Warm vibrant colours reflected on the waters surface. My hand touching the water as it flowed on by after having travelled down a small waterfall nearby, gently caressing my skin with a warm nourishing feeling that continued up my arm and throughout my body. I was sitting down in soft moss. I felt something tickle my bare feet and looked up. Erin was sitting with a grass straw, drawing it over the hollow of my foot. I laughed from the tickling sensation.
“Hello my little monkey, are you the one tickling me huh? Come here you,” I said as I grabbed hold of her and gave her a good tickle, making her burst out with laughter.
I held her close, feeling an ache in me. I understood then that I was in a dream and with that thought I held her even longer. After a while Erin seemed to want to let go, so I loosened my grip on her, feeling slightly afraid that she might disappear if I let her go.
“Mummy, I made this,” she said looking across the little river and all around at the most beautiful trees and flowers that gave off the most wonderful scents, like the very beginning of spring when everything has started to bloom. Birds were singing joyful melodies and I had never seen such magnificent colours in nature, even in my own dreams.
“What do you mean?” I asked her curiously. “All of this,” she said gesturing all around; “I just thought it up and it appeared, they told me it’s like that here.”
“Who do you mean honey?” I asked, feeling confused but at the same time happy that my daughter had a place to spread her imagination. “The angels,” she whispered as she was giving her full attention to a soft pink flower petal that had landed in her palm. Holding it gently as if it would break if she spoke to loudly. She softly blew on it, making it fly up and follow the gentle breeze in the air. It travelled halfway across the water and landed on the surface as if it meant to land exactly there.
The angels? I thought of the angel I had met years ago. If that was the kind of angel around Erin now, it softened my worry slightly. I would know that she was well looked after.
I took a deep breath, smelling the scent of the forest. All my scents were magnified and I felt incredibly relaxed.
Erin made a little jump and I followed her gaze. “Hello,” Erin said looking out over the water. I had to blink a few times to get my eyes focused but then I saw what she was looking at. At first I thought it was a large butterfly but as I looked closer I noticed that the body of the butterfly was a tiny human female body. She was beautiful with her dark pixie haircut, large eyes that were the same main colour of her wings which were a vibrant purple and her short dress that seemed to reflect the surroundings. She waved to Erin with a big smile. Erin put out her hand, clearly wanting the fairylike creature to come over. The fairy spread her wings and flew up in the air landing on Erin’s hand. They looked at each other for a long time. They seemed to be communicating but they weren’t saying anything. The fairy swooped up in the air and flew away. Erin hopped up and looked at me.
“Come on!” she said as if we were in a rush.
I got up.
“Where are we going?” I asked her as she grabbed my hand and started running in the direction the fairy had taken off.
“She’s showing us her family,” she said in an excited tone.
I felt a growing and excited anticipation about seeing more fairies. I had always loved the idea of fairies, not that I ever knew exactly what these beautiful creatures were but Erin’s excitement was rubbing off on me and we were both skipping along happily feeling the magic in the air. I felt like a child all over again.
“Over here mummy,” Erin said pointing to a huge tree. It was the most beautiful tree I had ever seen. The trees around it, that were also beautiful but slightly smaller and mostly green, had made way for it as if it was the magnificent queen of the forest. It vibrated with all colours you could imagine. It kept changing colour as the soft breeze hit the branches. It was enormous. If you were to spread out your arms you could probably fit about five people around it.
“Wow,” I said, simply staring at it’s beauty. Erin had let go of my hand and gone up close. I followed her after a short while. We stood under the branches, the shine of the tree hitting us with all of the colours. The fairy from earlier flew over to us and floated in midair in front of Erin. This time they spoke out loud.
“Is this your home? It’s beautiful,” Erin said looking around.
“Yes it is, and this is my family,” the fairy replied with a bell like sort of voice.
Erin frowned.
“What do you mean? Where?,” Erin asked curiously.
