The Fallen Queen (Winner of the Write Way Award 2013) #Wattys2015 #MyWattysChoice #Featured

Chapter 7 : Ana

The weekend before my eighth birthday, my parents took us to the mountains to admire the autumn scenery. I could not agree more that early fall is the time of the year when the trees are most astonishing, and the view of the valley we obtained when standing on the top of the windy hills was breathtaking.

Naturally, my parents did not take us there for me, but because my mother wanted to escape from the house. Especially before the arrival of the cold season. In winter, people tended to stay home, warm and cozy in front of their TV screens.

I was bored in the car, stuck in the back seat between my brother and my sister. It was not easy to fall asleep, especially if one or two people were sleeping on top of you. So, I just looked out the window, letting my eyes jump from one tree to another. This is when I met my first friend.

He did not have a name. In fact, I never even talked to him. All he did was amuse me. He followed our car, sliding on the branches along the streets.

Where there were no branches, he jumped back onto the road and rolled in front of the car on his bicycle. When the lines on the road were double, he had both feet on the pedals and was not pedaling. Similarly, when the line was full on one side and dotted on the other, he used his feet to pedal and go forward. Finally, when the line was only dotted, he ran beside his bike. He ran fast.

I liked how free-spirited he was. How powerful. He had no parents. He was freer and faster than the wind. He made my time in the car pass much quicker.

But soon I was back at home and bored again. Fall was beautiful, but it also seemed agonizing, like it was telling you the Earth was going to die in a few months time, suffocated under layers of snow.

I always wanted to live on a farm. To fulfill that wish, I built myself an imaginary one with cats, dogs, and horses. The kittens were my favorite animals and the smallest. I put them in my backpack before going to school. I frequently looked in my backpack while in class to make sure they were all right. I fed them imaginary water and, one time, I also gave them a bath then squeezed them dry.

A classmate asked me what I had in my hands. I presented him my empty hands. That led to a confused look from him.

Needless to say, my classmates found me even weirder after that. I liked that.

I knew that those little fuzzy balls were not real. They were just a "figment of my imagination" as Daddy would say. Maybe it was a preparatory step to what was coming, however. Maybe I needed to prove I was a worthy queen before having other kinds of friends. I swore to myself I was going to be patient.

The world judged me worthy in the middle of December, when the river was not yet frozen but the temperature was still below the freezing point. I was walking aimlessly in the garden when I looked towards the river and saw five naked women happily bathing in the cold water. They had blond hair which they piled on the top of their heads in messy updos. They were beautiful, though bizarrely diaphanous and insubstantial. They were laughing and their laughter echoed in the air like we were in a cave.

I was too far away to hear what they were saying or what they were laughing about. I started walking closer, magnetized by the mystery they had brought to me.

One of them turned toward me and looked at me with a frightened expression on her face. The others imitated her and then they all started swimming away, their bodies de-materializing in the splashing water until they disappeared and the water became quiet again.

I ran home. I had to share this wonderful discovery with someone.

My mother was the first person I came across.

"Mother! Mother! I saw mermaids!"

"Where?"

"In the river!"