“Come on, sis! The water’s not that cold!” I hollered to my sister, who was staring at me from behind a willow tree.

“B-but what if Daddy finds out?” She said, looking doubtful. I hadn’t considered that yet, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that our father would be furious if he found out we ran out here and hid from him.

“It’s fine! He won’t find out!” I yelled over to her. Her expression brightened slightly as she ran to cannonball into the water.

…

When I was little, my sister and I would go to the waterfall just beyond our house. It was a small waterfall, and it was hidden behind a big, beautiful willow tree. The waterfall came out into a small pool of clear water, which we would sometimes swim in. Surrounding the pool was moss. Green, soft moss that was cool to the touch. We’d come out here and sleep in the bed of moss. 

This place was my sister and I’s world. When it would feel like we were drowning in all the responsibilities of being the King's daughters, we’d come here and let all our worries melt  away.

Until it all stopped. On my 13th birthday, my father found out about our hideout. He was furious when he found out we would go there to avoid our responsibilities, and he sent in an order to the woodsman to cut down the forest and stop the flowing waterfall from flowing.

A few days later, I found myself wandering out here, alone, without my sister. The world which used to be ours was now gone. The only thing left remaining was a small puddle of crystal clear water. 

 I bent down and stared at the water. While I stared at my reflection, all the memories of me and my sister came rushing back. I felt a hard pain in my heart and lifted my head from the cool water. I stood there for a moment staring at the land that I loved so dearly and ran back to the palace to retrieve a glass container. I returned to the puddle and placed the cup in the water until it filled up. Once the container was filled, I screwed the cap on and brought back home the last bit of my childhood home.

I will protect this bottle with my life. It’s the last final piece of my childhood. If I lost something as precious as this I think it would feel like I lost a piece of myself, my heart. I will never lose something as important as this.

I saw my sister in the living room with a worried expression plastered on her face. As soon as she saw me, her worried expression became one of relief, which quickly turned to anger.

“Koko, where have you been?! I’ve been worried sick about you!” My sister, Lila, cried. 

“I was down at the market, fetching some apples. I was thinking about making you an apple tart for your birthday,” I said, forcing a shaky smile.

My sister's face lit up as if it were a lightbulb. “Really?! Oh, thank you!” She cried running to give me a big hug. After a moment, she pulled away from me and smiled, then skipped down the hall into the kitchen.

I walked upstairs to my bedroom and took the container out of my pocket and placed it in my closet.

 I remember hiding in that very closet when I was too scared and too little to go out and face my father. The closet had a spell cast upon it. We learned about magic in school, but we were forbidden to use any of it. I specifically remember learning a spell back in the third grade called, “the invisible door” spell. At the time, I was so amazed that such magic even existed. As soon as I got home I went straight to my room to see if the spell worked. I did it just how the teachers explained. I gasped as the green door to my closet vanished. I repeated the spell just as carefully as the first time, and thankfully the door reappeared. If I didn't keep this a secret or else I would be killed.

Living in my kingdom came with a lot of fears and rules. For instance, if you’re out too late at night the police will put charges at you. Once when I was younger, I was out past 9 pm playing with my sister. The police found out and were furious that the King's daughters would be breaking such a simple yet important rule. 

Another rule is not running in public. You have to pay an enormous fine for breaking any of these rules. It's a scary life to live, never knowing if you did something right or wrong and not knowing the consequences. I always felt bad for the young children who were being born into this world, not yet knowing what awful things it has in store for them. I remember seeing children walking past me, laughing, playing games with their friends. But some would look solemn, as if they were holding some deep secret and if anyone were to find out, the consequences would be serious, perhaps even deadly. These children reminded me of myself when I was younger. Sometimes, I would be playing with my sister, or other times I would be dead silent, as if speaking was a foreign language. 

I snapped back to reality and looked out the window. I saw water slowly falling off the big, beautiful leaves of the willow tree, which was blowing slowly to the howling wind, creating a tune that sounded as if a young child was crying in the distance. I couldn’t help but feel melancholic.

It’s not the time to be thinking like that right now! Your sister's birthday is coming up! Let's make her an apple tart like you promised. I smiled to myself. I couldn’t wait to see the way her face would light up like a candle when she saw the tart. It made my heart swell. The way she looked at me with such admiration made me so, so happy. Even though I was only a month older than her I felt as if I was a mother to her, and I think she feels that way too.

I decided to actually take a trip to the market now and get some apples like I promised. As I was making my way out the door Lila stopped me.

“Where do you think you’re going?” She demanded me, blocking the exit. I sighed. No use lying to her.

“I have to go to the market,” I said flatly, pushing my way past her. She didn’t budge.

