Sammy and the Wicked Fairy

Chapter 2: Holly Blue

It had already been a week since Sammy placed her fairy house in their backyard. There seemed to be no sign of a fairy, she sighed. Perhaps it did not look alluring to fairies at all, she thought, with a pensive frown. Every day after school, she would carefully check on her fairy house, tiptoeing, afraid that she would scare the fairies away. But there were no fairies, nothing, nothing at all. She would just sit quietly on a wooden bench near their backyard garden and wait for a miracle to happen. She would not lose hope, despite having no evidence. She would repeat watching the broadcast interview with Mr. Everson last Saturday, since Mr. Everson has not posted any videos for a while. She wondered why.

"What an exhausting week it was! I haven't done any really hard work, but waiting becomes exhausting now," she said irritatedly.

She has spent most of her days in their backyard garden, waiting patiently, talking to herself, and checking every part of her fairy house to see if there's anything broken that needs fixing. And she would stay there until it was dark outside. "I just feel like I'm waiting for nothing." She felt unhappy but not hopeless.

She just doesn't have any hopes left to hold on to, except for her desire to encounter a fairy, which is now out of the question. However, Sammy would never tell herself that one. Everything had become exhausting for her, but when she felt like she was about to give up, that's when her desire became stronger.

Her desire is what keeps her going. It's not even Mr. Everson. Now that she knew Mr. Everson did not have the claim the same as hers, it would just make her feel hopeless. And that is something she wouldn't want to happen, hence she just wouldn't think about it. But then, it still bothers her.

She is now on her phone on the wooden bench while lying on her side, scrolling through her Flicksy app. She had seen multiple video thumbnails, with the title Fairies caught on cam on the video recommendations. But everything seems blurred in the thumbnails, some just looked like butterflies, you couldn't even get a glimpse of a face and the others are obviously edited so she wouldn't bother to watch any of it.

These are just clickbaits, aren't they? she thought, then she put her phone down.

She gave a deep sigh and then put her hand above her head. "Why wouldn't you show yourselves to me, little fairies?" She said, talking to a cool blowing wind. "Is believing not enough? I don't know what else I could do. Am I going crazy? Tell me I'm not, and let Pheobe Thompson swallow her words." Again, she gave a deep sigh, deeper than she did heretofore. She let her eyes close for a minute, clearing her thoughts, she then opened them. While looking at the sky, she immediately thought of an idea.

"Come inside, Sammy. Lunch is ready." Suddenly, her mother, Cecilia, called. "Just a second!" Sammy answered.

She quickly got up from lying down on the wooden bench, then she picked up her phone and a medium-sized rock. She put on the video recording and placed her phone on a bigger rock with the medium-sized rock she just picked up as a support to keep the phone from falling. She placed it near the fairy house, hoping to capture a fairy going inside of it. It was an idea she got from the video recommendations on the Flicksy app. "I assume that fairies don't have any knowledge about video cameras, so I guess this would work." She said to herself in a quiet voice, afraid that the fairies would hear her if ever they were already around, scared to ever reveal themselves.

She then went inside, not daring to look back at the fairy house, because she thought the fairies would raise suspicion about her plan. She thought of these things as if the fairies were really around, watching her every move. These are just one of the confirmations that Sammy is still hopeful about the truthfulness of the existence of the fairies she had never seen before, not even once.

She was already inside with her parents, sitting in the dining area. They were having shepherd's pie and tomato soup for lunch. These are one of those delicious pies and soups Sammy loved. Her mother, Cecilia, would cook Sammy's favorites all the time. Since she had no siblings, this would usually happen in the house. She would have a room all for herself, even toys, and clothes, and not to mention the attention she's getting from her parents. However, Sammy was never spoiled with the things she wanted. If something is needed, she would get it right away.

"You've been spending your time in the backyard since this morning, Sammy. What are you up there?" Cecilia asked.

Usually, Sammy would go mountain biking with her friends on Saturdays. But since she had already built the fairy house she had dreamed of, she would now spare her time looking for the magical world of fairies, or just for fairies rather. And as a matter of fact, Sammy didn't want to go out with her friends as much as she did before. She just doesn't seem to see them as real friends as she did before. Why did it change? One time, she told them about the fairy house she was making, telling them that she would use it to attract fairies and when fairies do, they would live in it, then she would probably make friends with them. But expectedly, her friends laughed at her plan. They would tell her that she was weird or waggish. This hurts her a lot but she hides it from them by laughing back in response.

