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Andrew keeps finding stuff in his pockets that he definitely did not put in there himself. It was always when he went in the woods. It was always little things, like acorns and shiny rocks, sometimes even small animal bones.
He thought he was going crazy until he saw it. At first he saw two small eyes peeking through a bush but then it rose to reveal a fairy. He didn’t know what else to call it but that; it had distinct human features but it didn’t speak.
He stayed out of the woods for a while. But then the horrors and pressure of life bore too much on his shoulders. He had to go back to the woods to clear his weary mind.
That time, he saw not one but so many other fairies around, as if some kind of agreement was in place. Suddenly it was like the forest was alive, teeming with life. Things always moved behind him. Eyes glowed in the bushes. The bigger magical animals would come out and roam around.
One day, on a particularly nice and sunny morning, he rested against a mossy tree and closed his eyes.
Brush rustled nearby, but that was normal after the magic animals started making their presence known for him. But then the rustling got closer and closer.
Andrew opened his eyes. A dark auburn-colored cat stared at him with unblinking, glowing ice-blue eyes.
“What do you want,” Andrew said. This wasn’t some ordinary cat, he knew.
The cat blinked slowly and continued on its way.
He didn’t see the cat until a week later. That time, Andrew was smoking on a tree stump and soaked in the sun.
The cat swished its tail against Andrew’s ankle.
Andrew sat up and glared at the cat. “Don’t touch me,” he said.
The cat backed up a little and nodded. Andrew blinked, surprised. He put out his cigarette. The cat could understand him.
The cat walked away.
After that day, the cat always found Andrew in the woods, no matter where he was. One time the cat climbed up the tree without a care for how high it was. Another day the cat splashed in a pond while Andrew read a book on top of a rock nearby.
Today was one of such days.
His spot of the day was a low stump in between two trees. The cat found him not five minutes later. It blinked, long and slow, and stepped closer.
Andrew sighed and held his arm out, wrist loose. The cat hesitantly sniffed it and then rubbed its soft head against it. Andrew brought his hand around and rubbed behind its ears.
The cat purred, loud and crackly, pushing against Andrew's hand.
Andrew didn’t even realize the time until the sun went down. The trees no longer cast sharp shadows and the world was in orange in reds.
The cat got up suddenly from where it was laying beside Andrew. Andrew shielded his eyes with a hand when the creature started to glow a bright light, and, in a flash, the shape of a man appeared where the cat was not even a moment ago.
The man was small but muscular, and to be about the same age as Andrew with the same auburn hair and those same bright blue eyes as the cat. He wore casual clothing—a hoodie and jeans. That was definitely something Andrew didn’t expect a magical creature to wear.
“Well,” Andrew said. “Hello.”
“Hi,” the man said with an apologetic dip of his chin. “I didn’t notice the time.”
“You’re a shapeshifter,” Andrew guessed.
“What gave it away?” He said with a smirk. “I’m Neil.”