Tell me everything is gonna be alright

When Ava was little, her mother used to walk up and down the hallway with her baby brother trying to sing him to sleep.

People smile and tell me I'm the lucky one, and we've just begun,
Think I'm gonna have a son.
Even when he was older she sat down on the edge of Micah’s bed every night and sang to him.

He will be like he and me, as free as a dove, conceived in love,
Sun is gonna shine above.
One evening when Ava was nine, she was in the bathroom brushing her teeth, listening through the closed door. Her mother’s voice sounded shaky.

And even though we ain't got money, I'm so in love with ya honey,
And everything will bring a chain of love.
For once Micah didn’t ask for a repeat. He hadn’t spoken all day. When her mother came out of his room there were tears shining in her eyes. That night she disappeared.

And in the morning when I rise, you bring a tear of joy to my eyes,
And tell me everything is gonna be alright.

(Strictly speaking this isn't a real drabble as it contains more than 100 words, but subtract the lyrics and there you go. "Danny's Song" was written by Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina who first performed it. Later it was covered by Anne Murray and lots of other talented people.)

Silent

He let his hand run over the white sheet he had hung over the bed. When they were little, Micah and his sister used to build pillow forts, hiding from the world as he was doing now. 

Downstairs he could hear his father making himself tea. He would leave something for Micah, but wouldn’t come looking for him if he didn’t show up. Micah didn’t blame him. A man who used to not believe in the supernatural couldn’t deal with the way his son communicated. Micah saw him flinch whenever he spoke to him.
 
So he chose to remain silent.

Worry

Having a room mate with a sprite could be a frightening, funny and surprising thing, Santana mused, watching Ava and Tint make up after their fight. While the superstition surrounding sprites was mostly unfounded, she certainly did not envy Ava. There were lots of pupils at Edgecome Academy for the Gifted who were burdened by their powers rather than being happy about them. However, sometimes she felt that Ava had gotten the short end of the stick, because she was not only shunned by the people without powers (which was relatively normal experience for any Glip) but faced prejudice even here at school.

Her own powers had been hard to control at first. So hard, indeed that she had almost died twice as a child. Like most Glibs the first signs of her gift had appeared when she was six years old. She had always gotten cold rather easily but one day during a rather warm summer day, the chills started. She couldn’t stop shivering and had gone to see her father who was talking on the phone. She tugged at his sleeve, her teeth chattering violently by then.

Her father didn’t even turn around when he covered the receiver to quickly admonished her. She knew that it was no use to try to talk to him. When he was busy managing her brother’s future all other things needed to wait. She should have gone to looking for her mother then, but the frost that had taken over her body had become so overwhelming that all she could do was huddle up in a corner of her father’s office, hoping that he would be done with his phone call soon.

The last thing she remembered before losing consciousness was the dazzling reflection on the ceiling that came from the pond in front of her father’s study. The buzzing sound of a dragonfly beating its wings against the window panes followed her into the darkness.

The second time had been just as scary. Noticing the chill that had taken hold of her had nothing to do with the frosty winter day outside, she had panicked. The fear of the frost made her look for a source of warmth with little regard for her safety. She ran into the kitchen and pulled up a stool to  reach the gas stove. It took her a few tries to strike a match with her shaking hands. Then she opened up the gas of all four burners and lit them quickly.

Even though she was standing quite close to the fire, the cold wouldn’t leave her. Holding her hands all but into the flame she suddenly felt a strange current running through her body, from her fingertips all the way down to her toes. It was almost as if her skin had become absorbent like a sponge. She felt the warmth of the fire being sucked from the flame and into her body and abruptly the frost in her veins was replaced with the blaze of a firestorm. She started to yell in agony.

Her mother came in only seconds later, realizing her daughter had tried to ward off the cold with fire, she snatched her away from the stove only to pull back her hand quickly from Santana’s scalding skin. Hesitating for only a second, she dragged her over to the door, picked her up and laid her on top of the hard-packed snow in the backyard.

Santana shook her head quickly to get rid of the memory of her mother’s panic-stricken look. A squealing sound make her look up. Ava was tickling Tint who was sitting on top of her head.

“I give up, I give up!” the little sprite chortled.

“Alright”, Ava conceded and let him go. She looked much happier now that she had made up with Tint. Sneakily Santana lifted her camera to her eye and pressed the release.

“Hey!” the two of them said in unison. “This was a private moment”, Ava complained.

“Yes, personal and private” Tint backed her up. With a slight “Pop” he suddenly disappeared from Ava’s head and appeared again on Santana’s knee. He drew himself up to his full height and put his hand on his hips looking up at her.

“Very personal and private!” Ava said copying Tint’s pose next to her.

“Damn paparazzi! What about my privacy?” Santana smiled at their mock-indignant faces.

“Oh, stop complaining. This is just going into the family album.” She carefully put the camera back into her school bag.

“Speaking of family, how his Micah?” she asked. Imperceptibly the mood had changed. Ava and Tint shared a quick look.

“I’m going to see, if he’s online tonight.” Ava said quietly.

