Following The Hum: A Short Story

The tiny 11 year old girl made her way through the woods, her chocolate brown ringlets bouncing as she skipped towards the pulsating hum coming from the heart of the forest. Her caramel brown eyes widened as the towering, conical trees surrounding her almost seemed to sing, their voices carrying her towards the otherworldly sound deep inside the woods.

The tiny girl’s name was Amara. She lived in the town bordering the Whispering Pines, Ashenvale. The tiny stone cottage, with vines and moss creeping up the edges of the walls, was what she called home.That evening, as she came back home after playing with her friends, a strong vibration from the center of the woods startled her. She went to her room to find her stepmother waiting for her there. Amara’s biological mother had died when she was 7 years old and her father had married a woman who seemed genuine and caring at first, but then showed her true colours, not carin. After that, neither of Amara’s parents had ever been supportive of her and treated her horribly, making her work all the time, calling her names for her love of animals. But, Amara needed to tell somebody about this strange apparition.. “Stepmother, did you hear that murmuring coming from the Whispering Pines?”, she asked.

“No,” her mother replied, in her crisp, heavy accent, glaring at her with her cold, sharp green eyes.. “And you are not to do anything foolish like running into the woods to find out whatever on earth you’re talking about.”

Amara was a curious girl, everybody knew that, but they also knew she was good hearted, and respectful. But that night, Amara couldn’t resist. The hum kept calling to her, no matter how hard she tried to ignore it. So, Amara slipped on a white shirt and grey overalls and headed into the Whispering Pines.

And there she was, skipping down the lanes of the Whispering Pines, finally realising how it got its name. In all her storybooks, characters in these situations would show fear and doubt, but oddly, Amara felt surprisingly comfortable. The dark night sky looked magical, almost as if someone had sprinkled salt on a shiny, black table. Amara sang to herself. Her real mother had always told her singing kept away evil spirits, and given the otherworldliness of this, Amara felt the need for her voice to ring among the treetops. Her voice echoed through the woods but along with her silvery vocals, she could also hear squealing. She shut her eyes, focusing on the sound, her mind amplifying each cry for help. She followed the sound and it guided her to a bush. She bent down to see who was screaming.

She found a creature, with a batlike body,glowing yellow eyes and a misshapen face.   Amara felt immeadiate fear and disgust when she identified the animal to be an imp from all her storybooks. They were creepy animals and were known for their deformed features, but the goodness in her heart overtook her mind's initial reaction. She picked up the creature. The imp was almost as big as her arm. She stroked it and as she did so, a streak of red smeared all over her fingers. Amara was smart enough to bring a torch with her, and shined the light over the animal. Amara noticed blood oozing out from the imp wings and set the creature down as she wondered what to do. She noticed a sharp arrow stuck in the animal’s ear, ‘probably from some horrible poacher’, she thought.  Amara then gently removed the arrow from the imp’s ear and tore off a piece of cloth from her shirt. Amara then tied it around the imp’s wing and picked it up as she searched for a safe place the poor thing could spend the night. She found no place that the imp could be safe from any harm and decided to hold onto him.  

Amara continued down her path, settling on the name, ‘Chucky’ for the imp as she suddenly felt very, very sleepy. She rubbed her eyes and realised she was in a field of poppies. She sighed, all she wanted to do right then was curl up into a ball and sleep.Amara knew it was the effect of the pink flowers, but she couldn’t help herself. She lay down, hugged Chucky, and dozed off.

 A few hour later, Amara woke up to a magical scenery. The northern lights surrounded her and the hum was surprisingly gone. Instead stood in front of her a tall man, with a long gray beard, purple cloak and cap. 

A wizard!

The man cleared his throat and Amara stood up. She couldn’t believe there was an actual wizard standing in front of her. amara greeted the wizard with a smile and she give her a slight nod.

Suddenly, he burst into conversation with her.  

“There are many things you may want.Such as a better house. Better parents. Wealth. Riches. Everything you could ever dream of. And I can give you all of them, all in exchange for that imp.” The wizard offered, looking straight at her, as if trying to peer into her soul. “All in exchange for that ugly creature.” He repeated, pointing at Chucky. Amara raised her eyebrow. “Why would you want an imp, in exchange for wealth?” She asked. His offer seemed too good to be true and she didn’t even know him. “Do you want anything to do with that disgusting creature?” The wizard asked, his voice filled with skepticism. Amara argued, “why would you need him?”

