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I had been having the dreams again.


I've been having them off and on since I was seven. I was quite young by human standards, barely forty, and I was still unmarried, but couldn't help that. No man would want to marry a halfling.


It's a rather horrid tale. See, I am a changeling. I was a human child by all accounts until I was five years old. That's when my father and mother were coming home from work one night.



 They walked inside the house and saw their little daughter lying on the sofa, sleeping. But when they tried to wake her up to greet them, she suddenly and mysteriously died. 



Neither of them ever saw it coming, and they never understood what they did wrong or what they could have done to prevent it. I was a sweet little thing, my mother said, with a smile of remembrance.




After my murder, my parents went into a state of grief that engulfed them for a few years. Fortunately for them, it was during the First War on Changelings, and my father received a promotion to head of the Militia soon after. This calmed them down and allowed them to find a sort of peace.


During their brooding period, one of my parents' good friends took an interest in them. This meant that the fascination was reciprocated, and soon, my mother and father were engaged to a man named Denton, who was then the head of the enemy. They were happy and thought they would be happy for the rest of their days.




Of course, this was not my destiny.




The next four years were spent in bliss. The kings and queens of the Human/Changeling wars maintained a state of peace, and my father became Chief Militia. The two were now married and were expecting their first child. After the child was born, everyone was happy with the family life, especially my parents. 



That summer, my father, who was Chief now, and my mother went out of town to pay a small visit. My father was going to take out his brother in law, who was also Chief of the opposing army.



 After the visit, they returned home and were happy to see the park in front of their house and were driving up to their home when they noticed something sitting on the steps. When they rolled down their windows, the pair of them could see that the house was dark. Their worst fears were confirmed when one of the house lights turned pale and then went out.



 Denton knew this was the sign of a terrible misfortunate, for a soft light meant the house was about to blow up. If this happened and once the damage was done, it was too late to reverse it. The couple called their children in from the back yard to look around inside.


As they approached the front door, they heard a strange noise coming from inside. They immediately called out to their children to come and help them. Wanda, my mother, and my father dismounted the steps and nervously approached the door.



 As they touched the knob, it suddenly turned itself. The door opened and the chiming sound of a dinner bell filled their ears.





When the couple entered the house, the house was as dark as the outside and absolutely silent.The couple knew that something was terribly wrong, so they reached for the nearest light switch and quickly turned on the lights.




 When the bulbs came on and lit up the kitchen, the young family was shocked out of their skins. Where their dinner table was supposed to be was instead a dinner table for three. The three of them stared at the table in horror and confusion.





The table seemed to be packed with food. The plates were one, and the food…my father and mother began running down the hall with their plates in hand. The third plate, which was sparkling with a pure white light, must have been my mother's. The couple could hear the other two sit at the table, eating.



 They were shocked to see that their perfectly cooked dinner was being consumed by two beings. The Third Person, whom they later discovered was a pixie, was was wearing a bright red shirt and black pants, eating from the shallow bowl.




 The other was a brown haired human woman, who was sitting at the table, eating off of a plate. Both of them were..here other than there selves. Not directly speaking, but they were controlled something like the way they were with their coat hangers while they worked.





As they approached the kitchen, they peered around the corner to see their family seated at their dinner table, in perfect quality. The pixie, who was said to be named Mortimer, saw them and laughed, making my mother and father angry and embarrassed. They tried to speak, but Mortimer waved away his words, keeping them from the ears of the parents. 



He laughed again and asked if they were there to set them dinner, to which they answered that they had no idea what the creature was talking about.


Mortimer simply pointed to the table and said, Sit, eat, kiddies. Your mama told me to bring it. It's not poisoned, don't worry. I only sing to help people sleep better, that's all. Naturally, my mother and father sat down at the table and took a bite of the food. It was delicious, despite the fact that they had no idea what they were eating.


This was the first time Wanda did not know what she was eating. The meat was not from animals and the berries were wild. It was not her mother's cooking either. She sat there wondering what was wrong with her. Then she glanced at the others. 



Mortimer, the pixie, and the other lady, Polly, were eating and conversing, completely calm and happy. She shrugged her shoulders and realized that, as it turned out, everything was all right. The food, the friends, and the house. Everything was perfectly fine and normal.




After Wanda took a second bite, she saw that her husband was not eating. When she looked at him, he pulled her up and began to back away from the table. The shocked young mother tried to listen in, but the pixie talked over them and was now shouting about the monsters that had been killing everybody.



 He seemed to be panicking, like he was hearing things that were not reality. My mother and father tried to talk to him at first too, but Mortimer would not let them speak.



 Finally, he stopped talking and pointed to the great grandfather clock. They were all frozen in silence to see the clock fall over and shatter on the floor. A loud, horrifying ring filled the room, until it was drowned out by a loud scream.