Fairy behind the back yard

The story of a boy and a fairy.

There was a boy who was left by his parents at the age of one. He was adopted by a pair who wanted a boy, but were more concerned with their life in the show. The boy had to be “good”, self sufficient, never complain and bear everything with a smile. He was also left alone at home most of the evenings and some of the nights.

He was just starting school, when one night, after doing his homework and the housework, he felt again an inner stress that drove him outside. Wandering on the streets alone was easy with good hearing and proficiency in sneaking around. Sometimes he spent hours in the night without being seen.

This night though, he felt the stress building into tension, tension into urge and he kept going aimlessly, unable to stop. He felt angry at the world, but saw no reason. He wandered as a bubble isolated from the rest of the outside Universe, but couldn't tell why. He saw families having dinner and felt angry frustration, but could not understand it. He peeked at a schoolmate arriving home, who was always the centre of attention, even though he was weaker and less smart than the boy. Still, he was greeted by proud parents.

The air was turning cool by the minute and the boy could smell the fumes of fires of warm hearths and those of cooking cakes. At a dumpster, he almost fell over a stray dog, that pulled back stricken with an almost round back. Angry, the boy picked up a fist size rock at the edge of the lawn and threw it at the dog. The rock impacted with a well audible thud and a loud yowl followed. The yowl still echoes from the nearby houses as the rock landed spinning on the side-walk and the dog went off whining loudly on three legs, pulling the fourth behind.

At first the boy stood there with thinly pressed lips, looking at his target whose fault was to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The lips relaxed and eyes began to widen as realization sank in. By the time the dog disappeared from sight, his mouth was trembling, his face frightened. At the first noise of someone coming out of the house investigating what happened, he turned and fled as fast as his legs allowed him. A loud Hey! echoed on the street, but the boy's otherwise acute hearing could not detect it. He heard nothing and only saw a blurry patch of road ahead surrounded by a watery tunnel. His short legs propelled him relentlessly ahead without any sign of tiring and within five minutes, he rushed into his home's front yard. But his path avoided the house and continued further back, into the back yard, disappearing among the bushes at the farthest end, next to the battered plank back fence.

There he sat on the cool dirt, legs pulled up and sobbed silently. The fence had a big gap near him, that his father never had the time to repair. Through that, he peeked with his still blurry vision and almost froze at what he saw. A beautiful being approached, he never saw before. A bright light appeared and she emerged from that, wearing beautiful white clothes that seemed to flow in the air around her like veils in the water. Her golden hair flowed down like a spring waterfall and she barely touched the ground while walking.

As she reached the gap of the missing plank, she crouched surrounded by a golden aura, benevolence radiating from her, calling, calling for the boy to press through the gap despite his closed shell. She caressed his face and wiped his tears asking why he was so sad. Gathering his remaining inner strength, the boy told her what happened while he roamed the streets and how he hurt the dog. The heavenly being assured the boy that it was a sturdy dog and would heal by morning. She also told the boy, that he cannot change what already happened, but could amend it by doing good things. Help others when they are in need and everything will be all right.

The slow flow of tears stopped, he thanked her and the boy pressed himself back into the bushes. Once behind the house, he could finally stand up and stand straight. Almost. But he saw hope and had a goal.

Hearing his foster parents car approaching, he hurried up into his room and was in bed by the time they entered the house. There was no point in faking sleep, turning off the light was enough. He replayed the happenings of the night in his head and made sure, he would remember everything for a life. Good and bad alike. Then, he fell asleep.

The next morning his parents told him they were moving on to another city and pack his things in half an hour. It was easily done. He wasn't short on things, but only a handful really felt like “his”. Within an hour, he was sitting on the back-seat of the car, watching the house disappearing from his sight. They made two right turns and the boy saw the top of their house one last time. They were just in front of a small beige house and a lady was locking the door before leaving. She had tightly knotted hair and looked like a school teacher. Probably stern, but also probably righteous.

But the boy knew better and smiled. Because he knew… that hidden in the backyard, there lived a fairy.

Author's Note

Written for "The 2015 Annual FairyTale Contest".
I'm trying myself out in different genres. I have never written a fairytale before.