Previously: “Real.”
This week’s creepypasta, a tale called “Cadi” that plays off of the folklore surrounding faerie rings, was another delightful surprise I found via the Creepypasta Wikia’s “Random Story” function. Presented as an interview with a longtime member of a unit meant to contain and neutralize faerie rings in the United Kingdom, it breathes new life into old tales and tropes for a thoroughly engaging read.
It definitely feels like there’s a larger story here; the interview does not seem to exist in a vacuum, but rather feels like part of an oral history reconstructing some sort of cataclysmic event and taking stock of where the world is at after everything has settled down a bit. Think World War Z, but with faeries and fae instead of zombies and the undead.
[Like what you read? Check out Dangerous Games To Play In The Dark, available from Chronicle Books now!]
I’d love to read more about this world and its timeline; alas, though, I’m not sure it exists — or at least, not written by this writer; “Cadi” is the only story user WhitleyTheMountain has published to the Creepypasta Wikia. Then again, maybe some things are better left as they are — perfect little prisms that give only a glimpse of the larger world refracted within it.
If you see a faerie ring… best not get too close.
***
Forest of Dean, England
(Aydan Driscoll is an elderly man, with his most distinct feature being a large, greying handlebar mustache. His body is covered in black clothing, with nothing bright on it whatsoever. He carries an L74A1, known as a Remington 870 in the United States. He wears a headset, as do I, to keep outside music from his ears. We are communicating via radio. Driscoll is a member of the Faerie Ring Neutralization Unit (FRiNU) of the United Kingdom. Driscoll’s job is to put up a perimeter around faerie rings to warn passersby of their presence, and to report their location for later destruction. Driscoll and I are standing on a hill covered in several right now.)
Look at these: faerie rings. You know, for the longest, longest time these were just collections of mushrooms and toadstools. Can you imagine? I mean, I can. I lived back then. I assume you did, too. They were just folklore. I mean, they were real, but surrounded in folklore.
(Where exactly did you live?)
Can’t tell from my accent? I don’t blame you. I lived in a tiny town outside of Cardiff. You know, Wales? Yeah, the town was called Wight. Pretty ironic, since those things turned out to be real. Never actually met one, though, but I’ve heard of them.
(What did you do before The Rupture?)
Getting me back on track, eh? I was a policeman-still am, you could say. I didn’t exactly take the job for noble intentions. I wanted the position for its prestige and respect. I used to work in Cardiff, and that was the only real way to stand out.
***
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[Photo via ELG21/Pixabay]
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