"I'm guarding the fairy house, making sure that the adversaries will not be able to knock it down." Sammy answered, looking down at her tomato soup as she stirs it.

Both her parents looked at each other, then John smiled at Cecilia, who was looking confused at her daughter's response. "Have you learned about evil fairies now, Sammy dear? Are those the adversaries you just mentioned?" John asked, trying to keep the conversation going, intending to keep it interesting for Sammy.

"Evil fairies? I don't think there is such a thing as evil fairies or bad fairies in reality. I could make friends with all of them if they allowed me to. And I'm talking about rats and bark beetles, Dad." Sammy replied.

"Oh, rats and bark beetles, huh? Don't worry about that, dear. We have pesticides in the storage room. You could use them to keep those adversaries away. Don't you think?" John then suggested.

"No, pops. I'm afraid fairies are allergic to such a spray that contains chemical ingredients, or it might poison them. Very dangerous, I would not allow that." Sammy answered, earnestly, then proceeded to take a big bite of her shepherd's pie.

"Alrighty." John said with an affiliative smile.

"Woahhh, this might be the best shepherd's pie I've had in a while. Thank you, Mom!" said Sammy with an obvious joy shown on her face while she chewed on her pie.

"Nothing changed in the ingredients and cooking process, Sammy. You just felt so famished, didn't you? Look at that, you're going to make a mess. Eat slowly. Here." answered Cecilia, then gave Sammy a clean piece of napkin.

"Yes, I am famished but I'm not lying about this pie being the best I've had in a while. Making me want to have shepherd's pie for straight days a week." said Sammy, then laughed cheerfully.

"Oh trust me, you wouldn't want to have shepherd's pie for straight days." Cecilia then gave a chuckle.

"No Mom, I would. Other kids wouldn't want that, but not me." answered Sammy, followed by giggling. She then proceeds to finish the rest of her pie.

After Sammy had lunch with her parents, she went back to the backyard garden and excitedly picked up her phone. She stopped the video recording and proceeded to watch the whole thing. The video only showed the view of the fairy house. No other movements were seen aside from butterflies and bugs flying and crawling around the little house. Sammy was so upset when the video was done and no fairy appeared in the frame. I knew it... She thought. "I already knew it! But why did I still expect something to see? I get nothing but disappointment." She turned off her phone and put it down on the bench.

Sammy went into their backyard garage, leaving her phone behind, took her bicycle, and rode her way through an open wooden fence. Doesn't know where to go, she just keeps on pedaling as fast as she could. Feeling the cool blowing wind gives her comfort. She wasn't angry about expecting for nothing. This is just her way of immediately forgetting or moving on from disappointing events in her life. She thought that what happened earlier was not big of a deal, that there was no reason for her to be mad, to be sad, or to lock herself in her room and cry. Hence, to prevent that from happening, she went out to cool herself down. "At least you tried..." she said to herself.

Finally, she pulled up near an old English oak tree just by the side of the road. While breathing heavily, she sat on the grass and then leaned her back on the trunk of the tree. She closed her eyes to rest for a bit, breathing the fresh air. "This is nice." she whispered, then beamed with pleasure, inhaling and exhaling the cool air. After all, she needed this since the past few days were just her reserving her time in their backyard garden, not going anywhere except for school. It was exhausting on her part, yet she didn't want to rest.

While feeling the relaxed ambiance of that cloudy day outside, Sammy started humming a song from an animated cartoon movie she loved back then. It's a movie about a fairy rescuer and a fairy who become friends. The song is old, but she still remembers each line.

If I learned how to fly, would you fly with me?

Along the bridges in the sky, that we dare to see.

She was singing this song with her eyes closed and with a smile on her face. This was her reminiscing about her past childhood, longing to go back. There is not much that has changed about her, she is still that young girl who loves fairies, just got a little more mature. However, we can't deny the fact that there's always that moment in the past that we all wanted to return to. Most of us do. Some of it was just like a dream, as if it never really happened, because it is now just a memory, a precious one indeed. When you had a good dream, you try to sleep again after just waking from it, hoping to continue what's inside it. But just like your past, you can never go back. No matter how much you try, no matter how much you think about that dream before you close your eyes and go to your dreamland.

