The Last Fairy Tale Read Online Free PDF Page B

that, because then you would know,” Ink said. He laughed and then jumped back up onto the tree limb. “Tell me, child, what are you?”
    That’s an odd question, Olivia thought . It should be obvious that I’m a human, but perhaps he’s confused because of my eyes . “A human,” she replied.
    “No, I mean, what are you really ? What do you feel  you are?” Ink had become the goat again. He was lying on his stomach along the tree limb, his head propped on one of his hooves.
     “Well, I…” Olivia felt muddled, but she also felt that she needed to answer this question seriously. She had thought frequently about who and what she truly was and had always wondered what her true purpose was ever since Mr. Dewberry had given her the journal, but she had never been asked to explain. In all her years locked up in the orphanage, she never once thought about composing a decent answer to this question. Finally collecting her thoughts into words felt good. “I suppose that I’m a human, but one living a life without direction. I’m confused as to why I must exist in a world that I didn’t corrupt and destroy. But, life must go on, I suppose.”
     Ink’s laugh came as a low and raspy wheeze. “Impressive for such a young one. I have no doubts that you spend much time in deep thought. Very good. Now tell me, if you could have anything, what would it be?”
     Olivia couldn’t determine what point Ink was trying to make with these questions, but she decided to answer anyway, if only to see where he was going with this conversation.
     “I suppose I would like to meet my parents and be with them forever. But even more than that, I want to see the world as it once was, with all the destruction and disease gone forever.”
     “Ah, I see,” Ink said. “You have been raised inside that orphanage and have had to deal with some nasty people, yet you are still selfless and have a good heart.”
     “Why are you asking me these questions?” asked Olivia. She wasn’t sure how long they had been talking; it had felt like a few minutes and forever at the same time.
     “I am making sure,” Ink replied.
     “Of what?” Olivia was on the verge of becoming angry. Nothing had been explained to her, and the conversation with Ink appeared to be going nowhere in particular.
     “Patience, my child,” insisted Ink. “I see you have a strong curiosity but lack patience. But please, I have one more question. Why?”
     “Why? That’s the question?” asked Olivia.
     “Why, yes…that is the question,” said Ink.
     “Why what?”
     “No. Just, why?”
     Olivia was completely confused now. What was Ink trying to do? How could she just answer a question like that? She looked down at the ground, trying to make sense of it all. After a moment, she decided that she couldn’t figure out any of it and had no answer to Ink’s question.
     “I don’t know,” said Olivia. She looked up, expecting to see Ink, but he wasn’t there. She could hear his raspy laugh all around her, and she turned and looked in every direction, but he was nowhere to be found. She looked back at the tree where he had been sitting and noticed its bark was arranged in the shape of a face that oddly resembled Mr. Dewberry’s. Then the bark of the tree began to crack and move as the face began crying and calling for help. The tree started to bleed from the gaps in its bark, as if it had contracted the DNA Flu. Then, without warning, the tree suddenly and violently shattered, a shower of blood and bark flying in all directions. Olivia cried out in fear and shielded her face with her father’s journal.
     When she slowly lowered the journal from in front of her face, she saw that she was no longer standing in the forest. Instead, she was in the center of her room in the orphanage, wearing her uniform and clutching her father’s journal. She quickly opened the journal and flipped to the page that held her father’s drawing of Ink. It appeared as it