Magic Within the Waves

Molly's Own Magic Pt 2

Molly’s Own Magic

Part 2

***

Two years later

It was a beautiful afternoon, not too hot and far from cold. This was my favourite kind of weather, a calm spring day that poured warmth inside your soul the second you stepped outside, especially after being stuck in a stuffy classroom for what felt like forever. There were clouds in the distance but that was fine. The day was beautiful.

Leaving the schoolyard, I skipped up the footpath behind my two friends Crystal and Annalisa, towards the playground just around the corner. Anna was thin and from here, looked more skeletal than human with knobby elbows and a long neck. She had an attractive smile, but for some reason you didn’t see it very often. Crystal, on the other hand, was angelic and dainty just as her name suggested. She swayed when she walked, and her laugh was whimsical.

Usually, both girls found my knowledge of mythical creatures fascinating. They loved the way I poured so much passion into every word, breathing life into them. But today was different. Something had changed. From the moment we arrived at school, they had kept their distance, avoiding me like the plague. It left me with no other choice but to hang around Scarlet O’Brian and Rosita McFarland, two Scottish transfer students. They were nice girls and had an interesting tale about whisps, but I struggled to understand them. Besides, I missed Crystal and Anna’s company ... We had been friends since primary school.

I decided it was time to confront them in the playground at our usual hang out, while we waited for John to pick us up.

Crystal and Anna watched me cautiously as I approached, their eyes darting around the playground. Were they deciding whether to run, or let me join them? What had gotten into them? Why were they acting like this?

‘Can I ask you, girls, something?’ I asked, dropping my school bag by the fence, and perching on the end of the warm metal slide.

They glanced at each other and then back to me. Neither of them gave any expression.

‘You just did,’ Anna replied her face as blank and dreary as an empty canvas.

‘Silly,’ I chuckled, propping my chin in my hands. ‘You know that’s not what I was going to ask. I just want to know why you’ve both been ignoring me. It’s not like you two.’

Again, they looked at each other, a shared link – blue eyes versus brown … And the intensity of Crystal’s blue eyes were winning by a mile. They always did. You could never argue with them.

‘It’s your behaviour,’ Crystal sighed, breaking their link, and facing me.

Still smiling, I jumped up from my seat. ‘My behaviour? I don’t understand. What have I done?’

‘It’s all your childhood fantasies,’ Anna added. She glanced down, purposely finding the dry, browning grass on the ground more interesting – or safer to look at than me. ‘It’s like you’re still ten years old … playing with dolls and making up silly stories about unicorns and mermaids.’

Laughing, I twirled before them, embracing the warmth in the air. ‘What’s wrong with believing in magic? It’s all around us, in everything we touch … and it’s beautiful.’

‘We’re seventeen,’ Crystal concluded, brushing her blonde locks behind her shoulder, her porcelain cheeks growing crimson. ‘It’s time to start acting like a teenager – start growing up and packing away dolls, wearing bras and dating.’

Frowning – in a way that I was sure I mimicked John, I glanced down at my still-developing breasts hidden beneath my dress. ‘But I do wear bras and I don’t play with dolls ... I design costumes. I told you – I want to own a costume shop one day. It’s a magical, yet semi-practical dream…’

Shaking her head, Anna placed a bony hand on my shoulder, squeezing it slightly. ‘You are a strange girl, Molly. You don’t realise that you are so pretty ... all the guys watch you wherever you go – with drool literally seeping from their mouths. Yet, you don’t pay them any attention. Your head is always away in another world.’

‘What’s wrong with having imagination?’ I asked, still keeping my happy tone but I could sense the tears were building behind my eyelids, as they began to fog my view.

‘Nothing,’ Crystal replied, her gaze retreating to the safety of the swing-set beside me. ‘It’s just ... there is a time and a place for everything… At school, you need to start joining us more, instead of lingering in the trees like a child, searching for things that don’t exist. And in all honesty, the time for finding a boyfriend might be over for you before it even begins…’

‘She’s right,’ Anna nodded. ‘Yes, you are pretty, Molly, guys think there’s something odd about you. They call you the crazy little pixie girl. So, if you want to stay friends with us – and find a boyfriend before the school formal, then all that childish nonsense should be left at home.’

‘What about finding our own Prince Charming’s?” I pulled my shoulder away from Anna and stepped back, the tears now trickling down my cheeks. ‘None of the boys here are even the slightest bit charming… Prince Charming – That is the only man we will ever need.’

‘You have got to be kidding?’ Both girls laughed. ‘That only happens in stories.’

It was hard to contain my sobs after hearing the truth about what people thought of me. The ache was worse learning that my two friends were ashamed to have any contact with the crazy little pixie girl. I wasn’t crazy, far from it – just open-minded and free-spirited. There was nothing wrong with being like that … was there?

There was a honk from a car horn that broke my train of thought. I looked up to see Anna’s mum’s rattly old car parked at the playground entrance.

‘Until you grow up Molly,’ Anna continued, turning her back to me and starting in the direction of the waiting car, ‘we’ll be catching a lift with my Mum. Tell John not to pick us up tomorrow... or in the future…’

‘Pity, really.’ Crystal hung her head. ‘I do enjoy your company. You just – need to grow up.’

They both left me behind, climbing into the back of the car without glancing back once. What was so wrong with believing in magic? What was so wrong in believing such wondrous mythical creatures existed?

