Once upon a time, there was a girl who lived in a big city painted shades of gray and black. The colors matched her heart, wilting and sad, resigned in sorrow; until one day, in the middle of a crowded sidewalk, she saw ahead of her a baby tree in brilliant shades of green, dressed in berries that were red like rubies and glistening like diamonds. No one else saw the tree, and as she neared it, cautiously but with building hope, the world slowed, oblivious. With shaking hands and pounding heart she plucked a berry from the tree and lifted it to her mouth. Hoping it was a sweet poison, she caught a drop of juice on her tongue and quickly devoured the flesh.
She thought it must be poison, because she fell in a soft tremble to the ground, and for a moment, clung near death as people moved around her, undisturbed. But a stirring came from far away, and awakened after hundreds of years, a strange, glittering blur swooped down upon her still and cooling form. Faeries from countrysides all over the world came to her in a roar, buzzing and shouting in joy. She had opened the gate between two worlds, so they could now return to Paradise, and they brought her with them in thanks.
In a magical whirlwind, the girl was swept away, and she awoke to the sound of flutter and chatter. In a world of green and blue she found what she had been waiting for, and while she was never quite sure if she was alive or dead, she did not care anymore.
She talked to the seasons and knew them well- danced in winter with Ice and Frost, attended summer symphonies of crickets and bees. She became more and more beautiful with each passing day, her skin decorated with spider bites and her black hair woven with webs. At night she slept in a coffin of clovers and dandelion wishes and dreamed of drinking the stars and the sky from daffodil cups. When she became lonely, she married the Faerie Prince, in a ceremony of froth and lace, beauty and love. Each day he gave her kisses like a butterfly's and poetry like a garden. And each day she told him she loved him.
...And she continued to eat those berries, for the tree still stood alone on the top of the cliff, looking down at the ocean. Sometimes she would feel the magic start to fade and her sadness would eb in, and so she would pluck another dripping berry, just as ripe and tantalizing as her first, and relish her delicious poison. ...The poison that made her content.