I was in the bathroom when I heard Mom yell. "Leo!!"

I peeked my head out the door. "What?!" Then I went to her.

"There you are," she said.

"What do you want?" I asked her.

No response.

"Hello?"

Then a mushroom came out.

The Mushroom hoped on one foot to me. "Hello, I'm Pixie!"

I stepped back twice. "It-you. . .can talk?!"

It frowned. "I'm not an it. I'm a girl, unlike you."

How do mushrooms have genders? That's impossible.

Pixie grabbed my leg and Mom screamed. "WHAT?! IS?! THAT?! THING?!" I covered my ears and she fainted. "Mom?"

Well, she's dead.

I picked Pixie up and threw her out the window.

I kneeled down next to Mom, shaking her as hard as I could. "Mom, wake up... please... that thing is gone, you can get up now, it's okay..."

After a few minutes of pleading and shaking, and maybe a little crying, her eyes fluttered open. "Leo? What... what was that thing?" I began sobbing at the realisation that Mom was actually alive and hadn't died from shock at the sight of a talking mushroom. She sat up and embraced me tightly, touching the ends of my hair lightly.

"Ahem! That was a little rude, don't you think? Throwing a girl out the window hardly makes for good impressions!" The mushroom girl—Pixie—stood behind Mom, her hands waving around her bulbous head angrily. She was fuming, alright.

Mom turned around, and upon seeing Pixie again, screamed louder than she had earlier. I didn't have time to cover my ears though; she jumped up and grabbed my hand, dragging me to the kitchen. She whipped out a long, lethal looking bread knife from a drawer, holding it in front of her when Pixie followed us.

"Woah, woah! Steady there, woman! I mean you no harm, truly. Unlike that crude son of yours there." She sent a snide sneer my way before turning back to Mom. "Really. I want to help you. Now, let me find that list, one moment please..." The mushroom girl cleared her throat and produced a paper from seemingly nowhere. "Magic. Totally rad." I whispered.

Pixie began reading off of the scroll:

"On the 17th of June, in the year 2012, Ms Dawn Hemingway stated; 'I wish my son Leo had a father to help me raise him. Being alone is tough enough, but having the man I loved walk away from me and our son makes everything much worse.' In fact, this was her most common reoccurring wish, and it was stated by the Council of the Wise Folk that it should be granted on account of this." The sheet of paper immediately vanished when Pixie was done speaking.

I looked at Mom concerningly. I knew it was hard for her to raise me on her own, but she had told me Dad died. I didn't know he willingly left us. She didn't look at me, though. She was staring at the magical mushroom in pure shock. "How on Earth did you know that?!"

Pixie shrugged, smirking mischievously. "I know all your dreams, Ms Hemingway. And I'm here to help you fulfill a few."