Crying with their words, ‘It’s time to grow up’ replaying through my mind, I hurried to the closest tree and scurried into the safety of the branches. I decided to stay there, watching my fellow school-mates hurrying to meet their lifts home … until my own arrived. But John was at work. He wasn’t due for at least another hour, so I closed my eyes and thought about something that made me smile again – Daddy.

***

The sky was dark outside, cloaking the distant stars. If you squinted hard enough, you could just see their murky twinkle. I had just finished reading The Life of a Nymph to Daddy and started yawning.

‘Magic is in everything you touch, Molly my love … just keep your mind wide open,’ he whispered, tucking me into bed. ‘You are a very special girl, Molly. Never forget that… no matter what people say.’

‘Are fairies real?’ I placed the book beside my bed.

Laughing his warm-hearted laugh, he kissed my head. ‘If you believe hard enough, anything’s possible.’

‘I believe, Daddy,’ I repeated, opening my eyes again and finding myself back in the tree. ‘I wish you were here…’

Every day I missed Daddy. If I could go home tonight and run into his arms, tell him what had happened, of course, he would listen. Not Mum. She would stick her nose in the air and agree with Anna and Crystal. My daughter is the crazy little pixie girl.

I sat there, staring at the peeling tree bark, when something scurried past me, rustling the leaves on a nearby branch. I wasn’t sure what it was, but it looked familiar, like the nymph I had caught brief glimpses of a few years ago.

‘I won’t hurt you,’ I promised, keeping my voice to a calm whisper. I took hold of the next branch and pulled myself up. ‘Please trust me. I believe in you.’

There was a minute of silence then a flutter of golden hair came from behind a cluster of gathered leaves. I held my breath and watched a tiny woman, no bigger than the palm of my hand, emerge. Her body was cloaked in the strands of her long hair. She was naked and shivering from head to toe.

‘You’re real! I knew it!’

Her pretty face tilted to the side, taking in everything about me with just a simple glance.

‘I won’t hurt you.’ I offered my hand for her to step onto. ‘I knew you were real… I just knew it! I’ve never seen one like you… Here, climb on, please … Let me help you.’

She shook her head, covering her bare chest with her arms and backed away.

‘You poor thing ... you must be cold.’ I reached for the hem of my dress and tore off a piece. I knew Mum would be furious, but I didn’t care. I took the needle and thread I kept pinned on the outside of my bra and quickly fashioned a dress for her. ‘I’m sorry it’s not perfect, but I hope this keeps you warm.’

She let me slip it over her head and curtsied. She was so angelic.

‘I’m so glad I have finally seen you. No one believes in you, but I do ... I always have.’

Now happily covered, the tiny nymph skipped up the branch and danced onto the next, shaking gum leaves into the air.

‘Wait, don’t go,’ I pleaded, reaching up to touch her.

She stopped, turned back to me, and placed her hand on the tip of my finger. An electric sensation like no other coursed through my veins, making all the tiny hairs on my body stand on end. When she removed her hand, I grasped the tree and fought off the light-headedness she had left me with. Trying to steady my balance, I reached for another branch and missed, my hands fumbling for something to grasp.

‘Help!’ I screamed. The rush of air whooshed through my hair as I fell from the tree. ‘Ah, help,’ I cried again as the ground grew closer. I closed my eyes and waited for the rattle of my bones against the ground.

When I stopped falling, pain shot through my body, knocking the air from my lungs. The silence grew around me as the world grew in and out of focus. Coughing, I blinked my watery eyes and moved my hands around me. I found myself on the grass looking up at the cloudy greying sky.

‘Ow…’ wincing, I sat up. Fire rushed to my ankle and the side of my head began to throb. ‘Help me, please, someone help me...’

‘Jeez, are you alright?’

I glanced up through teary eyes to see a boy about my age with yellow-gold hair, leaning over me. Worry clouded his piercing blue eyes.

‘Can you tell me where it hurts ... oh hell you’re bleeding.’ Kneeling beside me, he touched the stinging skin on the side of my forehead.

‘Ouch,’ I winced.

‘Here let me stop the bleeding.’ He pulled his shirt off over his head and placed it against my throbbing temple.

I looked him over. He was tall with flawless sun-kissed skin, defining the indents of where his collarbone trailed beneath his neck. A sense of maturity flowed from his penetrating blue eyes. It stole my breath away. I had never seen this boy before.

He stroked my foot. ‘It’s okay. Just looks like a sprain.’

‘Ah,’ I recoiled from his touch. ‘It hurts.’

‘Sorry,’ he brushed the strands of messy hair from my face and his eyes grew wide, glowing in the sunlight. ‘Wow ...’

‘What? Is it my face? Is it really bad?’

‘No, it’s ...’ he swallowed, his Adam’s apple wobbling in his throat. ‘It’s just that you have really beautiful eyes. What’s your name?’

‘Molly,’ I replied, my heart racing inside my chest, echoing like a drum inside my ears. ‘Molly Sims.’

‘Well, Molly Sims … I’m Anthony Brown. I just moved here and so far, you’re the first person I have met that’s made this move suddenly more interesting.’

‘Really ...? It’s nice to meet you ... Anthony.’ I smiled at him, heat rushing from the rest of my body to my cheeks. He was the first boy to make me so nervous and excited at the same time. I liked it.

‘Please, call me Tony.’ His cheeks matched mine, making his face even brighter. ‘I think I’m going to really enjoy living here.’