Unspoken Dangers
Wendy | Swifts creek P-12 College |
Primary English | Term 4 2023
Daffodil settled back into her deck chair on her porch, relaxing in the warm golden rays of the sun. It was times like these that she missed her wings the most, she saw the others flying and fluttering in the gentle afternoon breeze, whilst she was stuck at home, unable to fly like she was born to cursed to forever be stuck in the air whilst being forced to watch other and to not be able to get down without aid. But that was fate for you, always able to crush your soul in new ways. But it could be a lot worse she supposed, her home for one was something you couldn’t help but love, with its pale yellow and orange petals, small yes but also homey in a way that other flowers weren’t, it was the only thing that ever brought a smile to her face these days anymore apart from Rose.
As if summoned by her thoughts Rose came gliding down from her daily flight around The Fairy Garden. “Have you heard?” she asked, excitedly pushing a hand through her messy red petal hair, then she grimaced when Daffodil raised an eyebrow at her.
“Of course, you haven’t…” she muttered, glaring at the flying fairies around them.
“They need to stop being idiots and see that you’re still the same fairy as you were before the accident,” Rose growled.
“It’s all right,” Daffodil said with a small sigh.
“You’re wrong, it does matter, but the good news is that the queen has finally announced that she had an heir a while back, the bad news is that it was immediately kidnapped, the queen is now offering a great reward if anyone can rescue the Princess,” Rose frowned past her.
She turned around to see what had caught Rose’s attention. Really? Right now? She couldn’t wait another hour or two? “What do you want, Blue Bell?” she snarled.
“Why, to visit my favourite fairy of course,” she drawled in return.
Daffodil glared at Blue Bell, her nemesis, tormenter and ex friend. They had been friends… once, close so very close, closer in fact then she had even been with Rose, then the accident happened and Blue Bell had turned her back on Daffodil not only shutting her out like the rest of the fairies but also turning best friend to worst enemy. Only Rose had stuck by her side, only Rose hadn’t given her the cold shoulder, only Rose remained her friend. Whilst Daffodil had been reminiscing about the past Blue Bell and her ‘goons’ as she liked to call them had snuck closer.
“You want to know why they don’t tell you anything?”
Daffodil knew it was a trap, so remained impassive, like she had learned to do so many years ago, block out all feelings, then you won’t get hurt. “It’s because you’re a freak, you weren’t supposed to survive that accident, you’re not supposed to live in this world of elegance and beauty. You wrecked our garden with your mere presence. It’s what everyone thinks, they’re just too weak to say it to your face, because you’re an abomination, you don’t deserve to live here!” Blue Bell finished cruelly.
Daffodil flinched even though she had heard the same thing over and over again just in different words, it still hurt, like a scar being reopened time and time again. A wound that would never heal. She glared at Blue Bell’s meticulously combed blue petal hair. She knew she shouldn’t but sometimes she wished that it hadn’t been her, that it had been someone else who was shunned from society because of a stupid accident, that she could still accomplish something useful in her life.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Rose come to her defense, but she wasn’t really paying any attention until Rose punched Blue Bell in the face. That got her attention anyhow. Blue Bell back peddled from the hit until her ‘goons’ caught her, “HOW DARE YOU!” she screamed at Rose.
“WELL YOU SHOULD KNOW WHEN ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! YOU’VE CAUSED ENOUGH HURT ALREADY!!!” Rose yelled right back.
“WELL YOU’RE CONSORTING WITH THE ENEMY!!!”
“SHE ISN’T THE ENEMY!!”
“BOTH OF YOU! BE QUIET! WOULD YOU?!”
They stopped and stared at her, “So… she’s finally grown a backbone,” Blue Bell hissed.
“I said, BE QUIET!!!” Daffodil screeched.
Blue Bell’s mouth hung open in a silent ‘oh’ of shock. Before she could say anything Blue Bell and her ‘goons’ flew away. “Well… that went… worse than expected…” Rose trailed off when she saw the tears silently rolling down Daffodil’s cheeks.
“Oh, come here,” she said and pulled her into a tight hug.
