An Urban Fairytale

As expected my mother threw quite a hissy fit when I came home, but that hadn’t stopped her from warming up leftovers from dinner and keeping me company while eating.

I finished up fast and took out my plate and went up to my room.

“And no computer!” again she sounded angry at me.

It was still a little too early for me to go to bed, but I resisted the urge to turn on my computer and instead picked up one of the books I had decided to read over the summer.

I wasn’t the quickest reader and had made little progress when I crept under the covers. While waiting for the sleep to wash over me I went through today’s events, morning normal, midday driving to the city meeting some friends, afternoon wandering around on my own.

It was of course my last discoveries that occupied my mind, what had happened when I went through the alley?

And what was up with the birds and the little man from the pet shot? And probably most important: who was that boy that tried to stop me from wishing on the fountain? Would I meet him again and why had he called me mortal?

It had now rained for three days, keeping me indoors most of the time. The events of three days past were mostly forgotten, except for the handsome boy whose eyes haunted my dreams.

“Erienne, we are going now. Are you sure you will be okay?” My mother looked worried; she didn’t like the thought about leaving me home alone for a couple of days.

“I’ll be fine.” I promised and went over to her and gave her a hug.

“Just call if there is even the smallest problem.”

“Yes mom.” I knew that that was what she wanted to hear, “Have a nice trip”

I waved goodbye while she took her last bag of clothes and went out, then the car started. And I expected it to be on its way but instead the front door opened once more.

“Honey, I love you.” And then she disappeared out and the car was finally on its way.

The rain had stopped, but it was still cloudy outside so I stayed in watching TV. However around noon the sun broke through and I went up to my room and put on a pair of jeans, a solid colored t-shirt and my favorite pair of sneakers.

After I was dressed I locked the door and went out in the garage and got out my bike, I liked cycling. To me it was more relaxing than driving, and doing it helped to keep me in shape.

The rout wasn’t particularly tiring, except for a hill to the southwest of my house, but the steep climb was worth it since the road there after was a little used highway, it had been abandoned when a new and better one had been built a mile longer down.

So there was no risk of meeting traffic there. And the old road stretched far with the forest on both sides, totally different from the bricks that would surround you in the city.

I would follow the rode a couple of miles and then turn, this time getting to enjoy the hill. Back home I would shower and then loose myself for hours on the Internet.

On my second day alone the sky had opened and it rained both cats and dogs. I didn’t do much that day. It was on the third day my life changed.

I had woken up early, sunshine filling my room, and after a quick breakfast I rolled out my bike, I hadn’t looked at the time yet but I knew it was earlier than I used to get up since the neighbors car was still parked.

Going the usual route I soon was out of the settled area. And thanks to the nice weather I cycled farther away than I usually would. I was considering to go back when I heard a high pitched whine from the forest, followed by laughter and words I did not understand.

There was another whine, and then a low growl followed by the sound of something hard connecting with something much smaller, accompanied by a barrage of words I did understand even if the language was unfamiliar.

Stopping my bike I looked into the woods, I was sure that I was close by, but I didn’t see anything or anyone that could be responsible for the sounds.

Concentrating staring harder, I looked in between the bushes I could still see nothing.

Annoyed I lay my bike down on the ground and went over to investigate; now the voices were hushed, and I couldn’t hear the animal at all.

Making my way through the under bush I thought I saw a movement in the corner of my eye, but it turned out to be nothing. And I was about to give up my quest when someone screamed what I earlier had thought to be a curse word and now I was sure there were movement to my right.

Making my way there I know spotted a red tail, with a milk white tip. My eyes followed the tail that belonged to a young fox.

Then my stomach twisted in horror, around the neck of the poor creature there were an iron collar, the collar was tight and even worse, inside there were spikes that dug into the fox’s neck.

I looked away and noticed that a chain was contacted to the collar. My eyes raced along it now seeing the captors. They were humans; not my age but a few years younger, probably around 14. They were not as tall as me but they were heavy with muscles.

Both of them had gloved hands and the one with the chain had an iron bat in his other hand while the second one held something that looked like a metal spear, the tip was tainted with blood.

I didn’t know what to do next, but the fox took the opportunity to dart forward and bit the boy who hold his chain.

“That’s it! I don’t care about our orders; I am going to kill it!” He yelled in English. He released the chain and grabbed the bat with both hands so he could put more force into the attack.

But the fox didn’t waste it’s opportunity and before the chain even hit the ground it ran off. My feet started moving and I ran after it, behind me I heard more cursing and it sounded like the two boys had come into a verbal argument.

It was hard to keep up with the fox, you should have thought that the injuries would have slowed it down, but it seemed like the fear of the two boys motivated it to keep a high speed.

That speed couldn’t last though. The chain got caught in some bushes and the fox’s movements come to a halt.

I finally caught up to it. The fox had now rolled itself up in a tiny ball, like it feared that I would bring it more pain.

Without saying anything I started to loosen the chain, it was a tight tangle and I did not notice the shadow that fell over me, the fox growled and something hard hit my head and the world went dark.