“Again? But you just went earlier,” She was obviously suspicious. Getting anything past Lila was a struggle. 

“Actually, I was going to pick up some food for supper,” I lied. Lilas mouth curved into a smile. 

“Oh really? Yay! Be sure to pick up something tasty!” She hollered, running off. That was tough. Lila has always been super suspicious of everyone around her. When we were younger she would always say she wanted to be a spy when she grew up. We would run around the courtyard together pretending to spy on all the guards. When we were seven we absolutely convinced ourselves that the postal man was secretly married to one of the maids and when we were eight we were positive that the head guard was secretly evil. I smiled to myself at all the memories of me and Lila.

I picked up some apples at the market and I also picked up some pasta. I was thinking of making one of Lila's favorite meals; Italian pasta with pesto sauce and turkey meatballs. It was a meal that my mother would make for us when we were younger. It’s always been a comfort food for me and Lila. 

It was starting to get dark out by the time I started to make my way home. I should probably hurry, or else the darkness will swallow me up whole.

I started running, pumping my arms back and forth. It was cold and I could see my breath in the air everytime I huffed. The moon was fully hanging in the sky, illuminating the forest around me. I heard wolves and coyotes howling out from the forest and saw an owl up in the trees. It turned its head to look at me. I shivered and began running faster. Even though my legs were sore, I never stopped running. After a while, I felt myself beginning to lose balance. I hit the ground hard, every limb in my body shaking. The grocery bag I was holding only a second ago landed in a puddle of mud a few feet away from my shaking figure. When I fell the mud splashed onto my clothes and face. I was a mess. I needed to get home. My breath caught in my throat as I struggled to breath. My vision was blurred by the blood that was beginning to drip into my eyes. Wait… blood? I felt my forehead, and realized with a sickening taste in my mouth that it was warm and sticky with a red substance.

 Wow. Must have been a bad cut. I thought to myself as I staggered to get to my feet. Every part of my body ached for me to just fall to the ground in a tired heap. As my legs grew more sore with every agonizing second, I ended up falling to the ground. I gasped for air, my head throbbing with excruciating pain. Before I knew what was happening, my world slowly faded to a pitch black darkness.

...

I opened my eyes and found myself in the ocean. The water was dark and choppy, like a storm was about to start. I looked up at the dark, night sky. After looking at the sky for a couple seconds, I looked back at the ocean I was in. It looked like if you took one step in there you might be engulfed in a black abyss.

“What the…?” I mumbled to myself, attempting to swim in panic. I couldn’t tell which way was right and which way left, so I began swimming frantically to wherever the currents took me. My heart thumped loudly in my chest. Where was I? What was I supposed to do? Am I still dreaming? It all feels so real. What's happening to me? I thought to myself in distress. Just then the once dark blue water changed to black in just a few seconds. I felt myself being plunged down into the darkness. My stomach churned like it did when I was sick. I could barely breath as my whole body plummeted into the never-ending abyss. 

...

I woke up from that horrible nightmare, panting. My face was drenched with sweat. I frantically looked around, praying I wasn’t in the dark ocean anymore. After a couple minutes I realized I was still in the same place where I had collapsed previously. I exhaled a huge breath. Phew. That was scary.

I woke up a few days later, a bandage on my forehead and my head throbbing. What happened? I looked around. I was laying down in my bed, wrapped up in my turquoise blanket. Just then Lila walked into my bedroom. Her eyes grew wide as she saw me sitting up in my bed. She rushed over to me and threw her arms around me. 

“Koko, you’re okay!!” She cried, pulling away from me. “I was so worried.” 

Just then I remembered an important detail.

“Where’s Father?!” I asked, my voice shaking. I started imagining how mad Father must be. After all, I had hardly ever broken any rules. His daughter was out past 9 pm, and running in public. I was breaking two of the most simple yet important rules in society. I gulped. What would he do to me? Would he ban me from leaving the house? Or would he simply take away my privilege of being able to go wherever I please? Would I have to have a bodyguard follow me around?

“Some business trip. He left the night you went missing,” She told me. I exhaled a huge sigh of relief. If Father realized I was missing he would have raged at me for not being careful enough. “I went out looking for you. I thought it had taken you an awfully long time. I was right!” She grinned at me. “I’m so glad you’re safe,” She said. “Get some rest. You must be exhausted.” She left the room. 

I am exhausted.... Maybe I will sleep… 

I fell into the best sleep that I'd had in a long time. And as I was asleep, I dreamed that I gave the glass container that held all of my precious memories to my sister as a birthday gift. I watched as her face lit up when she realized what it was. I smiled to myself. Everything’s going to be fine after all.