Adeline Miller felt out of place. She always had. She was never one to join clubs or afterschool activities. She was… Just not made for this world. She didn't belong there.  Addie, as she was more casually known,  longed for a place where girls would run barefoot through the woods in dresses made of pure magic. A place where you could live in a city made of starlight or be part of a faerie court. Where you could dance under the moonlight with your one true love. A place where when you looked up to the sky the clouds were like cotton candy on a late summer night. A place where she could be free. Or in other words, fictional. To quote one of her favorite books, “I'm in love with a fictional world. Or at least somewhere that doesn't exist. It's a fact that I have almost accepted. I live in a world that doesn't exist. A world made of ink on paper. Fabricated from somebody's brilliant imagination. A place which I long for but will never reach.  I've clung to these worlds like I'm stranded in the ocean and they are life rafts nevertheless sometimes the place where you belong isn't the place where you exist…” Definitely not the small town of Woodpine.

Here's the thing about Woodpine, it's infamously famous for being routinely ordinary. Everything was the same. Nothing, absolutely NOTHING ever changes. People were always at the same place at the same time, Addie thought as she walked out of her last class, holding ten pounds of homework.  Instinctively, Addie took a left to avoid the “popular” kids swarming the hallways chatting on their phones while she daydreamed about escaping to the library. Addie tended to filter out things that aren't about fictional worlds. 

Lost in thought, she didn't notice someone turning the corner and crashed into them, spilling her papers all over the floor. With her luck the person turned out to be her ex-friend, Olivia. As Addie's cheeks flushed red, she looked up to find her tormentor's foul smirk. 

“Watch where you're going, dork.” Her old friend sneered at her, barely looking up from her phone.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, picking up all her homework.

“Still getting in the way I see, why don't you go and run off to your big sister,” Olivia jabbed while sashaying away. 

Addie could feel the lump in her throat begin to grow. ‘Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry,’ she thought to herself, squeezing her eyes shut. Unsuccessful, Adeline scurried away from the school, feeling more relief with every step.

Just as Olivia had predicted, Addie texted her older sister, Amanda, that school was finished and that she was heading to the library.  Although her parents probably wouldn't mind, she always told Mandy where she was headed. ‘What's the point anymore? She already knows I'm going. I go everyday,’ she thought as she strolled into one of the only sanctuaries she had. The unending bookshelves and the musky vanilla scent had comforted her through some of the worst times of her life. She knew every book on the shelves and every word in the book, she even knew the librarians by their names. 

Addie made a beeline for her favorite book,  Le Jardin. She wasn't sure why but she had always been drawn to things that connected to nature. It made her feel like she was connected to something bigger than her, something that was meant to exist. 

She let her thoughts wander as she checked out her book but something caught her eye. Long blonde hair and piercing blue eyes turned towards her. Olivia.  ‘Oh no, of all the things today,’ she thought. Wanting to avoid further embarrassment, Addie fled towards the woods outside. To her, the woods were a magical place. The sort of place she had imagined herself living in many times before, free of her responsibilities. A dark green canopy held out the rain but still let the sun in making the weather always perfect. It looked like a fairy tale. Her favorite spot was under the big willow tree in the clearing. The tree provided the privacy that for her was very much appreciated.  She looked around, sighed happily, and sat down in the shade and started her book. 

Chirp! Addie awake with a start, she must have fallen asleep. Glancing around she mumbled, “What the heck?” There were no birds in the woods, at least no birds that could make such pleasant sounds. Everything seemed so bright even though the day was ending. The forest was thicker and greener, more vivid. It was utopia. Addie felt a flicker of confusion in her chest as she came to the presumption that she was not in her world. Then she slowly smiled the biggest smile one could ever imagine. She was home. A home that was her own. Addie looked down at her clothes to see if they  had magically changed. To her chagrin, they had. Instead of the same old stuffy uniform she was forced to wear, Adeline now donned a flowy white sundress that made her feel as though she was a princess. 

She decided it was in her best interest to explore the place to see if there were any evil queens ruling over her newfound home. There wasn’t, however there was something much better. 

‘Oh. My. Goodness,’ she thought as she stepped through the trees. The first thing that hit her was the smell. So heavenly like a warm summer breeze and perplexingly like chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven. She closed her eyes when she inhaled and when she opened them again all she could see was green. The whole ground was covered in grass that was long and bright green. There were rocks the size of small cars that were completely covered in plush, fuzzy, green moss. The moss made everything look as soft as cotton. She thought she was hallucinating as she started to notice the wildflowers and other plants. The flowers were pink, purple, white, and many other colors. Some were as large as her hand, and some the size of a pebble. The huge mushrooms caught her attention next. There were many kinds. The mushrooms grew all over the place, on tree trunks, on the rocks, and everywhere possible. It was overwhelming. 