- - -

After dinner in the dining hall, Ava went upstairs but didn’t stay long in the common room with the others. The dormitory was empty as most people were occupied with homework or lounging in the big armchairs in front of the fire. She got out her laptop and settled on her bed. 
An hour later she was still waiting for her brother to come online. As she couldn’t call Micah, the only way to keep in contact with him were regular conversations via instant messenger.

“Well, not the only way”, she thought. “Tint?” she called out loud. “Will you please come out?” The familiar “pop” made her breathe a sigh of relief. She felt Tint’s reassuring weight on her shoulder and turned around to face him.

“Will you please go home and check on Micah?” she asked him. She didn’t have to ask twice. The sprite gave a short nod and disappeared again. Ava curled up and waited for his return. Only after a minute did she notice that he hadn’t even argued or complained about going. It only made her worry more.

Resin Tales Story Archive

Here you can find the segments of the Resin Tales storyline in chronological order. Oldest (the one you want to start with, if you want a spoiler free reading) is at the bottom, newest at the top. I will be adding all chapters to come, so you can keep track. 

Present
Worry
Calling Tint

Past 
Silent - Micah Drabble 
Tell me everything is gonna be alright - Ava Drabble
How sprites come into being

(Drabbles are very short pieces of fiction of exactly 100 words in length. I plan to do flashback drabbles for most of my characters.) 

Calling Tint

The bell rang. Seething Ava packed up her books and shoved them in her bag. Collecting herself, she faced Professor Renard and managed to say “Thank you, Professor” as school courtesy demanded at the end of the lesson. It didn’t matter that he had repeatedly told her she was wasting his valuable time when she had been unable to complete the task he had set her. Nor, that he had refrained from giving her any useful advice when she had been frustrated enough to ask for it. He had seemed gleeful when after half an hour she had had to admit that she couldn’t call her sprite at will and had instead made her write lines for the remainder of the lesson.

“He must be very disappointed that teachers can’t fail pupils for their Special Studies”, Ava thought while forcing a smile. She made her way out of the classroom as fast as she could. Most pupils enjoyed the special lessons twice every week during which an appointed teacher would help them work on their gift. Santana, her best friend, had made a lot of progress during the last semester and always counted the hours to her next Special Studies class. “Then again, she doesn’t have Professor Renard”, Ava mused walking out of the classroom.
Slowly she made her way through the packed hallways upstairs to the dormitory. She chucked her shoes under the bed and took off her school uniform to redressed in a skirt and a sweater. A few minutes later reached the heavy oak doors that led to the courtyard. Santana was already sitting by their accustomed spot on a bench trying to soak up the feeble rays of sunshine.
“How was your lesson?” Santana asked opening an eye and squinting up at her friend. When Ava gave her an annoyed look she answered with a sympathetic smile. “That bad, eh? What did he make you do this time?”

 

“Calling him out of thin air using a ‘determined and forceful tone of voice’” Ava quoted.  “Didn’t work. Tint is not a fan of forceful commands.” Ava plopped herself down next to Santana and turned around facing the air behind her.

“You there? Tint?” Nothing happened. “Tint? Please? The lesson is over. Will you please come out now?” With a slight ‘Pop’ the sprite appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

“You called?” he asked with a bright smile balancing on the wrought-iron arm rest of the bench.

“Yeah, first time about an hour ago.” Her had voice had lost all trace of its anger and she simply sounded defeated.

“Oh, I heard you”, the sprite answered twirling around like an ice-skater for a moment, cheerfully ignoring the two girls. “I just didn’t like your tone”, he concluded finally turning around, facing his mistress.

 

“I figured”, Ava replied and burrowed her face in her hands. “Do you have any idea how humiliating that is – standing in a class room, calling you for half an hour? Hoping against hope that you might show up…”, her voice filtered muffled through her hands.

“Do you have any idea, how humiliating it is to be summoned like a dog?!” The tiny sprite yelled back at her hands on his hips. He marched up and down the arm rest tearing his bright orange hair. “I guess not! Let me spell it out for you: I am not your pet! I don’t follow commands!”

Seeing that Ava was about to reply in a similar fashion, Santana scooped Tint up in her hand and set him down on her left shoulder out of his mistress’s reach. She’d lived with the two hotheads long enough to know when a situation needed defusing.   

 

“Ooookay, everybody take a deep breath”, she instructed, keeping a firm hand on the struggling sprite and holding the other hand out like a stop sign to an openmouthed Ava who she was sure was a second away from snatching Tint away from her.  “I’m not afraid to give timeouts to either of you” she threatened. Ava reluctantly collected herself and Santana felt the sprite slowly relax in her grasp. When she let him go, he willingly settled on her shoulder sneaking peeks at his mistress from underneath her long her.

For a moment nobody said anything until Ava issued a deep sigh. In a small voice she murmured “Sorry, Tint.” Santana shrugged her shoulder once, twice to no reaction. Finally she used her finger to nudge the little sprite. He pushed her finger away and climbed up her hair from where he jumped over to Ava’s head. In a practiced move, he lay flat on his tummy, leaned down over her forehead and looked down into her eyes. “I’m sorry, too”, he whispered.

Bonus picture:

How Sprites come into Being

In that state between dreaming and waking most children are able to go to a secret place adults can no longer reach. The realm of faeries. If a child is particularly sad or lonely, he or she might dream something into existence.