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𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞. One day, I just appeared. It was dark, and it was cold. Everything was blurry, and for a few minutes I wondered why I even existed.330Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1J6MAL6lsP
But then there was the moon. The big, bright, warm moon. And he showed me why I was there. He lifted me out of the darkness and into the light; he told me my name, and those words have stuck with me ever since.
"Your name," he spoke, in a light and gentle voice, "is Y/n L/n."
And that was all he told me. All he ever told me.
I sat up and stared at the moon. Oh, how bright he was tonight. Brighter than any star in the sky. Standing up, I took time to take in where I was ; a forest. It was so beautiful, full of dimly coloured flowers that shone ever so slightly in the moonlight, and great moss-coated trees that surrounded the clearing I had awoken in.
Owls hooted softly in the distance as I worriedly pawed one barefoot onto the ground. A strange tickling sensation formed where I had stepped. Looking down, there was a patch of fresh grown grass where my foot had touched. Afraid, I stumbled backwards and tripped over myself. Again, more grass followed. I ran a hand through my hair, as concern turned to excitement. Getting up again, more confident than the last time, I pawed the dirt again. Pretty little daisies and lush grass grew at my feet.
"Woah," I muttered under my breath, an excited smile forming on my lips. Feeling like some kind of child, I ran around the clearing excitedly, watching as the grass grew and the daisies blossomed. It was like a fairy tale, this wasn't normal.
After some useless playing, the bitter cold of the forest made me realize I was wearing naught but a short dress, with little flowers embroidered on the bottom. I had to find some type of shelter, because no way was I going to sleep out in the open, no sir. So I begun to climb one of the great oak trees around me; once I had gotten to the top, it was clear that there was civilization nearby. There was smoke and a warm orange light emitting from the distance, so I climbed back down, and begun to walk through the forest and it's foliage.
I arrived shivering, rubbing my arms and trying to warm myself up. I had been crunching through the fallen sticks and leaves for about half an hour, and goosebumps had risen on my skin. The village was small, a few roughly built houses and a few market stands surrounded a large fire (which I ran to immediately). While melting away the cold, I noticed four children opposite me, one of which looked like they were telling the others a story. He had mousey-brown, messy hair, big hazel eyes and was quite short compared to the other three.
"... and Wendy Darling never saw Peter Pan again. But his story lives on, my mom always says, in the tales we make of him and Tinkerbell - go to that second star to the right and straight on till morning, and you'll find yourself all the way in Neverland..." he said excitedly, gesturing his hand up into the sky, and pointing at a star as he spoke.
"Wow Corey, that was a really good one," said a girl with long, blonde hair, pale skin and pale blue eyes as she stared up at the sky to where the little boy had pointed.
"But Peter - he's still okay, isn't he?" said another girl, this one with black hair, black skin and beautiful brown eyes, that were almost twinkling in admiration.
"Well, of course he's okay Eleya! With Captain Hook gone. You know of course, all children grow up. Even us. Except for one. Except for him," said Corey
"I wish I never had to grow up," said the last child. He was like the blonde little girl, with the same hair and eyes. But he was taller than the rest of them.
"Sorry to burst in, but could you tell me where I am?" I said sheepishly, walking over to the four children and trying not to look like a wandering maniac.
They completely ignored me.
"H-hello?"
Again, nothing. They continued to speak like I didn't exist. I waved a hand in front of Corey's face, but nothing.
"Me too, George," huffed the blonde little girl. "We should be going home now, anyways. Mom said when we left the house that she'd be cooking dinner. Come on. Bye Corey, Bye Eleya!"
"Bye guys," said George, waving at the other two.
"Bye George, bye Mary!" chorused the other two.
I was about to ask for help again when something incredibly horrible happened. Something I wish to this day I never found out. George and Mary walked straight through me. I was invisible.
I didn't exist.
"What- no..." I staggered backwards and fell straight through Corey and Eleya. This wasn't what I asked for, not at all. I felt so lost and so alone, everything felt so surreal and I just wanted to disappear entirely. Was there a glitch in the system? Why in the world was I alive? I shouldn't be conscious.
