Her muddy rainboots dangled off of the apple tree she sat atop, and both the young girl and the old tree admired the expanse of New England foliage surrounding them. Even though it was late summer, a brisk wind swept across her freckled face, chilling her, so she took shelter under an apple tree, one of many in the orchard she called home.
Little Elsie had spent a majority of her summer more outside than in, wearing her rolled up and faded overalls, barefeet wading in the cool mud. She was a kind and playful girl, playing with anyone who would join her, although that did not happen often. As an only child, you would expect she received a lot of attention from her parents, and unfortunately that was not the case. Her parents did not supervise her often, after all they worked long and hard hours on the apple orchard and farm Elsie played on. Even 5 year old Elsie helped feeding the animals of the farm in order to keep her family’s farm in business.
The colonial styled house they lived in was stationed on top of a hill that overlooked a sea of trees. Elsie, her hardworking parents, and her grandmother all lived in the typical old fashioned New England home of theirs. But they weren’t the only creatures that lived and roamed on the multiple acres of land her family owned.
When Elsie wasn’t working to feed and water the horses and goats of the farm, she was entertained by the stories her grandmother shared. Her grandmother would rock back and forth on the rocking chair in Elsie’s fantasy filled room, book in hand, while Elsie sat on the edge of her seat listening. The stories consisted of anything from legends of dragons that slept in caves, elves that played tricks on humans, to fairies that lit up the night. It seemed to Elsie that even her grandmother believed these stories as much as she did, for she told them with a sense of confidence and experience at hand. When her grandmother finished the intriguing story of a ‘fantastical being’, Elsie would lie in bed and dream of what seemed impossible to her with her imaginative mind. When she woke up the following day whether to the sound of violent wind and snow hitting the side of her window or to birds obnoxiously chirping in the trees, Elsie would play with whatever she could to reenact the stories she had heard. This kept her occupied for a majority of her childhood until the summer of 1980 when her grandmother passed away. She missed her granny but especially felt disconnected to the stories she once was read after her granny was gone. Every day that she spent away from her grandmother, the more alone she felt from the realm of ‘supernatural beings’ that lived in the stories, the sadder she was. By the age of six, her family progressively grew apart. Instead of falling asleep to the sound of stories being read by the soft voice of her storyteller, Elsie would hear the shouts and arguments of her parents which seemed like everyday to her.
The day she climbed and sat atop the oldest tree on her parent’s property, her mind wandered back to the stories her grandmother once told her and she realized how lonely she was. She quickly flipped through the book she had in hand, still situated on the branch of the old oak tree where no one could find her. She fingered through the pages of one of her personal favorite books, a book about fairies. When she looked at the text of the book, she felt a wave of disappointment flood through her, embarrassed even though she was alone, she could not read any of it. The book was in English, yet Elsie could not comprehend it’s simple words. Still drawn to the book, she observed the illustrations that consisted of fairies with glittering wings, the obstacles they came across, and the sophisticated houses they lived in. Elsie then remembered her many attempts at building fairy houses at a young age. Inspired once more by the powerful book and her grandmother’s enthusiasm when she once read, Elsie hopped down from the oak tree and began gathering materials for her fairy house. She gathered twigs and sticks as the base of the house and began to build the mini cottage in between the roots of the sacred oak tree. This would prevent it from knocking down. After insulating the shelter, she then decorated the miniature house with some wild flowers that she found in a nearby field to give it a sense of homeliness like when her grandmother still lived with the family. She waited a while, she waited for hours with some hope that a fairy would spend the night in the quaint cottage she created. But by the time her mom called her in for dinner, no fairy had come. She rushed towards the house, not bothering to look back at her creation. And as she sprinted through the forest of apple trees towards the house, a tear escaped her innocent eyes.
As Elsie settled herself to bed that night, she thought about the stories one last time. She began to fill the old fashioned trunk in her room with the storybooks she began to doubt. As the trunk gradually filled to the top with books, she looked around her disorganized room for the story of the fairy, the very last story. She then remembered she had left it by the tree where she was sitting on earlier this afternoon! She owed it to her grandmother to return this book. She could hear the sound of her parent’s taunting voices downstairs, arguing with each other about parenting and other pointless arguments that are never worth fighting about. Elsie knew she should stay put for the time being until they stopped fighting and went to bed usually on opposite sides of the house during times like this. She could not sleep anyway because she wanted to stay awake as much a possible to avoid the first day of school tomorrow.
‘I’m sorry honey about the fairy, but mostly about the arguments your father and I have been having,’ her mom whispered to Elsie as she knelt down to kiss Elsie on the cheek and tucked her in.
‘Get some rest before your big day tomorrow,’ and she shut the door lightly.
‘Goodnight mum, love you.’
Elsie wished her parents could spend more time with her rather than on work. It seemed the rare and good times she experienced were mostly overshadowed by the negative ones. As she watched the lights of the hallway flick off and soon the snoring of her father’s deep sleep, she crept downstairs, creaked open the screen door, and disappeared into the dark forest of apple trees. She navigated through the darkness of the night with only the moon as her flashlight. As she stumbled across the tree, and reached for the story book resting on the trunk, she glimpsed at a twinkle of light inside the fairy house she made. She soon came to realize that it was not the twinkling of a firefly but of a lost fairy.
Fairies were among the rarest creatures that lurked the forest, often times mistaken for characters in fantasy stories. They grew to be a couple of inches tall, but were incredibly intelligent creatures and for this reason avoided human contact. Humans didn’t feel the need to shoot these creatures like when hunting animals, for if you ever came across one, they could tell you what you most needed. They weren’t however, enough influential to grant you a wish or tell you what you must do. This fairy in particular was headed on her way south towards warmer weather, because fairies generally take longer time to travel compared to migrating birds, and the New England weather was too harsh for fairies. She was pushed by a strong wind towards the ocean coastline and a little fairy against the New England weather is not a fair fight.
