Whatever Remains, T. Richardosn [brene brown rising strong TXT] 📗

“What do you want me to do!?” I yelled.
“I know you’re not certified," she said, "but for these things, I know you are allowed to do, I promise you won’t get in trouble!”
I shook my head. For a moment, I focused on the child. It was breathing heavily and was trying to keep up with the pace.
I wish it would start breathing so the old woman could leave me alone. I just wished these things would happen. I wasn’t certified for a license, I couldn’t fix him on a street. And suddenly, it stopped breathing.
Instantaneously, a sudden pressure hit the baby’s chest. It gagged a moment. I still looked at it as the grandmother watched in horror. Another pressure went to it. As much as my eyes wanted to look away, they stayed there; they were focused on that empty stare of a baby of one or two. One more pressure, and the baby began to breathe again and began to bawl. My hands let go suddenly out of fear as the old woman caught the child and carried it in her arms. She looked at me helplessly.
“Thank you,” she murmured, “for agreeing to do this, for doing this for a stranger. I’ve always loved fairies as a little girl; I don’t understand why the population is going so low. Maybe it’s the hunters, but what I must say is, watch out.” She shot me a glare that had me stepping backwards.
“How do you know, that I’m…” I didn’t finish. I was wordless. The woman had kissed me on the cheek.
“It’s obvious,” she said. “You’re glowing, all of the time.”
Glowing? What did she mean by glowing? “Do you want to come by?” she asked. “At my home, I want everyone to meet the last fairy they’ll ever see, unless you ever live long enough to reproduce more.” My eyes widened. Reproduce more?!
“No thank you,” I said. “I have to go home.”
“Before you die!” she yelled. “Please, before they kill you, let my family see.” Kill me? “I can protect you perhaps; I have many spells, many other transactions as well.” I shook my head as I tried to walk past. She pulled on my arm. “I need them to see you, show them your pretty wings even.” I shook my head. She held onto the crying baby. She looked into my eyes now. “Oh, sweetheart. Those are depressing eyes your wearing, maybe even devastated, fairies shouldn’t be sad for too long, it can turn you into something else. Honey, I can make you happy!”
“No one!” I yelled. “Will ever make me happy, do you understand?” She was a little taken back.
“Can’t even let an old woman try?” she asked. I was shattered. I looked through her now. I saw her honey hair and the curl to it. I saw her eyes busted and bruises all over. Had she been beaten?
“Ok,” I agreed. “But I really have to get home in an hour, so if you don’t mind if we can quicken this up a bit?” She nodded and smiled as a bus came up and rolled forward. We went inside and sat on the first available seat in the back where no one could hear us talking.
“Have you ever wanted to meet the queen?” she asked. I knew exactly what she was talking about.
“I already have,” I said. Her eyes widened as she cradled the baby in her arms.
“You have?!” she asked. “No fairy has ever met the queen, you’re the first!” I nodded smiling.
“She had me wear a dress made of rose thorns. She isn’t the nicest.”
The woman’s smile faded. “My name is Cathie.” She said putting a hand out to me. “I’m human.” She said assuring me. If she was human, why did she know more stuff than I did? How had she been so sure of what I was? Because obviously, I’m not glowing. The rest of the time, we rode in silence.


We walked up to her front door.
“Ok,” she said. “Our family is filled with warriors. Our entire family is filled with warriors, which has made me forget, what’s your name?”
“Orphelia,” I answered.
She nodded and smiled. “You’d think that is a common name for a fairy, but it isn’t. I’ve never heard of it in my life.” I nodded.
It wasn’t common for this dimension, and it wasn’t in the other. What a coincidence.
She knocked on the door and I heard barking noise and the baby began to howl again. The door swung open as a handsome guy approached and leaned.
“What have we here ma?” he asked the woman, obviously his grandmother.
