Page 41 of Accidentally Ever After
By the time I met Sarah at our favorite café, I was thoroughly unsettled.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” she commented as I sat down across from her. “Rough night?”
“Strange dreams,” I said, which wasn’t exactly a lie. “I feel like I’m still half in them.”
“Must have been some dreams,” she said, studying my face. “You look… different, somehow.”
“Different how?”
She tilted her head, considering. “I don’t know. Just… different. More confident, maybe? Like you’ve been on some life-changing retreat or something.”
The observation sent an inexplicable chill down my spine. “Nope, just been working. Speaking of which, how’s the gallery?”
Sarah launched into stories about her job at the local art gallery, and I tried to focus, to enjoy the familiar rhythm of our friendship. But part of me felt distant, as if I was watching the scene from outside myself.
After lunch, instead of heading home as planned, I found myself drawn to Richmond Park. I hadn’t been there in months, but suddenly I felt an irresistible urge to visit. It was a beautifulday for a walk, I reasoned. Nothing strange about wanting to enjoy the outdoors.
But as I wandered the paths of the expansive park, I realized I was looking for something specific, though I couldn’t articulate what. A particular spot called to me, pulling me off the main trails and into a less frequented area where the trees grew thicker.
I came to a small clearing where a circle of mushrooms grew in the grass—a fairy ring, like in children’s stories. Something about it made my heart race, a feeling of recognition so strong it nearly knocked me off my feet.
I’ve been here before, I thought.Recently. This is important.
I approached the circle slowly, drawn by a feeling I couldn’t name. As I got closer, something strange happened—the air above the mushrooms seemed to shimmer, like heat rising from pavement on a hot day.
This is it, I thought, though I had no idea what “it” was.This is the way back.
Back where? I had no answer, only an overwhelming certainty that I needed to step into that circle, that something vital waited on the other side.
As I stood there, debating whether I was having some kind of breakdown, a jogger passed on a nearby path, giving me an odd look. The mundane interruption broke my trance, and I backed away from the fairy ring, suddenly feeling foolish.
What am I doing? Fairy rings aren’t portals. They’re just fungus.
I returned home, but the restlessness only grew worse. I tried to distract myself with work—reviewing upcoming catering jobs, planning menus—but nothing held my attention. That pull toward… something… continued to nag at me.
By evening, I was pacing my apartment, feeling like a caged animal. When I tried to sleep, I dreamed of wings—massive,iridescent things the color of twilight—and woke reaching for someone who wasn’t there.
“This is insane,” I muttered to myself as dawn broke, finding me still awake and increasingly agitated. “What is happening to me?”
On impulse, I dug through my closet until I found the clothes I’d worn to cater that weird fairy-themed wedding. Maybe retracing my steps would help make sense of this bizarre fixation.
As I pulled out the white button-up shirt, something fell from the pocket—a small object that caught the early morning light with an unearthly shimmer. I picked it up, and my breath caught in my throat.
It was an ear cuff made of what looked like white gold, designed to curve along the shell of a human ear in an elegant spiral. I had never seen it before in my life, and yet…
A gift, I thought with absolute certainty.His gift.
Whose gift? I had no answer, only that overwhelming feeling of significance.
With trembling hands, I attached the cuff to my right ear. The moment it touched my skin, a shock ran through me—not painful, but intense, like completing an electrical circuit. For a split second, I saw a flash of violet eyes, felt the brush of something against my back that wasn’t physically there.
“Caelen,” I whispered, the name coming from nowhere and everywhere at once.
The ear cuff. The fairy ring. The strange sensations. They were connected somehow, pieces of a puzzle I couldn’t quite assemble.
Without conscious decision, I found myself dressing, grabbing my keys, and heading back to Richmond Park. It was barely 6 AM, the park nearly empty as I made my way directly to the fairy ring I’d found the day before.
This time, I didn’t hesitate. Something—someone—was waiting for me on the other side of whatever threshold this represented. Someone important. Someone I… loved?
