text: [Themes: grimdark fantasy, fantasy]
  
  You and Wilky are sitting between Megan and Anthony on a long, rubbery green seat in the booth of the diner. The mother and her children have ordered their meals (a salad for Mom and cheeseburgers and fries for the kids) and now everybody is enjoying their meal. Megan tries to offer you and Wilky one of her French fries, but you and your companion politely decline.
  
  "Why won't you eat, little elves?" asks Megan. "Is it because you're fairies and can only eat magical fairy food?"
  
  That seems as good an answer as any and you and Wilky immediately nod your heads in affirmation.
  
  All this time, the mother barely picks at her salad with her fork. Mostly, she just stares at the window. The sun has gone down now and the sky is dark blue and heading to black.
  
  "Mommy, don't you want to eat?" asks Anthony between bites of his cheeseburger.
  
  "I keep thinking, Anthony," she says, "that any minute, the Black Cadillac is going to pull up and HE is gong to step out...I just have this nagging feeling..."
  
  "It'll be okay, Mommy," says Megan. "We're in public. The Man won't try anything if we're surrounded by other people."
  
  The mother continues staring out the window. "You don't know him, Megan. You don't know how great his powers are."
  
  "I still think you should call Daddy. I think he must miss us and is wondering where we went. We were supposed to go with him-"
  
  "Stop it, Megan! Just stop bringing up your father. He can't help us..." The mother places her purse on the speckled linoleum table and opens it. She riffles in it for a moment and then pulls out a small handgun.
  
  "Wow, Mom!" says Anthony. "Is that a real gun?"
  
  The mother puts a finger to her lips. "Shh...Not so loud. Yes, it is." She pushes the round barrel out and starts transferring bullets from her purse into the the barrel's open slots.
  
  "Hey, mommy, those just look like regular bullets," Anthony whispers. "Maybe the Monster Man's like a werewolf...you know-- only silver bullets can get him."
  
  The mother finishes loading bullets into the barrel and then slides it back into the gun before replacing the gun in her purse. "Anthony, that would be a good idea, I guess. But these bullets aren't for him."
  
  You and Wilky look at each other.
  
  We need to do something, you say.
  
  > try to get the children away from their mother
  You and Wilky agree something needs to be done, but what? It'd probably be impossible to get the bullets out of the mother's gun, so you decide your only option is to wait till the mother is distracted and then lure the children out of the diner. Soon, your opportunity arrives.
  
  "Kids," says the mother, " I need to ask the waitress a question about our meal. For some reason they didn't put croutons in my salad...the fiends! I'll be gone for just a minute." She gets up from the booth and heads to the diner counter where the platinum-blond waitress is chatting with some customers. Once she's at the counter she immediately starts arguing with the waitress.
  
  Wilky, let's both get the children to leave the diner, you say.
  
  You and Wilky hop out from between the children and drop to the floor under the table. Megan and Anthony peer down under the table and Megan asks, "What's wrong, little elves?" You gesture with your hand for the siblings to come to you and then scurry out from under the table and head for the front door, Wilky at your heels. Megan soon gets up and follows. Athony at first just munches French fries from his plate, but soon he succumbs to the will of the majority and also rises and walks to the door. You point at the door while looking up at Megan.
  
  "You want to go out, pretty Elf girl?"
  
  You quickly nod and Wilky soon repeats your gesture.
  
  "Okay, but just for a moment. Mother will miss us if we're gone too long." Megan pushes the glass door open and you and Wilky rush out on your tiny feet. "Wait! Don't run so fast. I'm afraid you'll get lost." Megan and Anthony follow you and your companion to the parking lot.
  
  The sky has gone black and the only light comes from the floodlights, the light from the diner windows and the neon sign atop the diner that flashes RALPHS EATS in golden-orange letters. You dodge to the side and run in front of the first line of parked vehicles till your past the diner. Wilky and the children run after you and soon all four of your are in a field full of tall grass. The grass is practically black in the darkness and gently sways in the breeze, cutting a silhouette against the starry night sky. In the faint light from the diner, you waive for the others to follow you into the field.
  
  "We really should be getting back," says Megan.
  
  "Yeah," agrees Anthony. "There's a full moon tonight"-- he points up at the silver disc in the sky--"and a werewolf could get us out here."
  
  "Don't be stupid, Anthony. There are no such things."
  
  "Why not? There are elves. Anyway, the Monster Man might be out here. We know he's real."
  
