Day 694

We used to make houses for the garden fairies so they'd stay away.
We used to take them right out into a specific glade in the woods and leave them there.
We used to leave small plates of food inside them so the fairies would feel welcome and stay.

My mother made it very clear that not only were fairies real but they were bad news.
Their rules of interaction were so strict and vaguely known that the slightest mistake was deadly.
It was better to keep them appeased and as far away as possible.

She said they made themselves look human to fool us into talking to them and breaking a rule.
She also said that stars were people's souls trapped in the sky and that she had a twin sister.
I know at least two of these things are true, or truer than the third.

There were enough photos to prove she was a twin and enough news clippings to prove she went missing.
My mother insisted it was a fairy who'd dragged her away into the nearby lake to "swim".
Apparently fairies don't breathe, hence why their skin is so often shown as pale or absolutely white.

Her body was never found, only two sets of tiny footprints on the muddy shore leading into the water.
Grandad says she was never the same - obsessed with making the fairies houses and keeping them out.
He says mum's twin was swimming and went out too far, they didn't get to her in time.

Whenever he told me that (which was surprisingly often) his hands and voice would tremble.
It wasn't until his deathbed that he admitted to seeing a strange child in the water with her.
One that grabbed her hair and turned them both to water, leaving nothing behind.