A bird perched in the trees, a woodpecker, started to peck peck peck at the bark. The girl awoke.

She gasped, and looked down at her legs. There were no vines, no leaves wrapping around her. There was no fae.

She touched her face. No wrinkles. She looked down at her body. Young.

The dream ran through her mind as she ran down the path, as she ran home. She learned a lesson that day. She could care, she could be kind, she could be joy. She could do all of it without taking away from her magic. And the lonely she thought she was had gone. For she knew now, that she had herself, and she would never give it away.

She was a better girl for having fallen asleep by the rock by the stream in the woods that day. Behind her, a little creature flitted to and fro, watching the girl as she disappeared in the trees. What a good joke.

The fae giggled, and was gone.