Love with a Fairy

Raffy has always been the quirky nature of a boy. He would sit under the trees for hours, looking into the sky, dreaming, while the other children played in the fields. He felt that there was another world beyond the perceptible world - a world that could never be seen with her eyes, but only in her mind.

In the summer, Raffy visited his grandfather in the hills of Sylhet. It was a country surrounded by deep green forests and hills, and it was amazing to see. Every night he ventured alone through the forest and hills, talking to the trees as if he was waiting for someone or something that he wasn't there.

One Twilight, Raffy, sat on a waterfall hidden behind the hill. Suddenly it was everywhere around him. The bird had stopped singing. The interpreter at the waterfall faded into distant tweets. And then the image in front of him gradually appeared.

It was a girl or rather a kind of entity in light gold glow. She wore a flowing white dress, her hair shaking with a soft breeze, and her smile was so calm that it was mostly not real.

Raffy was surprised. The girl took a step towards him and said quietly: "Can you see me?"

He nodded, not knowing whether he was dreaming or not.

She smiled. "You're different. Most people can't see us."

"Who are you?" Rafi asked, his voice trembling.

"I'm Turin," she said. "A forest fairy. We protect nature, but we are slowly disappearing. People do not believe in us anymore."

From that day onward, Rafi came every evening. And Turin was always there, waiting by the waterfall. They would talk, laugh, and share stories. Turin taught Rafi how to heed the wind, read the whispers of the trees, and understand the cricketing chatter of the birds.

Something seemed to grow within Rafi's heart: warmth and flutter. It made him feel strange, for he had never felt this way before. One night, when the stars were shining brightly overhead, he finally spoke.

"Turin, I love you," he said.

Her smile faltered. Her eyes held something deeper—something sad.

"Rafi," she said softly, "You must know... I'm not of your world. There are laws... Fairies and humans cannot remain together forever. The moment true love is uttered, our time begins to decay."

Tears flooded into Rafi's eyes. "Then I shouldn't have said it…"

"No," she whispered, touching his face. "Because you said it, I now know what real love is like. That is a blessing."

One week of bliss followed. Each evening at the waterfall became a treasured memory. They held hands, watched the fireflies in their dance, and promised to remember each other through it all.

One time, Turin gave Rafi a magic flower, which blooms only through true love. The deeper their love grew, the more the flower fanned out petals by petals into full bloom.

But on the seventh evening, Turin's expression turned somber. "Rafi, my time is up. I must leave."

"NO... please stay!" he cried, his voice cracking.

Unshaking her head, Turin promised, "I will come back someday, if the world will be pure again—if people begin to love nature once more."

Rafi could not speak. Only, he held her close and whispered, "Be in my dreams. I will come to you there every night. "

The wind swept through the trees, and, slowly, Turin began to fade from view into the mist created by the waterfall. The flower in Rafi's hands blooming to the fullest; tiny rays of light shot from it, ascending into the sky like a telegram to heaven.

Since then, Rafi knew there could be no return. He went back to the city, but his heart remained in that forest. Every evening, he closed his eyes and would try to hear the flow of that waterfall. Sometimes, he swore he could still feel her within him.

People thought that he was insane. Yet Rafi knew the truth—

Once, he had loved; once, he had been loved by someone not of this world.

And on a wonderful day, when the earth shall be again kind and the skies shall be remade into purity, Turin shall return.