♔ Champion ♔ A Life to Live Yet — January 2024 Challenge Winner

[MioBrave]

The path was overgrown, but not in a foreboding way. The trees had created an arching tunnel, which leads for a while. Ivy climbs up them and hangs down overhead. The path was worn dirt; key word, was. But now, it's overtaken by yellow wood sorrel, a plant of clovers and tiny five petaled flowers which taste tart when chewed on. The breeze is welcoming, a gentle tug but no pressure.
The yard isn't massive, but it isn't small. A lawn of fairy grass and purple clover. But, as the house is approached, the yard just around it, and out the back it, is more maintained. There are painted pots of planted herbs all over the porch. Hand made wind chimes and sun catchers of recycled pieces sway in the wind, ringing and refracting small rainbows on the shaded wood siding of the house. The coast seemed clear enough.
Julie (Bee) Barklin, had kept her head in the clouds for most of her early teens. And, this summer before her senior year was no different. Book after book, tale after tale. She was piecing together everything she could about vampires and fae, or at least what she thinks they are. Vampires are grumpy, dark and very dangerous! And, fae are dangerous tricksters that play horrible jokes just to see people suffer. She was very convinced of this, and she was very edged on by the other girls at Belle Shelter.
This young girl with brown curls, stares forward through the trees. There's some determination in her brown, doe eyes, though mainly it's fear and uncertainty. Of course, the bright idea to snoop around and poke the wasp nest was all her own. She adjusts her fake, red leather jacket and pulls her pack back up from riding too low. The steps forward are slow. It feels like entering a fairy gate. The railing of the porch stairs was smooth, sanded down to prevent splinters.
"Croak~!" A pudgy purple and black frog hops onto the railing right next to the girl, causing her to shout. Another frog, yellow throated but green, hops up on the opposite side. The girl shrinks, looking back and forth between the two. She steps up the final stair and approaches the door. Her hand shakes subtly as she reaches for the door handle, but it only twists halfway.
"Rather rude to try entering someone's house." The voice is flat and rather sharp. Marybeth stands there, light magenta eyes glaring into the poor kid. It was very intimidating. Black buckled boots, black, paint stained pants and that button up, purple dress shirt tucked in, sleeves pulled up. Bracelet covered bronze skinned wrists lead to her hands on her hips, head in her classic wool hat being tilted in annoyed contemplation. Her blonde hair tucked up in low space buns behind her pointed ears.
"I- I-"
"Shut it. You're a kid. Magical cottage house amongst the trees on the edge of town. I've been there. Come on." Mary rolls her eyes and starts back the way she came, down the stairs and straying left. Bee was pretty shook, lingering by the door. "Well?" Marybeth questions rather crossly. Bee jumps, quickly following after her.
The side of the house would have been nothing of note if it weren't a beautiful mess. There's a ladder leaned against it and plastic drop cloths over the grass. The odd thing about the ladder, was it was being entirely used as a shelf. Several cans and stray glass pots of paint with various colors dripping down them lined every step. How was anyone supposed to actually use the ladder? Maybe they didn't need to?
The mural was massive, spanning the whole wall. It started as a small library on the left, just a few shelves but full. That side had yellow lights and vases of flowers. A large tome open on a desk. It'd transition and bleed so easily to the next scene. An over grown area.. The inside of a house still? Wood floor with grass fighting through it, the room framed in ivy. Empty shelves of broken glass or dusty old things. And, a large tome on a higher shelf, a circle of mushrooms just beneath it.
"Mo Mo! Get the heck down from there!" Before the butterfly wings matching her eyes can even fully materialize, she's zipping to the top of the ladder and scooping up another green and yellow frog. "Hell's bells, you rotten little.." There's more grumbling from the fairy as she lands. "Hold them."
Bee is shaking, fully mute, as the small chubby frog is placed in her hands. The wings disappear, and Marybeth continues around the house. The young girl looks in a frazzled panic, between the way of escape, the frog and at Mary's back. Her weight shifting legs impatiently before she rushes to catch up.
