Alan the puppet boy.

It was still cold the morning that Alan snuck out of his dorm room. All the other boys in his dorm were still sound asleep and wouldn't wake up until the morning bell rang for breakfast in two hours time. That gave Alan plenty of time to get up early and take a quick swim in the nearby river. Alan had joined up with the scouts a year ago and even though he enjoyed hanging with the other boys the real thing he loved best was swimming. So when the annual camp was taking place nearby a massive river, Alan had leapt at the chance. But it wasn't enough for him to simply swim during the designated times, he had to swim as much as possible. With that in mind he decided he'd wake up at the crack of dawn and get some early morning swimming in.

He jogged down to the riverbank, his bare feet hitting the cold grass. When he reached the edge of the riverbank he quickly took off his pajamas and leapt in clad in just a pair of swimming trunks. The water was cold when he jumped in, but Alan didn't mind. All it would take was a few strokes and his blood would be pumping. He put his head under water and swam and swam until the camp site became a distant sight on the horizon. The river itself was largely empty other than a couple of small boats in the distance. One of the best things about swimming this early in the morning was how peaceful it was. Alan didn't mind swimming with everyone else but often the noise and hustle made it difficult to really enjoy the sense of swimming.

Suddenly Alan felt the sensation of a hand grip on to his ankle. He began to panic and reached down to his ankle only to find it completely bare. But still he could FEEL something grip on tightly. Without warning, the hand seemed to lurch and Alan felt himself yanked underwater. He tried to swim upwards but the invisible arm held tight. Alan struggled but then the arm began to pull him far away and all he could was yell silently as his vision began to cloud. The last thing he saw through the watery depths was the sun beginning to rise.

When Alan awoke he was lying face down on a  river bank, his legs still submerged in water. He coughed up a bit of water and rolled over, aching all over. He didn't recognize where he was. He pulled himself to his feet and turned away from the sight of endless water to see he'd washed up on some sort of green island. All around him were huge trees that stretched high into the sky. The ground was covered in thick grass that felt soft on the soles of his feet. Alan shook his head to clear out any water and decided to press on. Maybe someone lives on the island, Alan thought to himself. Maybe they have  a boat and can get me back home.

Alan wandered around aimlessly on the island and found himself drawing deeper into what seemed to be a huge forest. Alan started to get worried about how he'd find his way back when he suddenly heard the soft laughter of what sounded like little kids.

"Who's there?" Alan called out. "Can you help me?" The laughter continued. "Please? I'm lost and don't know where I am!"

"He's lost" A child's voice called out unseen to Alan. "Let's help him! Let's help him!" Called out a second. "Let him wander a little more. I like it when they wander. It's ssssoooo funny" Cried a third voice. The three all giggled in unison.

Alan began to grow frustrated. "Come on! I can't see where you are! At least come out and show yourselves!" There was a sudden rustle in a nearby bush by Alan's legs. He shot a look down to see the strangest sight appear before his eyes. They seemed to three glowing orbs of light. Each one had tiny wings flattering wildly. They flew up and down and round him giggling the whole time. One was blue, one was red and the other was green. As they flew around they seemed to drop a strange glittering dust. A small part of it fell on Alan's arm and made it tingle. He tried to brush the glitter off but it seemed to stick to his skin made it sparkle in the sunlight.

He turned his attention the three orbs. "Who are you?" He asked.

The orbs giggled. The blue one came right close to his face, sprinkling glitter all on Alan. "What do you think we are boy?"

"You're..." Alan struggled to think of what they reminded him of. Then he remember a game he'd played once on his wii back home. "You're...fairies aren't you?"

The three giggled and flew round and round him before coming to a stop. "If that's what you think we are...then THAT'S what we are!" Laughed the red one.

Alan began to feel ill. Maybe he'd drowned and this was all some bizarre dream. "But, fairies don't exist"

"I exist! I exist!" Cried the green one causing them all to laugh at Alan.

"What are your names?" Asked Alan trying to make sense of all this.

