(short story)

Have you ever heard of a fairy garden? In fact, it is quite easy to get into it. Close your eyes. At first, there will only be darkness in front of you. But later, you will notice how something colored appeared. A washed-out spot. Go to it. The closer you get, the clearer the images will become.

Tall thousand-year-old trees whose trunks are covered with moss are the first thing that catches your eye. The same warm emerald blanket stretches under your feet. Feel how soft it is with your bare feet. You want to lie down for a while, but you shouldn’t if you don’t want to stay there forever.

Take a few more steps and smaller trees will start to appear everywhere. All of them are covered with abundant white flowers, intoxicating with a sweet smell. And even further – ripe fruits will hang. The famous golden apples that taste like wine but are even more intoxicating.

Of course, you will want to get closer and see them. Just as you take a step forward, you notice another amazing phenomenon – hundreds of small lights, a dozen of which burst out from under your feet. These are fireflies, fairy garden lanterns.

A few more steps to the apple tree and here you are already touching the golden miracle. So, you want to pick and taste it. But whoever tries at least a piece of faerie food will stay with them forever. So be careful, don’t give in to temptation.

A loud laugh is heard somewhere from the depths. That means it’s time to go back, the locals are heading this way and are about to drag you into a dance of death.

The fireflies go out and everything around darkens until the darkness becomes absolute, as at the beginning of the journey.

Open your eyes, look around and decide – was that garden just a delusion or maybe the time will come, and you will return there to stay forever…