  Ignoring these arguments, you continue you to wave the children forward. When they still don't budge, you lose patience and just run through the grass. You imagine this must be what it's like for humans to run through a forest at night. The children and Wilky soon give chase.
  
  "Please come back, Elf Girl," calls an exasperated Megan. "Mother's going to miss us soon."
  
  You ignore her and press on, even though the going isn't always easy with such tall grass barring your way.
  
  > The Field of No Return
  You keep running through the grass, followed by Wilky and the children. You don't know where you can go from here, but you're not sure what else you can do. Even if you can get Megan and Anthony away from their dangerous mother, what could you and Wilky possibly do to get them to someplace safe? You put your doubts aside and keep running. Then you tumble into a black pit. Soon, Wilky, Megan, and Anthony also fall into the pit. You look around you in the light of the full moon and see the children are safe, though not the better for ware.
  
  "I think I hurt my arm," says a crying Megan. She clutches her arm as she rocks back and forth on her back.
  
  "And I banged up my knee," says Anthony.
  
  You all seem to have rolled into a ditch of some kind. You notice that off to the side in the ditch is the wreckage of an old car. You feel terribly guilty about having caused the children these injuries, but you're more afraid of what their mother is capable of. So you get up and run for the car, stopping once to wave for the children to follow you. Wilky runs up to your side and looks back at Megan and Anthony and waves at them on too.
  
  Megan winces as she clutches her arm, but picks herself off the ground and starts walking in your direction. Soon, Anthony drags himself off the dirt and starts limping in Megan's wake. You dash off to the car and climb through a gaping hole that once held a car door and enter the backseat part of the vehicle. Not long after, you are joined by Wilky and then the children. Megan picks you up with her good arm and sits in the backseat with you. Anthony sits beside her with Wilky in his hand.
  
  "Why did you want us to come here?" Megan asks you, and then rubs her injured arm.
  
  "Kids!" screams the mother off in the distance. "Kids, where are you? Why did you leave the diner? Where'd you go?" It sounds like her voice is getting closer.
  
  "Mommy!" says Megan. "Mommy, we fell into a ditch. We're in an old car." She grabs you up and she and Anthony exit the car and head to the dirt incline of the ditch.
  
  "Kids, keep talking. I'll find you before the Monster Man. I promise."
  
  This is not working out the way you'd hoped at all!
  
  Tinged with silver moonlight, the shadowy figure of the mother steps to the edge of the ditch and looks down on you all. "There you are! Don't worry, kids. I'm sure the elves will protect you. Just give me a minute and I'll see if I can climb down there to get you guys out."
  
  "Hey, Lady!" yells a man's voice. "Did your kids fall into the ravine?"
  
  The mother looks behind her and then looks nervously down into the ditch. "Hide children! It's the Monster Man. He's come to suck out your souls!"
  
  Megan and Anthony both start sobbing, but run with you and Wilky back to the wrecked car where they cower in the backseat.
  
  "You'll never get them, Monster Man!" screams the mother. "They are protected by God's magic. He sent two of his cherubs from Heaven to save them. And you won't get me either!"
  
  "Lady," says the man, "what the Hell are you talking about. I was just asking if--"
  
  You and the others are startled by a loud banging noise and a bright flash of light. Then you see the mother's night-darkened body plummet into the ditch. It lands with a thud, face-first. Terrified, the children run from the car with you and Wilky and you see what's become of the mother. In the faint silver light of the full moon you can see a large, bloody hole in her head.
  
  It's maybe less than half an hour before the police and an ambulance arrive and the children are helped from the ditch. After you have all been escorted to the parking lot to sit in the back of a police car, the paramedics collect the mother's corpse. The children are bawling terribly and you and Wilky are unable to console them.
  
  In an hour, their father arrives and explains to the police that the mother had apparently stopped taking her medication and had become paranoid and decided to flee with the children. "I'd heard from Teresa's housekeeper that she had been behaving erratically and so I became concerned," he explains to one of the police officers. "I was going to talk to her about her behavior when I came to pick up our children, but she had fled. I guess it was a mistake not to get the authorities involved, but I thought I could reason with her. This is partially my mistake."
  
  You and Wilky wind up living with Megan and Anthony with their father and his new wife. You try to help the children get over their mother's suicide, but you realize it will be a long time before their grieving process ends. Megan eventually goes back to playing her violin and it seems to be somewhat therapeutic. You only wish you could help more. Since the father and the step-mother just think of you and Wilky as merely dolls, you two are sure never to move in their presence. But to Megan and Anthony, you are still magical little elves.
  
  The End