The Fairy Grandmother

Once upon a time there was a little boy who was having a hard time in life. He hated himself and he felt that people were horrible, because they would always betray him and let him down and hurt him in cruel and inventive ways. Everyone would do the same, to him and to each other, the whole of humanity. He grew up and tried to build himself a life, but he was always fighting, always like a bulldog, biting his way through life.

One day, his brother destroyed his favorite toy and he felt so hurt, he felt like God himself hated him, so the little boy decided to go find God and tell him to his face how much he hated him back. He started off on a journey towards the highest mountain he knew, to climb it and get as close to the skies as possible. It took the boy weeks, but once he reached the top, he shouted so loudly and so fiercely, that the Fairy Grandmother who lived in a house in the clouds, heard his cry. She felt his heart and decided to come down from sky to see if he would be open to her help.

She spoke to the little boy: ‘You are lost, boy. I can help you, but are you willing to see and feel absolutely everything?’

The boy teared up in gratitude that someone cared enough to answer, and he answered back: ‘You are right and I need help. Whatever it takes, I will do.’

The Fairy Grandmother was convinced and took him on her back to go on a journey together.

First, they flew to the past. The little boy saw first his own life and all the horrible things he lived, which made him cry out of misery. As the Grandmother heard his sobs, she took him into his arms so that he could feel her love. Suddenly the boy saw his life with a different eye and he could see all the beauty he had lived and he could feel the love of all the people who held him in their hearts. He felt his mother’s heart when she saw him in the maternity ward for the first time, and he felt his father’s pride and saw the tear glint in his eye, at the moment when he took his first steps. Moment after moment kept hitting his heart, and soon the boy started crying once more, but this time, out of happiness and love. She then took him back into the past, to the beginning of humanity, to the first spark of life, all the way to the big bang, and the little boy suddenly understood everything that had ever happened.

The Fairy Grandmother then took him to the future and he saw how he would not grow old, he would die young from heart failure, and he would be all alone. The boy cried again out of misery and wished the Fairy Godmother had never shown him this. Again she took him into her arms, and showed him everything. Not just the one future he had been creating for himself, but also every other possible future he could have, including him becoming a man with a heart bigger than any man had ever had before, capable of holding every human being in his heart, capable of seeing the beauty and feeling the pain of every human, a man who has never existed yet, living a life in paradise. The little boy could hardly believe his eyes, when the Grandmother took him even further into the future, right towards the end of the universe, the birth of the next one and infinite ones after.

After what felt like an eternity, the Fairy Grandmother returned the boy to where she had found him, leaving him standing dangerously wobbly on his legs.

‘What do I do with all of this information?’, the little boy asked, dumbfounded.

‘Whatever you choose.’, said the Fairy Grandmother.

‘I don’t want to be miserable anymore,’ said the boy, ‘ and I don’t want to be alone anymore. I want to become the man you showed me I could become and create my own version of paradise.’

The Grandmother smiled and said: ”Then you will live happily ever after.’

The End.