Theirs is a love story that wasn’t meant to be.
He is an evil prince who’s cursed to roam the Earth for eternity, perpetually unsatisfied with any type of happiness that love brings. She is a pixie, a minuscule of his size; tasked to bring about happiness to every soul while she absorbs all of their sadness and despair.
Until something or someone comes along… What that something is or who that someone is, no one knows. It’s something that wasn’t written anywhere or prophesied by anyone.
One afternoon, the evil prince went for a walk. Upon reaching the forest, it suddenly rained. He just stood there, getting drenched. It suddenly occurred to him that he gets kinder when it rains. He can’t explain why, it’s just the way it is.
Now it so happened that the pixie was nearby. She saw the evil prince in the middle of the forest just standing there, getting drenched. She thought about how lonely the evil prince looked. She thought about how one creature could endure such sadness and discontent. For she can feel what others feel. Full with curiosity, she carefully approached the evil prince ready to sprinkle her pixie dust of happiness.
“Don’t even think about it!”, the evil prince snapped.
The pixie let out a squeal. She didn’t know that she’ll be visible to the naked eye.
“I know what you are. It will not work.”, the evil prince continued.
“How can you see me? How do you know me? Who are you?!”, the pixie don’t know where to begin.
The evil prince looked at the tiny being, amused. It looked like it’s trying to talk but all he can hear are soft tinkling sounds. It reminded him of tiny little bells hanging by the window, blown by the wind.
The pixie repeated her questions for the evil prince appears to be frozen, until a tiny smile formed at the corner of his lips. Is that a look of amusement she sees? The evil prince was now looking at her closely, squinting his sharp, black eyes, still smiling.
“Are you trying to talk to me?”, he asked. “I can’t understand you if you are…”, he continued.
The pixie stopped talking. This is the first time she’s hearing that she cannot be understood by a human. But then again, this is also the first time that a human has spotted her and know what she is.
“My mother told me stories about your kind. How you sprinkle happiness into the world and just absorb all of the sadness. But she didn’t tell me that I can see you. From her stories, I always assumed that you are… well.. invisible,” the evil prince told her.
The pixie was afloat in the air, wings flapping hurriedly. Her wide blinking eyes showed him that she can understand every word he’s saying.
“It’s quite unfair, isn’t it? You can understand me but I can’t understand you. You have the ability to absorb loneliness, except for mine. For I have no capacity for happiness,” the evil prince said, looking sadder than normal. He reached out his hand. The pixie felt his soft fingers, his palms enveloping her wings and her whole body.
“So this is how it feels like, being held by a human. I know that he’s full of sadness but why do I feel happiness?”, the pixie thought. She did not even bother to say it out loud, for fear that he might suddenly understand her. Smiling, she closed her eyes and just lay there in his warm, soft hands, feeling happiness for the first time in a long, long time. Those years and years of absorbing all of the sadness and despair in the world has made her nearly forget.
All of a sudden, she felt his grip tighten. She looked up at his sharp, black eyes still looking at her, but his smile is no more. She saw his jaw clenched as he tighten his grip once more. The pixie is now turning blue, she cannot breathe under his coarse, cruel hands. By the looks of him, he doesn’t plan to stop until she stops breathing.
“So this is how it feels like, being held by a human….”, this was the pixie’s last thought before she let go of her last breath. As she sighed, a chockful of pixie dust emanated from her and hit the evil prince straight in the face.
Surprised, the evil prince coughed and blinked. For a brief moment, he felt what he thought was happiness… but how can he be sure? He’s never felt happiness before…
He looked down at the pixie, her wide, blank eyes, staring into his. Her once luminescent skin is now an ugly shade of blue, and it appears to be crumbling, too. With a look of disgust, he flung the pixie out of his palm, and closed his eyes. He heard a small thud when her frail, dead body hit the ground. He opened his eyes and looked up at the sky.
It has stopped raining.
kirsteneBV 