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Lilette stared blankly at the calendar before her. The world paused. She couldn’t bring herself to think a single thought, her mind was completely empty. She read the words below her half a thousand times: Death of Mielou, Death of Mielou. She read them so many times that they lost their meaning.
After what could have been several minutes or hours, Ash slid the calendar from Lilette’s frozen hands. She stared thoughtlessly at the space where the calendar had been.
“We’re going to get through this Lilette. I’m going to do everything I can to stop Mie dying on the 13th” Ash reassured her. Hearing of her best friends predicted death (rather than just reading it) opened Lilette’s thoughts again. She began to cry - a fairly normal reaction one might have to the news of death. Ash was fairly relieved that Lilette was no longer frozen, and instantly went into comforting mode. Lilette’s sobs were dry and quite, she wondered why she couldn’t produce tears at this utmost moment of misery.
“I have to see her” she managed to say.
“Offcourse” Ash agreed quickly “but maybe you should stay here a while and recover”
Lilette appreciated Ash’s concern, but she desperately needed to see Mielou. She stood up- off Ash’s bed- and headed for the door. Ash responded to her action immediately and was at the door in time to open it for her.

Before long Lilette was holding Ash’s hand and they were up in the air.
“The calendar isn’t always right” Ash tried to make the current situation less awful as they flew hastily around trees, but he sounded unconvinced himself so it failed to work.
Soon they were touching down onto the familiar ground of the random forest. Lilette swiped her hand away from Ash’s and darted off to find Mielou.
“Mielou!?” she called intensely, but found her friend surprisingly easily within seconds.
“I’m over here” called back a dreary sounding Mielou.
Lilette raced over to her and they embraced one another for a lifetime. Once they stopped hugging, Mielou looked dully to the ground and began fiddling with a piece of grass.
“Hello Lilette” said a voice to Lilette left, which was so peaceful it didn’t make her jump.
“Kordail?” she exclaimed, turning to her new green skinned friend.
“I’m sorry Lette” Mielou said unexpectedly “Pixies are wonderful. Just like you tried to tell me” Mielou stated bleakly, with little expression. Lilette tried as hard as she could to hold back her own despair, so that she could do her best to cheer up her friend and shine lights of hope upon her.

“It’s alright” Lilette said, resting her hand on Mielou’s upper back. A thought of joy uncontrollably entered Lilette’s mind, but she forced it to leave her mind as quickly as it had come. There was nothing positive about Mielou’s upcoming death. “You’re not going to die” Lilette said, persuasively shaking Mielou. Mielou slowly refocused her gaze to Lilette.
“I will die Lette” she said with more feeling than anything else she’d said that day “this is the end. This is the end of everything. The end of all time” offcourse it would only be the end of time for Mielou, but being a fairly self absorbed person she ignored this fact “there’s nothing left, nothing matters any more. What’s the point in looking at the pretty flowers, when they’ll all be gone soon anyway? Was there ever any point? Why do we live? Who decided that we should live? They must be evil, evil creatures, to give us life and then take it away. And why make things so beautiful? Why give me great people like you and Ash, if you’re just going to be taken away from me? I can see the future Lilette... it’s black. It’s like a great black pit and it’s sucking us all in, every day we get closer and closer to the pit” she then added “I’m not scared” and went back to looking aimlessly at the grass below her.
Lilette was momentarily stunned quite, Mielou was usually a bubbly optimistic person.
“Mie” Lilette said slowly and cautiously, afraid of saying the wrong thing “I promise that you won’t die, me and Ash are going to save you. I promise. I promise Mie, you’re not going to die”
“But that’s just the thing Lette. You say I won’t die, but I will.... if not on December 13th then on some other day. We all die Lilette, that’s Gods evil plan. He gives us all this” Mielou gestured to everything around her “and then takes it away. He takes it away! Don’t you get it Lette? The meaning of our lives is so that God can laugh they end”
Lilette was once again astonished by the words coming out of her best friends mouth. Mielou then went temporarily crazy. She started ripping out grass, scratching bark of trees and other nature disrupting things, all the while yelling “the world is ugly!” and “the only reason you’re here, is so I can rip you from the ground!” This went on for far longer than Lilette expected it would.