Taken over by complete darkness inside myself, I ran from the civilization. Back into the cold forest, where I climbed up a tree and sat on a branch, huddled myself up and cried. I don't remember ever feeling so lost and alone after this day. Why couldn't anyone see me?
And when I felt like all hope was lost, something changed. A bird tweeted softly somewhere close. I thought nothing of it. Again, a more furious tweet this time, and a sharp pain on one of my toenails. I lifted my head to find a tiny little Blackbird staring at me.
"... Hello?"
The bird tweeted softly again and climbed happily onto my foot. If birds could smile, I swear he was right now.
"Oh... What's your name..?"330Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe8dAmPH7sY
I felt quite stupid saying that. No way in hell was it going to answer back; it's a bird. He tweeted again, and I held my hand out for him to jump on, and to my surprise, he did.
"I'll name you then... P- no, not Paul, that's a man's name... M- no, wait, Zephyr!"
The little blackbird tweeted happily and jumped around on my hand.
"Zephyr... I don't know why, but it has a ring to it, don't you think?" I said cheerfully. At least something could see me, even if it was a cute little bird. "Listen... I need somewhere to go, do you think-"
Almost immediately, Zephyr flew off my hand and landed softly on the ground. I did as he gestured and jumped off the tree. He hopped around the forest and lead me to another clearing, not the one I had woken in, where there were three deer laying asleep. There was evidently a Mom deer, Dad deer and then there was a small fawn. Zephyr tweeted and the mother awoke and looked at me with warm, brown eyes. She stared at me for a moment and then got up, not taking her eyes away. She stood beautifully for a few moments and then huffed softly, which I took as a chance to stroke her. The deer happily left her sleeping spot for me, which I curled up in. It was warm and comfy, and I fell into a restless sleep that felt as though it lasted a few minutes.
❉
The next day, I woke up to Zephyr pecking at my head. Angrily picking him up, I opened my eyes to see he had a twig that was bloomed with raspberries. I gratefully took them and ate, leaving some for the little blackbird. Zephyr was my only friend, yet I couldn't work out why he and the deer could see me, but the humans in the village couldn't. I looked over to the fawn as I thought; he was so cute and small.
Throughout the day, the little deer followed me everywhere, and his parents seemed to have left us during the night. I named him Bambi, after a story I had heard from Corey that day. Bambi and Zephyr seemed to get along so well, and it was sweet watching them run and fly around together. They were my only friends for a long time, and I loved them for that. We had each others backs, I had to make sure they all ate properly after one day, when refusing to eat bark for the fifth time, I realized I didn't get hungry. Must be the perks of waking up suddenly as some kind of super-human with plant powers.
I'd be lying if I said I never went back to the village to listen to Corey's stories. He told such bold fantasies that you'd find yourself slipping away into them in a dream. There was a particular story that I enjoyed most; the Guardians of Childhood. It was a sunny day when I heard it first, one of those days when Zephyr and Bambi had gone out to do animal stuff that I found quite boring, so I was sat up in a tree branch, dozing off, occasionally glancing over to the familiar four children playing in the sun.
"Staring Santa Clause, The Sandman, The Easter Bunny and The Tooth Fairy!" Corey giggled, dancing around his three friends.
I sat up from my tree branch and leaned in closely. There was something far too familiar about those names.
"Who's The Sandman?" asked Eleya, looking up from her daisy chain.
"Who's The Sandman?" Corey mimicked, a look of surprise on his face. "He's the Guardian of our dreams! He's the one that tells me stories when I go to bed." Corey knocked on his temples as he spoke
"Oooo! I do love your stories, Corey."
"What are dreams?" I asked no-one in particular, knowing I'd never get an answer back. "And who's any of those people-?"
"My favourite is what happened to the Easter Bunny that one time. Do tell us again, Corey!" said George excitedly.
