Bogleech.com's 2014 Horror Write-off:

" Upside-Down Fairy "

Submitted by Anonymous

They say that only those with the most purest of hearts can see us hatch. It is only in this brief moment when we slip out of our chrysalis that we are visible in both worlds. We are very rare compared to them, we live far away from all of their settlements, and our metamorphosis takes the time of several of their generations to complete. Someone walking in on us during that one short moment in our life cycle must indeed be considered lucky.

Our beauty is the stuff of legends. It is said that the mere sight of us can sweep away all sorrows in the soul of a mortal being. The world would be a cruel place inded if those precious few who get to meet us were not the most deserving, most innocent, most in need for a miracle in their lives.

I felt the mortal's presence long before she actually arrived at my hatching site. Even through the thick layers of the chrysalis and the intricate veils of my metamorphic dreams, I could feel her suffering and see deep into her tortured past. I wished for nothing more than to protect her, to make her the most wonderful magical gifts, to take her into my arms and dry her tears, to make her feel some of the universal love that pulsates so strongly throughout all layers of existence, yet is so rarely percieved by mortal beings. As the center of my nerveous system traveled down my spine and teeth started forming in what used to be my anus, I dreamt of being the one miracle that would help a mortal soul regain the strength to go on.

It was only when my wings started to sprout that I began to suspect that something strange was going on. I quickly pushed these feelings aside as the mortal who was destined to meet me arrived at the clearing I had chosen for my transformation. She was fleeing from her unforgiving tormenters, almost completely drained of her will to fight. Never had there been a mortal in more dire need of a magical friend.

When she was only meters away, my chrysalis started to humm, luring her ever closer to the trunk of the dead tree in which it was hidden. The moment had finally come. Everything had to be perfect. As she put her hands on the shell, I started kicking and squirming with all my might.

Finally, there was a crack, going down the entire length of the chrysalis, flooding the clearing with glittering honey dust and multicolored rays of light. I could already feel the cool morning air on my skin. The mortal stepped back in awe. Theatrically unfolding my wings, I emerged from the shell.

I fell flat on my belly. Something had gone wrong. It was a whole cluster of things really, and it took me a few moments to untangle this wrongness. There were the screams, the pain, the weight and of course the confusing information relayed to me by my new set of eyes.

The screaming was easy - that was the mortal. Most of it, anyhow. I realized some of these screams were actually my own.

The unforgiving pull of gravity I was feeling could only have one explanation - my wings didn't work. It is the wings that make us float above the ground, neutralizing the weight of our body. I tried moving my wings and found them to be weak and small, little more than thin ridges of skin on my back.

Some of the pain was certainly due to my fall, but that couldn't be the whole story. No, this burning, excruciating sensation all over my body felt more as if it was something from within myself. My body as a whole was made of pain, it seemed.

And finally the confusing optical input. I knew that the mortal and the clearing where right in front of me, yet I didn't see them, even with my eyes wide open. All I saw was the dead tree and the remains of my chrysalis.

Using all of my unexpectedly stubby limbs, I turned myself around so that my head was facing the tree and that my rear end was facing the clearing. Sure enough, the mortal and the clearing appeared in my field of vision.

The mortal screamed even louder than before.

In an attempt to speak to her, I uttered a guttural sound and released thin streams of steaming liquid from both ends of my digestive tract. I'm not sure what I would have told her either way, for all the beautiful speeches I had prepared in my metamorphic dreams had shattered, the words fluttering around inside my head like so many panicked bats.

I tried reaching out to her with my hands and take a step towards her, but this only caused me to collide with the dead tree as I had allowed myself to be fooled yet again by my newly formed set of eyes.

As the mortal observed my pathetic struggle, she finally pulled herself together and ran away, probably reasoning that this was her one and only chance to escape from the monstrosity in front of her. With my arms wrapped around the tree, I watched her disappear in the woods. She never turned back.

Tears were running down my legs as I hit my head against the tree, again and again.

I'm sure my sobbing could be heard for miles.