My Friend, Lillie - By Hanis Atasha Binti Harris

Written By: Hanis Atasha Binti Harris

Category: Short Story, Fantasy

Competition: Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026

In the realm of fantasy and childhood wonder, Hanis Atasha Binti Harris invites us into her captivating short story, "My Friend, Lillie." As part of the Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026, Hanis's narrative offers a glimpse into a world where enchantment and reality intertwine. This fantasy short story explores themes of memory, childhood innocence, and the delicate balance between imagination and reality, drawing readers into a tale that both enchants and provokes thought.

About the Work

"My Friend, Lillie" takes readers on a nostalgic journey through the eyes of a mother recounting her childhood encounter with a mysterious fairy-like figure named Lillie. The narrative is rich with vivid imagery, capturing the essence of childhood curiosity and the allure of the unknown. Hanis masterfully weaves a tale that blends elements of fantasy with the protagonist's reflections on past experiences, creating a story that resonates with both the magic and the lessons of youth.

My Friend, Lillie

Original Submission by Hanis Atasha Binti Harris

My Friend, Lillie

It has been years since I have written anything inside this journal but hello again, dear diary.

My last entry was 10 years ago, I suppose. I should include a date this time. But from the contents I gather it was from the time I was pregnant with my baby girl; just a young mother complaining about being scared of motherhood and wanting to run away from her own womb. Sara is now 9 years old, as mischievous and sweet as any child her age can be. Time flying was not something I noticed but I can certainly feel it. Body aches, wrinkles – the whole shebang. Noah somehow stayed as energetic as when we were younger. I guess he has to be able to keep up with Sara’s activeness one way or another.

The years since I wrote last had been good to me. Of course, there were the ups and down, like mom’s passing and Noah breaking his leg from that drunk driver. I guess that’s just life; you want the good, you have to accept the bad. Watching Sara grow was definitely a ‘good’ I would accept any ‘bad’ for. So is watching my husband grow salt and pepper.

The need to write in this diary did not come up these past years. What changed it all was when we moved to this new house. It’s a beautiful cottage-style home surrounded by the forest, and the closest neighbour is at least 500 meters down the road. Unlike the city apartment, I can finally hear the sound of birds in the morning and a green view to accompany the sunset.

The first thing this home brought to mind was not my childhood home – though it is uncannily similar – but an old friend I had long forgotten.

I first met her when I was about Sara’s age. As a young girl, the forest adjacent to my home was my playground. This was largely due to the fact that there was no playground nearby. The wet leaves were my slide, the fallen trees my obstacle course. No, I did not have friends and the neighbours’ kids were twice my age.

Then one particular day, when I went too deep into the woods and clumsily fell down a small but steep hill, I saw her. Long white hair, alabaster skin, transparent wings and as small as a mushroom. At first, I thought she was a floating lantern but then she came closer to me and I could see this bright glowing human-like creature with wings. And I screamed.

She was not pretty. Ruined any fantasy I had about fairy princesses. And she was naked. But her voice was so soothing and warm, almost like a hug. It did calm me down. I remember her first words to me was simply “Human, shh.”.

Looking back, I’m not sure if it was to calm or quiet me. Either way it worked.

Wordlessly, she led me back to the familiar homes and streets. She left me by Mrs. Adams house with a simple “Go.”, as if shooing an unwanted animal. I supposed to her I was. Just a foreign creature wondering into her home.

I remember walking home excited, rushing into the house in a flurry of excitement, and getting scolded for losing time in the forest on my own. I didn’t remember my parents disbelieving me, but I don’t remember them doing anything to indicate they believed me either. Expectedly, I wasn’t allowed back into the forest for a long while.

By the time I had the courage to disobey my parents, I couldn’t remember where I had met her. Granted, I was lost when I first saw her. I just kept wondering around the woods. This time I knew to keep track of my path, leaving toys in my wake. A trick I had picked up from Hansel and Gretel. Still, I couldn’t find her.

I regret that I was too stubborn as a child. I kept looking for her for weeks. Until one day, a stupid – well I guess it was brilliant in that it helped me achieve my goal – idea sprouted in my tiny brain: get lost. In my head, that was the only variable missing. So, I picked up all my toys, threw them into the backyard and wondered off into the woods.