Sammy fell asleep. The wind blowing is getting stronger, but the sky is still clear. No sign of an upcoming storm. And it's certainly not a hurricane. Sammy was awakened by the cold wind, shivering. She thought of going back home. But before she even picked up her bike, the strong wind became calm. As if it just passed by to say Hi and left quickly.

"What just happened?" Sammy uttered. "I should be going back home, the weather's kinda crazy, and Mom's probably looking for me." She then picked up her bike, but before she even rode her way home, she noticed the bluebells just right around the corner, and she thought of picking up a few pieces to bring home and put them in the fairy house for further decoration.

"Lovely, lovely bluebells, thanks for showing up on this lovely day. Can I bring some of your lovely friends back home? You would definitely, absolutely, clearly, certainly, undoubtedly make such a lovely sight for fairies." Sammy started talking to the flowers with a fancy accent, then laughed at herself, while holding 4 pieces of them in her left hand. And then she picked up one more, and then one more, and then finally one more.

She noticed that the final piece of bluebell that she picked up kinda moved a bit. She looked at it, and it does look kinda different. One of its bulbs looked bigger than the other. She plucked that bulb out of its stem and, to her surprise, an unknown creature flew out from inside it. Sammy dropped the bluebell's bulb and she was dead silent in surprise for a few seconds.

She blinked her eyes a few times with her mouth slightly opened. She looked around and no sign of that creature was there to be found. She still couldn't process what she had just seen. She cleared her throat and suddenly spoke what had been on her mind a few seconds earlier, "Did I just see a f-fairy?!" Sammy walked through that field of bluebells and tried to find that fairy — if it really was a fairy.

"Come out, little fairy. I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm not a bad person, you see. And I'm definitely not an enemy of yours. Come and reveal yourself to me, once more. I have loved your kind ever since I was little. I apologize for bothering you with your little trip from this field. I did not intend to. I was surprised, very surprised. A-and I am very very happy to have seen you here. Do you also like bluebells? Ohh bluebells!"

Sammy was reminded of the holly blue fairies. Those are the fairies who camouflage themselves among bluebells where they spend most of their time. "You are uh, a holly blue fairy! aren't you? I'm not sure if I remember it. But you sure do have blue wings and holly blue fairies are the ones associated with bluebells, if I'm not mistaken." Still, no sign of that holly blue fairy — as Sammy presumed, was found.

Sammy did not know what to feel. She had mixed emotions about this. Her heart was overwhelmed by this incident, and yet she tried to stay calm in order not to scare the fairy. This day could be the first and the last time she would encounter a fairy, and she didn't want to waste any minute of it. She was so sure that what she had seen was, without a doubt, a real holly blue fairy. She walked slowly and gently through the field of bluebells, and tried as much as possible to convince that fairy to reveal itself once more or, if it was possible, it could talk with her for a moment. That would be the best thing that could happen in her life. She would probably brag about it with people, but who would believe her? Probably no one. But that didn't matter, she would be proud of that moment. And would want the whole world to know about it even if they call her crazy and out of her mind.

"Where are you? Are you still here with me?" Sammy spoke once more. How are you going to get an answer? It would probably never talk back to you or, more probably, they do not understand or speak English. She thought to herself.

She knew that fairies never really wanted to reveal themselves to any human around. If ever one encounters a fairy, it is probably an accident or they have the intention of revealing themselves to that person. And this one with Sammy is definitely only an accident. But she was so eager to look at the overall appearance of that fairy with clear and longer exposure. If she had brought her camera with her, she would have taken a picture with it. But after a long while, the creature seemed to be long gone. Sammy seemed to just be talking to no one.

"Hello?" Sammy tried to call on that creature that she presumed was a fairy, for one last time. She decided to stay on that field for a little longer, hoping that the fairy would finally show up. She waited for a minute, and then a few more minutes, and so on. She was now sitting in the middle of the bluebell field, looking around and smelling the freshness of the bluebell she had just picked up a while back. She tried to close her eyes for a few seconds and didn't know what to expect. She then opened her eyes and, obviously, the fairy would stilln't appear in front of her very eyes. She sighed and decided to lie on the ground, to look up at the clouds. The desire to see the fairy for the second time was all she had been thinking about. The thought of her parents, who might be looking for her, was long gone.

This is it. She thought, telling herself that the day she had been waiting for had finally come. If the only way for her to have a personal encounter and connection with fairies is to be patient and determined, then she wouldn't have any second thoughts about doing so.

