Edward was told she would have to go by ‘Elly’ for now… though why they (whoever they are) decided to change her identity like this, without her consent really annoyed her. After a bit of time dwelling on it, she wasn’t quite as annoyed as she thought she should be… the name ‘fit’ her a little better but that was a decision for herself! Not some government agent… and yet it worked in her head? Weird. Elly went along with it, though it still hit a bit personal and the fact she wasn’t bothered in itself bothered the young fairy.
Her family had placed her inside a plastic box with a breathing hole at the top to take her out of the hospital. It was as if they were taking out a new pet mouse. Her mother held the carrier… though she tried to insist she was fine just sitting on someone’s shoulder or even inside a pocket if needed.
Her mother shook her head. “What if the wind blew you away? Let’s just take this one step at a time at least until we get you home.” Her voice seemed very worried. It made Elly reluctantly agree to go inside, wincing as the lock was placed behind her.
She was being contained… was it because they feared she was contagious and could spread what happened to her? They were clearly afraid of her... her own family. She had something draped over her too so she couldn’t even see the hospital as they left to a car. “Great, now I’m a bird being kept quiet…”
“It won’t be long.” Her mother insisted.
Elly waited… her plastic box rocking gently back and forth to the steps of her mother. This was her world now… though she was adamant not to get upset about it. Her family were already distressed enough, and could they honestly interact with her enough to console her? Even a hug...
Suddenly the covering came away and she found herself in a car being held by her little sister in the front seat. She crouched again in the corner of her box. “Can I come out now?”
“Well- it’s better you stay inside until we get you home,” her mother explained while driving. “If there was an accident…”
“Accident…” Elly scoffed. “She was secured like a pet... a freakin’ pet! She looked down at her bare legs as they slid on the plastic box… So that was it. She was a mouse to them… The box was supposed to protect her while they were driving, all the while her little sister watched her with the strangest expression she had ever seen on a child. It was getting on her nerves. She tried to look up at the window but she was stuck on her sister’s lap.
“Is your sister okay?” she heard her mother ask.
“Yes mom.“
“Yes mom-“ Elly replied as well at the same time though looked a bit annoyed.
The driving continued in silence…
Was this permanent…
That was the big question. Elly had not given up hope she might turn back… maybe tomorrow, or next year? It might be a sudden change and he would be back to that teenage boy form again…. She awkwardly pulled her dress around her, feeling the odd way her baby soft skin slid over the smooth surface... not a hint of hair anywhere. She wanted to change the subject and break the silence in the car. “So how have things been while I was away? Any other weird news?”
Elly’s mother sounded a little weak, clearly everything had been an awful weight on her. “…well, there are some rumours of other transformations…but nobody knows if its fake. There’s a theory that the media isn’t allowed to report on it… your class is the only confirmed case.”
Elly digested that information. Things were in so much flux nobody had a clue on what to say or not to say… and if she wasn’t careful being in a lab to be experimented on was probably a distinct possibility. She quietly thought of a backup plan… if the absolute worse happened. What would be the worse… she imagined it- she was good at that… but…
…the only plan would be to live out in the wilds, away from her family. Could she really plan that far ahead and say goodbye to them? It made her heart beat a little faster that she was considering it.
Suddenly her ‘world’ began to shake. She slipped on her bare feet against the translucent floor. “Ah- Carly!” She groaned.
“I just thought it would be funny!” She giggled. “You’re so cute..”
“Hold your sister gently Carly,” their mother insisted. “Otherwise, you will not be allowed to play with her.”
Carly gasped. “Mom!”
“I mean it. She’s delicate…” she said quietly. “You must be gentle with her. I mean it.”
Carly pursed her lip. “Sorry…” she said eventually.
Elly was somewhat glad her mother was looking out for her. Though being held to the whim of others like this was annoying as hell. Soon though the car pulled up to a driveway and… she could see her house.
“…home.”
The car door opened, and Elly could hear her father’s voice.
“Hey! Now, where is- ah, there you are!” Her father grinned staring down into her plastic box. “Well… aren’t you interesting. Let’s get you out of that thing, eh?”
“Maybe when she’s inside-“ Her mother suggested.
“Calm down, she’ll be fine.” Elly’s father insisted as the box was finally opened up. “Come on.” He presented his hand palm downward… Elly could tell he was doing everything he could to make her feel like she had some control over her situation and didn’t have to worry about him suddenly grabbing her… but the fact that he knew she could feel that way made her realise he had thought about it… not that he would of course.
The fairy-girl slowly walked towards the opening and into the fresh air… watched by her mother and sister, gently sitting onto her father’s hand. The giant then gently placed her on his shoulder. “Hop on there, and you should be safe.“
“Wait dear that’s too high-“
“Relax honey,” He smiled. “The poor girl has been through enough nonsense,” he waved his free hand wildly. “Come on, I’ve worked hard on sorting out your room. I hope you like it.”
