A car pulled up to the parking space right next to the forest trail and out stepped Samantha and Ruby. Samantha was wearing a red, orange and yellow dress that looked like it was made from autumn leaves tied at the waist by a rope dyed green, so as to look like a vine and slippers made to look like they were also made of autumn leaves. Ruby had on a pink and purple dress that looked like it was made of flower petals with green leaves underneath and tied with the same green rope and green leaf like slippers.
“You were right, Ruby.” Samantha said. “This place does seem like a fitting venue to try out fairy costumes in.”
“Told ya!” Ruby said, before giggling.
Samantha opened the trunk of the car and carefully removed the box with the wings. Ruby closed the trunk; Samantha set the box on top of it and opened the box, removing one of the sets of wings.
Ruby pulled her hair up so Samantha could slip the wings’ U-frame down the back of the dress. When Ruby let her hair back down, Samantha adjusted it so the wings poked out from within the cascade of red hair. Ruby then took the other set of wings and slipped the frame down the back of Samantha’s dress. The two girls looked at each other in their full fairy ensemble.
“You look beautiful, Ruby!”
“You, too, Samantha!” They each commented.
Ruby took their digital camera and they started up the forest trail, looking for a good place, deep inside to take pictures of themselves in their fairy costumes. They soon stumbled upon a small clearing deep in the forest. It was full of beautiful flowers and had a tree stump near the center.
“Oh, this is just too perfect!” Samantha eagerly shouted as she ran to the tree stump and posed as if she were daintily landing from a flight.
The two girls took many pictures of each other, showing them to each other. The photo shoot continued for several minutes as the clearing seemed to develop a subtle sparkle to it. Just then, the battery died.
“Aw, man!” Samantha complained.
“Why didn’t it show the low battery sign?” Ruby wondered. Unbeknownst to them, the sparkle intensified.
“Well, who knows? We’ve got some good shots in anyway. Come on, let’s go… AAAGH!” A sharp, stabbing pain in her back cut off Samantha’s words. She fell to her knees and started groaning in pain.
“Sam! What’s going… AAAH!” Ruby also collapsed, experiencing the same pain as Samantha. It was as if the wire from the wings’ frame was digging into their backs.
No sooner did the pain in their backs begin to subside then a duller, but still unpleasant sensation began to spread throughout their bodies. The ground seemed to stretch out beneath their hands and knees. Their ears felt like they were being stretched and it felt like two stalks were sprouting from their forehead.
Even their clothes changed; what once merely looked like flower petals, leaves and vines, now actually were.
When the sensation stopped, they got back up to their feet. When Samantha regained her composure, she heard Ruby scream.
“What happened?” Samantha said just before she saw the giant pair of glasses in front of her friend, who was no longer wearing hers. The lenses were the size of bathroom mirrors! They then turned to find their digital camera right next to them. It was the size of a large movie camera!
“What’s going on here?” Ruby said trying to hold back tears.
Samantha looked over at her distraught friend to see that her wings were folded up behind her back. Samantha then looked closer at Ruby’s back to find that the wire frame for her wings was gone, but the wings themselves remained; attached to her back! A quick, gentle tug at one of her own folded wings confirmed her fears. “Oh my God, we’re real fairies!”