The Fairy Queen

Chapter 1

Click. Clack. Click. Clack.

Light skinned short fingers moved rapidly across the keyboard while deep brown eyes focused on the bright screen before them. She was the picture-perfect definition of concentrated. Her long dark hair was backed in a messy bun and her lower lips were red from being bit too frequently in bouts of frustration.

She sighed and reclined in the chair as she closed her eyes to let them rest because they had been working too hard for the past two hours. There was soft music playing in the background, instrumentals she had downloaded online to help her focus on work.

Still, there were times she got stunted and had to take a break. Well, it wasn’t like she was making much progress on the work.

Her eyes moved to the lower right corner of her laptop to check the time. It was already 2:36 am. It was way past her bedtime and in a few hours, it would be time for school. Neither her parents nor her school cared that she had a manuscript to finish, so she had to go to bed.

It wasn’t like the manuscript was awfully important. It was more like a documentation, a dream journal of some sort. Ever since she was younger, she had been having strange dreams of mostly mythical creatures. She had read up on them since they were much too frequent to dismiss as a hallucination and now, she was fairly knowledgeable on the works of mythical fiction.

Her dream journal was basically piecing together all her dreams and trying to understand them. She was thinking of publishing it and moving to the big city where she would finally be rid of her overprotective and controlling parents. College wasn’t a suitable escape; she had to find something much more concrete as a source of income so her running away would be justified.

Shutting off her laptop, she turned off the desk light and went to bed. Lying there and waiting for sleep to come, she remembered there was something to look forward to. Her birthday was the day to come.

Every sheltered kid dreamed of the day their 18th birthday would arrive. Hers came later in the year; June 17th, the onset of summer. Her senior year was wrapping up, she had sent out college applications and her dream journal was finally (sort of) coming together. There was definitely something to look forward to.

She smiled to herself before closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep.

****

The morning rays, the loud alarm and ruckus going on in the lower floor was not enough to wake Meryl up. With every bit of noise, her body would turn on the bed, adjust itself and drift back to sleep.

“Hey! Didn’t you say you were helping to plan the prom? Why are you still sleeping?!”

“Damn the prom... I’m sleepy.”

“Meryl Rosetta Adam-Gallen, if you don’t stand up right now -”

“Alright, alright, I’m up,” Meryl announced and reluctantly pushed herself up to a sitting position before pouting at her mother.

Lilith Adam-Gallen was a fussy woman and she fused over everything, especially her first child Meryl. A s a tall, slender woman, she towered over her daughter’s bed at 5’11. It was still too early for her to take care of her appearance so her hair was still a mess and she was wearing a pink apron and house slippers. Despite her homey look and her age, she was still a very attractive woman.

"Good," Lilith replied with a stern look on her face and walked out of the room.

Meryl thought about going back to bed but she knew her mother would be back to check on her in five minutes so she let out a sigh and dragged herself out of bed before she headed to the bathroom.

After taking her shower and getting ready for school, she went down to the dining room to see her whole family already there, eating breakfast.

“Good morning dad,” she said as she walked up to where her father was seated, leaning down to kiss him on the cheek.

Percy Adams-Gallen smiled at his daughter. He was a man already in his forties, but he looked much younger than that.

“Morning sweetie. You should sleep earlier, you know? I still heard you up after midnight,” the man said as Meryl sat next to him and she tilted her head at him.

“What were you doing up, dad?”

He shrugged. “Couldn’t sleep.”

“Me neither.”

“She was probably still writing her dream journal. She spends way too much time on that thing” Jessie Adams-Gallen, the last child who was in middle school, said. She was adopted from the city and brought to live with the family when she was younger. She was fond of her older sister and hated anything that took her attention away from her, that included Meryl’s dream journal.

“Darling, I appreciate you taking up a hobby but messing up your sleep schedule while you’re still this young is not healthy,” Percy reprimanded and Meryl gave him a sheepish smile.

“Yes, darling,” Lukas Adam-Gallen mimicked, giving his older sister a lecturing look, and Meryl glared at the 16-year-old boy who was the only biological child of the Adam-Gallen’s.

“I don’t want to hear anything from you, Lukas.”

“It’s not me, it’s dad. Listen to dad.”

“Hey! Don’t talk while eating,” Lilith announced as she walked into the dining room.

“Sorry mom,” Lukas and Meryl said in unison as Meryl sneered at her brother and Percy chuckled.

“Darling, are you sure you don’t want a party tomorrow? It’s not too late to plan it,” Lilith said as she took a seat at the dining table.

"You said we shouldn't talk while eating," Lukas murmured and Jessie snorted when Lilith ignored him.

“Mom, it’s fine," Meryl replied. "I already got a car and an allowance increase. Besides, I’m really busy right now so if you really want to celebrate it, you can do it when the preparation for prom is over.”

“Alright then. I’ll just bake a cake tomorrow.”

“But mum, I don’t like cake.”

Lilith raised a brow at her daughter as the corner of her mouth quirked up. “A chocolate ice cream cake?”

“I’m sold,” she replied without hesitation, giving her mother a thumbs up, and Lilith chuckled.

“... So Meryl, do you have a prom date already?” Percy asked after a little and Meryl paused before pressing her lips together.

“I can bet you ten bucks that she doesn't has one,” Lukas stated when Meryl still didn't say anything after a couple of seconds and Meryl glared at him but still remained quiet because her was right though. She didn't have a prom date.

"Meryl, I grant you the permission to ditch your brother today," Lilith said, frowning at Lukas, and a smile crept onto Meryl's face while Lukas' mouth fell open because Meryl was the one that always drove them to school.

"Thank you, mum," Meryl replied with a sweet smile as she got up from her seat and glanced at Jessie. "Come on Jessie. Let's leave for school," she added and started walking away from the dining table while Jessie got to her feet too.

"No, no, Meryl!" Lukas called out, a panicked look on his face, and she glanced at him over her shoulder. "How am I supposed to get to school?"

"That's your personal problem."