The back yard? No, the back farm! A pond, apiaries, patches of farm bed in between rows of different flowers, with a bird bath and feeder somewhere near the center, herbs and herbs of all the different greens, lost and abandoned watering cans of different colors, bags of different dirts and fertilizers and gardening tools strewn about. It was a colorful sort of organized chaos, like everything the girls did really.
And, there was Sunny. Mary would stop to stare. Tall and slender with much paler skin, dressed far more for the Spring. She's barefoot and orange leggings lead from her knees to the bright yellow skirt twisting at her waist. A sheer strapped crop top of crisp white lace daisies layered with a yellow sports bra. Her gold tree of life pendant on her choker catching the light as she chases something carefully through the garden. Her classic yellow sun hat is hanging from her neck to be behind her, along with the braid of black hair. "Got ya, Ra Ra!" A bright chime of her alto voice, as she holds up another purple frog. She pushes her round tinted glasses back up over her red eyes, beaming a bright fanged smile.
"I think I get it kid." Mary's voice cuts the peaceful scene. "There are a lot of stories, but most of them are full of shit." She takes the frog, haphazardly tossing it while it leaps from her hands to Sunny's shoulder.
Sunny smiles at the kid, bitter sweetly in understanding. "You lose someone important to you, maybe even everyone. So, you go digging around, snooping through old books."
"You find something key to them." Mary runs her hand along the brim of her hat. "And, you take up the challenge to find answers."
"You march head first into danger."
"Head first into reckless things."
"What you're going to come to understand," Sunny's voice is gentle as she approaches and stands beside Bee, bending to be on eye level. "Is that, not everything is what you read it to be. And, to face that reality still requires a lot of bravery."
"The challenges you end up facing are never what you imagine. And, the people you meet are even stranger." Mary grumbles.
"In a good way!"
"Sometimes. And, the world you find, it'll keep pulling you forward."
"However, you have to be flexible with it; don't treat what you know as concrete."
"Just go with what life throws at you."
"Or drops into your arms." Sunny nudges Marybeth.
The fae rolls her eyes. "So, with that, I'll ask. Are we really that scary?"
Well, Marybeth, yes. She had a cold stare and a lingering air of tired frumpiness, just really bad resting bitch face. But, it did soften in Sunny's grace. Sunny was almost anything but scary, hands full of tiny fat amphibian and beaming more than most humans Bee knows. Shaking less now, Bee shakes her head.
"Before you go recklessly marching a war path," Mary starts again. "Gather the facts first. And, make sure you're even ready to begin with. I mean, what was your plan, really? Some silver and garlic?"
Sunny giggles. "What you should focus on, youngin', is the challenges immediately in your life. School is pretty important, you know?"
"And, you'll age out of that orphanage. Do you know where you'll go?" There's a length of silence. "Kid, you've got a lot of life ahead of you."
Sunny nods. "You're adventure isn't ready to start yet, Sweetheart. There' no rushin' it either. So, pull you together first."
"Not, everyone gets that opportunity." Mary sweeps hair back behind her ear. "And then, once you're done with all that, you can come find us. But, maybe, try actually knocking? Not the door handle." Sunny laughs. Mary searches her wrists, pulling one of bright honey tigers eye. She transfers it to Bee's wrist. "For now, protect yourself and gain insight on what life currently brings you."
Bee nods. She turns on her heel, walking briskly off. She lingers, glancing at the mural again, at their stories. Then she sprints through the clover and grass and down that dirt path, stopping midway. Pausing, lingering, before moving forward at a walking pace to the edge of the tree tunnel. The town is in the distance before her. She takes that final step forward, and then she looks back through that fae gate. Longing, something singing in her soul. But... A bell chimes six times. She turns and sprints quickly, bracelet gleaming on her wrist. She's too young to go through that chaos. She has a life to live yet.