The Fairies (7) : The City has been lit up for the Star Festival with banners and twinkling decorations strewn off the windowsills of shop fronts and windows. The gardeners at one particular park have put their heart and soul into creating a fairy's paradise: Fairy lights have been carefully dangled from trees to make strings of stars, little beaded jewels have been hidden among the hedges, and even the old cobwebs have been sprayed with just a touch of glitter. The park is open to everyone and the citizens of Destiny City have been invited to respectfully explore the hidden wonders that have been placed throughout. The park is magical enough on its own but there have also been reports of a strange, ethereal and shimmering stranger in the park. The glimmer of a beautiful costumed figure fluttering through the park has been passed around as rumor, and no matter what anyone claims to see, no one can take a picture of it. As if simply seeing some magical figure isn’t mysterious enough, there are also reports of mischief and small pranks being played at the same time this figure seems to appear.
Fairy’s Paradise.
That seemed an apt name for this particular park, Mel thought as she started her walk. Her co-worker had told her about it, raving about how it was such a perfect date spot and that she ought to take a special someone if she had one. She didn’t, but she was here all the same. You didn’t need to be a couple to appreciate this view, after all. Also, she needed her steps for the day.
Mel walked about, a bright smile on her face as she appreciated the work that had gone into making this glittery wonderland. There were even people wandering around, offering cute little charms that went well with the whole aesthetic. Mel happily took one that had a soft gradient of colors, appreciating it for a long moment before pocketing it. As she walked on and saw the extent of the decorations, she came to appreciate that to do all this at all, never mind outdoors, truly couldn’t have been easy, given the weather and all, but they’d done such a fantastic job. She stopped to take photos here and there, but otherwise kept a slow, leisurely pace to enjoy herself.
She tried, anyway, to enjoy herself. Unfortunately for her, the universe seemed to have other plans.
It was almost as though she jinxed every person walking along the same path as her. Someone tripped and dropped their drink, which landed just beside her foot and splashed all over her shoes and her pants. She happened to walk by just as someone who’s hand slipped and they dragged their permanent marker across the sleeve of her shirt. People were randomly bumping into her where there’s clearly enough space that they shouldn’t be. She even stepped in…
Well. That was probably just her luck for the day.
Not to mention the entire time she could swear she was hearing someone giggling the entire time.
Tired, and just about finished with her steps, Mel took a seat at a random bench. The crowd was thinning and she found that she was really alone for the first time that night.
“Finally,” the young woman sighed, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath to try and get rid of the negative emotions that always came with having rotten luck, even if it was only for a day. This wasn’t the first time she had a bad day, but it was probably the first time so many bad things happened to her in quick succession. It was bizarre, really, but. Well, that’s life.
She snorted.
“That’s life. Yeah, that’ll cheer me up.”
She leaned back and started to just people-watch to take her mind off of it, and she once again had to appreciate all the decorations. Truly done up in the spirit of the Star Festival, she thought with a small smile.
That was when she noticed it. A little wisp of light floating just in front of her. It looked to be a very well-placed decoration, except…how could that be, exactly? There was no nearby tree or lamp post that it could have been hanging from. After a moment of what felt like eye contact the wisp began to bounce around all excited-like. It actually reminded her of Navi from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
Of course, when she processed what she was looking at she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand. She blinked, thinking she had to have been seeing things, and when she looked again it was gone.
She felt relief wash over her right then. Good, she wasn’t going crazy. Between ghost-giggling and floating light, she honestly thought she was starting to lose it. It was probably about time she went home, so with another sigh she stood and started walking, hoping to leave her bad luck at the bench.
That didn’t happen, of course. The bad luck followed her. So did the giggle, at least until she got to the end of the park.
668 (gdocs)