If Sara did this to me now, I would ground her until she’s 18. I suppose it would be karmic justice for my parents, may their souls rest in peace.

Although it was a brilliant idea, it did take me awhile to truly get lost. I had gone in and out of the forest too much that trees and shrubbery became all too familiar. But the moment I did, it did not take me long before I tripped over a rock and tumbled onto the ground. At least it wasn’t a hillside that time I suppose.

I landed instead in a curious mushroom formation. It formed almost like a circle on the ground. My little mind thought back to the booby traps in those movies I would watch with daddy and quickly backed away.

And then I saw her again, floating right in front of me as if she had been there all this while. This second time, she did seem less than happy to see me. This is of course in hindsight, I was too oblivious as a child. Stupidly, I went “Hi, fairy! What’s your name” the moment I saw her.

She did not reply me. At that age, stupid little girls like me did not think much of creatures that were not human. There was either ‘people’ or ‘animals’, a third option of ‘supernatural beings’ never entirely entered as a category.

I’m not sure if she ever took offense to me naming her but ‘Lillie’ was what I had decided to call her. ‘Lily’ was a kitten I used to have, white fur and blue eyes. But she left too soon on a ‘mission to save other animals’. Lillie reminded me a lot of Lily with its her white skin and hair. Though their eyes were different; while Lily had blue eyes, Lillie’s eyes were iris-less and fully black.

Our ‘friendship’ started the moment I asked a simple question. “Wanna play with me?”

Since that day, Lillie would often come around to my house. We would play dolls, tag, hide and seek, and every other game ‘we’ could think of. Lillie never spoke much, but she would actively play with me. Either enjoyment or toleration, I couldn’t say. But I enjoyed playing with her.

I wonder if my parents were ever curious about this ‘friend’ of mine who they have never met and never seen, even though I would play with Lillie almost every day. Did they think she was an imaginary friend?

On days when I had school I would always come home to Lillie waiting for me in the backyard, resting among the trees. I wonder now why my parents never saw her. She essentially lived in our backyard. She was my best friend; my only friend in truth.

However, things didn’t last as long as I had wanted it to. It was on an unfortunate summer day that I came to understand what it meant to be friends with a fairy.

It was almost like any other day, with me in the backyard with Lillie playing – God knows what, I can’t remember now. Lillie had suddenly asked me. “Do you want to play at my house?”

I was too much of a child to know better.

I followed her back to the forest. Past the familiar trees, past the hill I once fell off, and into a flowery plane. Beautiful yellow and blue flowers all around and stretching far, accompanied by the lovely smell of grass and sweet florals. We walked past the field and back into the forest on the other side to a large tree, its trunk 10 times my size.

Lillie led me down to a burrow by its large roots. It was just large enough to fit a child my size. I suppose that was another sign I should’ve been worried about. But I just followed her, on my hands and knees, periodically spitting out dirt from my mouth and wiping it out my eyes.

What I had encountered on the other side was something I don’t think I’ll ever forget.

The midday sky was coloured a dark purplish blue, the green trees were instead a pale blue with dark stems. Lillie, who was flying ahead, glowed brighter than I’ve ever seen her before.

I followed her through the darkened forest, occasionally tripping on roots and rocks, until the trees started having lights. These lights were different from the fluorescent ones we have here, these were bound fireflies that glowed a desperate yellow and blinding white. I don’t even think our fireflies could glow the same way.

The trees led to a large clearing with a humongous tree in the middle, the scene not too dissimilar from how we got there. However, the difference was that the tree had white leaves and an almost black bark. Floating around the tree, almost like an infestation, were fireflies and fairies similar to Lillie. Some had short hair, some had longer, some were bigger, some were smaller.

Lillie didn’t bother with an explanation to me, she just turned to them with a loud, almost haunting, call and shouted “Julia!” as she gestured to me. And the fairies swarmed towards me, repeating my name.

They grabbed my hand, my cheeks, my hair. Embarrassingly, I had loved the attention. They led me closer to the tree, some of them started singing a hauntingly beautiful song while the others started dancing around. For the life of me I could not recall the tune. I can hear it in my mind but when I try to focus on it, it fades away.

