Lost in an anesthetic haze, Wes Matthews wandered the deserted corridors of his mind. In the waking world, doctors were working tirelessly to repair his torn Achilles tendon, but in the inner world of Wes’ psyche, all was quiet, a side effect of the anesthesia that had ostensibly halted the workings of his brain. In addition, his gait here was even and steady, as if his Achilles had never ruptured in the first place.
In time he came to a place that looked much like his living room at home. The furnishings were all in their proper places and his dog was sleeping on a pillow on the floor. However, Wes could see that things were not quite right; the landscape outside the windows was a pure radiant white devoid of any features or landmarks. The TV could only display a still image of a sitcom no matter how many buttons on the remote were pressed. His dog was not breathing or stirring.
Wes understood that these oddities were a result of his brain’s temporarily-diminished capacity for computation. He was merely grateful that he had found a place to rest while the surgery took place.
Just as he had put his feet up to relax, his doorbell rang. Walking past a kitchen which was merely a blank void, he answered the door.
“What are you?” were the first words out of Wes’ mouth. Despite the clarity of thought which had been granted him in this place, he could make no sense of what he was seeing.
“I am the Achilles Fairy,” answered the rubbery, red-colored, six-foot-tall, one-foot-thick collection of tissue. “May I come inside?” she asked, appearing almost angelic as she was illuminated from behind by the pervasive white light coming in from outside.
“Of course,” said Wes, stepping back and away from the door. He noticed a minuscule pair of gauzy wings on the back of the fairy.
As if anticipating the coming question, the fairy supplied, “Those are my fairy wings. Yes, they do work, and no, they don’t work very well.” As if to prove the point, the fairy’s wings began to flap, and she hovered a few inches off the ground until she got to the sofa, where she sat. A trail of blood mixed with assorted other drippings marked the flight path.
Wes closed the front door and sat on the same couch. “This isn’t a coincidence,” he stated.
“No, it is not,” replied the fairy.
Pausing to allow the fairy to continue her thought, Wes only responded when it was clear she had said all she intended to. “Is my Achilles going to be okay?”
“The doctors are doing their best, but the outcome is still uncertain,” said the fairy, turning her topmost section towards Wes in a facsimile of a common human gesture. “I am here to grant you three wishes, should you wish to receive them.”
“I wish my Achilles tendon was fully healed,” Wes requested without hesitation. Despite no apparent action by the fairy, he immediately felt a tingling in his foot. In the real world, the doctors would find that previously uncooperative tissue was, all of a sudden, perfectly willing to be repaired.
The fairy waited patiently as Wes pondered his next two wishes. He had all the money he needed, and no longer yearned for material things. “I wish that there would be no more war. Ever,” he finally said.
“I’m afraid that it is not within my power to grant such a wish,” the fairy replied. “I am mostly limited to wishes relating to the Achilles tendon.”
In the serenity of his psyche, what Wes felt was not annoyance, but instead, only a mild disappointment. “I understand. If that is the case, then I forfeit my additional two wishes.”
“So shall it be,” said the fairy. “I believe the surgery is nearing completion. Soon, the anesthesia will wear off, and all around us will disappear.”
Wes looked around. True to the fairy’s words, the walls were fading away to white. Even the fairy herself was becoming indistinct, the bright red of her noodly body becoming a hazy pink. For the first time, he was lost for words.
“There is no need for words. Language is such a feeble representation of the majesty of emotion,” said the fairy, her voice now becoming distant. “Farewell, Wes!”
Wes ruminated on these words. There was truth in them, but the emotion he felt was simple enough to be expressed in a single phrase:
“Thank you.”