”That is confidential!” The wizard said. Amara shook her head. “Until you tell me what you want with him, I’m not going to give him to you.” She said, “ Chucky has just had a serious injury. Now tell me why you need him.” Amara demanded. The wizard sighed. “Just give him to me!” the wizard shouted.

”NO”, Amara yelled, and suddenly, everything went black.

 Amara’s head started spinning as she slowly opened her eyes to realise that was all a dream. She was surrounded by poppies again and the hum had come back. “It was all a dream,” she said to herself. 

Then why did it feel so real? 

Amara decided to forget about it and continued following the hum. She pranced along the riverside, and her ears started ringing. The hum was getting louder and louder. Amara tried covering her ears, but the sound kept coming. She ran away in front of the hum, but it just kept getting louder. And louder. And scarier. And scarier. A tear trickled down Amara’s smooth brown skin. She was finally realising the reality of her situation. This wasn’t magical anymore. 

It was scary!

Amara stopped in a clearing. She was surrounded by pine trees, who kept singing to her, comforting her. Nothing helped. She was in the middle of the forest. No food. No water. No family. All to just have some trees sing to her and an excruciating headache. Why hadn’t she listened to her stepmother? Amara wiped her tears with the back of her hand and blew her nose into her sleeve. She didn’t even know the way back home. She had never felt more helpless. A whirl of unpleasant thoughts stormed through her mind but they were interrupted by soft footsteps and sudden silence. The humming had stopped!

”It’s okay”, an enchanting voice said. “it’s fine”.

Amara turned around and found a woman standing behind her. Her long, wavy auburn hair seemed to shimmer and her ice blue eyes were filled with genuine care. She wore a shiny pleated blue skirt with a matching top. Behind her she wore….

Wings?

Where was she? An imp, a wizard and a fairy! All in one night? Before Amara could continue her flow of thought, the woman or fairy cut her off. “This was a test of character. The imp, the wizard too.” the woman/fairy said. “We wanted to understand whether you were the one.”, she continued. Amara looked at her with shock and confusion. 

“ Every year, us fairies decide to test one person with true character and a good heart to become a fairy. We select a candidate and see if they are worthy of our true blessing. If you are pure at heart and pass each test, you join our forces. If you don’t, you go back to your family. The first test was to see if you would look past beauty and help someone in need. The second test was to see if you would refuse the wizard and see if you were strong enough to understand that wealth and wishes are not the most important things in the world.  You passed both of our tests with flying colours, and proved your sensitivity and kindness. Therefore, you can become one of us.”

Amara looked at this strange woman in shock. Was she offering Amara, just plain girl Amara, to be a fairy?

“Us fairies are all over the planet, helping humans. And trust me, if you don’t want this, you can say no, but think of all the goodness you could spread in the world. Don’t you feel warm when you help somebody?” The fairy continued.

”Yes. But, I don’t know anything about you, and I don’t know if I can suddenly say, yes, I want to start life over again and become a new species!” Amara exclaimed.

”Alright. I shall introduce myself to you. My name is Etherea, and the truth is, I was also human once. Last year, I was recruited by fairies, and trust me, it is a magical process. Take it from someone who faced the same situation as you, this opportunity is truly spectacular.” Etherea said.

Amara hesitated. What was she to do? She didn’t mind leaving her family behind. They wouldn’t give her a second thought. And wasn’t this opportunity to be with people who understood her? “Alright”, she whispered.

 Etherea grinned. “Are you ready for the transformation?”

”What transformation?"

“Your transformation from human to fairy!” Etherea exclaimed, and with a wave of her hand, a blast of light swallowed Amara.

Regret and doubt filled her mind, but the feeling she experienced was only joy and happiness. She felt free and ready to take on anything. She spread her wings, wait wings?

Amara looked down at herself. She wore the most amazing wings ever. They stretched behind her and the translucent pattern made her feel jittery. Amara wore a deep orange pleated skirt with a sleeveless orange top. Her wild nest of chocolate brown hair had been styled perfectly and she had to admit. She felt amazing. 

Etherea grinned at her when Amara fluttered down.  She waved her hand again and created a portal, mixed with spirals of golden and pink. Etherea held out her hand to Amara and she took it, amazed that just the previous day,she was worried about her parents treating her badly. Now, she was a fairy. And she was ready to do more than ever. As she stepped through the portal, she took one last look at her old life, and stepped into her new.