Fairy Prince
It was a beautiful day; the sun shone brightly above the tree tops and a gentle summer breeze occasionally caressed your cheeks. Yet, you were crying. Why, one may ask, would you be crying on such a beautiful day? The answer is simple.
You were lost.
Completely, irreversably, lost in the big forest.
For what felt like hours had you been wandering around, trying to find your way back to the glade where your classmates had put up the tent. Repeatedly blaming yourself for not listening to your teacher’s advice of not going off too far from the path. At first it had been exciting to be all on your own. It gave you the time to gather your thoughts and relax for the first time in what felt like forever, and you had to admit to yourself that exploring the huge forest by yourself had made your inner child squeal with joy. But then, it had hit you, the seriousness of the situation. That’s when you started crying. You sat down on a rock and let your eyes turn into waterfalls. The fact that you had given up so easily made everything even worse.
“Why are you crying?” a worried voice suddenly sounded behind you in the peaceful forest, making you jump. How could there possibly be anyone else in there without you noticing before? Was it just your imagination, maybe a result of not having anything to drink for several hours? Although that seemed like the most likely thing to have happened, you curiously cast an eye over your shoulder. What met your glance made your heart sink. Nothing. You really were alone in there.
Turning around again made you jump even more than before . There, just a few inches away from your face, the curious face of a boy your age stared back at you. His kind eyes were such a dark shade of brown they almost looked black and his fluffy light brown hair was graced by a colorful flower crown. Given the circumstances, you had all reason to be scared. Yet there was something special about this boy, as if he radiated kindness and safety, that kept you from getting scared by it. Instead, all you could feel was a wish to look at this dazzling boy forever.
“Are you sad?” the boy asked with a worried face as he leant in even closer, this time to wipe the tear on your cheek with his right hand. You gulped and tried to collect yourself enough to answer him with a steady voice.
“I-I’m lost”, you stuttered and bit the inside of your cheek to stop yourself from crying.
“Lost?” the gorgeous boy tilted his head with a confused frown.
“Yes… I can’t find the way back to the people I came here with.”
A smile broke out on his lips. “Oh!”
You were confused by his sudden change of mood, but even more confused when he gently grabbed your wrist and started leading you in the opposite direction.
“W-what are you doing?”
He smiled brightly at you, making your heart melt. “I’m helping you get back to your friends!”
“But how do you know we’re heading the right way?” you asked, suddenly anxious he was just playing a joke on you. Could anyone with such sweet eyes play such a cruel joke though? Receiving another smile, you decided he couldn’t.
“I just know”, he said.
For a good half an hour, you let the boy lead the way without questioning or complaining. Although there was a silence, it was not an awkward one but rather a comfortable. Somehow, you realised, that was exactly what you felt around him; comfortable and… safe.
Weird, you thought, Considering I don’t even know his name.
While focusing on building up courage to change this fact, you forgot to watch out where you put your feet. Suddenly you found yourself in the boy’s arms, dangerously close to the rocky ground. You blushed, too flustered to meet his dark eyes.
“You almost fell”, the boy said quietly. He then froze, his big eyes carefully scanning your face, slightly stopping by your lips before meeting your gaze again. You could feel your cheeks burning by now, but for some reason you still wanted to stay in his arms like that forever.
“Thank you for saving me for the second time today”, you almost whispered. “If only I knew who I should thank?”
The boy smiled, without breaking your eye contact. “I’m Sanha.”
“It’s an honour to meet you, Sanha”, you replied with an even bigger smile and told him your name. Sanha then seemed to realise he still held you in his arms, and carefully put you down on the ground again.
“Let’s go!” he said, with a trace of sadness in his voice. “We’re almost there now.”
As he once more grabbed your wrist, you released yourself from his grip and instead entwined your fingers. “So that I won’t fall again”, you explained when he looked at you shyly. That excuse didn’t even make sense to yourself; in reality, you did it simply because you wanted to have held his soft hands at least once before parting with him. The mere thought of it made tears want to well up in your eyes again, but you kept it back. Getting home again didn’t mean you wouldn’t be able to see him anymore, right? You could stay in touch with your phones or maybe emails… Deciding to ask Sanha about his number once you got to the glade, you smiled again. At the same time, Sanha stopped.
“Your friends are behind the tree over there, but I can only follow you this far”, was his cryptic reason for the sudden stop. He turned to you with a bittersweet smile. Then, he seemed to get an idea, as his face lit up. “Here”, he said, took off his flower crown and lightly placed it on your head. “If you wear it the next time you are here, I’ll be able to find you immediately.”
Almost crying at the goodbye, you didn’t feel like telling him you probably never would go there again or asking why in the world a flower crown would help him find you. Instead, you stood on your toes and gave him a peck on the cheek.
“Thank you for being my knight in shining armor, Sanha.”
He smiled and you looked down on your feet.
“That’s what princes are for.”
With that, he was gone, and you realised that asking for his phone number would have been pointless. The two of you were simply from different worlds.
