Falling From Birds

She was a fairy-tailer, a girl caught up in dreams of princes and wishes falling like leaves from the trees. Every morning she would ask the bird if a dream awaited her on the horizon and wait to see if they would bring her an answer. On this day as she sat by the window with her book of hope laid on the table before her she looked up to see a leaf float down and rest on the pages. It was a golden leaf, like those that came at the beginning of autumn though autumn was almost gone with the leaves outside a crackling brown. This golden must have been saved by the birds for her. She held it up and smiled, sending out a heart full of thanks to the birds. Today she had been given a dream and today she might meet her prince.

She rested the leaf back in her little notebook and tucked it away into her bag. Softly she leant her hands against her chin and stared up at the sky which was growing brighter as the day wore through the morning. Clouds washed over it but they weren’t dark like the gloomy signs of rain. These were the clouds of diamonds, dropping through the sky to shine across the land. It was a sky under which someone could meet their prince.

He would handsome she knew, not because of the hair or the clothes but because of the smile. Her heart would flutter and with his deep eyes he would take her hand. All her dream would come true in that moment, every question to the birds would bring an answer.

Tearing from the window she realised that staring outside would not bring her a prince. The birds could save a leaf to float through a window but no prince was falling down that way. Shutting it with a click she took up her bag and headed from the house. Outside the flowers seemed to know that something was happening and shone around her, willing the world to brighten for her day.

Every day he had hoped it would be the one where she meets her prince. Finally the birds and she sky and the flowers, all the things that shone around a princess and smiled at her will, were working for her. With every step she knew in the next one she could meet him. He could be anywhere, coming out of a house, waiting at the bus stop, in line before her to buy coffee. Of course she had her dreams about how they would meet. It would be on a cliff, overlooking the water with the horizon stretching out before them. They would look out over the horizon and he would whisper in her ear how that horizon was their future; endless possibilities that would await their love.

She knew as she reached the bus stop and found the bus pulling up that she didn’t plan on going near any cliffs that day bit she did not mind if she meet him elsewhere. As long as she met him she would be happy.

She eyed the people as she picked her seat; the old man, young lady, the kid who if he was  few years older might just pass. None of them could be her prince. She still smiled, the day was young,  there were plenty of people that she would pass that day and it may not be til the night when she meet him. A flutter came through her heart at the thought and she knew the day was going to be perfect.

With each person that got on the bus she eyed them wonderingly. Then as she walked down the streets she eyed each person the same. One of them had to be her prince. Her day went like that, her eyes barely recognising the world around her. She was enraptured in her heart. Every now and then she open the little notebook and hold up the leaf, seeing if it drew someone near.

No one came and as the sun begun to its descent she returned to her home. For a moment as she entered the house she wondered if her prince would be waiting inside but she was meet with an emptiness.

Placing herself as the window she opened her notebook and held the leaf up once more. Had the birds deceived her? She couldn’t bear the creature she had trusted for so long turning against her and knew her thoughts must just be idle ones of impatience. She had to shake it away, be patient and the birds would bring the prince to her. They had given her a golden leaf and they would not desert her now.

She fingered the little notebook before her. She had started it when her mother had once spun a story about a lonely princess locked away in a room with only a small window through which she could see the sky. The birds brought her things of the world; twigs, flowers, leaves and she learnt through them. One day they begin to bring her pages, and each page was another in a story. The princess wondered where they came from until she learnt that they came from a princess writing the story for her. When there were no more pages left he found his way into the room and rescued her. Of course they lived happily ever after.

Like that princess she too was brought a gift from the birds and it meant her prince was just out of sight. With the window opened a breath of wind came through, bringing a cold gust that made her shiver. As she learnt forward to close it she glanced at the notebook which had slipped onto a new page. It was the page where she’d written how they’d meet.

With only a moment of thought she cried her thanks to the birds and grabbing the notebook ran from the room. She knew where she would meet her prince.

Outside the day had grown dark but she didn’t mind as she hurried through the streets. Down she rushed to where the sand met the water but she didn’t look at the beach which usually enraptured her. Walking to the side she began the small ascent to the cliff.

Her heart beat out of her chest as she reached the top and she breathed as she draw closer to the edge. No one was around and she paused, gathering her breath as she looked out at the horizon. That was their future.

The prince would be here, it was where the birds had brought her.

When she felt the tap on her shoulder she was prepared and she turned with all the dignity and grace bestowed upon a princess. She was meeting her prince.

For all her years of waiting, all her wondering about this moment she knew in an instance it wasn’t him. He was too old, with his head beginning to bald and his skin showing deep groves. He smiled at her but there was nothing dashing about it and there was no love, no mesmerising gaze in his eyes.

With him eyeing her she wasn’t sure she wanted be so close to the edge anymore and she tried to nod politely before moving past him.

A hand grabbed her arm and she felt the fast grip on her skin.

She had come searching for a prince, not this man that was now causing terror to sink into her chest. She tried to push away but his other hand firmly wrapped itself around hers.

Whenever she imagined her fairy-tale she had thought of the birds and the prince and the happiness but she had forgotten that there was always an evil once. Fairy-tale always started with pain.

As she struggled furtively with the man she felt a tear drop down her cheek. That was the tear that was meant to heal everything but she could see no good before her. Her foot lashed out and she glimpsed something tumble over the edge; her bag with her book of hope inside. A part of her heat gave away with it and she hoped that the sea would remember her dreams.

The man loomed onto her and she yearned out for her prince to save her from her torment. The birds had forsaken her, their days of chattering and twirling outside her window now seeming a farce. She needed someone to pull her to safety. She didn’t care who anymore, it didn’t have to be a prince, all she needed was someone real.

 

As the water washed a bag down into the depths of the sea, a small leaf fluttered to the surface; finding the wave taking it to shore. A young man, feet resting on the edge, reached down and picked it up, holding it to the nights sky. It was odd to find a leaf this golden at the end of autumn. Unoblivious to the girl crying on the cliff top he kept the leaf in his hand, thinking of how it would make a nice memento as a symbol of his love. He hadn’t meet his princess yet but he knew one day he would. He didn’t know that she was nearby or that she needed his help, or that one day may be never.

He smiled at the thought of his princess and continued to walk along the beach, unaware of the fairy-tales that didn’t end in happiness.