The Little Fairy
Chapter 18

Sarah came back the day of the next gathering. She made sure only to be gone a few days, returning with a minimal amount of items. I knew she didn't want to be questioned about it so I just left it. We were back in the back room pacing anxiously. "What if they throw things at me, or ban Don's business?" I stopped in the middle of the room, wringing my hands together tightly.

"Why would they throw things at you?" Sarah laughed, folding her arms across her chest and cocking her head to the side.

"I don't know! I don't know these people." I started pacing again, grumbling to myself.

"The worst they'll do is yell or storm out; or both." Her eyes followed me closely, making sure I didn't trip over anything in the cluttered room.

"That's somehow worse!" I groaned.

There was a knock at the door and Don peeked his head in, "It's time to go, ladies." He ducked back out quickly, my heart now racing violently, so loud it was the only thing I heard.

Sarah led me out to the podium and I started just like I had before, but before I could continue, a large old man practically jumped out of his seat and pointed a wrinkled finger at me from the 3rd row. "And what makes you the judge of what we do!" The crowd murmured and joined in the protest. The room quickly became overwhelmingly loud.

"Enough!" My voice boomed over theirs, echoing throughout the hall. I looked across their faces, mostly shocked but some were dazed, with blank expressions on their faces. I looked over to Sarah who was putting headphones in her and Don's ears. I sighed and I knew what I had to do because there was no way after just that one outburst that I was going to be able to get through to them.

I took a deep breath, feeling the stale air enter my nostrils and circulate through my lungs, letting it exit back out my mouth. I opened my eyes, the crowd still stood silently. "I can judge you because I am the God you have been waiting for, come to claim back my land from the pollutants that you have shoved deep into the womb of my creation. You have defiled everything I built for you, destroyed the love I put into it to make it perfect. I have half a mind to get rid of you all. You think you're so much better than those who were created by other Gods when those other Gods are my brothers and my sisters and should be treated with the same respect." I glared over the crowd, fear filling the room.

"I want you all to go out and donate all you can to earth restorative charities and then do your part in this community to clean up what you've done." The doors flung open and they all filed out chaotically, leaving me standing at the podium alone and defeated.

"Kreya, that was amazing!" Sarah ran up to me excitedly, pulling the earbuds out as she came up to me.

"I feel awful for it." I looked down at my notes, wishing that it could have been enough.

"But now we're able to fix the town, we'll call the news and come up with a story of a small town working to restore the earth one person at a time or something!" Sarah walked away muttering and tapping her fingers on her phone.

"Hey kiddo, that was really something." Don came over and put one of his hearty hands gently on my shoulder. "I didn't know you could do something like that."

"I didn't want to." I couldn't look him in the eye, I felt like a traitor and I knew what question was coming next. "I never used it on you, I hope you know that. I would never." I finally met his gaze and luckily it didn't hold any anger, just a softness of appreciation.

"I know, you didn't even know you had it when I met you." He slid his hand down to my back and led me out to the truck. "How about we order out. I'm in the mood for some Sonic hotdogs." Sarah was already out at the truck, still tapping away at her phone.

"I want a bacon cheeseburger." Sarah tilted her head, but her eyes never left her screen.

"Can I see what they have?" Don handed me his phone and started the truck, leading us back home to enjoy some quiet after the day we just had.