Rules
Rules are rules, even when you exist only in the mind of a child.
In two thousand years of existence he’d influenced many minds, strengthened the strong, tipped the weak into insanity. He’d done this with a spring in his step and a smile on what passed for his face, near total impunity protecting him from pesky consequence.
There were rules, sure, but they rarely applied.
Then Becky entered his life. She looked sweet in her pigtails and unicorn onesie, but that grinning vanilla ice-cream and sprinkles exterior hid barbed wire and razor blades. If he hadn’t known that the antichrist had already been born and was stamping license plates in a mid-western penitentiary for stealing cars, he would have sworn that she was here to bring about the end of days.
She’d been trouble from the start. He liked the abstract — giant fluffy neon-yellow gravy-boats, a single eyeball floating in space, something fun. Toddlers had no imagination, and he didn’t like to give them the chance to pick his form. Her strength of will was surprising.
Fairy princess.
He blamed television, Fairies were shiny and new. It sounded great on paper but he was so small, pink wasn’t his colour, the dress far too short and the tights itchy. At least he had clothes unlike that one time in the eighties. He foolishly believed it would work. It was only a few years, they always grew out of their ‘invisible friend’. Usually on the sooner side, his impact often required psychological repair, something he was quite proud of.
She was rock solid, she just wouldn’t let him go.
Rules, he couldn’t leave her because cosmically they existed together, she could summon him from anywhere and he’d reappear. That link dissolved once they stopped believing in you, but here she was — twelve-years-old and making him spy on boys, give make-out advice.
He was pretty sure that violated some rules too.
He needed to get rid of her, a hail Mary. The tricky part had been convincing Becks that it was her idea.
“So, Sparkie-Knicks, this will mean we’re together forever? You realize what happens when you lie, right?”
“Ugh.” On top of living the last ten years as an anaemic four-year-old girl in an ill-fitting Halloween costume, he’d landed with the name Princess Sparkle-Knickers. “Don’t call me that, you know it’s Greg, I’ve told you a hundred times it’s..”
“But you’ve got such sparkly knickers on.” He did, they weren’t comfortable. “I can see them, that dress really is far too small for y..”
“Yes! I know. You could make it bigger you know.”
“If you don’t like it, I could just make you naked.”
“No, it’s fine! And I’m not lying. We finish the ritual and I’ll be with you..” He rolled his eyes and then hoped she hadn’t noticed. “Forever.”
“And you’ll still be invisible to everyone else? Hey, you can go spy on Paul. He says he’s having sex with Stacey but I don’t think it’s true, but if it is, I want to know how..”
“Yeah, I’m not doing that.”
“Hey! We’re friends, you’ll do what I tell you.”
The ritual was arcane, difficult, hard to find. The result should be the breaking of their bond, but there was some question about that translation. Right now he didn’t care if he ended up dead. That’s when he saw it.
“What’s that, Rebecca?”
“Book of spells, what? You didn’t think I was going to look this up?”
“Where did you even find that?” He was panicking, just a little. “That knowledge exists out of time.”
“School library, it was with the pop-up books. Anyway, this is what we’re going to be doing.”
“Um, that’s a joining spell.” This was going to end badly. He’d already begun the invocation. You don’t mix magic, everyone knew that. “Becky? Sweetheart, I’m sorry, okay? Just, let’s talk about this.” “You were trying to get away, this will join us for all time, you’ll ha.. what’s happening?” It was too late.
“Hey, Sparkie-Knicks, my turn with the body.”
“Greg. For the millionth time. And no, it’s my turn, I have it all weekend. I don’t want to be in here any more than you want me here, but if we’re going to have to share, rules are rules.”