Elly sat down quite easily on her father’s shoulder, balancing carefully. It was like being on the edge of a skyscraper. Normally a feeling of vertigo and fear would pervade her senses, however she felt unusually calm. She had wings and was sure she could at least arrest her fall, if not simply fly…. Doing so in the wind might take some practice but it wasn’t impossible. Her father took her inside, and… she was quietly amazed.
Her father was always good with wood and seemed to have been building things to accommodate living with someone at her size. The thing that took her attention most was pully system that looked like a lift of some kind. Not that she needed a lift if her wings worked… but it seemed to be there ‘just in case’. There was another string allowing access to open the letterbox, allowing her to leave the house if she wanted to.
Going upstairs, her father opened the large door that led to her own room. Elly partly didn’t want to see the ‘large cavern’ of her old things but… “Take a look,” her father insisted.
She looked. One quarter of the room had a plastic enclosure around it, as well as a small door in the middle… a door her size. There were stairs going up that door, with what appeared to be plant-like leaves as steppingstones... A house… within a house? “How…”
“Been working on it since you were in the hospital. I thought at first to make you a room, but then I decided to build an entire house. Go ahead, explore it.”
Elly slowly opened the door. At this point, it was impossible for her to realise she was only six inches tall, as everything here was built to her scale. She entered a foyer…. Green wallpaper and a small working clock on a side wall. There appeared to be a couch, which she gently sat on… surprised by the softness of it. It felt like a real living room if not for the lack of anything electronic. The shelves had a few small books. She slowly made her way further inside, finding a hallway with some steps.
Her father observed her from above. There was a large window with what looked like a pull curtain on the inside but with it open, he was able to watch her. “I haven’t made much of the other rooms yet. I wasn’t sure how much you would need,” he explained apologetically, his voice echoing through all the walls. “Though I think you’ll like the furthest room.”
Elly continued to explore the house. The furthest room appeared to connect to the outside window... the real outside window of the normal large room. She could see her garden and… somehow her father had carved into the windowsill, an actual small window that she could open. She gently did so, and could see some strings lining to the furthest plant- “A clothes liner?”
“Well, I couldn’t build a washing machine for you at that size, so had to make do. Try the taps!”
Elly looked at the taps in the kitchen area and turned them. Small trickles of water began to flow… she saw cups at her size near them and took a deep drink. “Unbelievable…” Water... some food…
She then started to go upstairs to what seemed to be three empty rooms and a bathroom. Water... a shower… she moved the taps and could see everything worked!
“I’m not too sure what to do with the other rooms. We can build a gym maybe, or a study room. I can merge them into a stadium if you want at your size,” he chuckled. “The best room though is just up that hall and on the left.”
Slowly Elly followed her father’s directions and… she couldn’t believe it.
Somehow her father had recreated her entire bedroom at her own size. It was meticulously detailed with the same drawers, bed, carpet. It too was connected to a window to the outside world… the real outside world, which was once her large window in a similar way to downstairs. Though what caught her most by surprise was… a computer.
She almost jumped onto her gaming chair, tears in her eyes as she looked at it. “H-how?”
“Oh, well I had some help on that one. Nice people on the net… eccentric folk who love a challenge. It’s a very small computer, which I’m told remotely controls your real one.. what do they call it er- anyway that screen is also miniature though the resolution might not be as good but it should work well enough. The keyboard was the hardest thing to find though… but I managed to find a remote one that works with Bluetooth. I um… I couldn’t find a mouse though. Still trying to.”
Elly pushed the power button and was greeted to all her old games, contacts, and web browser… a little sadly she saw a picture of her old self… it made her pause as she stared at her profile picture looking down a bit. It was the bare basics of a computer… she wasn’t sure if she could really game on it but her father did try-
“-I’ll try to get a mouse.” Her father said. “Maybe someone can make a custom one, it’s going to take some time. I also haven’t found a way to let you play miniature versions of your consoles yet… the mini ones are too small but… I’ve got a friend working on it.”
“It’s- It’s fine dad.” She said wiping her eyes. “Really… I... I don’t know what to say.”
“Heh. Well, you could come out and give your old man a hug eh?” He chuckled again.
Elly came out of the small house and gave her father an awkward hug. Her small hands pressed on his neck as she flew up towards him. “Ah- easy now. There there, we’ll get through this. I believe your mother was working on getting some clothes for you too… there should be some in there. If they don’t work just let us know, we’ll try to fix it up.”
“Thank you dad…”
Elly sighed. This wasn’t… bad at all. She was lying down in her own room… her own bed… as if ‘nothing’ had happened to her. Could she really… live like this? She felt her pointed ears twitch though as she heard her parents talking next door.
Softly she left her small house and looked at her large room… the ‘real’ world. She fluttered up towards the light, testing her wings a little. She fluttered again towards the vent… she could hear her parents talk.
“…is that really Edward you think?” he heard her mother ask.
“Of course she is,” she heard her father say.
“What if it’s some kind of trick-“
“Honey, its Edward... I know my son… I don’t know what happened but… I can see his soul. I know he’s inside that fairy…”
Her mother grew quiet, though Elly felt a chill inside her.
…her mother didn’t think she was… him? Her? It was not… inaccurate… but she felt tears in her eyes again.