The fairy lay curled up in a leaf, a faint glow seeping through her skin. Her wing glimmered in the moonlight yet was bent uncomfortably at the middle. Without saying a word, Elsie scooped the fairy up and carried her all the way back to her messy room back at the house, to shield the fairy from the wind.
At first when the fairy realized she was not in a house meant for a fairy but the house of  a girl, she was slightly worried. But after such a sweet girl like Elsie replaced the leaf the fairy used with a clean handkerchief, the fairy knew she was in good hands. Elsie ran home from her first day of school the following afternoon, in the hopes that the fairy was still there. As Elsie burst into the room as the fairy was contemplating whether to stay or not, they met. And this was the beginning of a friendship.
The fairy was first shy and quiet but as she came to know Elsie, she learned she could talk freely to the carefree girl.
‘I’m Luna, thanks for helping me out last night,’ she said and to Elsie’s surprise she could understand Luna when she expected a high pitched voice or squeak from such a tiny creature. Luna was expecting Elsie to have asked her by now what she most needed, that is what most humans usually asked for, but this was a peculiar case.
Despite the fact that Elsie had attempted a fairy house for a fairy to safely live in, it was not sustainable enough for the cold and wintry weather that was yet to come. In exchange for some education and a place to stay the fairy and the girl negotiated what they could do for eachother. The fairy would stay in Elsie’s room, still disabled by her broken wing until it healed and teach Elsie to read, one thing that Elsie openly admitted she needed to learn.
Nights passed, months changed, and the apple trees changed from blossoming in the summer to ready for picking apples in the fall. During this time, a lot has changed too. Elsie would spell out and pronounce the words of the fantasy tales she read at night with Luna. Elsie would also entertain Luna with puppet shows and reenactments of the stories. Sometimes Elsie would even carry the fairy in her palm outside and they would enjoy themselves in nature, despite the fact that Luna the fairy had a broken wing. The positive energy that surrounded their friendship could almost mend anything, although the tare of her parents relationship grew wider and wider. Their arguments lessened but not all relationships are meant to work out in time. Elsie, who was often distracted now by the company of Luna, and had not realized the fact that her parents were drifting apart like liferafts in a large ocean.
When Elsie returned to school everyday, she learned from her friendship with a fairy that acts of kindness and viewing the world with an open mind would sprout more friendships with people at school. She was rather loquacious compared to her shy and introverted self at the beginning of the year. One day she was chatting with her friend Maeve in line before marching to lunch about how close Luna was to taking flight these days.
‘You wouldn't believe what happened after school yesterday! I found Luna tangled and dangling off of one of the Christmas tree lights after attempting to fly. It’s good that she has plenty of time to recover from her injury before spring. In the meantime she can stay with me for a little while longer, she’s great company!’
‘HA!’ said one of the classroom bullies that overheard her speech, ‘You’re best friends with you own pet!’ he shouted and began to cackle. He had blonde, spiky hair, square glasses, and an obnoxious voice that rang out throughout the classroom. This caught Elsie by surprise, she wasn’t expecting any negative responses from her classmates. Elsie decided to stand up to the outspoken boy.
‘Well Luna happens to be one of the kindest and most intelligent people I have come to know, and I am proud to call her my friend. She has taught me to read, and has helped me through hard times like a true friend would.’
And it was right then and there that Elsie realized that it doesn’t matter whomever you are friends with, another human or a fairy, as long as they have a positive impact on you and you have a positive impact on them, that is all that matters.
The boy slowly retreated once he had realized she was right and had the rest of the class firmly on her side once they began to agree with her.
In time for spring, the broken wing of Luna healed and she was ready to join the rest of her fairy family. Elsie had also been successfully caught up to the reading level of her grade as well. Spring marked a new beginning and change, Elsie’s parents had decided to divorce where they would be happier apart. Elsie and Luna the fairy had decided to keep in touch but decided this arrangement was for the best of their relationship. Although Elsie would not be constantly with Luna by her side like the year they were roommates, they would still see each other when Elsie returned to the orchard to visit her father. This would also encourage the two of the them to look at the world through openness and expand on their group of friends.
The now not-so-lost fairy and the not-so-lonely girl embraced in a hug, knowing this was not the last. As Elsie and her mother rolled out of the driveway in their car, Elsie stuck out her head out the car window with her blond curls against her face. She looked back at the expanse of blossoming spring apple trees, admiring the view of her father waving back to her and out the corner of her eye, she noticed a twinkle of light somewhere atop the old and sacred tree.”

“The end,” I declared as I shut the hardcover storybook on my lap.
“Wow mum, did you write that?” squeaked my 4 year old daughter who like me, had curly hair, the same nose, and an imaginative mind.
“Yes, indeed I did.”
We both exhaled and leaned back on the twisted trunk of what I call the sacred oak, that gave us shade and shielded us from the mid-summer's heat. We stared at the sea of trees I admired every day of my childhood whether the trees filled with apples, were topped with snow, or blooming with the most luscious colors of spring flowers. Our weekend excursion back up to my hometown in New England was a success.
“Mum?” she muttered as she broke the peaceful silence, “one last question… are they real? Are fairies real?”
“Look up and see for yourself,” I whispered as she looked up into the lush branches of the tree we knelt under. Her face and eyes lit up as she reflected the tiny but glowing body of the creature I have once come to know.