"I'm positive that what I've seen is certainly a fairy. I would have been able to see it flying around again if it wasn't. But it hides itself and had to make sure not to be found again. That's the nature of fairies, and I'm sure I've seen its head. Yes, a head! A human-like head. Butterflies' heads don't look like that. Therefore, it is indeed a fairy, and I've seen one, I've seen one!" She had been discussing all this with herself, and everything had just come back to her and she finally realized that she really had seen a fairy and that was something to be cherished for. It definitely was, for her.

After almost half an hour of lying there on the ground, Sammy became tired. The thought of coming back home had returned. But she didn't want to leave the place unless the fairy decided to show up once more. It had probably gotten away, and if it hadn't, it would still be difficult for Sammy to find it in the field of bluebells where it could perfectly camouflage itself among those flowers.

"Seems like I have scared the fairy to death. It would probably never reveal itself to me, ever! This is bad, this is really bad." Sammy said to herself, worried. Don't know what else to do, she left the field and then picked up her bike.

She looked back at the bluebell field once more and spoke to the fairy, hoping it would hear and understand her. "I will come back, little fairy. If you aren't ever scared of me any longer, and decide to show yourself once more, I will be delighted to come back each day. I hope that I will be able to see you one of those days. And oh, be careful of bulb mites and slugs. They could be anywhere around here. I'm not sure if those are a danger for you, but it certainly is for the plants. Have a nice trip around, sorry to bother you. But uhm, just so you know, I could be your friend. I believe in your kind, you see. I'm harmless and the only intention I have is to know more about you, about your kind. And to testify to the whole world that your whole existence is real. But, of course, I will need your consent. Will that be alright?" Looking around, no response, just the cool blowing wind. Sammy gave an affiliative smile, then sighed.

She rode on her way back home. And while on the road, she would keep looking around and was anticipating that a fairy would suddenly bump into her in the middle of the road. But nothing happened on the road. She got home safely and went straight to the backyard garage where she parked her bicycle. And then, she visited the fairy house and put inside it the bluebells she picked up.

"Lovely, lovely bluebells." Sammy uttered and smiled. She got up, took her phone from their wooden bench, and was about to go inside the house when Cecilia opened the back door first, before she could.

"Where have you been, child?" Cecilia asked, with her left eyebrow raised. Instead of being agitated, Sammy joyfully went up to her Mother and hugged her.

"Mom, you wouldn't believe what I saw when I left!" Sammy didn't answer her Mother's question but she just proceeded on telling her about this good news, perhaps for her.

"What do you mean? What is it that you saw that made you smile like that? What's so great about it, huh?" Cecilia said in response. She didn't know what to feel but to be happy with what her daughter had told her, and because this also made Sammy so glad.

"Mom, I saw a fairy, and it seemed like a holly blue fairy. I know you wouldn't believe me, but I would love to tell you and Dad about this." Sammy gladly answered her Mom's question and, with that, Cecilia was utterly dumbfounded.

They both went inside the house and Sammy greeted her father, who was watching football on the television there in their living room. "Oh, you've come back already. Where did you go and why do you think you can leave the house without telling us where you were off to, hmm?" John said.

"I'm sorry about that pops, I swear it won't happen again. But I have good news." Sammy replied with her face lit up. Cecilia was there standing at the back of their sofa, where Sammy and John were sitting together, with her arms crossed and listening to her husband and daughter's conversation. John then wore a curious face at his daughter's response and was waiting for her to continue and spill the good news.

"Pops, I saw a fairy there on the bluebell field just by the side of the road where I was resting for a bit after a long bicycle ride. And something strange happened first before I had an encounter with it. A strong wind came by as if a storm was about to come, and just after a while, it was long gone before I could even leave. It was like the fairy had called on me, trying to tell me not to go." Sammy explained this not just to her father, but also to her Mom who was listening at the back. Both of her parents did not speak for a while.

"Are you sure about that, Sammy dear? Or is this one of your make-up stories to get away from trouble?" John then said in response.

"I am so sure about it, Pops. I even saw its head from behind. It has lovely golden hair, and its wings are blue, almost exactly like how blue the wings of a holly blue butterfly are. That's when I knew it was indeed a holly blue fairy! And not to mention that holly blue fairies reside mostly here in the UK. Mr. Everson had mentioned that in one of his videos, yes he certainly did!" Sammy had told all these things to her parents while trying to remember the things she had learned from watching Mr. Everson's videos on the Flicksy app, trying to connect everything together and make things clear.

