Clare

The trees were blooming heavily and all seemed right with the world. Clare sat on the soft grass and smoothed down her summer skirt. The few small white clouds passed through the blue sky slowly and peacefully. Days like this weren't very common in England but that made her appreciate them all the more when they came along. She could hear schoolchildren playing in the distance, it must be break time at the local primary school. There was an old man walking his little dog, across the green from her and she waved but he didn't notice her. She didn't mind. She sat there with her legs outstretched and felt the gentle breeze ruffling her hair. She was happy.

She sat there for a long time and a funny thing started happening - she couldn't remember who she was. It was like the program inside her brain which told her how to function, how to be "Clare", had stopped running. She sat there and a blankness such as she had never known before stole over her. She wasn't scared, in fact it was very relaxing, if a little disconcerting..

"How odd." she thought to herself, or at least, she thought it was her thinking to herself. She was no longer sure if the voice that she had believed was "her" was actually her at all. She wondered if everything was merely a construct? That maybe "Clare" didn't even exist, not really. There was an overlay, a functioning way of interacting with the world but underneath there was something without words. Something that just was - no conscience or ideas or thoughts or even dreams - something that existed with no pre-conception of who or what it was. She would have had an opinion on that theory except there was no one to have an opinion on it. Slowly, her consciousness faded entirely..

She awoke later and it was decidedly cooler. She was lying on her back, on the soft grass with the occasional daisy or buttercup sticking up amongst the stalks. She was comfortable but stiff, like she had been lying in the exact same spot a little too long. She pulled up her top half, so she was sitting in an L-shape and looked around her. There were a number of small creatures gazing intently at her. Clare(?) was reminded of the caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland. The creatures had a lazy, indulgent look about them. They were only six inches high and there were eight or maybe ten of them arranged in a loose circle in front of her. She checked behind her but there were none there.

"Who are you?" she asked, inquisitively. She wasn't scared, although she should have been, I suppose, considering that these creatures were far too dream-like yet humanoid to be borne of this Earth

The creatures jumped back and squeaked at the sound of her voice, they obviously hadn't been expecting her to make a noise but they quickly moved in closer again, peering even more intently. Clare held out her hand towards one and it scampered off, looking nervous. "It's okay" she said, comfortingly,"I won't hurt you". Try as she might though, the creatures stayed out of reach. She put her hand down and attempted to communicate with them again. "Do you live here?" she asked and the creatures looked at each other sharply before one or two of them nodded shyly.

One of the creatures was slighty bigger than the others and he wore a little brown hat made of the same material as the paper bags you might use when buying mushrooms or fruit from a shop. Upon looking more closely, Clare guessed it was perhaps a crown. He certainly seemed a little more confident than the others as he stepped forward and addressed her. His voice was high-pitched and his words slurred together like treacle but she could understand him.

"Weliveinthattree" he pointed to the oak behind her. "Weonlycomeouttocollectflowers" . Clare looked at a small pile just behind one of the creatures and noticed it was made of daisies and buttercups and other little weed-like flowers. "What do you collect them for?" she asked who she assumed was the king or leader of the group but he pointed to someone else, a rather dainty creature with little pointed ears who answered instead, "wemakethemintojuice" she said timidly. "Wouldyoulikesome?"

Clare wondered if this was a dream but she felt happy and playful so she nodded and a number of the creatures ran excitedly back towards the tree and returned with a hollowed-out wooden bowl, the size of an eggcup. Inside was a greenish looking liquid that smelled very pungently of intense floral aromas. The pixie-eared creature pushed the eggcup within arm's reach of Clare and then retreated, an expectant look in her eyes. "For me?" asked Clare and a number of the creatures nodded in unison. Well, here goes.. she thought to herself and lifted the eggcup to her lips taking a taste of the green liquid. There were seeds in it and it tasted of, well, flowers. "Mmm," she remarked graciously and the creatures looked pleased. Truthfully, she was glad they were so small and thus the amount of liquid they had given her was only a mouthful because she wasn't sure she could have stomached a whole glass of the stuff. It was ever so sweet, yet remarkably sour at the same time. She was reminded of when she had picked blackberries and one bush had sickly sweet berries and the other produced berries that were sharp and tangy, even though the bushes were barely a foot apart from each other.

