It’s All Fun and Games…

Found a fun writing prompt and had to use the words, It’s all fun and games… this is what ensued.

                “It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt.” That’s what mom always said when my sister and I were doing something we weren’t supposed to be doing. We never did get hurt though. Seems like mom was just a worrier. Koryn and I knew what we were doing, or so we thought.

                It was late, it was dark, and in my defense, it was Koryn’s idea. She thought it would be fun if we snuck out of the house and followed the tracks into town. Truth be told, it did sound fun. The tracks were rarely used anymore, how dangerous was it really going to be?

                The trip to town was easy. It was a nice night and despite there being barely any light from the sliver of the moon that was visible, we didn’t have any trouble walking down the tracks. Once in town we met up with a couple of our friends. We pulled a few harmless pranks, putting several “For Sale” signs in our most disliked teacher’s front yard. The night was going great, then one of our friends had an idea.

                “Let’s play hide and seek in the graveyard. Tyryl you’ll be it.” I shrugged. Why not? It would be a fun game to play in a graveyard. We walked there, talking andn laughing the entire way. Not one of us noticed that we were being followed.

                I hid behind a tree while the other hid. I counted out loud to one hundred. I opened my eyes, turning around and prepared to shout that I was coming, but a hand covered my mouth. Something cold and sharp touched my neck.

                “Come quietly and you won’t get hurt.” I barely nodded my head afraid whatever was at my neck would hurt me. They tied rope around my hands and put a burlap sack over my head. Every part of me wanted to scream. I wanted to warn the others, but if I did, what would they do to me? What would they do to the others? So, I stayed quiet; let them lead me away.

                I don’t think I walked more than twenty paces before the person leading me away picked me up and put me inside something. Whatever it was, it was small, I was stuck in a fetal position. I was cramped. Then I heard a lid close. I was trapped. Then we started moving, and I could hear some voices talking.

                “Did you get him?”

                “I did.”

                “Our master will be pleased to have him back.”

                Have me back? What did the voice mean have me back? I had never been anywhere else except the home farm. IT was a long ride and at some point, I must have fallen asleep. The next thing I remembered was waking up in an unfamiliar bedroom. It was a circular room. The bed looked like it was made from branches and the mattress made of leaves and tree boughs. I started to get out of bed when the door opened. A woman with pointed ears came in.

                A gnawing sensation started in the back of my mind. It was almost like I should know her. She was pleased to see that I was awake. She told me breakfast was ready and if I didn’t want to be late for class, I needed to get dressed and come down to eat. I was confused, but did as I was told.

                After eating, I followed the woman’s instructions to find the school. I found when I stepped outside that I was in the middle of a forest; I had come out of a tree. I stood there for several seconds trying to wrap my head around this. Pointed ear, a forest, I was in a land you only read about in books.

                I made it to the school, and a teacher showed me to my classroom. They all had pointed ears. Out of curiosity I reached up to touch my own. They were not pointed. So, I was indeed still me. They didn’t treat me any differently though. They treated me like I was one of them. Several of the boys even helped me get through the day as everything they were teaching was very unfamiliar to me. They even walked with me back to the tree I had left that morning.

                The woman with pointed ears was waiting for me. She smiled when she saw me, but I could tell she had been crying. She hugged me tightly for several seconds. When the embrace was done, she invited the boys who walked with me in for snacks. They agreed. After we finished the snack, she had prepared, the woman suggested we go outside and play. Again, the boys agreed, pulling me along with them.

                It was then they explained to me what was going on. They were elves, and the woman whose house I was in, had visited a human town with her husband several year ago. Their son had wandered off, and they had spent years looking for him. They believed me to be that boy. I touched my ears as they spoke. They weren’t pointed. How could I belong to an elven couple?

                One of the older boys approached me. “It’s rare, but the elders believed the boy to have magic. If that was true the boy could have changed his appearance to fit in with the humans.”

                “But I…”

                “What’s your name?”

                I thought it was a weird question, until I realized no one had asked and no one had actually referred to me by anything specific. “Tyryl,” I replied.

                “That’s why they think you are their lost son. Their son’s name was Tyryl.”

                I couldn’t’ believe what I was hearing. There was no way it could be true… could it? I had lived on the farm for as long as I could remember. Nothing magical had ever happened… or had it? All those dangerous things Koryn and I had done. All the close calls and amazing saves. Could there be any truth to it? The gnawing started again in the back of my mind like there was something in all this that was familiar; that I should have been able to recall.

                That was all two years ago. Since that day I’ve done a lot of research. Well, mostly I snuck into the attic one day and looked through all the old pictures that the elven woman would never bring down. She didn’t want to remember who I was. She just wanted to get to know me as I am. I spent hours looking at the photos of a happy little boy who looked like me, but had pointed ear. Every time I did, I felt this itching, gnawing feeling in the back of my mind.

                I know now that I am that boy. I knew I could talk to the woman, and if she still had a husband, I never saw him, so I went to the elders. I told them what I knew. They gave me a knowing smile like they had expected me to come to them. They taught me to meditate. Through this I found my powers and with my powers, my memories.

                It was like the boys had said. I had wandered off. It was purposeful though. My father’s plans…. I had slipped away using the magic to change my appearance. I had found Koryn and attached myself to her. Her parents had doubts about adopting me, but in the end, with a little magic, they did. They raised me as their own son and I stayed safe for almost 10 years.

                I’ve worked on my powers, and I’m stronger than I was back then. I don’t wish to hurt the elven woman I’ve come to know as mom, but it’s not safe for me here. In another three years he will be back, and I won’t have a choice. I need to escape again, but this time I have to plan better. I need to put better protections in place. It saddens me I won’t be able to go back to Koryn and the parents that raised me. It will only put them in danger. Even trying to contact them to let them know I’m safe. It’s too risky.

                The elders are helping me with my powers. Their techniques have allowed my power to grow quickly. They believe that helping me with this, is being of aid to my father. They support my father and his plans. But I can’t, and I won’t. If I keep progressing, I should be able to leave in a year. It will break my elven mom’s heart, but I can’t stay. I can’t let him use me. Hopefully if I can fix all this, she will forgive me, but I can’t think of that now. I must train. I must train and plan. The end is coming, and I must be ready.