Cecilia and John did not know how to respond to this. Their daughter seemed not to be making this all up. But still, this is not something someone would easily believe in. There are still doubts about it, and questions that cannot be easily acknowledged.

"What if it is just a butterfly, Sammy? What if you just mistook it for a fairy? You are all over this fairy stuff that maybe sometimes you see things that aren't really what seems to appear in your eyes." Cecilia then asked and spoke gently, trying not to upset her daughter. But it goes the other way around, and it did upset Sammy.

"But I know what I saw, and I'm never gonna lie about it. I may have only seen it for just a second, but I can still picture it in my mind." replied Sammy, who was looking down.

"I know, I'm sorry sweetie, but things like hallucinations can really happen at times. May I know why you left the house so suddenly that you didn't even bother to tell us? Did something happen? Are you okay?" Cecilia asked concernedly.

"Mom, I am alright. I'm not sick or anything. And I'm certainly not delusional. I just left to have fresh air. I just forgot to ask your permission, and that is my mistake." Sammy answered blankly, still looking down. She felt like she didn't want to talk about anything and most certainly about her sudden departure. She had expected that no one would ever believe her story. She even added that she would be careless about it, and yet she was saddened when her Mom wouldn't believe her, and perhaps her Dad too.

"Of course, my daughter isn't delusional! Now tell me, dear. How was it? Where did you find it? How on earth that it couldn't hide itself from you, you greedy hunter!" John interrupted, then laughed at his own joke of calling his daughter a greedy hunter.

Cecilia looked at him with a serious look on her face, then sighed. Sammy, on the other hand, was confused and had a bitter look on her face. "Daaaddd.. I am not a hunter, and I'm definitely not greedy. I can't tell whether you really want to know what happened, or if you're just messing with me." Sammy replied, then wore her sulky pout.

This resulted in John making a silly laugh, then stopping immediately. "Alright now, what should I call you then? These fairies are no way of getting out of your sight. You must have an excellent way of discovering them." said John.

"You can call me a tenacious seeker. The tenacious fairy seeker!" answered Sammy, proudly.

"Ooh, good choice. Better than the greedy hunter. Right, darling?" returned John, and then looked at his wife, Cecilia, intending to let her join the discussion.

"Of course, it's much better, 'greedy hunter' was not even in any way a good option." Cecilia replied, and everyone laughed.

"Tenacious fairy seeker it is, then. Now, how did the fairy-seeking happen? And where was it, again? If I may ask my dearest Samantha," said John, referring to Sammy by her real name.

"Actually, by that, I wasn't really seeking a fairy at first. My encounter with a fairy was just accidental. I didn't mean to find one, and it didn't mean to reveal itself to me. It just so happened unexpectedly." Both her parents listened attentively to what she had to say. Sammy didn't notice it, since she was more focused on telling them every detail of that incident that she could remember.

"Like I said a while back, I was resting under an oak tree by the side of the road, and I fell asleep, and then these strange things happened. I thought the weather was kinda crazy so I thought I should go back home, but only at that moment when I noticed the bluebell field just right around the corner and I had this idea of picking up a few pieces of bluebells before I go back." Sammy continued. She then proceeded to tell her parents everything that had happened in that bluebell field.

"Holy moly, I don't think that fairy will like you very much. You might have ruined its peaceful sleep inside that bulb, my dear." reacted John teasingly.

"But Pops, I apologized. And I already said that I didn't intend that to happen if it actually did. I never want to bother them." replied Sammy, reasonably.

"Well, if that's the case, it would really be difficult to reason out with someone whose sleep you just ruined," said John, then chuckled.

"I don't think you should go back there, Sammy. If it really was a fairy, I think you would not be able to see it again. Based on your story, that supposed fairy did not respond to you, not even once. It cannot be convinced. It might have left this place, and gone to another town or perhaps a city. Don't you think it would be a waste of time to go back and wait for it to show up?" Cecilia spoke earnestly.

"I don't think so, Mom. I would gladly go back there every day after school. I will bring my bag with me, to study and do my homework under that old oak tree. The air in that place is refreshing and I would love to spend my free time there." answered Sammy.

"Every day? No. I will not agree with that. And you cannot change my mind. No buts and excuses will do." returned Cecilia.