Don't Eat the Magic Jelly Beans

         There it was again. It was always fluttering around me with its purple, sparkly, butterfly wings. Stupid fairies! I can never have any peace, especially when I want it. Today, I needed the quiet most of all. My father decided to kick me out of the pack. I don’t understand what I did wrong. Was it because I didn’t want to follow his directions because my senses were telling me to go a different way? I thought as a werewolf, we are supposed to follow our instincts! That’s what we’re taught even before we start transforming, when we’re just tiny toddlers, learning how to walk. I’m baffled about the whole thing.
         I was so angry; I swiped at the fairy because I was fed up with its relentless pestering. Fairies can be quite annoying and they know it. They love to mess with people. I heard the fairy cursing at me in its tiny voice. I couldn’t make out what it was saying of course and the noise was rather amusing. I smirked until I saw the fairy transform into a human. She stared at me with a look that could kill. If I didn’t know any better, I would think that smoke was spewing out of her ears.
         “Why did you do that? Are you crazy?” She put her hands on her hips and took a step closer to me. “Do you know how close I was to getting killed? It’s bad luck to kill a fairy, you know.” She huffed as she sat down on the seat of the bench beside me. I decided not to answer her until she had time to cool down. To be honest, I was too shocked to speak. I’ve never seen a fairy transform before. I’ve heard about them doing such things, of course, but I’ve never seen it with my own eyes. I guess that’s what anyone would think when seeing a person transform into another creature for the first time.
         When her breathing returned to normal and the smoke stopped coming out of her ears, she turned her head toward me and looked me in the eyes. She stared at me for the longest time before she rolled her eyes and stood up, ready to walk away. I know I should apologize to her. I’m glad that I didn’t kill her. There’s no telling what might have happened if I had. Something in her eyes gave me pause. It was as if looking into the eyes of someone you’ve known your whole life, like a parent, best friend, spouse, or your child. It was weird and was kind of freaking me out. She crossed her arms over her chest and gave me that look again.
         “You’re not even going to apologize? I’ve never met such a pompous jerk in my entire life!” She turned and started stomping her tiny feet against the ground. As if they would make any impact on the Earth at all. I laughed and stood up.
         “I’m not so sure how you can think I’m such a pompous jerk when I haven’t even said a word to you. I’m sorry that I swiped at you.” I smiled as she turned around to face me. I could see a small glint of friendliness behind her façade of rage. She walked closer to me and studied my face.
         “You’re a werewolf, aren’t you?” She took a step further back. In spite of the fact that she insulted me earlier, I couldn’t help but feel the sharp sting of rejection. She looked at me again before she started to transform back into a fairy.


         “Wait, don’t go.” I called out to her as she was flying away. “Great.” I mumbled to myself as I sat back down on the bench. “So much for trying to be friends and apologizing to her.” I sighed and leaned back against the hard wood bench and stared up at the sky. I saw a streak of purple and pink stretching out across the wide blue space. It’s going to be night time soon and I haven’t a place to stay. Why does my father have to be such a jerk?
          I curled up onto my side, trying not to knock myself onto the ground. It wasn’t going to be a comfortable bed, but it would have to make do for tonight. I wished the fairy would have stayed to keep me company. If she was worried about me changing into a werewolf, she needn’t have because there won’t be another full moon for five more days. She probably knew that already though. Fairies love the moonlight.
I tried to push my thoughts away from the fairy as I closed my eyes to get some sleep.



         I walked into a clearing that was surrounded by luscious, green trees and bushes. I smiled at all the butterflies that were present. Some even flew toward me and landed on my body. Their wings fluttered and tickled my skin. I went a bit further until I came to a stream. It was so clear that I could see the brightly colored fish swimming just beneath the surface. They were Small minnows that were shining in the sunlight. I kneeled at the edge of the water and scooped some of the crisp liquid out with my hand. I took a drink and it was the sweetest taste I’ve ever experienced in my entire existence.
         I saw a blue flickering in the corner of my eye. I stood up and walked toward it. I thought of the fairy I met in the garden earlier as I got closer, but it wasn’t coming from any kind of fairy. It was some sort of plant, I realized. The plant looked to be growing jelly beans. I had found a genuine, no scams, no smoke and mirrors, real life jelly bean bush! I couldn’t believe it. Most people thought the plant to be out of lore and fake, but I had found one. I reached down and picked a jelly bean from the bush and I took a closer look at it. It was a bright, glowing bean that looked as if electricity was flowing through it. In fact, just holding the bean had the hair on my body standing up and I could feel the energy running all throughout it.
         I laughed to myself as put the bean into my mouth. As soon as I was about to bite down onto the bean, my stomach was punched with a massive blow and I spit the bean out. It flew ten feet away from me as I fell backwards onto the ground, not knowing what had happened and forgetting where or who I was for a split second. I looked around me, trying to find the source of the punch. I felt a tickle on my face and heard a buzzing in my ears. Then I heard the familiar chattering of an annoying fairy and I figured out what happened. The little sprite thought it was funny to mess with the big bad wolf and lose him his dinner. I wasn’t going to stand for it. My anger transformed me into the monster that scared away the fairy to begin with. Let’s see how scared she is now!

