Accompanying Darkness

Dark was one half of all creation. He was the balance sitting opposite of all deeds where Light earned praise. For what was a coin without both sides? What was Light without Dark?

He sat on his throne, a constellation where star light gave his essence a humanoid shape, the light defining his figure like the glass surrounding bottled smoke. His elbow sat on his arm rest and acted as a kickstand as his cheek set against his fist.

Before him, an array of scenes played out—ritualistic sacrifices, pledges, oathes. All of them vied for his favor. None of them warranted his consideration.

Suddenly, he lifted his head as a young girl approached an alter. It was dark, nearly night's apex where she was. Yet, she found safe passage through a forbidden forest and just happened upon a forgotten alter? Light, what game are you on about this time? he thought.

Abigail Dupree was six. Six and a half, should anyone ask her. She traveled through a dense forest in her nightgown. Barefoot. A backpack in its place. A stuffed teddy bear dangling from the crook of her arm. A raised toy wand, its glowing-star tip lighting her path.

She sniffled, her gaze casting about as night creatures carried on with their hoots and howls. When the alter sprouted from into her light, she stopped. On a small pedestal, a stone imp bowed, his upturned palm proffering a hat to accept donations.

Dark was on the edge of his seat. How did she keep going, let alone find that place? What madness could con such a youth into seeking something from within the deep dark?

Abigail propped her bear up against a tree like a witness. She returned to the alter and then clutched her wand between her knees as she brought her hands together in prayer. "Please, oh please, Mr. Fairy King. Make Momma better."

She shed her backpack and soon produced a bar of chocolate —its wrapper undone, its contents half gone. She placed it in the hat, nearly tripping over her pack in the process. "Momma says that sharing is caring. And this is the last and bestest half." She touched the imp's hat with her wand as if to finalize the bargain.

Intriguing, thought Dark. As she moved to collect her things, Dark poured from the imp's mouth. As the girl stiffened, he leaned over her sphere of dim light, probing it, his fingers tiptoeing across its boundary as the star began to wink.

Abigail looked at her wand and then around. "Muh... Mr. Fairy King?"

"Tell me, child, why have you come here?"

Her eyes searched the tree tops and glanced over her shoulder. "Momma—"

"Yes, yes, I got all that. But why here? Why this forest? Surely, you've heard of its haunting."

"When I'm sick, Momma makes me better because I love her. She loves me too but I couldn't make her better. But she loves the dark fairies too. So, I thought you could try."

Dark chuckled. A child's logic. "And what do you know of this illness?"

"Um..." She fidgeted. "There's a man. An ensure man. He's in her phone. He says he needs the monies for her medicine. But Momma don't gots it. Cause she can't work."

"An insurance man?"

Abigail nodded.

"Do we have an understanding, then?"

"You'll help Momma?"

"In the exchange of your offering and my help, you realize that we'll be bound for your life's duration, however long or short that may be?"

"Yes, yes! Just help Momma. I'll do anything!"

"Very well." Dark shrank down, funneled underneath her wand's glow, and then pooled around her feet as he replaced her shadow.

Abigail leaned down to look at her feet, Dark extending opposite of her light like a good shadow.

"Can you hear me?" he asked in her mind.

Her eyes brightened. "I can!"

*"Well, let's be off. I have an appointment with this insurance man of yours."

Constraints:

Word Count: "Very well, you summoned me, so what do you want and what will you give me in return?" said the fairy with an expression somewhere between exasperation and boredom. "I want to become a beautiful fairy like you," replied the child, smiling innocently.