Once upon a time there was a woman. She used to be able to fly. She had put away her wings one day, and hadn’t seen them since. She decided that she couldn’t fly anymore, because it got in the way of normal life.

The woman was happy when she would fly. She was free and not afraid of anything. Now she’s afraid of everything. She isn’t happy anymore. She leads a boring life doing boring things that other boring people do. She isn’t happy, but she thinks that she is.

She wanted to learn how to fly again. So she did. She dug through all of her old things, and finally found her wings. They were old, and dusty, and looked broken. They used to be beautiful, but time had worn them down.

She spent many days trying to fix them. She dusted them off, and stretched them out, and replaced all the missing feathers. They were still different, somehow. When she put them on, nothing happened. She didn’t fly. There was no magic left in them.

She put them away again. After all, it was a silly idea. Why did her happiness really matter? She was married to a rich man, and had two beautiful children. Shouldn’t she be happy? Of course, her husband was always angry and drunk, and her two children just graduated from high school and never looked back. She was alone.

She wanted to feel like how she did when she was a little girl. When she was little, everything was possible. Everything was magical, and wonderful, and awe-inspiring. Everything sparkled with the beauty of innocence and naiveté, with the realities of life still hidden from view. She was happy.

She isn’t ever happy now. She’s lucky if she can scrape together satisfied. She realized that she had to get that magic back. She knew that she could fly, but she had forgotten how.

So she pulled her wings out again. They were dull, and stiff, and useless. She tried every day to fly. Her husband would come home late most nights, so she would come home early to practice more.

One day, her husband came home earlier than usual. She could smell the alcohol on his breath. He saw her wings, and started to yell.

“What are you doing with those! You think that strapping on a pair of fairy wings will change who you are? They won’t! You know who you are? An old stupid woman whose days are over and will never go anywhere! Your stupid fantasies make me sick!”

He tore the wings out of her hands and threw them across the room. They were destroyed. But she didn’t back down this time.

She said to him, “Get out. Get out of my life and my house and don’t ever come near me again.” She didn’t get angry.

He did. “This is my house! You aren’t better than me! You get out of my house!”

“Fine,” she replied. She took the broken wings with her and never saw him again. As soon as she got out of the house, she put on her wings and flew away. She was happy.