Just a dream
Aurora wandered happily through the woods, singing a little tune as she went.
She often sang to herself when she was alone, music comforted her. It allowed her to express her heart. But no one else understood that. Her aunts, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, believed that whilst it was good for a young lady to be musically gifted, she should concentrate on her studies and her countenance.
Aurora giggled. She didn't even know what the word countenance meant!
Aunt Flora said it was something to do with appearance but Aurora couldn't see how she could improve her appearance. She wasn't boastful; everyone said she was the most beautiful girl in the world. But then again: everyone was her three Aunts and her animal friends.
She sighed.
"What I would give just to meet another person! Anyone!" Aurora was so lonely. She had her Aunts and the animals but she felt so cast out. The world didn't know who she was… and didn't care.
She walked around the forest, her basket now full with ripe purple berries.
Why did her Aunts have such a craving for berries all of a sudden? They practically shoved her out of the door just to get some! They had been acting very strange lately. Perhaps it was something to do with her sixteenth birthday…
"WHO! WHO!" She looked up. The owl was flying towards her.
"Hello, you look exited today! What's happened?" Then suddenly all of the animals were crowding around her. The squirrels, the rabbits, the birds, all of them! They were making such a racket that Aurora wasn't sure where to start.
"What's happening? What's going on?"
Then they all started to move her forward, the birds pulling at her fingers and the rabbits pushing her feet.
"All right, all right. I'm coming." Aurora was bewildered.
They kept tugging her forward until they reached the hill overlooking the castle and the glen below that.
"Well, what do you want to show…"
Her eyes widened.
Down below in the glen… was a person! She may not have met anyone other than her Aunts but Aurora was intelligent enough to see that it was a man. A beautiful man! His skin was white as snow with long blonde hair. He was doing what looked like a complicated dance with a long silver stick! How strange, and how wonderful. She rested her arms on her basket, a smile on her red lips.
Then he froze… and looked up! Their eyes met!
He has the most beautiful eyes! Even from here Aurora could see them, such a colour she could hardly describe!
She sighed and turned away.
"I must be dreaming. Someone so perfect can't be real." She walked back through the forest, her heart heavy with the false hope the illusion had raised.
"It was just a dream."