I was unfazed by the ignoring at this point, so I didn't really mind. In fact - it was quite funny to watch them if I ever decided to grow some daisies for Eleya, it was her favourite thing to do, to make daisy chains. The shock on their faces when they grew suddenly out from the ground was priceless.
"... The Easter Bunny - he's huge!" Corey said, "but if we all forget him... He turns into a tiny little baby rabbit!"
Everyone laughed, including myself. Picturing a rabbit about the same height as myself suddenly turning into a baby again was quite amusing.
"And the one about Santa Clause, Corey."
"Jolly and fat, just as he always is, the elves always do the work in the toy shop, while Santa sits back and does nothing all year round," said Corey.
"He's lazy..."
"Not as lazy as you, George," said Mary.
Again, everyone laughed.
"Oh wait - let me tell the story of the Tooth Fairy," said Mary excitedly, getting up on her feet and jumping around in circles. "She's beautiful! With a coat of shimmering turquoise feathers that gleam in the sunlight. The Tooth Fairy gives us all money to spend on toys and cupcakes from the bakery!"
"Those cupcakes are to die for, shall we go get some now?" said George.
"Yes!" chorused the other three, and they walked away.
That was when I first heard of them, and when I met them I finally understood who and what I was. But not today, no. I never met them until three hundred and five years in the future from now. 330Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr4quqPeocP
Because to tell you the truth, I was shy. Whenever they came to my forest, or the town, I'd hide away with Zephyr and Bambi in in a bush.
I never saw The Sandman, though once I saw giant streams of golden, sand-like streaks that connected into the children's heads. I watched as Mary played around with a Bambi, but bolder and muscly-er, with a giant horn poking out his head. That's when I learnt what dreams where. They're things you want to do, I suppose.
The Tooth Fairy I had never seen either. It came to happen that she had little workers that looked like hummingbirds, that would sneak into peoples houses and pay them for their teeth. I thought it was a very strange concept, to keep a child's little bones.
Santa Clause, on the other hand, came during the snow. He had a great sleigh pulled by nine reindeer, and the back trunk was occupied by a massive bag full of presents that he gave everyone. Even Zephyr and Bambi got one each! Zephyr, a fat-seed ball, and Bambi an assortment of different tree barks. I stole something from the sleigh though; I probably shouldn't have, but It ended up saving everybody's lives. It was a snow-globe, with two children in the middle building a snowman. I smiled at it and hid it away in Zephyr's tree hole.
The Easter Bunny was how I had thought he'd look like, a giant grey rabbit, but with pretty, white markings crested over his forehead and arms. During one night, he came up from a rabbit hole and hundreds of different coloured eggs came climbing out behind him. They hid everywhere round the village, and when I stole one I had zero clue what it was for. When Zephyr pecked at it as though to eat it, of course I bit into it. They were delicious and sweet, though not like raspberries. The next day I found out, via Corey, George, Eleya and Mary, that it was something called 'chocolate', and I loved it!
When Bambi was full grown, he had made himself a fine pair of antlers. Once I decorated them, first as a silly gesture, but when he looked handsome I kept going.
"Wait - if I put a blue petunia there he looks so pretty, yes, look - and then If I drape some vines over there..." I would explain, as my two companions sat patiently as I played around with colours and scents.
"He looks beautiful, don't you think, Zeph?" I said, turning to the little blackbird on my shoulder.
Zephyr bust out into 'tweeting-laughter' as I called it, Bambi made an angry huff and pawed his hooves on the ground.
"Wow! Way to ruin the mood," I scowled. "If you act like that all the time Zephyr, You do know that Santa won't give you any more fat-seed balls this year."
And that's how life went on. The friendship between Zephyr, Bambi and I became strong, and we were truly made for each other. I knew the moon left them for me because, after all felt lost, they stayed by my side. It was the three of us forever.
The years turned to decades, that turned to centuries. And life carried on in the forest and the village. I watched as Corey grew old and weary, as he told his children the stories he had once told his friends. And when he fell asleep, I was surprised when he never woke back up.
It was the same for three hundred and five years. Until something changed. Until something happened.
Until one year, the guardians never came.
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