Yoana Valkanova

Mary looked in the mirror. Today was her eight birthday. She already felt all grown up like her sister Ana. Mama and Papa even dared to talk in front of her about those secret things. For example, the other day Mama started a conversation with her around whether they should move to another town. This place was no longer good enough for them. They moved all the time and no place was good enough. There was always something that Mama didn’t like. The girl was tired off moving around but Mama was adamant. And Papa never argued with her on this issue.

Since the girl could remember they were always moving from one place to another. They travelled further north each time. They arrived in a city, picked a house and started living there. Some houses were better than other – they had big gardens where she and Ana could play. But there were also houses without a garden, old and dark. Some towns were filled with children and they easily made friends, but other places were filled only with elderly folks who always followed them with scary eyes. Mary no longer paid any attention. No matter the town and the house there would come a time when they would move again further north in search of a new home.

Mama was always nervous, always scared. She was not like the other adults who were serious and frightening. She was like a little child that had awoken alone in the dark and was about to start crying. Mary was already big enough not to be afraid of the dark and cry at night. However, Mama was still scared. It was as if Mama had forgotten to grow up and had remained a frightened child. Mama loved to play with them, to make cakes and jams together, to tell the girls exciting stories. But Mama was also very gentle and sensitive and Papa did not want them to worry and bother her. If Mama wanted something, Papa made sure she got it.

And so, if Mama said it was time to move, they picked up a new town.

The girl turned in front of the mirror in her new dress on colourful flowers. Her skirts rose in the air and turned with her. She laughed.

And there, her friends appeared. They were always here, in the mirror. Girls around Mary’s age wearing so many different dresses. Dresses she had never seen anyone wear before. Dresses strange and unique, long and short, white and colourful, with long sleeves or sleeveless, with collars or without. All kinds of dresses and all kinds of girls. They couldn’t talk to her but they sang a magical song. It was their secret song which no one else knew. The girls always appeared in the mirror when she was alone and were her friends no matter where they moved to. They never left her and she never felt lonely or unhappy. Since Mary saw them in the mirror for the first time a few years ago, she no longer feared the constant moving.

Tonight they had celebrated Mary’s birthday and tomorrow they would depart. Mama said something strange this evening. Mary wanted to tell her friends all about it. She wanted to tell them about the new dress and the cake she got from Mama and Papa. About the necklace from Ana, which her sister had made on her own. As well as, about the strange conversation.

Mama began telling them a story and Mary was eager to hear another magical fairytale. The story was the following:

Once upon a time there was life in the south. The villages and towns were overflowing with young people – smiling young women, handsome young men and noisy children. However, things suddenly changed. The children started disappearing mysteriously one after another and the young people left the south. The elderly believed that fairies were kidnapping the children. That they lured the kids somehow in their underground kingdom and enchanted them. That they kidnapped human children and raised them as their own and returned the kids only years later when they were all grown up. And the children were changed. It was as if they lacked something, as if the light had been stolen from their eyes, as if their spirit was elsewhere. The people feared them. And with good reason. Thus, the young people started leaving the south. They travelled further north. They travelled in order to save their children from the fairies. They moved endlessly from one town to another.

The tale was just getting interesting when Papa interrupted Mama and told her in a firm voice that Mary was too young for this story. It was too early for her to know this story. Ana, as she was older and brighter, supported Papa. Mary got very angry because Ana knew the story but she herself was too young. The strange thing was that instead of agreeing with Papa, Mama also got angry. She argued that this wasn’t a simple fairytale or story, that Mary was old enough to know it. But this time Papa didn’t support Mama. Papa was being stubborn and sent Mary and Ana to bed. He and Mama were left alone to talk things over.

And Mary wanted so much to hear the end of the story. To find out what happened with the children who disappeared. She wanted to know why the people feared the children who returned and what was it that they lacked.

The girls in the mirror waved more energetically at her and began singing the song again. Mary looked at them surprised. They waved and urged her to come to them. They sang in a voice more clear and beautiful than ever before. The song was like a promise about something better. Mary moved closer to the mirror and extended her hand to touch the cold and hard surface of the glass as she had done many times before. The girls on the other side urged her to enter the mirror. Mary caressed the glass and stepped back in surprise. The smooth surface flickered like water as it was no longer hard. She reached and touched it gently again. She felt a tickle but it wasn’t unpleasant. Just the opposite, it raised her curiosity. It was as if she had magically entered one of Mama’s stories. Mary could go to the girls in the mirror, on the other side, in a magic world, in a fairytale.

The girl looked around. A thin line of light shone underneath the door. Ana had fallen asleep in her bed a long time ago. In the next room Mary could hear Mama and Papa still arguing. The girl faced the mirror and the girls on the other side started urging her once again to join them. If she went there only for a short while no one would notice her absence. She wouldn’t stay long in the mirror. She would come back before the morning and no one would ever know she was gone.

