The Outlandish Tales of Acara,

Chapter 1: Landry’s Discovery

Landry lifted the sleep mask from over her eyes and sighed. She stared at the ceiling and worked to make out shapes in the shadows. A glowy green “2:13 am” taunted her from the alarm clock beside her bed.

“How annoying,” she thought, “I can’t sleep, and I have a test tomorrow.”

 The stress of not being able to sleep compounded by the hour, increasing her odds of laying wide awake.

She decided to try the sleep techniques her friend had shared with her. Closing her eyes, Landry took a slow, deep breath. And then another. She focused on her legs sinking into the sheets. A calm fell over her. She imagined each muscle in her body relaxing, from head to toe. Dizziness began to set in. Then, a jolt of adrenaline shot through her body. A noise brought her bolt upright.

“What is it now?”

She pulled her hearing into focus and went still.

There it was again: a tiny clicking noise coming from the corner of the room. Landry’s head quietly swiveled as she stared into the blackness. Then she saw it; a speck of light, coming from … the plug outlet?

Alarm set in as she imagined the outlet sparking. She jumped out of bed to investigate. She found the booklight on her bedside table as some instinct told her to crawl silently toward the commotion. As she crept closer, the clicking noises grew louder.

With expert reflex, she flipped on the booklight. Landry gasped aloud as she took in the scene before her. A tiny creature perched atop the electrical outlet, blinded and paralyzed by the bright light. He had a shock of white, choppy hair and colorful clothes, albeit sewn in a rather rudimentary manner—cheeks rosy and flecked with freckles and eyes the color of a sunset. Four oval wings quivered as dragonflies on the lawn.

Eyes, rounded as they were, blinked with surprise as he came to himself again. A tiny face then contorted angrily. The little pixie came alive then, with a flash and a fury. He flew around her face in every direction, buzzing with outrage. Landry couldn’t quite make out the words, small as they were to her ear, except every few seconds when he buzzed beside her.

“Bzz..zzz… THE NERVE zzzzz bzzzzzzz COMPLETELY bzzzzz zzzzz bzzzzzzz LARGE AND RUDE bzzzzz bzzzzz bz zzzz zzzzzzz zzzzz MY BUSINESS!!”

But Landry was a quick thinker. She had snatched a nearby candle jar as the pixie continued his rant. With lightning precision, she snatched up her newfound treasure and placed her hand over the top of the jar.

She peered into the pink glass; her eyes lit with mischief.

“Gotcha,” she whispered.

…To Be Continued