The fairy smiled and then started to sing. With her singing came more singing. I couldn’t tell where it was coming from but it sounded close and got louder as more voices seemed to join in. It was a beautiful sound.
I felt movement around us and my eyes widened as I realised that the leaves of the tree hadn’t been leaves at all. They were in fact all fairies making up the gorgeous tree together. They were all singing in harmony. Then I saw movement and all the fairies spread out their wings and stared flying around us. Erin smiled at them. She was spinning around and laughing up towards the sunny sky as she sang and danced with them.
I started to dance as well, not being able to contain myself. The music just made my body want to flow along with it. I moved perfectly to the sounds around me. Nature had it’s rhythm and one couldn’t fight it, not that you would want to. After a few dances I looked back at the tree where I clearly saw that this was in fact a home. They were one big family. I walked up and looked to all their little parts of the tree and what they were up to. Most of them were simply humming along peacefully and slowly waving their magnificent wings. They looked so relaxed, it was like looking at a sort of spa for fairies. I looked closer at one who at a closer glance I noticed was male. He wore sparkling light-blue shorts and a classy vest-top. His dark hair was a perfectly styled low fade hair cut with his upper hair to the side. I was mesmerised by his huge, blue eyes which were the same blue as his clothes but sparkled brighter, like looking at the stars on a night sky far out on the countryside. His light blue wings reflected part of what he wore and part of the tree around him. They too, were moving ever so slightly, the way a dogs tail seems to have a life of its own, so did these fairy creatures wings. I took a step towards him where he sat on a low hung branch He looked up from his scroll and nearly dropped the tiny pen in his hand.
I had probably woken him from a deep thought.
He saw me and smiled.
“Hello,” I said.
“Hello,” came his reply in an incredibly soothing breathy voice.
“What are you doing?” I asked, glancing at the scroll in his hand.
“It’s a poem for a girl that I like. I hope that she will like it and choose to dance with me when it is blossom season.”
“What is blossom season?” I asked curiously.
“It is the time of the year when we find a partner to dance with and watch things grow. When we dance and sing we bring life’s energy to all living things. If the girl I am writing this for chooses not to be with me then I try again next year and choose another to write to, for my partner is not yet in my vision so there is no sadness. If she does choose me however, we meet on the first day of blossom season and dance. Whenever we dance and sing things grow, but if we do it in a partnership with intense high vibration of love, then things really glow and nature becomes a magnificent masterpiece,” he said looking out. I could tell that he was imagining it as he said it. He looked mesmerised.
“That sounds lovely. I can’t imagine it being any more beautiful than this though,” I said looking out to the forest.
“Hey, would you and Erin like to climb the tree to the top? You get a beautiful view from up there,” he said.
I turned to Erin who was right behind me giggling with a few fairies. I bent down next to her, getting her attention.
“Erin honey, would you like to climb to the top of the tree?” I asked enthusiastically.
Erin’s eyes widened and she nodded her head and got up. Normally I would have been scared for Erin’s safety but this tree felt blessed and protected somehow. It seemed like it had been around forever. The fairy that I had just talked to got up from his branch.
“Follow me,” he said waving us in.
Erin went ahead of me and started climbing. It was an incredibly easy tree to climb with the branches being so close to each other, almost as if it was grown for the purpose of climbing. We saw lots of fairies on our way up, all with their unique set of wings, clothing and hairstyles and all of them were beautiful and glowing. For me, it was like a childhood dream come true. It was so magical. The fairy guiding us showed us the simplest way up and we followed him, feeling excited.
As we got to the top we saw across the entire forest, which seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see. The sun was slowly setting which created a warm glow over the treetops. I held Erin in my arms, making sure she didn’t fall. We were very high up. I tilted my head looking up and saw into space, but not space as we know it. I saw into infinite universes. I saw part of our galaxy, the Milky way, and beyond that I saw other galaxies that were on top of each other. They seemed to go on forever. A slight turn of my head and I noticed that even our own galaxy was multiple.
