The human factor: a faerie tale

Now, this one is a little full on and confronting... I'm not saying that this is necessary or anything, I just want to show you how hopeless it is, and the only thing that will go anywhere near helping the problem... So don't think that I want you to go out and do this, OK?

If you walk along this beach with me, over the rocks, and around the point, and if you follow me through the bushes, we will come upon an opening in the base of the cliff, just large enough to crawl into.

And if you enter this hole behind me, and follow all the way, you will find yourself in a large cavern, lit with the flames of our magic.

If you indeed do all of this, I will turn to you, and I will speak. I will say: ‘Welcome, friend. Welcome to the last home of the fae.’

You gaze around this great cavern, and cannot help but notice how few they are.

Five Elves, tall and beautiful, practice archery on the ledge above. Three Sprites, winged and delicate, flit amongst the flames. And one faerie, arms spread wide to encompass your surroundings, says, ‘look ye well, human. Look at what you have done to us.’

You bristle, indignant. ‘Not me,’ you say, ‘I did not do this.’

The Faerie smiles at you, not unkindly. She is young, a mere child, but her eyes are ageless, speaking of the grief and sorrow she has seen, and still has yet to see. ‘Yes. You. You own a car. You own a house. You own these things and more, but still you say no. No, not me. I have done nothing. Nothing. Follow me.’

Switch

A forest. A tribe of Native Americans, talking, laughing, playing.

Switch

The bush. Two Australian Aborigines spearing fish in the ocean.

Switch

The faerie, standing beside you. ‘Look at how you were. Now look at how you’ve become.’

Switch

A factory, pouring pollution into the air.

Switch

A highway, full of cars pumping exhaust fumes.

Switch

Fish, dying in oceans, rivers, lakes.

Switch

A school

Switch

A city, a plane, a child malformed and diseased, drugs, alcohol…

The scenes whir by so fast that they blur, then come together again into the face of the faerie. ‘Hear how you’ve become.’

Switch

Screams cars chainsaws gunshots screams factories radio TV pop music screams.

‘Feel how you’ve become.’

Horror Misery Despair NoMoreNoPleaseNoMORE!

Switch

The Cavern, the Faerie standing before you.

‘Why did you show me that!?’ You scream. ‘I didn’t want to know! What has it got to do with you?’

She steps closer. ‘We and the Earth, we are linked.’ She says. ‘As she is poisoned, we are poisoned.’ An Elf collapses, retching and gasping for air. His comrades help him up, murmuring in a foreign tongue. He clutches his throat, coughing and shaking.

‘As she is scarred, we are scarred.’ She holds out her hands for you to inspect. They are covered in wounds, some half healed, some open and bleeding.

‘As she dies… We die.’ A sprite drops down from the above, falling at your feet. You fall to your knees, and cradle the green tinged body in your arms. ‘What can I do?’ You howl above the coughing of the elf and the keening cries of the sprites. ‘I’ll join Greenpeace, I’ll protest, I…’

The faerie places a hand on your shoulder, stopping you. ‘Now what,’ she says, ‘on earth do you suppose that will achieve?’

You stare up at her, and suddenly it all disappears, the cavern, the faerie, everything.

You are sitting by a roadside, somewhere in the country. Beside you is an axe and a bottle of spray paint. Before you is an electric pole. You stand, and pick up the axe, weighing it in your hands.

‘Timber…’ You murmur as you hack into the dead wood.

You know exactly what to do.

End.