The Last Thing Tim Saw

For someone who wasn't always around a lot of people his age growing up, Tim was shy of ten when he discovered the hole in the barn in his grandparent's back property. Tim would spend his summer playing in the mud, catching rollie pollies and pretending he was on a great adventure in the backyard as he cut through the tall grass with his mighty stick from the peach tree. But one day Tim came across something; it had always been there but some how it was new to him. Like when you hear a word for the first time and all the sudden you notice it in every other conversation. The light reflected off the bends in a bullet hole on the side of the tall, rustic-red, corrugated metal and wood barn. Tim put down his pretend stick and walked over to the hole, just large enough for him to look into.

There he saw what looked to him like the dancing of small, round, sparkling fairies in the middle of the barn. They seemed to dance and swoop through the barn freely without any explainable influence of air. Tim must have stood there for an hour in awe, he never once thought to interrupt the dancing of the unexplainable fairy-looking things. Soon as dusk came the dancing was over and Tim's grandmother was calling him to dinner. Every day Tim would go back to that hole in the barn until he had to return back home a week later.

Tim was sad and he when he told his parents about his exciting discovery in the old barn his father would tease about his overactive imagination and his mother would suggest that it was the same things she used to imagine when she was a little girl, but perhaps Tim was right; who were they to say it wasn't true.

It was sooner then summer before Tim returned. Around Christmas time the family got together and celebrated Yule tiding. Tim was trepidatious about sneaking out to the barn now that his parents told the whole family about his adventure, but not to discourage him, only to celebrate the memories they enjoyed as children.

That night Tim snuck out of his bed and out of the house. He took a small light that illuminated his way through the property and back to the old barn. Tim flashed the light around the side of the barn, searching for the hole. After a while he got sad and gave up on the search. With his head held down and his flashlight to the side, he began to turn around, but not before seeing some light shinning out of the door into the barn. He heard some laughter and rustling through the barn. Tim thought "perhaps this was the fairies having a bit of fun". So not wanting to scare them off, he turned off his flashlight and approached the barn discreetly. Between the cracks in the door Tim saw his cousin Joyce and her boyfriend Randall. The two seemed to be laughing and chasing each other around the barn like a game, at least that's what it appeared like to Tim. A moment later a gunshot is heard nearby and suddenly Joyce and Randall run out of the barn, startled, swinging the doors open and knocking Tim out.

Hours later Tim wakes up. Not knowing what happened exactly, he begins to become conscious of his surroundings and sees him parents and some family members standing around him in a big room that is unfamiliar to him. All he can tell is that it's not normal bedroom, even though he is in a bed. He begins to notice the sounds of beeping and looks down as he feels tunes sticking out of one arm and going up and around his face as well. His parent's begin to speak to Tim as they notice he is waking up and becoming aware of his surroundings. His parents explain to him that he is at the doctors and that he had a nasty fall at his grandparents home earlier in the evening. Tim was scared, but also very brave in the response of finding out what had happen. Still he could not move a whole lot and seemed to be limited in his motor skills. Tim listened as he herd the doctor talk about a fracture in his head, due to the blunt force of a metal piece hitting him in the head from the barn door. Tim was still confused and unsure how long he would be like this.

Weeks had passed and Time remained in a constant state of long naps and limited movement as his parents cared for him in his bed at home along with the help of a nurse that would come a few times a week. After a year things didn't seem to be improving and Tim was clearly becoming more and more sad. He kept mentioning the barn to his parents in the few words he would say throughout the days. His parents grew worried and decided to take a trip to the old barn at his grandparents home.

The summer grass grew tall and wild as Tim's wheelchair made a path from his grandparent's back patio to the old barn. The doors swung open as mom and dad pushed Tim inside the barn and into the center where the light shined like a heavenly spotlight, just like Tim remembered in the summer that he saw the fairies dancing. Tim's parents left him in the middle of the barn as they talked amongst themselves over by the doorway. The warmth of the sun blanketed Tim and he smiled and felt at peace. A peace he had never experienced before, like a warm and fuzzy feeling inside his whole being. Time began to close his eyes and embrace the feeling of euphoria. Moments later he began to open his eyes slowly and he saw a tiny, round particle of light float towards him. He smiled and hoped it was one of the fairies. The particle got closer to him and seemed to also get larger. It must have felt like a whole afternoon, but it was only a few seconds, but when the particle reached Tim it suddenly became clearer. With a face like a friend you loved and trusted and a glow that encompassed the rest of the figure, Tim could see his fairy starring into his face and smiling. He knew what the being was saying without a word and he knew what was going to happen next. Then without hesitation Tim blinked his eyes and the fairy was gone. Tim instinctively stood up from the wheelchair and walked over to his parent's without any trouble. It was as if he had been walking the whole time. Tim's parents looked over in amazement and began to tear up in joy. They were so happy and really couldn't understand what had just happened. Tim's mother said to him "How is this even possible?" Time smiled and replied to his mother's question....it was the fairies.