“Should we leave her, or try and calm her down?” Lilette asked Kordail, she felt like she didn’t know Mielou at all anymore. Perhaps Kordail knew her better now, for he had known her for longer in this new state of hers.
“I think we should let her get it all out, but stay here so she knows she’s not alone” Kordail spoke in his usual musical voice, Lilette couldn’t help smiling. “I heard your family is being held hostage by the Rats. I hope I am mistaken?”
“They are being held hostage, yes. But nothing will happen to them until the Rats have captured me as well. They Rat King wants a whole family of servants, you see.”
“I see. So, what is your plan?”
“My plan?” Lilette knew she had to do something, but she imagined herself simply barging into the main hall and demanding her family’s release. Which, come to think of it, wouldn’t work at all. “I haven’t really thought of anything.”
“Right” Kordail thought, apparently taking the matter of thinking up a plan into his own hands.
Not so far away, Mielou stopped pulling apart nature and collapsed in a sorrowful heap to the ground. She didn’t cry. She just lay awkwardly and miserably, as if she couldn’t be bothered crying or readjusting her position. Lilette went softly over to her friend but was too cautious to comfort her with touch.
Lilette sat for a while, unsure of what to do. She wanted to say words of brightness and give Mielou hugs of joy. It could have been slight boredom or restlessness that drove Lilette to stand up and walk back to Kordail, or maybe it was purely for Mielou’s benefit.
“She’s depressed” a sudden voice explained from behind Lilette and Kordail (who were auspiciously out of Mielou’s hearing range.) Lilette turned to see Ash’s father- whose name escaped Lilette at present- his electric purple eye looked brighter than before and his frizzy white hair blew delicately in the breeze. “She hasn’t been taking this the way we had hoped” the old man continued “we thought- her being a rather up beat person- she would take the other approach”
“The other approach?” questioned Lilette, also not sure what Ash’s dad meant by ‘she’s depressed.’
“If you had little over a month to live, what would you do Lilette?” Jacob asked wisely as his name popped back into Lilette’s head. She thought seriously, what would she do?
“Well... I suppose I would go do all the things I’ve always wanted to do. I mean, the things I want to do before I die. I would tell ever one I love that I love them... I wouldn’t spend a second alone, because life’s greatest bonus are my friends and family...” Lilette wasn’t sure if she ought to go on, but when she paused Jacob didn’t speak, so she continued with clear certainty of what she was saying “I would go to all the places I’ve always wanted to go... but I’d spend a lot of time in my favourite places, like the river bank..... what else could I do, but live like there was no tomorrow?” Lilette finished, hoping to save everyone from what she believed to be a never ending list.
“Exactly” Jacob said, like Lilette had correctly answered an algebra question “not quite the approach Mielou is taking, eh?”
“No, I suppose it’s not” Lilette agreed, looking back over to her friend, who was so motionless she could have passed as a statue.

At that moment, Ash came flying towards them. Lilette wished he wouldn’t fly so elegantly, it only reminded her of how much she unacceptably loved him. He seemed faintly surprised that his dad had joined them, but said what he had to say none the less.
“Lilette, we really should start thinking up a plan. I know Mie is all....” he waved his hand around in search of an appropriate word.
“Depressed” suggested Jacob.
“Ok whatever” Ash, like Lilette, was unsure what depressed meant “I know Mie is all... depressed... but every second we waste, is a second closer to putting your family in serious danger” Ash talked as though he may fly off and single handily rescue Lilette’s family, if a plan wasn’t formed within seconds.
“I can think of only one way” Kordail stepped forward. Lilette had almost forgotten her seaweedy friend was there “but it will not work, because Lilette does not have the magic of Fairies” Lilette was used to being second best, she dreamt longingly of having powers.
“Well, tell me your plan anyway. Perhaps there’s some way we can modify it to work” Ash pushed.
“Seeing as Lilette doesn’t have powers, I thought Mielou could go with her to Peppermint Tree. That is where you live, Lilette?” she nodded “and Mielou would use her persuasive abilities to force the Rat king to let your family go. It seemed rather fail proof, until I released that when the Rats take one look at Mielou, they will be able to tell she is not a part of the Elfish family, and they will instantly kill her. Her brown hair and wings will surely give her away. I for one do not want to risk our friends life” Lilette was amazed that Kordail already knew so much about Mielou.
“I agree. That plan is too risky, we have to keep Mie as safe as possible” Lilette concluded instantly, without a pause of consideration. She would not put her friend into a dangerous situation.
“You see” Kordail concluded “we cannot ask Mielou to do that... the perfect situation would be if Lilette had persuasive abilities, which she obviously does not”
Ash shared a look of knowledge and excitement with his father.
“It’s perfect” Ash said, and Jacob nodded in accomplished agreement.
“What? What’s perfect?” Lilette asked dying to know what was going on.
“You, my friend” Ash focused on Lilette “are about to become a Fairy.”