Kurt was born in the morning hours, and it was his first cry that pierced the morning. It was also what attracted the fairy. Elizabeth had cradled her new baby to her chest and cooed tiredly down at his face. As exhausted as the new mother was, her eyes couldn’t close because she wanted to keep watching him. He hadn’t come quickly into the world, but the long and painful labor had been worth it to have him in her arms, his blue eyes meeting hers and soft little body cradled against her.

Elizabeth hadn’t expected to give birth that day. Carole and the midwife had told her it wasn’t going to be for another few weeks, but her Kurt had wanted to come early and he definitely hadn’t wanted to wait for his grandmother or father. So, Elizabeth had had him without close family except for Carole who she considered like a sister, the midwife, and another woman from town who had come to help. But despite the ten plus hours of pushing and screaming from the pain, Elizabeth would do it all over again to have Kurt.

Perhaps it was how tired she was, or how obsessed she had become so quickly with her baby that Elizabeth had forgotten to think about the fairies. The window which had been left open to let in some air had been forgotten, and as Elizabeth traced a finger over Kurt’s facial features a fairy flew in through the window.

Fairies were notoriously mischievous though they did have their good intentions – at least some of the time. That’s why when humans were celebrating something like a birth or wedding they appeared to offer fairy gifts. Elizabeth Hummel would never have expected a fairy to appear at the birth of her son, and never having seen one before she was taken by the small beautiful creature who fluttered around them. Fairy magic made them attractive to humans and it wasn’t Elizabeth’s fault that the beauty of the fairy had made her forget the danger.

“He will receive a gift,” the fairy had said after kissing and cooing over Kurt – yet another failsafe way to get a new mother to trust someone.

“What kind of gift?” she asked, and it was then she began to get cautious. Fairy gifts were never to be taken lightly mostly because sometimes they could go wrong and become a curse instead of a gift and no one wanted that for a child. But a fairy’s gift was never to be refused.

“I will gift him the gift of obedience,” the fairy said after a long moment of thought. She was so excited about coming up with a unique and novel gift idea that she didn’t even wait for Elizabeth to react or understand what it could mean before she was flying down towards Kurt and pressing her hands against his forehead, “you will always be obedient, Kurt.”

The magic felt like a tickle over Kurt’s body and light shone over his forehead. Elizabeth was startled and she didn’t know what to do, but then Kurt was fine. He didn’t look or feel any different and Elizabeth was so tired that it was enough for her at the moment.

Elizabeth didn’t foresee what kind of complications would come from a gift that at the moment seemed harmless. The gift of obedience, she thought, would make her Kurt listen to her more, or be less rebellious as he grew up. Elizabeth didn’t understand the way that a fairy’s spell worked. Carole Hudson on the other hand did, and when she entered the room and saw the fairy she used her dishtowel to try and get it away as if the fairy were just a fly.

“Did she give a gift?” Carole asked.

Elizabeth nodded. She didn’t expect for Carole to start crying. The fairy looked back at Kurt and then at Carole.

“You should be grateful,” she said, “not every child gets a gift from a fairy.”

“No child should,” Carole said, “whatever you gave him, it’ll be a curse to him.”

The fairy didn’t say anything else. Instead she left through the window she had come in from and it was then that Kurt began to cry. Elizabeth rocked him in her arms. “Hush, sweetheart,” she said.

Kurt did not let out another noise, but his face was screwed up as if he were still crying. It was only then that the gravity of what had happened settled upon Elizabeth.

“Carole!” She shouted, “Carole, what’s wrong with him?”

“Don’t hush, Kurt,” Carole said and his cries were heard again.

The two women shared a look and Elizabeth brought Kurt even tighter against her. “He really is cursed,” she muttered, “oh, my poor baby.”

Carole watched on, lips set in a straight line.