"We don't HAVE names. Do you have a name? What's your name? Tell us tell us!"

"I'm Alan. And I'm really pleased to meet you three but I need to get back to my camp. Could you help me get home?"

At this the three laughed hysterically and began to fly all around him showering him with dust. At first he didn't like it but he quickly started to giggle. The fairies were lightly brushing against his skin that it actually tickled. They flew round his arms and legs and through his hair and even rested on his toes. Within a few minutes Alan was laughing hysterically and his whole body sparkled from the shiny dust.   Alan fell to ground and began to roll around laughing but the fairies merely tickled the brown soles of his feet too.

Finally the three stopped flying and gently hovered in the sky. Alan couldn't tell if they had eyes but if they did they were watching him closely.

"We'll help you get home Alan." Said the red one. "But FIRST!"

The green one landed on Alan's nose. "First we want to play a game!"

Alan glanced up at the sun and estimated that at least a few hours had passed. The others at his camp were no doubt searching for him. But he had no idea if he'd find a way back on his own. "I really have to get back. Please can you help."

The three fairies began to make noises that sounded like sobs. "Please will you play a game!" They cried. "Just ONE game! Just one game and then we'll take you home." The fairies began spin round and round in a circle. Green and blue and red began to mesh together until they seemed to be a rotating circle that captivated Alan's vision. He found himself unable to look away. "We get SO lonely here Alan" They whispered. "We do love it when boys come here to play. Won't you play just one game with us?"

Alan's skin began to tingle but he found he couldn't stop staring at the spinning circle they'd formed. Within minutes it felt like Alan's entire body had gone numb. "OK." He whispered. "Just one game".

This caused the three to cheer with delight. They broke apart from their circle and Alan blinked several times feeling as though he'd just woken up from a deep sleep. He tried to stand up but his whole body felt like it weighed a tone and just moving one finger or toe was impossible. The fairies didn't seem to notice his struggle to move. "The game we're going to play is called human puppet!" Cried the red one. "You'll like this game! It's LOTS of fun to play. You get to be the puppet. Pretend like you're made of wood and you're completely unable to move a single muscle in your body!"

"I am completely unable to move!" Alan cried becoming quickly panicked. The green fairy giggled. "Good! That means you're playing well already! Now stand up on your feet please".

As though invisible strings were attached to his body, Alan suddenly felt himself pulled to his feet. "Now, stand completely straight" Alan's arms grew completely straight and suddenly stuck to his sides. His shoulders felt tight. He tried to move his hands but he found it impossible. "Heels together too!" Cried the blue fairy. Alan's feet stuck close together making him as straight as arrow. His muscles seemed to strain from the pressure. "Come now Alan!" Cried the red one. "Stand up as straight as you can!" His muscles grew tighter and tighter until he felt like was standing so perfectly straight he might crack.

"Good boy Alan. Now imagine that you've turned into jelly" Suddenly all the pressure released at once and Alan fell onto the ground completely limp. 'What are you doing to me!"Alan cried from the ground. Unable to so much as lift his head. "Why can't I move?"

"You're a puppet silly!" Laughed the blue fairy. "Puppet's can't move by themselves. They can only move if some pulls them in the right direction." The fairy flew down and landed gently on Alan's big toe. He wished he could kick it off but so much as twitching was impossible. "This is the game Alan. We told you, you could go home once you played one game. And in this one game you're our puppet and you can't do anything unless we tell you to. Understand now?"

Tears began to well up in Alan's eyes. "I want to go home" He started to sob.

"I want to go home!" Mocked the green fairy. "You should grow some wings boy. Then you could fly home. Go on! Try to fly home. NOW!"

The invisible strings pulled Alan to his feet and before he knew it he was rapidly flapping his arms pretending he had wings while his legs made him jump up and down. The fairies laughed at how foolish he looked and all Alan could do was helplessly feel the ache in his arms and cry out to them. "LET ME GO HOME!" He cried out.

