Gunshots

Ok, I'm back, with the whole afternoon alone. I have enough to tell you what happened to me, a couple nights ago...

The first shot rang out too far away to arouse me from my dreams. I dozed on.
The second shot was so loud, and so close, It reverberated through my skull and pierced holes through my dreams, and they flew away like butterflies. My eyes snapped open and I sat up, confused. What was that? Nobody hunts here, it's too close to the town. Actually,no one really hunts at all anywhere anymore. My companion, I refuse to call him a pet, an amazingly tame bluejay named Sora, was flying about the room as if a cat was chasing him. I slowly stood up, and listened beyond Sora's frantic flapping. Silence. Not even breeze blew through the forest leaves.

Sometimes, silence is worse than the loudest noises. Silence is the absence of life.

I shook my head, as if I could knock the paranoia out of it, and slipped my shoes on. I had to find out what happened. I poked my head out the window hesitantly, and saw nothing.
"Well," I said, trying to gain more confidence, "nothing looks dangerous out there... it was nothing."
Have you ever tried lying through your teeth to yourself? It's near impossible. No, it is impossible.
I walked slowly over to the small trapdoor that lead to the rope ladder, then to the earth. I stepped down slowly, shaking, either with cold or with fear. Why was I so afraid? I realized now, it was because I feared being discovered. Was I walking into a trap? No, there weren't any people around. I jumped from the last rung to the ground. Nothing. I stepped into the shadows of the trees, and my foot hit something soft. I barely avoided letting loose a scream, and looked down.

She was only about a foot long, facedown in the dirt. She seemed to be surround by a soupy brown-orange glow, almost like mud. Her long black hair was half in a messy braid, and something was on her back. The wings were nearly as big as her. I paused. Hold on.

Wings?

You've probably guessed by now. It was a faery. Trust me, i was just as disbelieving as you are now. As I stood there, looking at her, a thousand excuses dropped into my mind like rain. I was dreaming. I was hallucinating. it was just a messed up- butterfly. My mind is playing tricks on me. Yet these raindrop thoughts flowed out of my head in a river. Only two things registered now. I knew, somehow, that there really was a folk tale creature, lying in front of me, and she was hurt, badly.

I slowly bent down, like I was an old woman, and picked her up gently. She was so weightless. She seemed to be made up of light, or feathers. She was almost hot, warming up my frozen hands quickly. Silvery blood, strangely beautiful, trickled from a hole in her back. I gasped, and quickly scurried up the ladder. In my shock, I could only process that she needed help, and I would give it to her. I had a little first-aid kit in my home, and figured one of those big bandaids would work for her. Sora sat on his perch, watching me with an inquisitive gaze. Using nail scissors, I cut of her red dress around the wound. It had a small, red bullet in it. How could something so small make such loud noise? I shrugged off the question. Using a bit of wet cloth, I cleaned the wound out and put the bandaid on, then sat her on a pillow. I looked at her face. She was gorgeous, as I expected a faery to be, with skin the rich color of a coffee bean. Her hair had a yellow-red streak in it, fire across a nighttime sky. A ruby tear-shaped necklace on a gold chain rested in the hollow of her neck. Her long ears tapered into points. She really was a faery, and now I really started panicking.

I haven't quite stopped yet. She still hasn't woken up! Has this happened to anyone else? Someone, tell me what to do! I'll tell you what happens when she wakes up...