Fairy Curse

Prompt from DailyPrompt.com

It was my own fault. Never make a deal with a fairy. But I was young and foolish and wracked with sickness. So I went to the standing stones at midnight, with a nail bent into a ring tucked into my right pocket, and stood in the centre of the circle and closed my eyes and wished.

‘Please… I don’t want to die!’

The wind froze. A sudden glow hurt even through my eyelids. And a warm gentle voice said “Very well…”

I gasped. My eyes shot open. I don’t know if that was against some rule or if the doll-like beauty perched on the rock had been smirking beforehand.

Not childlike. Her skin was too smooth and pale and translucent. Her eyes a little too large, or perhaps too far apart. I could not discern what quirk made them so disquieting. Only that gazing into them left me fascinated and repulsed.

I had expected a flowing gown of flowers or such, but her clothes were the only normal thing about her. A plain brown woollen dress with a linen petticoat peeking out. Smart leather shoes with shiny buckles. A pretty starched bonnet. I wonder if she had gotten the outfit from a true doll.

She continued speaking without pause, the icy cheer of her smile dripping from every word. “You won’t die. Not ever. Until… hm… I know! Your true love. He’s the only one who can kill you. He will grant you death, and you will love him for it.”

What?

The fairy lifted a dainty hand to her rosebud mouth and blew me a kiss. Then she was gone.

I was left standing in the dark, wind once again messing my hair, dumbfounded.

That… I…

“That wasn’t what I meant!”

My helpless cry echoed off the stones. Never answered.

No matter how I tried, I never saw a fairy again.

No matter how I tried, I never found escape.

My sickness didn’t kill me. Oh no. It ate away at me without ceasing until every breath was agony and my body raged with futile fever, but I never died.

The village cast me out, fearful of this magic, and I wandered helpless and alone in the cold until my flesh was hard and dark with frostbite. But I didn’t die.

I starved in the forest until my body was skin stretched over bones. But I didn’t die.

I’ve tried everything. I can’t die.

Please, my love, won’t you find me?

Prompt was “He will give you death, and you will love him for it.”