"Home, home is that all you want?" the red fairy yelled. Alan stopped trying to fly. He felt like the stings had loosened. He found himself standing relaxed though still unable to move. The red fairy fluttered in front of his face and seemed to be staring into his eyes.

"I don't want to be here anymore!" Exclaimed Alan. "I just want to go back to my camp! Please, I know you're lonely but I nev-" Alan's blubbering was cut off by the fairy softly saying "Stop talking please." For once that simple request was made it felt like an invisible iron hand gripped onto Alan's throat and squeezed tightly. Alan tried to yell but the hand just gripped tighter until he couldn't breath. Only when Alan stopped trying to make so much as a sound did the grip loosen and finally cease altogether.

"Now then Alan" Cooed the red fairy "Will you stop talking now? You make such an awful racket."

Alan tried to move his lips up and down and form words without noise but the fairy merely sighed at this and said "Close your mouth as well please" Alan's lips suddenly stuck together as though someone had used super glue on him. "You really do complain a lot Alan. We just want to play this game with you and all you want to do is wail like a baby. Our game is fun. Don't you want to have fun? Come on, let me see a big smile on your face!"

Though smiling was the absolute last thing he wanted to do, Alan was powerless to stop the corners of his mouth curving upward until his a huge strained smile was plastered on his face.

"Much better now" Cooed the red fairy. "That's how puppet is played silly boy. We control absolutely everything you do and you can't do anything about it"

"The only thing you can still do" Piped up the green fairy "Is think. You can think and plot as much as you want. You can only win the game when you manage to THINK your way out of our control" The fairy giggled.

"But until then" Giggled the blue fairy "The game of puppet continues. Until we break you that is"

"Accidentally break you of course" Laughed the red fairy as it saw the frightened look in Alan's eyes. "You boys do break ever so easily. How are we to know how much you can take?" The red fairy laughed hysterically while all Alan could do was stand and smile completely helplessly. "But sometimes when you BORE us we may break you on purpose. But you seem like a fun one. We watched your camp for ever so long Alan. We watched and waited for a chance to kidnap one of you to play with us."

"Normally it's hard to do" Buzzed the blue fairy. "Kidnapping a boy. But YOU practically came right to us didn't you? All we had to do was drag you to us and no one will know where you went will they?"

Alan hadn't told anyone where he was going. No one would have any clue where he was. And if by some miracle they could find this island, Alan had a sinking feeling the fairies wouldn't let him leave easily.

"Ooooohhhh look how sad he is" Cooed the green fairy as though it were speaking to a baby. "He's smiling but he's so sad. Poor helpless little puppet"

"He's not sad!" Shouted to the blue fairy. "He's just exhausted. Aren't you Alan?"

Invisible strings made Alan's head bob up and down like he was nodding.

"You need a good long sleep Alan. And while you sleep we'll cover you in a dust and make you an even better puppet. And then tomorrow we'll play all day long!" The three fairies began to laugh and chant "Sleep! sleep! Sleep!"
Alan's legs began to robotically walk forward as the fairies led him onwards through the forest. Alan tried to think as fast as he could to find a way out but all escape seemed impossible if he couldn't so much as wipe a silly smile off his face.

Finally he arrived at a hollow tree trunk. Inside was a bed constructed out of leaves. "Here's where you'll sleep Alan" The green fairy laughed. "Be a good boy and lie down. We promise we'll take good care of you!"

"We won't let you out of our sight" The blue one laughed.

Alan's body slowly took one step at a time towards the bed, all the while his mind screamed in helpless defiance. He needed to fight back with all he could against them but he knew that if he fell asleep, their control would be even tighter when he woke up. I have to keep awake. He thought to himself. I have to keep awake and fight back against them.

Alan's body laid down on the soft leaves. Before he could start to fight back, the red fairy flew in front of his eyes and gently whispered: "Shut you eyes please"

Alan's eyes felt like they made of heavy lead. They instantly closed and sleep immediately followed.