The younger cousin awoke in a cold sweat and to a terrible noise.
“Someone must have left their alarm on,” she thought groggily, as she sat up, rubbed her eyes and groped around for her glasses and slid them on. The blurry outline of the window curtains dancing with the summer breeze came into focus, while the sharp disjointed screeching tore through the night’s peace and made her head throb.
She covered her ears and turned to see if it had woken her cousin as well, but the space next to her was empty.
She looked around the room, past the open window and fluttering curtains and found the other bed was empty too.
“Maybe she went to the bathroom,” she thought tepidly, hands pressed to ears to muffle the terrible, mind numbing noise.
Then strangely, the music which had been so loud and rancorous, slipped between her tightly clasped fingers, as something sweet. And as she kept listening, it changed into spell-binding melody.
She looked around, brows furrowed in confused observation, at the moonlight streaming in through the window, the cool breeze beckoning the curtains to life, the sound of reeds whistling on a laughing wind, and realized…
“Piper” she mumbled, jumping out of her bed. She ran through the apartment, down the stairs and as she opened the front door, she saw the streets filled with children moving in a trance towards the horizon.
“I have to find my cousin,” she thought anxiously, covering her ears in a futile attempt to block the increasingly melodious lullaby.
She ran alongside the other children looking at the face of everyone she passed, hoping with each passing glance to find her cousin, but none of the children looked familiar, and as she searched her heart became heavier, and the music swelled louder and sang sweeter, ‘till suddenly, everyone stopped right on the corner of the largest street downtown.
And there, sitting atop of the town square, the stars dancing around her and the wind whistling in harmony with her melody was a shadow shaped like a girl, a girl like summer nights.
As she finished her lullaby it seemed everyone suddenly awoke from a trance.
“Where am I, one child asked, looking around?”
“Is this a dream, I must be dreaming.” Another decided and a few other children
began to cry, feeling cold and alone and confused.
Then, the girl with messy hair, unkempt clothes, and the most devious look in her eyes appeared from the shadows and floated above them.
“Children, children of all kinds from here and there and far and wide the sound of my pipes and the sadness in your hearts has called you here.”
“Who are you?” one child screamed?”
“Yeah and why did you kidnap us?”
She offers a devious grin, as she plays with what looked like some type of pan or flute. “I didn’t kidnap you, you ran here. There are plenty of children sleeping under their covers. The music sounds terrible to them.
Like thunder claps and bone snaps. The younger cousin thought remembering her Nana’s words as the girl spoke.
“But my flute sounded sweet to you.” She coos. “So… you have a choice, you can wait here, or return home and forget this all by morning, or…” she offered, a coy glint in her eyes. “You could come with me, fly past the stars straight on ‘till dawn, and you could be whatever you want by morning.”
“You still didn’t tell us who you are,” another child demanded
“Me? That’s easy, I’m the Maestro of Mischief herself.”
The young girl stood on her toes and tried to find her cousin, but the crowd was too noisy and rowdy.
“How do we know you’re not some monster?” one child asked.
“You don’t?” she replied, blunt and nonchalant as she lay back in the air as if floating on water.
“How do we know that this is not some trap?” Asked another
“Maybe it is,” she agrees cavalierly, looking down at them wide-eyed and rather frightening.
“If you don’t believe me you can always go home.”
“What if I can’t fly?” A voice called out trembling. “what if I fall?…I don’t… I don’t have many happy thoughts after all.” The girl turned her head to the direction of a familiar voice. She looked up and around trying to spot her cousin as the Maestro looked down, and shrugged
“If you did, you wouldn’t be here. Just jump, she goads, a mischievous smirk tugging on the side of her lips. “The story goes, falling looks like flying from up here.”
And they say, the older cousin, did a courageous thing, with all the faith she had left in the world, she took a leap and for once, was not disappointed.
Now floating in the air she looked around with astonishment, grinning from ear to ear swimming through the air and laughing, and as she flew further and higher her cousin, afraid she would lose sight of her took a leap too. Eyes fixed, calling out her name as she pushed through the air towards her.
And a few others jumped as well, encouraged by one leap of faith to make their own.
While others were too terrified or too aware of those who loved them to leave the ground. They hurried into the city hall, and promptly let the evening become a dream.
But everyone else rose past apartment buildings and cities. Past oceans and countries which became increasingly tiny the higher up they went. And as they flew other children joined them and the crowd of children like an odd flock of birds flew past the rest of the night, past the dawn where the stars began to sleep and the moon began to wane and the sun began to wake on the horizon.
And suddenly a giant flying turtle shimmering and shaking gold as it swam through the sunrise glided past them.
And Piper landed on its back and slid forward till she managed to get a good grip. She sat up straight, held on tight, and yelled as the turtle started to dive through the air again.
The younger cousin blinked her eyes in disbelief. The air smelled different, sweet, yet slightly burnt, like someone had lit the sky on fire before stamping it out. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose.
“This can’t be happening”, she whispered looking around her. As a world so different from her own came into focus. There were whole continents suspended in the air and mountains of translucent crystals that jutted out diagonally from the ground far in the distances. There were ships that flew and sea animals too, and an island of volcanoes that spilled lava over its edges into the ocean as it slowly made its way through the clouds. There were waterfalls that fell up as well as down, cities and towns with the oddest of shapes and most magnificent colors.
And far below everything, the water sparkled and glistened like glass.
And the whole thing, the strange and magical thing seemed to stretch out forever. And the girl could have stared perplexed for just as long, but her thoughts were interrupted by her cousin’s laughter. Her voice sounded happier than she’d heard it in a long time.
The younger cousin grinned. “Well if it is a dream, I hope it lasts a little longer.”
Or so the story goes…