         I growled and lunged toward the glowing orb of magic. She flitted around and around my head screaming in her tiny fairy voice. She succeeded at making me even angrier and before I knew it, I caught her between my teeth. She turned into her human form and all I had was the corner of her wing. She looked at me and then bit me on the nose but not before ripping her wing to get out of my toothy grasp. She yelled out in pain and I couldn’t help it, but I felt remorseful and instantly changed back into my own human form. I saw sparkly, diamond tears slide down her cheeks and I wanted to wrap my arms around her and hold her tight to my chest and tell her how sorry I was for hurting her. I wanted to tell her that I didn’t mean to and I wanted her to be okay.
         She turned to look at me and I could see the pain in her eyes and it was almost more than I could take. I reached my hand out to touch her, but she jerked away. I felt the familiar sting and it made me angry all over again.
         “Well, what do you expect when you punch someone in the gut and make them lose their meal, huh?” I pouted as if I were a child and turned my back to her. I heard her sniffle and stand up. She walked closer to me and sat down beside me. Before I could say anything, she leaned her head against my shoulder and put her hand on my knee.
         “I saved your life.” I turned to look at her and I saw the sincerity in her eyes. “If you would have eaten that jelly bean, you wouldn’t be alive right now. Those beans are extremely toxic.” She turned back around and wiped the palm of her hand against the tears that were still sliding down her face. I felt terrible, I’d hurt her. This time, I actually hurt her. I didn’t know what to do or what to say, so I just sat there and let her rub my knee and lay against me. She didn’t say another word either.
         After what seemed like days, she moved her hand and sat up straight. I was almost sad that she wasn’t leaning on me anymore, but I looked at her to see what caused her to move. She was looking at her ripped wing; probably contemplating on how she was going to fly back home and how she was going to heal it. I looked down at my feet and twiddled my thumbs together, hoping to gather enough courage to say what I needed to say.
         “I’m really sorry. I didn’t know that you were trying to save my life.” I couldn’t look at her to see her reaction. I kept my eyes on my hands and waited for her reply. She sighed and patted my knee again.




         “It’s alright. My wing should be fine in a few days. It doesn’t really hurt that badly anyway.” I finally looked at her in time to see her grimace as she touched the wound with her finger. She turned her head and looked at me with a forced smile, but I could tell that she was trying to be genuine. I started to get up before she put her hand on my stomach, stopping me where I was. She put herself right into my lap and wrapped her arms around my neck. She was forcing me to look her in the eyes. “Josiah, don’t you go beating yourself up over me, okay? I’ll be fine.” She smiled and kissed me on the lips before I had the chance to say anything else to her. Even though I’m shocked about this change of events, I didn’t bother to push her away. I didn’t want her to stop kissing me, and to my relief, she didn’t.
         When she finally pulled her lips away from mine, I felt as if my whole body was going to catch on fire. I felt like I was sweating and almost like I had a fever. I smiled at this beautiful creature and willed her to be mine. I wanted her to be mine forever. I wrapped my arms around her as I tumbled backwards onto the ground. I felt so comfortable with the weight of her on top of me and I closed my eyes.
         I woke up with a start. I looked around at my surroundings and tried to get a grasp on reality. I was disappointed that it was only a dream. It was the best dream that I’d ever had and I was grieved that it wasn’t real. I sat up straight on the bench and I felt really sore. The bench cramped my whole body up and made me stiff as a board. I stood up and stretched my back and legs out. Sweat was trickling down the sides of my head and my back. It was hot! I looked around me and saw some garden hose lying near a faucet. I walked toward it and turned on the hose so that I could wet my forehead and get a drink. I felt completely dehydrated and sick. I’m lucky that I woke up when I did.
         After I turned the water hose off, I took a stroll deeper into the garden. Rumor has it that this was the place that the fairies called home; I can attest to that this place is definitely run by fairies. My thoughts are carried back to the dream I had. I sighed dreamily and brushed my hands against the pink tulips and purple orchids that lined the passage. They were such beautiful and sweet smelling flowers. It was the perfect place for a fairy. Especially, my fairy. I couldn’t believe that I just thought that. My fairy? She’s not my fairy. Is she? I shook my head. I couldn’t make sense of anything. Even in my dream she acted as if she knew me. She knew my name!
         I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going at all. I was just walking around, clomping my huge feet on the ground. When I finally came out of my reveries of the possibility that I had found my soul mate, which was a fairy of all things, I noticed that I had stopped in a perfect circle of red toad stools. The instant that I stopped, I knew that I was in some serious trouble. The air around me seemed to be filled with much more energy than before and I felt the wind blowing through my hair and I felt it getting faster and faster. Before I knew it, I was falling. I felt like I was falling right through the ground, but I saw the clear blue sky all around me. I hit the ground hard. I could swear that something was broken if it weren’t for the fact that my bones healed almost instantaneously like nothing ever happened. I sat up and looked all around me. Where in the world was I?