Back then, summers didn't last too long--those hot, humid nights were a rarity; the sun still kissing the horizon at ten o'clock at night. "Be back before it's dark," that was our dad's only rule in the summer and we always followed that rule... well, almost always.
It was one of those magically long days--as if the world was holding its breath, frozen, holding off the night as long as possible.
As we began to slowly make our way back home, little specks of light began to wink at us.
"Lightning bugs!" my brother shouted in excitement, jumping up and down as he broke away from me and ran after them.
I knew I should have shouted after him, called him back so we would make it back home before the sun set. I should have. But I didn't. And I am so thankful for that.
"Wait for me!" I called out instead as I leapt into the field and ran after him.
We leapt through the air, gently cupping our hands together as we tried to catch the fireflies. We made a game out of it.
"I got one!"
"That's six for me!"
"Ha! Eight! I'm winning again!"
We let the little bugs crawl along our arms and fingers, their green light illuminating our faces and smiles.
A whistle cut through the silence of the night--our dad was standing on the porch, calling out to us.
"We should go," I sighed begrudgingly. "Dad's going to be pretty mad."
"Wait, sisso!" He grabbed my arm and pulled me down. I watched him as he picked something out of my hair. "He was stuck," he said softly as his hands gently cupped the blue glow of the firefly.
"Blue?" I was just as confused as he was as our eyes locked on the strange glow coming from between his fingers.
Slowly, he opened his hands and we stood in awe of what he held.
It was no firefly, I can tell you that. I don't know what you would call it... but it was no bug. It was far too extraordinary to be just a bug. I couldn't see past the blinding blue glow... all I could make out was a pair of wings like a dragonfly's and a pair of eyes that locked with mine for just a moment before it leapt from my brother's palm and disappeared into the darkness of the night.
"A faerie!" my brother gasped, his eyes searching the sky.
The very idea made me smile.
We never told our parents why we were late--what we were doing and what we had seen. And I'll never know if my brother truly believed that he held a faerie in his hands. But I can never shake the feeling of magic at that one moment in my life.
The few people I've told have laughed at me and either called me crazy or imaginative. But their laughter means nothing to me--it can't even compare to the vision in my mind of my brother's face illuminated by a blue glow, wonderment shining in his eyes.
Whether what we saw that night was a faerie, I may never know for sure. But a night of chasing fireflies with your little brother is just as real and just as magical... and just as precious to me.
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| http://quit007.deviantart.com/art/The-Fast-And-Furious-Fairy-109395698 |
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It's been a while since I've written anything (and NaNoWriMo is getting closer and closer)! I found a new website that has some great writing prompts--especially for fantasy writers--and this one jumped out at me right away: Out catching fireflies on their family's farm on a hot summer evening, two little girls accidentally capture a faerie instead.
I changed it up a bit to make it more "me" replacing two girls with a brother and a sister (shock shock).
I've always had a fascination with faeries. I put them in the same category as ghosts and paranormal occurrences. Paranormal just means something is beyond our realm of understanding--it's not normal. Just because we can't understand it, explain it, or always see it, doesn't mean it isn't real. I am a firm believer in faeries because... WHY NOT?!?!?
When I was a little girl, I did have a strange experience down by the creek at the end of our street behind the playground. I was playing down by the water (which I admit I was not allowed to do) with my neighbor and best friend at the time when I slipped and fell into the water. I sat there for a minute, stunned and embarrassed when something caught my eye. It was a fish swimming around by my feet and as I continued to watch it, it jumped out of the water and hovered in front of my face for a moment before flying away. I've never seen anything like that before or since but, to me, that was the only proof I needed to know that faeries are very much real... we just don't always know where to look for them.
I think that there is magic in our everyday lives. It all depends on how you look at the world. It's like that Roald Dahl quote, "Those who don't believe in magic will never find it." If you look at the world knowing it's just brimming with magic, you will see it everywhere you look whether its the profile of a sleeping mountain, sunlight hitting the wings of flying bugs just right, or a summer night long ago when you don't know if you were holding a bug in your hand... or a faerie.
I choose magic and I hope that your life is touched by it too.
a.r.w.
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