I turned to the fairy.
“Parallel universes?” I asked curiously. “Yes. Everything that has happened or will happen lies here. Every possible outcome. Quite spectacular to watch isn’t it.”
“Yes it is…so is the theory of parallel universes true?”
“Of course… With free will we can create anything. We are creators and the best part; It doesn’t matter if you stray aside. It is all part of the expansion of the universe. We keep learning. Besides, there are loads more of you having other experiences so you’re not missing out.” I thought for a moment.
“So what you’re saying is that there is another me in every layer that I am looking at?” I asked.
“And beyond,” he added. “Although in some of them you weren’t born but in most of them, yes, there is another you doing other things. Meeting new people. Making new decisions. Forever learning.”
“Wow, fascinating,” I said. “What do you mean by everything that will ever happen has happened though?” I asked, feeling confused.
He looked at me with a mischievous smile. “You’ll have to wait and see,” he said and winked at me. “Of course, you can always take a little peek at this timeline in other parallel universes now…but promise you won’t tell,” he whispered close to me and Erin.
Erin was busy talking to another fairy but I nodded my head whilst looking up at the magnificent masterpiece of creation before me.
The fairy flew up a yard or so in front of me and held out his finger at one of our many galaxies and seemed to touch it slightly. It flew with immense speed towards us like a huge magnifying glass, scrolling down through that galaxy towards our solar-system and then planet earth. It looked pretty much the same but as we got closer I saw tiny details that differed from our world. Scotland was bigger. It took up the whole of the UK and was attached to France. It’s like I could see the whole reality of that place in one moment. There was another president of the United States that I didn’t recognise and there had been a ban on guns across the globe. All in all quite a peaceful place. The whole earth, galaxy and universe flew back to it’s original size and place as a new one came up in view.
It looked darker. A lot of wars were breaking out. I looked closer and saw myself with Peter. We didn’t live in Edinburgh. We were living in the countryside trying to avoid the war. I couldn’t see Erin but there was a little boy there. He had my eyes but Peter’s smile. He was a beautiful little boy and it broke my heart to see such an innocent soul living in a world with so much hate.
Peter and I looked worn out but there was still love there and I hoped that the boy would grow up to feel that love and that there was still hope for humanity.
It drew away from us and in swept another reality. Most of the earth was under water. There were a few countries still but the ice caps had melted almost entirely. I wondered if it was due to pollution or something else. I looked closer to see my family but I couldn’t find them at first. I eventually saw myself and my sister Emma, but we were living in New Zealand. We weren’t alone. I was with another man. I frowned looking at myself with someone else, although he seemed pretty nice. Maybe I hadn’t met Peter in this reality. That universe flew back and I looked at the fairy, my mouth was open in awe.
“Pretty impressive right?” he said as if incredibly pleased with himself.
“That’s one way of putting it,” I said. “So these events are all happening right now on this timeline but in a parallel universe.”
“Yes,” he answered as he flew back down next to me.
I looked at Erin feeling blessed to have her in my arms at this moment. I didn’t want it to end. In another universe I had a boy. I pictured him as Erin’s brother as I started visualising the future. The sun was nearly gone from our view as I heard the fairies singing a very soothing melody as if sending the forest off to sleep. The boy fairy looked at me with his big blue sparkling eyes. “It’s time for you to sleep now,” he said. I was starting to feel rather sleepy from the beautiful singing surrounding me, but I wasn’t planning on closing my eyes for a second. I was going to stay here with Erin for as long as I could. The fairy gently hummed before me and my eyelids grew heavy as if under a sleeping spell. I closed my eyes for a brief moment and felt dizziness catching on, then I seemed to be falling. The song, the smells, the light, all disappearing. I knew I was going to hit the ground, my body jerked and I opened my eyes looking up at the ceiling in my bedroom with the same heart wrenching feeling of loss that I’d had every morning since Erin’s disappearance.