Believe

     Suddenly, Treg stopped. Her Red Ogrin friend skidded to a halt after her.

     “What is it?” Kyle asked, trying to catch his breath.

     Treg smiled happily.

     “Don’t you see them?”

     Kyle looked around the empty field.

     “See WHAT?”

     “The faeries!” Treg answered with excitement. “Every faerie that was released from their bottles by Neopians gathers in this field. They are only a few inches tall, so they’re a little hard to see, but that’s what makes it a spectacular sight!”

     Kyle scratched his head in confusion. How is that possible? They never learned about that in Neoschool...

     “We should follow them!” Treg said suddenly. “Come on, Kyle!”

     Kyle rolled his eyes. Treg had the most vivid imagination. Although he did wonder if what she was talking about was true. Maybe those nonexistent things she talks about are actually real...

     Nonsense, he told himself. It’s impossible!

     “Come ON, Kyle!!!” Treg urged, waving for him at a distance. “The faeries are flying away!”

     And so, as Treg began to run back to the village, Kyle followed, hardly able to stay close behind.

     ---

     Treg smiled to herself as she walked into her neohome. All of those faeries out in that field, it was wonderful! She even saw one face-to-face. It was a released Earth Faerie, who had worn a long, golden dress as silky as satin, and a small, golden flower tucked behind her ear. Treg even heard the faerie say something to her, “Hello, young one.”

     Of course, the faerie had then flown away before Treg could answer. It was still a mind-boggling experience!

     Her mother, a Shadow Usul named Miram, then walked into the hallway and saw her daughter at the doorway. Miram smiled.

     “How was your evening walk, darling?” she asked.

     “It was SPECTACULAR, Mother!” Treg answered excitedly. “I found a whole COLONY of released faeries! Oh, it was a MARVELOUS sight...”

     “You must really be excited.” Miram said, smiling. “Did you see one up close?”

     “Oh, yes, mother!” Treg told her. “I saw an Earth Faerie, with a satin gold dress and flower!”

     “Sounds incredible!” Miram exclaimed.

     “You should have seen it, Mother,” Treg said, as she recalled the swarm of faeries.

     “In fact,” Miram said, “I once saw a faerie like that myself.”

     Treg’s eyes lit up. “You HAVE?”

     “You bet!” Miram answered. “I saw a Fire Faerie. I still remember her hair, which flowed in the gentle breeze, and her hazel eyes flickering in the evening sun. And, I also remember this.”

     Her mother’s hand grasped the amulet that lay around her neck. She lifted it over her head and placed it in the palm of her hand.

     “As soon s the Fire Faerie left, I brushed my foot against something. I picked it up, and I discovered it was a beautiful necklace... although it DID smell like cologne...”

     “Was the necklace yours?”

     Miram shook her head.

     “No,” she told her daughter. “I don’t know whose necklace it is. All I knew was that I needed to keep it safe, so I brought it home with me.”

     Treg looked at the necklace thoughtfully. And, although it was a black gem in the amulet, it seemed to lighten – just a little bit – when Treg took a glance.

     Just then, she had an idea.

     “I can find that Fire Faerie! Maybe she knows whose amulet it is!” Treg exclaimed.

     “Are you sure?” Miram asked. “I haven’t found her since she gave me the necklace.”

     “I’m positive,” Treg told her. “I need to know who it belongs to!”

     And, before Miram could talk her out of it, Treg ran out of their home.

     ---

     Treg pounded on the door of Kyle’s house frantically.

     Come on, Treg thought desperately, you’ve gotta come out!

     Suddenly, the door opened, revealing a Red Ogrin. Treg’s worry melted away instantly and was replaced with relief.

     “Oh, thank goodness you’re here, Kyle!” Treg said. “Listen, I need your help finding a Fire Faerie...”

     “Can’t this game wait till tomorrow?” Kyle whined, about to close the door shut.

     Treg’s paw stopped the door.

     “Please, Kyle. You HAVE to help me! I need to find out who this necklace belongs to!”

     “What necklace?” Kyle argued.

     Treg held up the amulet for Kyle to see. Kyle looked into the black gem in curiosity. That amulet, he thought, why does it seem so... familiar?

     Images floated through Kyle’s mind. Images he never thought he knew of before: A bunch of multi-colored lights flying through a night sky, a warm glow, a smile, then, crowding out the other images, was the necklace.

      What are these pictures? Kyle thought in frustration. I’ve never seen any of these in my life!

     “So, Kyle,” Treg said, interrupting Kyle’s thoughts. “Will you help me?”

     At first, Kyle wanted to say no, but as he looked at the amulet, he knew he needed to figure out what these sudden memories meant.

     “Sure, I’ll help,” he told her.

     ---

     Treg ran through the fields as quickly as she could, not even daring to look back. Her heart revved with excitement as she neared where she saw the faeries earlier that day. Kyle sprinted after her, falling far behind.

     Finally, Treg stopped in the center of the field.

     “Oh no,” Kyle mumbled to himself. “Treg’s caught up in her game, again!”

     Kyle skidded to a stop beside Treg.

     “What are you doing?” Kyle asked/yelled at her. “We’re supposed to be looking for the owner of the necklace!”

     Treg glared. “I AM looking for the owner! I just need to find the Fire Faerie and ask her some questions.”

     “Will you STOP with this nonsense, already!?” Kyle cried.

