A Kind of Magic

Seventeen

Fiona pulled the chain with the ring from beneath the t-shirt she wore under her pale blue scrubs the moment she reached the deserted vestibule. 

The ring that had never been anything but a cold, plain band of gold had been acting impossibly over the last couple of weeks-- she had seen it warm up and glow an eerie purple light in the dark, even oscillate, but it had never gotten this warm before.

Luckily, she had noticed Freddie trying to pilfer it from the drawer of her nightstand before she had taken him for the weekend to her mother. The little monkey had always been intrigued by that ring for some reason... She could only hope that his grandmother hadn't filled his head with her silly stories like she had filled Fiona's when she was his age. She didn't mind him playing with the ring, but she preferred to keep an eye on it, especially since it had started behaving strangely, even though she didn't believe any of that rubbish.

She pulled the golden chain away from her chest and looked at the ring in the dimly lit vestibule of the hospital, wasting time, stealing herself to walk into the heavy drizzle. Her flat was just far enough for her to get wet before she would reach it, and there was no convenient bus line. And she would never take a cab alone, get into a car with a complete stranger and let him drive her home, even if the cabs hadn't been so incredibly expensive. 

Inhaling deeply, Fiona walked through the sliding doors into the night, casting one last glance at the ring as she pulled the hood of her cardigan up. That's when she saw them, and heard them too-- a faint chuckle brought to her on a gust of wind that made her notice them-- three men hiding, or rather attempting to hide, in the trees of the small park beyond the narrow parking lot, right across from the entrance. 

"Botheration..." she whispered. Her mother had done a good job indeed, feeding her vivid imagination with stories about the father she had never met, a dashing, rich man from a... parallel, fairytale-like kingdom, about how he would come back for them, or send someone... Even though Fiona stopped taking her mother's tales seriously when she was a little older than Freddie, the woman had not given up recounting her fantasies to her only daughter until the day when she finally moved out, eighteen-year-old, pregnant and freshly dumped by her great and only love, a man she dreamed of marrying, feeling alone and heartbroken, but incapable of living with her mother and her delusions a day longer.

Fiona had told herself that she didn't believe in those stories. And she didn't, they were impossible...

Now, however, she retreated towards the vestibule, pressed her back against the glass, finding shelter from the cool drizzle under the eaves of the building, and dug her phone from her handbag. She dialled her mother's number, her eyes intent on the three weird men reduced to shadows as they shifted under the trees, observing her. They were confused by her behaviour, most likely, waiting for her next move. 

If one of them was her father, he was going to receive a piece of her mind immediately, loud and clear, whatever he really was, she mused as the phone rang, once, twice... She glanced at her watch; it was just after ten. She disliked the afternoon shifts, she always stayed too late... Three times, four... But the awful, irresponsible man who had fathered her needed to hear how his act had influenced her mother, and her, consequently; how she threw away her childhood waiting for him...

"Mum," Fiona breathed as her mother finally answered the phone. "Is Freddie okay? Fine, fine, that's great. I'll see you both tomorrow night, yes. Listen.... do you remember the stories you used to tell me about.... Father and his... world?" She braved another look towards the trees as she listened to her mother's all too clear memories for a while, nodding, then continued, "I'm asking because... there are three men waiting for me in front of the hospital. They look strange, to say the least. And the silly ring has been burning the whole day."