“This is Orphelia,” she said. “Let her in.” The guy moved from out of the way. He didn’t have blond hair, but dark brown and light brown skin. He had a muscular shape to him, looked much like a warrior should, how I'd expect them to be. I stepped inside coming with a smile. The woman set the baby down as it began to walk around. “Here,” she said. The house was an enormous size compared to where I lived. Compared to where anyone lived, actually.
I heard grunting noises coming from the other side. “What’s that?” I asked listening.
“Oh,” the woman said. “Training, you know how it goes. This place is very private, hidden by humans.”
I nodded.
“Who is this ma?” the boy asked again.
“Say 'hi!'” she yelled.
“Hello,” he said to me with dark brown eyes staring towards me, deep eyes. I smiled.
“Hello.” I said nervously.
“Well,” his grandmother said. “This girl is Orphelia.” He flinched at my name. I felt obligated to say something against it so he wouldn’t think me weird.
“She is the last fairy you’ll ever see.” She said smiling. “Isn’t she beautiful?” the guy began circling me.
“Yes, indeed,” he said. I suddenly began to blush, which was sort of embarrassing. I smiled hard to make the feeling go away and I was sort of glad that I'd agreed to come. But I could no longer have any crushes from now on.
“Fairies die rather easily, they’re too sensitive.” He said now. All of a sudden, the dreaminess I felt from him was gone. The feeling of happiness to being here was just nonsense.
“I’m a warrior,” I said. The guy came up in realization. “I guess you aren’t too soft, but all fairies think they’re delicate, they always have to be so nice and happy all of the time.”
“Not this girl,” said his grandmother. “I actually see a sort of depression in her eyes.” I wasn’t depressed.
“I had a bad day is all; I can be upset, can't I?” Now I sent a rotten smile at the guy.
He sent the same one back to me. “A fairy with a grudge, even better.”
His grandmother took my arm now. “Don’t mind him.” She said. “He was always a stubborn child, since he’s turned twenty, he’s been awfully mean.” How old was he now then? I felt a gag coming up in me but I didn’t show it.
Over in the kitchen, two younger children were eating a freshly baked batch of cupcakes. They looked at me strangely. I walked passed the kitchen and stepped into a backyard where I saw the two people fighting. They were holding gear and laughing like a happy couple.
“That’s my son and daughter in law, aren’t they so cute?” she asked me. I nodded trying to find cuteness in them. They stopped fighting at the sight of me. The woman stopped immediately and looked at me with wide and stranger eyes than the two boys.
“Listen,” the older woman said to her daughter. “Your grandson lost his breath again, you’re lucky I found this young girl on my way back home, she saved him.”
Her daughter took her shoulders and pulled her away as her husband looked at me. “Nice to meet you,” he said.
“We haven’t met.” I protested. “You can start by telling me your name though.” The man looked at me silently and played with his fingers.
“My name is Glythera.” I nodded to him.
I guessed names that started with, "Glythe" were pretty popular amongst warriors.
“Mine is Orphelia, nice to meet you now.” I spit out a hand but he didn’t shake it. I took it back awkwardly. I heard the woman’s voice now.
“You aren’t supposed to bring fairies here! Not even if they are rare and need protection, they bring so much trouble! You know that!” I heard the heavy wheezing of the woman.
“She saved your son though, I needed to take her, and she even met the queen.” She said. Their whispering was terrible. The man still looked at me with amazement.
“You’re glowing,” he said. “With what? Happiness? Anger? Fear?” What was he asking? I shook my head.
“What are you talking about, glowing?” he looked at me now and a chill ran down my spine.
“Fairies sort of glow when they’re filled with a lot of emotion, only someone without the human eye can see it if you weren’t sure. You’re a fairy, you should know.” I shook my head.
“This fairy business only began when I went into another dimension, that’s when it started.”
“Yes, you went into a place that you were meant to be in, breathed its air, things start happening,” he gave an afterthought. “That’s how it goes.” The woman and her mother in law came back out.
“Hi,” she said. “My name is Merlin. Would you like something to eat Orphelia?” I shook my head.
“I need to be getting home soon anyway, I shouldn’t really be