She started dancing around as though she didn’t have a care in the world. She really didn’t. She was finally in a place where she could be herself. A place where she didn't have to fake laugh at something she found cretinous. A place where she understood and that understood her. It was exhilarating. 

She roamed the grove for hours until she stumbled upon a tiny cottage. It was hidden in the lofty grass as if it was placed there just for her to find.  Like it was made for her. She gravitated towards the miniscule cottage as if it were calling out her name and admired how the ivy wrapped around the aspen colored wood. She always dreamed about little houses with A-frames and here she was, standing in front of her own. It looked perfect. She caught a glimpse of orange in the upstairs window. ‘How peculiar, I used to have a tabby that resembled that,’ she thought, thinking back to how she and Mandy would cuddle him when their parents fought. With memories flooding her mind, she hesitantly reached for the door knob and stumbled inside. Addie glanced around in awe as she took in the quaint space. She got an overwhelming sense of deja vu. Everything just felt right. The plush rug, fairy lights and vintage band posters doring the walls. Heck, there were even daisies with the little pink outline sitting on the coffee table.  Just how she liked them.

A soft purr brought her back to reality as she felt something plush brush up against her calf. 

‘Oh!” she exclaimed looking down at the cat. “I completely forgot.” Addie studied the feline. “You know, you kinda look like my old cat, Theodore.” The tabby looked up at the sound of the familiar name as if it was used to it. Addie noticed this and lightly scrunched her brows together while contemplating the possibility. ‘Could this really be him? It couldn't be,  he died years ago. But maybe? I mean this is my world… Isn’t it?’  The cat seemed to read her mind and hopped into her arms as a way of saying yes. Unable to stop a grin from spreading across her face, with the tabby hanging on for dear life, she spun around in glee. 

Theo pawed at her arm motioning to set him down.  Feeling a little confused, Addie complied and gently lowered him to the ground. The cat sauntered over to the front door waiting for her to catch up. Befuddled, Addie reluctantly opened it and the tabby bolted off. 

“Wait-” she cried out before chasing after it. Theo had little legs, nevertheless, he had tons of energy. Despite the fact,  she caught up in a matter of seconds. 

“Now what was that for, huh?” Addie mumbled as she picked him back up, slightly out of breath.

Meow. The tabby pawed at the air behind her as if he wanted her to look. She turned around, glowering, and any trace of anger immediately evaporated. 

Right behind her was a small but tranquil, crystal clear lake with unnervingly turquoise waters. Her jaw dropped. ‘Impossible,’ she thought, and yet here she was again. It was the prettiest lake she had ever seen. The sun shimmering off the surface making the tiny waves look as though they glittered. The clear blue color practically invited her in. She stepped towards it and her feet hit the soft sand. It reminded her of that one summer when she and Mandy found a hot spring in the middle of the forest behind their house. They played in it for hours upon hours until they had to go in for dinner. That moment was one of Addie’s favorites but when they returned the next day, it had just disappeared. That's how it always went, nothing good lasts forever.  She sat down in thought and noticed the way that the soft wind caressed her face. Her sparkling eyes wandered around her new surroundings. Swaying willow trees lined the waters edge, birds flew peacefully above her head, and the soft buzz of insects flying around pulled her into a state of calm. 

Suddenly a flash of brown caught her eye. On the other side of the lake, a little fawn peeked their head out of a bush, staring right Addie. A second later, another slightly larger fawn appeared too. The little doe looked up at her sister then back at Addie. She looked around for their parents but couldn't find any.  They only had one another to depend on. At that moment, Adeline realized that the deer were just like her and Mandy.  

Her smile faltered. Mandy . ‘Oh no, what about Mandy?’ She looked around sadly. This might be the perfect home for Addie, but her Mandy was her real home. Although she wanted to stay, she knew her sister needed her, she was all that she had. Throughout her whole life, Mandy had been there. Throughout every fight, every achievement.  Every moment in Addie's life, Amanda had always been there. It couldn’t be home without her. 

 So she turned on her heel slowly, selflessly, silently marching back to the spot she first arrived at, with Theo at her heel. They must have wandered far because it took them at least an hour to get back to the meadow. She also must have been weeping too because her face was soaked with tears. 

“I ought to go. I don't want to, nevertheless I must,” she whispered to Theo, while trying to hold back more tears. She laid down on the plush green grass and snuggled up to Theo one last time. With a sad smile and a single tear rolling down her cheek she prepared to say goodbye. For just a moment she caught a glimpse of the birds soaring through the sky and the peaceful chittering of animals before letting the endless abyss of silence take her. She breathed out one last goodbye as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep

Addie slowly opened her eyes to her plain, off-white ceiling, hearing the familiar music of Mandys phone alarm. ‘She always forgets to turn it off,’ she thought, letting out a sad chuckle as she got up to start her day. After all, it was only just a dream. A dream she had everytime she closed her eyes. She realized something this time though. It didn't matter if her world was sparkling or ridden with soft moss, because Amanda was her true home.