The Wicked Ring

Tim's Dreams

Event: 500 Word Snatch

Location: Milk Wood, Second Life

Host: Lizzie Gudkov

PromptsSiclit Prod: faery ring, 1849;  dance, shimmering, wickedly, mushroom

Time: 30 mins (I needed more time…!)

It was 1849. The annual dance would take place in the main mushroom. The floor was cleaned, the walls repainted. The shimmering ceiling lit up with sparkling party lights, hanging from a web of strings. The fairies hopped back and forth, creating havoc in the most charming way. The elves took the pillows out of their places and hid them wickedly underneath the fire logs. All other communal mushrooms were smaller than the main one; however, the main mushroom was not nearly big enough to accommodate everyone who wished to attend. This created the uncomfortable need for the organizers to establish priorities. The red beret elves would go in first, leaving the green berets to fight for the remaining places. Now, everyone wanted to win the big prize, the faery ring, a wonderfully carved silver ring with a massive red beautifully laminated ruby, simply because that would increase their chances of finding a bride. Unhappy about the preference given to the red berets, ever since the organizers were red berets themselves, a team of green berets decided to crash the party and take the ring for themselves. When night came and the main mushroom was bursting with life, singing and laughter, they sneaked in and stole it, sniggering all the way back to the green part of town. When the time came for the ring to be drawn, it was gone! There was an indescribable commotion. Accusations flew in all directions. The organizing team was dismissed and the annual dance was cancelled until further notice. The only detail they didn’t consider was the fact that the ring had a mind of its own. Being stuck in a wooden box under the bed of a green beret was definitely not its idea of being the center of attention, as it was used to for centuries. So, let’s say that all green berets involved never got a chance of getting a bride and finding their own lives became an illusion as they got swollen by the ring’s red precious stone. Still today, if you bring the ring really close to your eye, you’ll see them waving and pleading to be set free.