Eleanor hated two things with a passion: waiting and the colour yellow.

If you asked her why she hated waiting so much, she would reply that she’s a respectable young woman, thank you very much, and when someone makes her wait, say for an appointment, then they disregard not only her, but also her family’s place in society.
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Now, as for the colour yellow, Eleanor looked at everything that had the misfortune to be that colour, like it had personaly offended her. Why such a burning passion of something as harmless as a mere colour?
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One Tuesday afternoon, while Eleanor was taking her afternoon tea with other fine young ladies who were her most usual company, but she wouldn’t say she considered her friends, something peculiar happened.
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Her father’s favourite tree, started emitting a sparkling yellow glow. Eleanor saw this with the corner of her eye, while she was sitting among her peers and immediately thought it must be of her imagination. Surely trees don’t glow all of a sudden, or do they?
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When her company left, Eleanor ventured out into the garden, to investigate. For some reason, even though she was taught that imagination or magic are things most forbidden and unfit for a young lady, the glow she thought she saw was calling to her. She found the tree and circled around it, trying to find a logical solution for what she saw or did she hope that the glow would show itself again?
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Now, we have already established that Eleanor hated waiting. Waiting for the glow though, didn’t feel like waiting at all. It was almost dark when she ran home, hoping she wouldn’t miss dinner with her parents. That would be most unladylike and Eleanor was most of all, a lady. So she ran as fast as her slippers allowed and then composed herself just before entering the grand dining room, where her parents and brothers were already waiting. Her mother chastised her for being late and Eleanor tried not to scowl, as scowling is definitely not something a young woman of her disposition would do.
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Late that night, Eleanor tried to sleep but sleep was evading her. Lying on her back, she tried to will herself to close her eyes instead of looking at the ceiling and its faint yellow glow… Then suddenly, Eleanor sat up. Her ceiling looked almost yellow, a colour she would have never chosen for her room and that meant only one thing. Eleanor looked out the window and gasped. The glow had come back, stronger than before.
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Not wanting to miss it this time, she made her way downstairs as quietly as she could and went out of the servant’s entrance. Eleanor crept up on the tree, not wanting to disrupt anything that was going on there and then the most magical thing unfolded in front of her eyes.
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A hundred fairies, tiny and sparkling with buzzing wings were dancing around the tree. Eleanor had never seen something as beautiful in her whole life and felt like she might weep with joy. She couldn’t help but look at them with huge eyes, trying to take in every little detail. The moment she thought she’d seen everything, the unthinkable happened; from the big cavity in the middle of the trunk, two fairies jumped and before they reached the ground, they transformed into human-like dimensions.
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It was a man and a woman, seemingly a king and his queen, that’s what the two crowns on their heads betrayed. The fairies gathered around them, as if to protect them and the pair walked towards the rose bushes and vanished once more.
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Before Eleanor had time to process this, another fairy jumped from the cavity. This time it was a boy, tall and beautiful with the most translucent pair of wings Eleanor had ever seen. The fairies gathered around him once again. He made for the rose bushes as well. Eleanor gasped. He turned.
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It was clear he had seen her. Slowly, as if not to scare him away, she came forward. She stood in a moonlit path, almost diaphanous in her white night gown, a stark contrast to the yellow sparkling tree next to her.
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She made as much an impression on him as he did on her. He had never seen a human before and he was young and foolish and full of the bravery that comes with being old enough to know better but young enough to not have had an adventure yet.
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So he moved.
If I wanted to make this a happier story, I’d tell you he ignored her. That he followed his parents without a second glance and gone through the rose bushes.
But this isn’t a happy story.
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He moved until he was right in front of her. Eleanor didn’t even dare to breath, for she was afraid she’d wake up from this splendid dream. He was close enough, she could see his eyes were green but with little gold speckles scattered around the irises. She could see he had long blond hair and his wings… Oh his wings were pure white with light blue veins that flickered and they swayed in the moonlight as if they had a mind of their own.
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Now if Eleanor had been allowed to read bedtime stories as a kid, she would know that when a human touches a fairy, the touch makes them disappear.
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Eleanor didn’t know. That’s why she reached tentatively to touch the side of his face, if only to make sure he was real.
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The moment she did it though, his face changed. His eyes were filled with horror, as he managed a last glance toward her before he vanished in a flock of wild yellow butterflies.
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Eleanor had no idea what had happened. All she knew was that the Prince was no more and in his place thousand butterflies flattered their wings, surrounding her as if to punish her for what she’d done.
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Heartbroken, Eleanor fell down among the butterflies and wept.
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This is something I wrote on the bus while coming home from dance. Hope you like it and make sure to comment anything you want, your feedback means a lot me!
You can find me here: filming.pages
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[Disclaimer: While this story is entirely mine, the photo above isn’t. It’s just the inspiration behind this tale that I found on WeHeartIt. I claim no ownership of the photo, if you know the creator, please let me know so I can properly credit them!]

A Hatred Bathed In Yellow