While the fairies were having their fun, Lillie had grabbed my hand and twirled me around, encouraging me to dance with them. So, I did. I twirled and danced with the fairies.

I danced until the world started to be unfocused. Like a two-toned picture that is not quite aligned and you keep trying to fix it. But I felt like I had the best time. It was the only time I have ever felt that type of joy and …ecstasy. They all danced with me, encouraging whatever I was on.

In truth, I can still remember the feeling until now. Some days I crave that feeling so much I have to hold myself from running into the forest to find that fairy den again. I’m fortunate that I have good control of myself.

What broke me out of that horrific exhilaration was a soft, familiar voice in the distance calling my name – clear enough to come through within the dizzying fray. I couldn’t place it at first, who it was. I definitely knew that voice but I couldn’t focus.

Then I heard it again, the tone was strange. But then Lillie also called my name. I looked at her and she was finally smiling at me. The first time since our ‘friendship’. I remember feeling ecstatic and deludedly thinking that she must be happy that I’m here with her.

But then, the voice sounded again, still distant. But Lillie would quickly call me as well. At that point, I was getting confused and started realising that something was wrong.

I stopped dancing and tried to focus on the voice. They called me again but I couldn’t remember whose voice it was.

The moment I stopped, Lillie flew over and grabbed my hand trying to invite me to dance again, repeating “Dance, human.” But I was already convinced that something was strange.

The voice called again and I finally realised that it was my mother’s voice.

I had tried to find where the voice was coming from but I couldn’t see my mother anywhere. Lillie, on the other hand, kept flying in front of me, trying to get my attention. But I just ignored her and kept trying to find where the voice was coming from.

The singing did not sound very nice anymore, and the ecstasy I once felt became nauseating. Almost suddenly, as everything started getting unpleasant, a very important thought finally came over me: how long have I been here?

The moment that thought came to me, I immediately turned around and ran back towards where I came through. I couldn’t hear the singing anymore, or any of the fairies’ voices. All I knew was that something was very wrong and I needed to get out of there.

I ran towards the large tree and crawled through the hole like I was crazed. The moment I got through to the other side I screamed for mom like my life depended on it. It did not take long before mom ran towards me, along with daddy, a few policemen, and a dozen others I didn’t know.

Immediately after being engulfed in my mother’s arms, I started crying. I didn’t know why at the time because I didn’t believe anything that I had experienced was particularly scary. I think maybe even with a child’s intuition, I was sensing that I had been in incredible danger. The feeling of starvation and dehydration followed closely after. Apparently, I had been gone for 4 days. After that, I never saw Lillie in the garden, and I don’t think I wanted to anymore after that experience.

I remember telling my parents everything. I don’t know if they believed me but they did start paying attention to any new names I would bring up. If I was in their position, I would think that it was a group of bad people that had whisked me away and made me believe they were fairies.

It was not a pleasant ordeal but I suppose it’s a lesson every parent needs: if your child ever mentions playing with fairies, get the insect spray ready. Thankfully, Sara has not mentioned any new ‘friends’ outside of school or neighbours that I have met before. Oh, but there is that one boy, Aiden. I’m not sure where she met him but he sounds like a good kid. She just met him recently so he’s most likely a neighbour’s child. I’ll have to meet him soon.

About the Competition

The Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026, hosted by Hashtag Kalakar, celebrates the power of words and imagination. This prestigious platform provides writers worldwide an opportunity to showcase their literary talents, exploring a diverse array of themes and genres. Participants are encouraged to push the boundaries of creative expression, contributing to a vibrant tapestry of storytelling that captivates and inspires audiences around the globe.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to Hanis Atasha Binti Harris for sharing "My Friend, Lillie" with us as part of the Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026. Her enchanting short story invites readers to reflect on the magic of childhood and the enduring power of imagination. We look forward to seeing more of Hanis's creative endeavors in the future.

About Hashtag Kalakar

Hashtag Kalakar is a creative platform dedicated to providing artists, writers, singers and other creative talents with opportunities to showcase their work and reach wider audiences through competitions, features and creative initiatives.