Me and My Shadow

Gerard’s face blanked.

“Oh, well, I guess I had quite a good run.”

Frank’s brow creased as Gerard spoke. He had heard from the tutors about most human reactions ranging from happy to sad, confused and even angry, but this was a new one.

“What are you talking about?” he asked with the tiniest flutter of his wings.

“I’m going crazy,” he shrugged, dropping his hand back to his side, his head jarring in surprise as he heard a small yelp.

Fluttering back up to hover in front of him, Frank folded his arms across his chest, fixing Gerard with a stern glare.

“Next time you do that, how about a bit of warning?” he scolded. “These are wings, you know, not a jet pack!”

“Sorry,” Gerard replied, surprised at how genuinely contrite he sounded at the rebuke.

“That’s okay.”

Frank smiled in response; he had frequently been told that the first meeting rarely went well.

“Can anyone see you?” Gerard asked. “I mean, apart from me?” he added as he noted a mischievous smirk cross the fairy’s face.

“Of course not!” Frank laughed. “Do you have any idea how dangerous that would be for me?”

“Dangerous?” Gerard frowned, not seeing the logic of the statement. “How?”

Frank rolled his eyes – it was as clear as the nose on his face would be if Gerard had a magnifying glass.

“Okay,” he began, “but first, can you put your hand back up, please? My wings are getting tired. Flying isn’t a problem, but hovering is draining.”

“Oh, er… sure,” his brow creased as he realised how stupid he looked with his hand held in mid-air given that no one could see the tiny little man now settling himself in his palm.

“Comfy,” Frank offered a broad, satisfied smile, folding down his wings and resting his head and back in the gentle curve of Gerard’s fingers. “Now, say you’re out walking in a wood, and you encountered a singing frog. What would you do?”

“What, like some sort of warbling frog?” Gerard asked.

“No, really singing, like belting out one of your songs.”

“You know about my band?”

“Of course I do!” Frank replied astonished at the question. “It’s how you don’t know about me that I’m surprised about.”

Gerard rubbed his forehead absently as he stared at the tiny figure, uncertain how to respond.

“I’ve only just met you!” he replied, a little too loudly for his own comfort. Continuing at a much more subdued volume. “How could I possibly know about you?”

Frank sighed. His supervisor had warned him about this but even so, he didn’t believe it.

*

“Frankie,” his supervisor, Pete, had told him, “what you have to remember about humans is that they don’t believe in anything but themselves.”

Pete was a skilled Fairy with a century of experience in the field. He had been a fairy godfather to dozens of humans and he couldn’t recall even one who believed he was what he said he was on first meeting – some never did. Frank knew it wasn’t anything that Pete was doing wrong, many of his fellow students had experienced similar issues and all the professors had agreed. Humans were stupid, ignorant and/or arrogant.

Frank wanted to believe differently, he really did, especially about this one. He had to admit, he’d really lucked out with this human – he was so very pretty. But he knew he couldn’t possibly be that lucky to get a pretty human who also happened to be the first ever to believe in fairy godfathers.

This was his first placement and at the same time as being very nervous he was also extremely excited and desperately wanted to do all he could to look after him.

Even his first report to Pete had raised an eyebrow from the handsome, dark-haired supervisor.

“Frankie, was this your best idea?” he asked, fixing Frank with a meaningful stare.

“I think it’s up there,” Frank replied, deliberately ignoring the sarcasm behind the question.

“I think you’re right, but for the wrong reasons,” Pete replied, shaking his head. “His band has only been up and running for three months and already you’ve arranged for the best local guitarist to be available to join him and you have them some recording interest?”

“But you said look after him.” Frank replied innocently – Pete wasn’t entirely convinced he was genuinely that naïve.

“Frankie, you know very well that ‘look after him’ means to keep him out of trouble and stop him being killed. It does not mean lavish him with stardust!”

“But, Pete,” Frank turned suddenly very serious, “Gerard… he’s special. I can feel it. Doing this is exactly what will keep him alive and probably a lot of other people too.”

Pete frowned with curiosity and tilted his head; what had Frank seen that others hadn’t? They had seen a somewhat down on his luck art school graduate, but Frank clearly had a different view. Frank had been, by far, the brightest student the College of Fairy Education had had in a very long time – even more so than Pete himself. It had been how Frank had earned his pink wings. All the other students’ wings were a pale blue-green in colour, but Frank had outshone them all and, as such, had earned the highest accolade to be the proud bearer of pink wings. All his professors expected him to graduate with a set of gold wings as Pete himself had and, as such, Pete was more than happy to offer a little latitude when it came to his assessments.

“What makes him special, Frankie?” Pete asked, his curiosity growing.

“His dreams are bigger than even his imagination,” Frank’s eyes positively glowed with enthusiasm and appreciation. “In all of our case studies, I’ve never seen anyone with dreams this big. He can save lives just by being himself, if he’s given the chance.”

“What is it that you see in him that shows you that?” Pete pressed for a more tangible response.

“He cares about people more even than himself and he uses art to express that. He is someone who can capture hearts and minds in equal amounts. He can make a real difference.”