Mary looked around one last time before she sank in the mirror. She took a daring step and crossed the surface that reminded her of water and entered the other world. And forgot everything. She forgot who she was, she forgot who Mama and Papa were, she forgot her sister Ana and she forgot all about her intention to come back. All she could remember was the song, this magical song that filled her entire being. She started singing with all her might and dancing with the other girls in search of new friends.

​

Come in our forest

Made from all the marvels.

There is no sadness or loneliness

Only laughter and light.

On the other side, come to us.

We will fly on the wings of magic

Over the horizon we will soar

Undefeatable in battle we will lunge

And every enemy we will defeat.

Treasures untold,

Prizes unseen

And all adventures

Await only us

On the other side in the secret forest.

 

* * *

Daisy knew she was a bad child. Her Granny always told her that good children didn’t go wandering in the forest. They stayed at home and helped with the housework. But Daisy found it boring to stay at home the entire day with Granny and feed the pigs and the chickens, sweep the yard, weed the garden. Granny always had another chore for her and never left her time to play and have fun. Thus, she would sneak out into the forest whenever Granny wasn’t paying attention.

And how could she resist? It was spring and everything was green. The flowers had spread all across the grass. The sun was shining brightly high in the sky and it was somehow smiling to her. It was different from the cold and distant winter sun. Daisy just couldn’t fight the temptation to go out, stretch her back and run.

There were no other children left in the village. Little by little most families had moved to the north (or so her Granny said) and she had no one to play with. That wasn’t a problem. The entire forest was her friend. Granny always scolded her that the forest was dangerous, that she shouldn’t go there alone. But Daisy was friends with every tree in the woods and knew that they weren’t scary, that she had no reason to fear. But Granny continued to warn her that something horrible lived in the forest. Daisy argued back, cried and sulked but nothing helped. Granny was adamant and had forbidden her from going into the forest.

But what she didn’t know, she couldn’t hold against Daisy. As long as Daisy kept in secret her little trips to the forest everything would be fine.

And there was another reason why the girl couldn’t stop returning to the forest again and again.

Her magical friends were there.

Daisy was six, that means three entire years ago, when she saw for the first time the other girls. At that time she was already the only remaining child in the village. Since the very beginning there were very few children around but she still had two comrades a long time ago. They were nothing special – Michael cried too much and Ira wouldn’t leave her mother’s skirts – but they were her age. However, they also had moved somewhere in the north. Then Daisy had started coming secretly to the forest and had found the other girls. They were incredible and Daisy wanted to brag about them. But she couldn’t tell a single soul how wonderful they were or betray their presence in any other way. She had to keep to herself her trips to the forest and the meetings with the girls.

Daisy was running with all her might through the forest. She knew every turn the path made, every root that stuck out from the ground, every little stone and hurdle. And a moment latter the tiny lake with crystal-clear water appeared in front of her. It sparkled and glowed like a glass bottle. A small river started from this lake and ran wildly down towards the village. The entire shore was surrounded by high trees and tick bushes and it was difficult for a person to reach the water. But Daisy knew a small gap in the green wall that led to an island in the middle of the mirror waters. Despite its transparent waters the lake was very deep. So deep that Daisy could sink and disappear beneath its surface.

Out of breath she wiggled between the bushes and the trees. The branches got tangled in her clothes and tried to drag her back.

Daisy sat down on the narrow piece of dry-land and took a deep breath. Suddenly she bent down and looked into the water.

Come in our forest

Made from all the marvels.

The girl hummed in a low voice and there, her friends appeared. They lived here, underneath the water, deep under the surface where no one could find them. But they showed themselves to Daisy. The girls danced under the water. Their dresses floated in all directions. They also began singing the song. Daisy stood up and started dancing on her tiny piece of ground.

When she got tired Daisy sat down on the ground and looked at the water. The girls had gathered around her and looked intently at her. Daisy wanted so much to join them, to dive under the water surface and dance and play like them. But she couldn’t swim. The girls, it seems, read her mind and started waving with all their might urging her to join them. Daisy shook her head and tried to explain that she couldn’t. She wouldn’t be able to breathe underwater and she would die. But the girls didn’t give up. They waved at her and called her. They started singing once again, louder and more clearly than the previous time. Daisy continued to shake her head but she gently touched with one hand the water. It was ice cold. The girl continued to caress the lake slowly and underneath the surface her friends danced and sang more energetically. Daisy dipped at first two fingers and then her entire hand.