Later that night…
Daffodil woke to the sound of frantic knocking on her door. Blearily, she stumbled over to her door and opened it, only to find Rose there with a determined expression. “What is it?” Daffodil asked.
“Come on, pack a bag, you need to leave.”
“Where? Why?” Daffodil questioned as Rose hustled her back into her house.
“They’re coming,” was all she said.
Shrugging Daffodil went along and collected her belongings into a bag. When she was done Rose waved her out onto her porch. She was about to ask again what they were doing when Rose grabbed her hand and took off, momentarily distracting her. Daffodil lived for these moments. The bliss and peace of flying once again.
Only seeing the Hedge brought her out of her thoughts, “Why?” she asked simply, the claws of betrayal sinking into her heart.
“Don’t sound so sad, I’m saving your life.”
“How, exactly? No one comes back from that place Rose.”
“Exactly! No one except Tulip. You’ll be safe as sound with her.”
Daffodil understood her reasoning but couldn’t help still feeling betrayed. When they landed she couldn’t help say, “I’m sorry, but you don’t really fit my idea of an intrepid adventurer,” to the fairy who must be Tulip.
Tulip laughed, “You’re not the only one who has said that.”
Tulip looked like she was meant to be a princess, she had a big pink puffy dress, meticulously brushed pink petal hair and wings that reminded her of a butterfly’s. “Don’t worry though, I know my way around,” she smiled at Daffodil.
“Time for you to go then, I suppose,” Rose interrupted their playful banter and flew off.
“Come on then,” Tulip waved for Daffodil to follow her.
The Hedge wasn’t exactly what she had expected, to put it mildly, instead of dark, thorny paths riddled with unspoken dangers, flowers bloomed at every corner in every imaginable colour their sweet fragrance almost intoxicating, everything was so bright and vibrant. Just as she reached out to touch one, Tulip whipped out a dagger from nowhere and cut the flower’s blossom off. Shocked, Daffodil just stared in utter horror at the decapitated flower head lying on the ground at her feet. Her horror soon morphed into terror as the flower stem started bubbling a thick green goo, where the goo splattered onto the ground it started to hiss as it dissolved. “Don’t touch the flowers.” Tulip instructed Daffodil, who just nodded numbly and followed along.
So… maybe it was riddled with unspoken danger after all.
As Daffodil walked along she became aware that Tulip was no longer walking in front of her. The panic slowly but surely started to set in and in no time at all she was running frantically around, (much like a headless chook would honestly) and called out for Tulip. “Do you want to find your beloved little friend?” an only slightly ominous voice asked.
Completely ignoring the obvious warning signs, she agreed, “Then follow me…”
The voice led her along various paths and eventually into a small clearing where she found Tulip in the clutches of a massive dragon, “Tulip!”
She watched as Tulip struggled in vain against the dragon, “Please don’t hurt her!” Daffodil begged.
“Why sshouldn’t I? You fairiesss are ssso annoying! Ssso I will take your princssesssss,” it hissed at her.
“What do you mean princess?” she questioned.
“Thisss isss the fairy princssesssss, don’t you know?” it became curious.
“No, the princess is missing,” Daffodil told it.
“I can sssmell it on her, sshe isss the princssesssss,” it said appearing completely certain.
“Well she certainly wasn’t raised with the other fairies.”
“Noooo! I wasss ssso sscertain that I would kill their heart! But all I got wass ssome peasssant fairy!” the dragon raged and chucked Tulip away.
“Come on let’s get out of here,” she told Tulip.
Tulip nodded and Daffodil took off with Tulip limping behind her. They raced along the paths until the sounds of the dragon crashing around was in the distance. “Did you hear what it said? You’re the missing princess!” Daffodil exclaimed. After this revelation they decided to head back to the Fairy Garden, and they announced their find. Tulip learnt how to be a princess and Daffodil earnt the respect of her fellow fairies. “Did you know from the start who Tulip was?” Daffodil asked Rose, Rose just smiled and flew away into the sunset.
Wendy | Swifts Creek P-12 College
