English Exam Essay

 This is what I wrote for the exam essay. It needs edited, but I'm pretty pleased with it.


            Pitch black with the darker splotches of trees. The same view from my bedroom window I’ve had all of my life. We don’t exactly live in the country, my father and I- we’re close enough to town- but we live far enough on the outskirts that no lights interrupt our night, except for the stars. But the stars aren’t out tonight, so there’s little light to illuminate the owls and mice creeping around the forest that’s just outside our back yard.

Sometimes I wonder to myself if there’s more out there than just those owls and mice. I wonder if there’s sprite, pixies, and nymphs, like in the books I love to read. Our forest would be ideal for them. No one really goes in it (it’s believed to be haunted) so there’s no disruption, no iron, and no one to tell their secret. When I was a little girl, I remember my mother telling me stories of faeries, how they liked to play and how they couldn’t lie. We’d dance around in a small clearing just inside the woods, my mother’s blonde, messy hair shining in the sunlight. But that was long ago and the stories were only fairytales. Of course, the forest was filled with owls and mice.

But just as I thought that, I saw a flash. Not like a flash of lightning, but the flash as something white moves in the darkness. Then, before I could blink properly, a face appeared in my window, its arms moving to take the same position I was in- one hand holding up my chin, the other arm on the window sill. While there were no stars, there was a moon, and it seemed all of its illumination was concentrated on illuminating that milky white face. The creature’s big, dark eyes stared into mine and I saw myself reflected in them. A perfect mask of surprise, my mouth was hanging slightly open and my eyes were wide. The faery smirked at me. How did I know exactly what he was, especially after telling myself that he was impossible?

“Why are you here?” I heard myself ask.

“Young Halfling, I’m here to protect you. There’s to be a war soon and both sides want every faery they can get. But they especially want you. The Faeries of the Light will no doubt want to control you or kill you and the Faeries of the Night will want to use you against the Light. But I come from the forest where we have no court and no part in the war. You are the deciding factor for the courts; the outcome of the war will be your doing. I’m asking you to protect us forest faey and come with me. They cannot harm you if they think you to be dead.”

“Why should I help you? I feel bad for you and all, but you must have the wrong person,” I told him. Normally I would’ve turned away after saying something like that, but I couldn’t just turn away in case he disappeared.

“Oh, but I have the right person. You are the daughter of Amira Autumn Liddel, are you not?” He smiled at me like I was a child.

“She is…was…my mother. She died many years ago. But what does being her daughter have to do with anything?” I asked him quietly. My mother’s death was still a sad subject.

“Young Halfling, it has to do with everything! You mother was a Faery of the Woods, like me, and your father is human. Our prophecies say that a child born of faery and human will be the one to bring about the destruction or creation of life as we know it.”

“I think you’re definitely confused. My mother, a faery?”

“Didn’t your father ever tell you?” He asked me, the excitement draining from his eyes.

“My father and I…We don’t really talk,” I began. “Ever since my mother died, he’s been so sad and removed. He works much of the day then goes off to his study in the evening. I never really see him. Her death really took a toll on him.”

“That fool,” the faery scoffed. “Did he not realize that he couldn’t hide it from you forever? He wants to keep you here to lead a human life. He knows a little of the prophecy, and he’s ignored it. Why do you think you live here? Your mother didn’t want to move far from her home, even though she couldn’t speak to us after she left us for your father. Why do you think you knew what I was? A faery knows other faeries. Even though you’re only a Halfling, your faery blood is still strong. One day, you could even live amongst us!”

I tried to politely accept what he was saying, but he didn’t want to hear it.

“I’ll be back tomorrow evening,” he promised. “Think about this, okay?”

I watched him sprint into the forest before falling into my bed. My mind was spinning and I couldn’t grasp any of my thoughts or emotions. I drifted off to sleep before I knew it, his words still repeating in my mind.

“A child born of faery and human will be the one to bring about the destruction or creation of life.”