And then something grabbed her and dragged her in the water. Daisy felt the shock from the ice cold water, from the lack of air, from the hands pulling her further down. She tried to fight them, to break free and escape from whatever it was that was pulling her towards the bottom, from the lake that was drowning her. But soon she forgot everything. The fear and the cold vanished and she could breathe again. Why did she think that she couldn’t jump under the surface? Why did she think that she couldn’t go to her friends or stay with them?

It didn’t matter anymore. They were together.

Daisy spun with the other girls and her dress too started dancing around her. They began singing their song, held hands and floated without fear or worries, without disturbing thoughts and feelings.

​

Treasures untold,

Prizes unseen

And all adventures

Await only us

On the other side in the secret forest.

 

* * *

In the inn “By the road”, located midway between three villages, an unusual number of people had gathered. Usually the place was half-empty, half-forgotten but this night the dark and stuffy place housed all the adults from the region. The tables were pushed aside and people were sitting everywhere. It was strangely noisy. All types of conversations could be heard in the gloomy inn and from time to time someone tried to outshout the rest. A single man stood in the middle of the place with a bottle in one hand and talked passionately:

‘Those are no longer our children.’

‘Of course they’re our children. Whose else are they?’ A woman replied.

‘How can they be ours? Look at them – they don’t look like us, they don’t act like us, they don’t speak like us.’

‘Cause of ‘em fairies that kidnapped the kids!’ Another man said. ‘No one knows where they’ve kept them all this time and what they’ve done to them.’

‘They are not fairies but wood-nymphs.’ A woman argued.

‘Wood-nymphs, my ass! Those are creatures from hell. They’ve dragged the children underground and sucked their souls out!’

‘Those are fairies. They live in the woods. I saw tracks once…’

All were shouting and no one was listening to the others.

‘It doesn’t matter what they are and where they come from!’ The first man outshouted the noise. ‘What matters is that those aren’t our children!’

‘What do you mean it doesn’t matter who they are and where they come from?’ A couple of the adults jumped. ‘How can we fight them? We have to know them and where to find them. And then we will kill them with stones, we will cut them to pieces and burn them. All it takes to get rid of them!’

‘What are you thinking? How can you beat and slay wood spirits?’ A woman exclaimed. ‘Do you hear what you are saying?’

‘If we cannot harm them with sticks and stones or with iron, with fire we will drive them away. There must be some way!’

‘By the time you find out what they are and from where they come, all of our children will be gone.’ A woman cried.

‘And you with your constant running away! Let’s move north, let’s go north. And what good did it do us to constantly move, to constantly run further north. We became nomads but our children still disappear.’

‘Those northerners are to blame!’ Another shouted.

‘How can they be at fault?’ An old granny laughed.

‘Why aren’t their children vanishing? They must have made some sort of a deal with the fairies. There is no other way. They want to wipe us out.’

‘You are sprouting nonsense! How can a human come together with the fairies?’ The granny mocked him. ‘Has anyone ever heard or seen fairies, wood-nymphs or other spirits do what man has told them?’

‘Then why aren’t the children of the northerners disappearing?’

‘And why do our kids continue to disappear no matter how up north we go?’

‘It’s the devil’s work. This is a thing from hell!’

‘This all doesn’t matter!’ The first man started shouting again. ‘Nothing matters as long as our children continue to vanish and other return in their place. The eyes of those things are empty, they don’t say a word or they speak some strange gibberish. My hair stands up just by looking at them.’

‘We have to do something!’ A woman whimpered. ‘We have to stop this!’

‘But we don’t know what they are and where they come from…’ A group retorted.

‘The northerners…’

‘Enough with the northerners!’

‘I will tell you how we can put an end to this!’ The first man threatened and swung the bottle wildly. ‘Right now I will end it!’

The people began murmuring. Every person was talking but nothing could be heard. The crowed had become an ocean in the middle of a storm.

‘I’ll gather them all and deal with them!’

‘Who?’ The women shouted.

‘Those foreign children that the fairies, or wood-nymphs, or whatever have slipped in place of our kids. I will no longer take it!’

‘How can you say that? Those are our children!’

‘They are not our children and they will never be! If at one point they have been our children, they no longer are. They lack something, something that made them human. They no longer are. We don’t need such children! Let’s kill them all. We will gather them and take them to the forest. There we will take care of them. Let’s show those fairies and wood-nymphs that they shouldn’t joke with us! We will not tolerate their games!’

The men jumped up, the women began crying. But their tears and pleads couldn’t subdue the men’s determination. They lighted torches, grabbed knives and sticks. They took everything that could be used as a weapon and rushed back home.

The villages lit as if it was day. Clamour filled the houses and gardens, the small streets and the main roads. People were running everywhere the entire night. Shouts and cries could be heard from the nearby forests. The women wept and whined with all their might.

It was a horrific night. And many such nights followed.