     “It isn’t nonsense!” Treg yelled, on the verge of tears. “The faeries DO exist! Why can’t you see them? I can, my mother can, but why can’t you...?”

     Suddenly, Treg realized it.

     “You don’t believe!”

     “Believe in WHAT?” Kyle questioned.

     “You don’t believe that the faeries exist! That’s the only way you can see them, is if you believe. You have to believe, Kyle! Please...”

     “I will never believe in something that isn’t true,” Kyle retorted.

     “It IS true!” Treg argued. “And this necklace is living proof! Sometimes, you have to believe in things you can’t see, to see the true wonders of the world. Please, Kyle, you HAVE to believe!”

     “NO!” Kyle shouted.

     Treg’s face, moist with angered tears, shot him a glare.

     “Fine, then I’ll talk to the Fire Faerie – who just so happens to be in between us - myself!”

     Yeah, the nonexistent one, Kyle thought, as Treg asked to no one in particular:

     “Did you give my mother this necklace?”

     Treg slowly pulled out the amulet from her pocket and held it up for the ‘faerie’ to see.

     Kyle’s mind was again filled with images, now more vivid than before. He could now see figures in the midst of the multi-colored lights, and a whole face, one that looked vastly familiar. He now saw an additional vision: two small Ogrin paws held outstretched, as a tall figure – whose face wasn’t pictured – gently placed a necklace in the Ogrin’s paws.

     Not just any necklace, though. It was THE necklace.

     Kyle tried to push the polluting memories from his mind, but they wouldn’t leave. They swarmed throughout his head, causing his eyes to spin.

     “Leave me alone!” Kyle screamed in his head. “I want nothing to do with your horrid memories!”

     Suddenly, he heard a gasp. Suddenly, a voice was heard.

     “No, but I did give a neopet that necklace! I never realized how long ago it was.”

     Treg asked, “How do you know who this necklace belongs to?”

     The voice laughed.

     “That’s easy! The amulet will begin to flicker when it’s close to its owner. When the owner wears it, the gem shines a bright white, instead of a dismal black.”

     And that was the last time the voice spoke.

     Kyle’s hands were now trembling in his fists. What was that? Was that a faerie? Of course not, he thought. I must just be hallucinating.

     Treg looked down at the necklace. It seemed to shimmer a little bit when she looked at it. Did that mean the necklace belonged to her? She had to find out. She grabbed the necklace, slipped it over her head, and looked down at the gem.

     Nothing happened.

     The gem remained the same black it was in the first place.

     Treg sighed and took off the necklace. If it wasn’t her necklace, then whose was it???

     Suddenly, she figured it out. She turned to face Kyle.

     “Kyle! Maybe the necklace belongs to you!”

     Kyle snorted to hold back a laugh.

     “No way!” he said.

     “Just try it on, Kyle! Please!”

     “NO!” Kyle screamed.

     But, as he thought it over, his anger dwindled. Those memories that surged through his head, maybe they were telling him something. Maybe he should try the necklace on...

     What am I thinking? Kyle thought to himself.

     “Well,” Treg said, ignoring her friend’s confusion. “If you won’t try it on, then I’ll MAKE you try it on!”

     Then, looking at the amulet one last time, Kyle found that the memories were pieced together in his head. One night, when he was young, he must’ve been walking through these same meadows. The multi-colored lights that danced overhead, they were the faeries. The face was what he saw as one flew towards him. Then, he remembered himself stretching out his paws, as the faerie laid a necklace in them; that same, familiar necklace that caused these long-forgotten memories to return.

     That necklace, Kyle thought, his lips trembling. It’s my necklace!

     Suddenly, specks of light begin to appear in the sky above him. At first he saw red specks, then blue, then green, then yellow, until he saw a whole rainbow of colors throughout the meadow. The necklace, he now saw, was flickering before him as he gazed in wonder upon it.

     “I...”

     He looked up at Treg in disbelief.

     “...I see it! I see them!”

     “Do you know what that means?” Treg asked.

     Kyle didn’t want to admit it. Treg placed her hand on Kyle’s shoulder.

     “You believe.”

     Kyle shook his head in denial.

     “W-what? No!” he stammered, his voice faltering as he spoke. “Why w-would I believe in something that isn’t...?”

     But he stopped himself before he could finish. Looking upward at the multi-coloured lights that circled overhead, he began to think: “Maybe those are faeries... OH MY ZOMUTTS, I’VE LOST MY MIND!!!”

     Treg groaned and held up the amulet. “Oh, just put on the necklace already!”

     And, before Kyle could argue any further, Treg slipped the amulet over his head, where it rested at his neck.

     Suddenly, the stone began to shake unstably. Specks of white erupted, nearly blinding the both of them. More and more of the stone turned white, until it shone brighter than the sun. Kyle covered his eyes, screaming in pain.

     Just then, the light dimmed. The Ogrin re-opened his eyes, and looked down at the necklace. It almost seemed like it smiled at him, you know, besides the fact that stones don’t have mouths.

     The voice, who Kyle knew now was the Fire Faerie, echoed throughout his mind: “When the owner wears it, the gem shines a bright white.”

     This necklace really is mine, he realized.

     It almost felt like he had found what was missing in his life. Not just the necklace, but maybe that he finally understood what Treg was talking about. Believing in things you can’t see. Gazing up at the faeries, a smile broke out across Kyle’s face.

     Maybe he did believe, after all.

The End