“Then, Frankie, why does he need your help?” Pete asked the obvious question.

“Because he doesn’t believe it,” Frank replied, his tone displaying the sadness he felt at the thought of such a life going to waste if his dreams were not realised. “He needs to believe in it. In himself.”

Pete nodded, prepared to accept Frank’s assessment.

“Then, I think it’s time you met each other.”

*

That had been a few days earlier but today had been the most appropriate opportunity so far.

“Never mind, we’re getting off the point.” Frank rolled his eyes – Humans! “What would you do about this singing frog?”

Gerard gave it some thought, before offering a smirk and a shrug.

“Probably take it home and make a fortune off it.”

“And a three and half inch devilishly handsome man with pink wings?” he winked.

“I… oh, I see,” Gerard conceded. “I take your point, yes, it’d be dangerous for you. You’re not modest, are you?”

“Oh, Gerard,” Frank laughed and offered another mischievous smirk as he crossed one leg over the other and placed his hands behind his head, still lying comfortably in Gerard’s palm, “I think you’ll find I am.”

It was suddenly as if the light into the alleyway had been blocked out as three tall and broad young men stood at the entrance staring menacingly at the shorter man, still holding his hand out and apparently talking to it.

“Hey, freak show!” one of them shouted. “Who are you talking to?”

Gerard gulped as he looked up. Unnoticed even by Gerard, the only one of the four who could see him, Frank sat up and held onto Gerard’s thumb for balance as he weighed up the three men. Unfolding his wings, he fluttered up so Gerard had both hands free.

“Uh, no one,” he managed, trying hard not to sound scared. “I’m an actor, I’m practising lines.”

“That’s good, Gerard!” Frank replied encouragingly.

“We don’t care,” the first man spoke again. “We still think we need to show you how to behave in public.”

“I’m not doing anything!” Gerard replied, a strange combination of angry and scared.

The three men exchanged glances; laughing amongst each other as if to suggest that nothing Gerard said would matter in the slightest. What was going to happen was going to happen.

Gerard took a step back as the three men moved forward. He could fight; you didn’t grow up in Jersey without learning a move or two, but this was a grossly unfair fight. There were three of them, they were taller, broader and stronger, plus they had him trapped in a thin alley. If he got out of this intact or even at all, he would consider himself very lucky.

“Gerard!” Frank flew close to his ear. “Use me! Ask for help, I can do this!”

Ignoring the tiny fairy, still not at all convinced he was real, Gerard raised his hands defensively as the men started to crowd around him, forcing him back towards the wall.

“Gerard!” Frank insisted, fluttering in front of his charge’s face. “Ask for help!”

The first man’s fist flew forward suddenly, colliding with Gerard’s jaw, sending him back toward the wall, sprawling against it, dazed.

“Gerard!” Frank cried in exasperation. “Don’t make me use a freebie! They are rules and I…”

Frank was interrupted as two of the men held Gerard’s arms as the first used his abdomen as a punching bag. Gerard was still dazed and Frank couldn’t be certain if he was even coherent.

“Okay, a freebie it is!” Frank growled angrily.

The first man swung a hefty blow toward Gerard’s face, but at the last second, somehow either the men moved or the arm changed direction, as it collided against the jaw of one of the men holding Gerard’s arms.

“What the fuck!” the man screamed, holding his jaw in disbelief.

“How did you do that?” the man leaned in and screamed at Gerard, who wasn’t at all sure what had even happened, let alone the cause of it.

Swinging another blow, the man’s eyes opened as wide as saucers as he landed a punch to the man’s nose on the opposite side to Gerard. Within moments, the man’s nose was bleeding profusely and he found himself shoving his attacker vehemently. Causing a couple more indirect blows and insults, Frank was delighted to reduce the three men to a brawl on the ground, punching, kicking and screaming – but at each other.

Flying once again to Gerard’s hand, Frank tugged on one of his fingers.

“Come on!” he cried. “I can’t keep them occupied forever!”

Sliding swiftly past the brawling men, Gerard chose to run from the alley to seek refuge.

“Here’s the bus,” Frank announced. “Come on.”

“I don’t have enough for bus fare,” Gerard replied miserably.

“Yes, you do,” Frank insisted. “There’s five bucks in your jacket pocket that you forgot about.”

Reaching into his pocket, Gerard’s fingers closed on the slightly crumpled note before pulling it out and flagging down the bus. As he paid and sat down, he noticed the men emerge from the alley bloodied and staggering in his direction, but the bus was already moving away.

“I hadn’t forgotten about that note, had I?”

Gerard stared at Frank as he fluttered back and forth in front of his head; he seemed pleased with himself.

“I don’t know what you mean,” he grinned. “But I’m glad you believe in me now. It’ll make this so much easier.”

Notes

Hi everyone, so a bit more detail in the second chapter. How about Gerard for a first client, eh? Sweet! :D

Anyway, it'd be lovely to know if you're enjoying this, so do leave a comment or something. It'd be great to hear from you!

Take care
Sas xx