“What is the most ridiculous thing you’ve believed?” asked Alexia in a low tone. Her head rested on my lap, my fingers combing through her patchy bleached hair. We lounged on the fire escape like it was the most prestigious throne, cigarette butts formed our carpet, and empty beer cans our subjects. I tilted my head back and listened to the sanctuary of beating hearts and squealing laughter in the accompanying room. I took a deep breath, the scent of weed blooming around me.

“There are many ridiculous things I’ve believed,” I finally mused, “I used to believe in fairies with their dragonfly wings, I thought I saw them you know when I was a kid. They would dance around me in circles until I spun and spun until I saw them as nothing more than a blur. They would always be talking, or laughing, or singing, but I could never quite make out what they said.” Alexia turned to look up at me with a smile playing on her lips.

“I never thought of you as the faerie-believing type,” I laughed.

“I suppose not, I grew out of it when I was eight or so. Didn’t you believe in the mystical?” Alexia smiled again, stretching her arms back.

“I guess I did. When I was around five I used to search for fairies in my backyard, never finding one though. Then again I also believed in unicorns,”

“Unicorns?”

“Yep. Believed it for a while too,” The darkness crept around us as the stars winked in the sky. We sat in silence for a couple of minutes or as silent as it can be with thirty drunk college students next door. Alexia sighed. “So that’s it? Fairies?” I smirked.

“Well, I believed in monsters too,” Alexia raised her eyebrows.

“Monsters. Do tell,”

“I thought I saw them as well. Under my bed, in my closet. They only came out at night, I could hear their feet creaking on the floorboards, their eyes would glow and stare at me, their fingers were long and willowy like a tree branch. Once, one of them touched me on the arm, it was the coldest thing I have ever felt, even days after it still felt numb. I never slept and when I did I only dreamed of them attacking me. My parents would wake up to screams, my screams, every night until finally, they took me to a child psychiatrist. That made them stop, at least for a bit. You know, it talked to me once, last night. It hissed with his viper tongue one word before I screamed ‘Finally’”.