A few minutes after drinking the liquid her eyes started to blur and she felt herself falling into a deep colourful kaleidoscope. It was spinning and twirling and taking shapes only to recede again. The outside world was gone once more. The colours became more vibrant and more child-like. What had begun as various shades became very simple reds and yellows and greens and blues - as if a child had been colouring a rainbow with crayons. Finally, there was simply a blank white and it stayed like that for some time. Then it faded away to darkness and she guessed she fell asleep, for when she woke up it was dark outside. There was no sign of the creatures, their pile of daisies and buttercups were gone. Clare tried to get to her feet but she felt very woozy and had to stand there, bent over to prevent the dizziness from overcoming her. Eventually, her mind cleared a little and she managed to stand up straight and look around her. The nightlife was astounding, little rabbits hopped, owls hooted and the air shimmered with frizzling alive energy. She felt so rejuvenated, now that the dizzy spell had worn off, she felt she had never breathed such full air. She skipped her way down the moonlit path, through the trees, with the birds above making their nighttime noises and little frogs jumped across the path from one side of the undergrowth to the other.

She was a witch, of course. She had a special connection with the forest and the creatures that lived within it but this had been her most magical encounter yet. She found her way to her cottage - there was smoke rising from the chimney and she could see that her assistant had loaded plenty of fresh logs onto the fire and there was soup warming on the stove. She put down her broomstick and took off her pointy black hat and sunk into her favourite old patched armchair.

Most people were scared of her - they gave her a wide berth and she heard their muttering behind her back, they didn't realise how attuned her hearing was after so many nights spent listening to the forest. She didn't care, however. She was at peace here, exploring nature and the wonders within. Ske kicked off her boots and let the fire warm her until she was toasty.

The next day she went back to the tree from yesterday, bringing with her a big pile of daisies and wildflowers she had collected en route. She left them at the base of the tree and went about her day. That evening, she returned and saw the little eggcup once again filled with liquid, although this time there were yellows and purple hues mixed in with the green. She took the eggcup back to her cottage and drank it. This time rather than a kaleidoscope of colours, she was transported to a soft white fluffy cloud. She lay enveloped in the cloud and looked up at the stars above as she drifted along dreamily. As the liquid started to wear off the cloud lowered her gently until she reached the ground and found herself sitting in her armchair once more.

From that day on, every morning she would collect wildflowers and place them as an offering outside the tree where the creatures lived and every evening she would return to find the eggcup full of liquid.

One evening, when she wasn't feeling well, she decided to let her assistant Gerald give it a try. She watched him as his eyes glazed over and he seemed to pass out for several hours. When he awoke from his slumber he was excited and glowing. "Oh wow!" he exclaimed, "I was deep underground, travelling through these tunnels.. it was warm and cosy and they went on forever, like a huge catacomb - that was amazing!". Clare agreed that the liquid was very special indeed and they formulated a plan. The next day, they collected as many wildflowers as they could find and placed a large mug outside the tree. When they returned that evening, they found the mug half-full of liquid. They were a little disappointed at first but then Clare reasoned that was probably as much as the little creatures could produce and spare for them in the time available

Gerald told a few of the local youths in the town and with Clare's already solid reputation as a witch, there was no difficulty in getting them each to pay for a taste of the "Eggcup Trip", as it became to be known. Well, a witch needs new boots, after all.

Clare never actually saw the creatures but judging by the half-full mug of liquid they left her every day, she assumed they were happy enough with the deal. Clare had tried to produce it herself but although it tasted similar, her version had no magical properties whatsoever, unless you counted feeling vaguely nauseated as an altered mindstate.

"Symbiosis," she thought to herself, we work together.

The youths were told to keep it to themselves but, of course, word inevitably spread of the witch's cottage and the magical potions. It wasn't long before the police paid her a visit.

"So, you're a real witch?" asked the officer, curiously.

"Haha, of course not," she replied, "there's no such thing."

"What's this I hear about you selling drinks with psychedelic properties? You know that stuff is probably illegal?"

"Rumours.." Clare tried to reassure him, "have a seat, officer" she pointed to the armchair she liked to sit in. "Cup of tea?"

"Err no, thanks", he refused the offer, looking around at all the interesting objects contained within the cottage.

"Are you sure? It's a special herbal blend". He looked alarmed at this and started to stand up but at that moment, Clare noticed a little creature only six inches high whispering into his left ear. The police officer gradually relaxed. "Actually, a herbal tea does sound rather nice" he admitted. "Just a quick one then"

"No problem, I'll make you an eggcup full," said Clare, winking at a number of the little creatures scurrying out of the door.