TW: none

Chapter 36-The White Forest (Ayalah, Kiri, Anna, Elsa)

Kiri sighed as she stepped from the window in the castle. She normally wasn't the type to watch things play out in the real world, but she couldn't help it. Ayalah was proving to be a curious girl. Who would have thought that Elsa was capable of developing a mute alter? Ayalah certainly was interesting. Kiri sat in her favorite dark recliner by the fireplace and pondered the girl's creation. What could cause a mute alter to be developed? Possibly all the conditioning to be quiet and feeling like quiet was the easiest way to avoid trouble? Kiri nodded, certain that was it. She turned her head toward the living room, hearing the door open.

"Well, think of the devil," Kiri mumbled as she stood. How should she approach this? It didn't seem like Ayalah knew what her purpose was, as was the same for Anna. Kiri avoided Anna due to her all too optimistic and quirky nature but Ayalah seemed more reserved and definitely quiet. Perhaps avoidance wasn't an option. She studied Ayalah, noting how the blonde kept her fingers laced in front of her mouth, her shoulders tensed up and back slightly arched forward. "What a peculiar posture." Kiri guessed her to be a teenager, judging by her height and facial structure. An imaginary friend approach wouldn't work either. "Perhaps I should just wait until the girl approaches me." Kiri sat back down, Ayalah exploring the castle.

How had she come here? She had just laid down to sleep in bed and now she was in a castle. That was a quick transition to REM sleep. As Ayalah explored her dream world, she couldn't help but wonder why she was dreaming of a castle. She hadn't read or seen anything about castles in the last few days. Perhaps it was just a random dream. But there was another question. If she was dreaming, why was she aware of it? Wasn't there a term for that? Something dreaming. Her eyebrows dropped a little lower trying to remember the word. It started with an 'L', she knew that much. Lucid dreaming! That's what it was. Well that made the dream a little cooler. Aya wandered around, finding a kitchen with food and drinks, dishes and silverware. Next to it was a dining room with a dark mahogany table with 4 chairs. 4 chairs? She shrugged it off, after all this was all a dream.

Aya continued exploring the castle, seeing a backyard with a fenced in pool, a garden and a private forest. It was very lovely out in the back, everything was green-except for the forest. It was strangely white. Curious. Why would there be a white forest? Was there some meaning to it that she didn't know? Or was it just another random and unpredictable aspect of the dream? Either way, Ayalah wanted to see what the forest looked like from inside the nest of trees. As she opened the sliding glass door, a cool breeze lifted her hair slightly. Man, this was one surreal dream. Everything looked and felt so real. She walked out into the backyard, taking in the scene. It smelled like lavender and aloe. How did it smell like her favorite scents? That was a silly question, this was her dream. Aya walked to the forest, her eyes widening as she got closer. It was snowing! In just this one area, it was snowing! This was surely a strange dream, but a beautiful one no less. She wandered into the forest, seeing a strawberry haired girl playing in the snow. She approached her, tilting her head.

Anna turned around and squealed, seeing Ayalah. "Whoa! Holy crap! You scared me!" Ayalah just tilted her head to the right a little more. "What's your name?" Aya shook her head, covering her mouth. Anna blinked. "You can't talk?" The blonde teen nodded. "Ohhhh! Okay. Well, I'm Anna! It's nice to meet you! Do you mind if I call you Blondie?" Aya shook her head, shrugging, averting her gaze. "You wanna play together?" Anna's teal eyes locked with Aya's light blue eyes before Aya nodded, leaning down to pick up some snow.

Kiri had been curious so she had watched Ayalah go to the backyard. "It seems another one is drawn to the white forest. At least Ayalah can keep Anna off my back and occupy her while she's here." Kiri walked out and into the den.

"Hey Kiri, who's the new girl?" Elsa was staring out the sliding door.

"I'm not sure. She's a mute."

Elsa turned and followed Kiri. "A mute? What's that mean?"

"A mute is someone who doesn't speak at all. No one quite knows why, but they don't communicate at all. They won't talk, write or make hand gestures to contribute to conversation. They won't break their silence and there's usually something in their life that has made them into the mute they are."

Elsa nodded and sat across from Kiri. "She seems interesting. Do you wonder if she thinks she's her own person, you know the way Anna does?"

"Hm?" Kiri glanced up from the book she had taken from the table. "Well, possible. But for now, let's just leave her be."

Elsa nodded and turned her attention to the weather outside. Some clouds were rolling in and it looked like it'd be a nasty storm. "Hey Kiri, how is it that it's all stormy in my head?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"A genuine, I don't know the answer one."

Kiri sighed, not removing her eyes from her book. "It's possible because this world is as real as the outside world. Anything is possible."

"Oh," Elsa mumbled. Was it just her or was Kiri getting more…What was the word? Dignified? No, that didn't feel right. Uptight? Irritable? Annoyed? Distant? Well, Kiri usually was distant so that didn't fit either. Maybe Kiri was getting more fed up with all the other younger people in the castle. But what could be done about it? Elsa didn't even really understand how it worked that people just sort of...popped into existence in her head. Imagination would be a stretch, imaginary friends couldn't control your body. Right? Nah. Elsa wanted to go out and play in the white forest with Anna and the new girl, but Kiri told her not to. And Kiri was usually right about most things or had reasons for things she said and did. Elsa learned to listen to Kiri. So instead of going outside, Elsa went to the kitchen and hopped up on a counter, getting to the crackers in the cupboard. She hopped down, taking out a sleeve and walking out.

"Don't leave those in your room, young lady. You'll attract bugs."

Elsa knew without even looking that Kiri wasn't looking. How did she always know?! It was as if she was psychic or something. "I know Kiri." Elsa munched on a few crackers as she went to her room to color.

Anna fell over laughing, snow furling around her. "Oh man, I haven't had this much fun in a while! And that older woman is no fun at all. She's all books and wine and serious stuff. And that little white haired girl is so quiet and reserved. It's like she was raised a princess or something. It was good to meet someone else. Thanks for coming along, Blondie." The strawberry haired girl turned her head to see Aya plopping down on her butt. "You sure you don't want to tell me your name? Cause ya know I'm fine calling you Blondie if you're cool with it but maybe like future reference or something." Ayalah shook her head, making Anna shrug. "Well, I guess just Blondie will work. Let's go inside and get something to eat." The two brushed the snow off themselves and went inside to get something to eat.

Kiri, probably the only one paying attention to the time in the outside world, sighed. It seemed the others had forgotten that the outside world was a thing. "Suppose it's on me to handle things now." She grumbled, a little discontent to have to deal with elementary school nonsense. Luckily Kiri had rested fully the night before and had the energy to handle things for Elsa. A brisk walk out of the castle and to the small bit of void left, a quick sensation of detached falling followed by a gravity slam and a headache later, Kiri was staring at the ceiling of Elsa's room. Her eyes turned to the clock slowly as a yawn left her mouth. It was now Saturday. Well, at least there would be no elementary school bull crap to put up with. There was still the issue of awkward conversation between her and Ian. She wasn't looking forward to it but had seen that interaction between father and child was usually kept to a minimum. It was strange in her eyes. You would think Ian would be a bit more supportive of his only child and at least try to comfort her after everything the poor girl had been through.

Granted Elsa had shown her own way of dealing with things that no one could see, at least Kiri hoped no one could see it. After all, the main purpose of Elsa's developing disorder was escape and defense. And if that was seen through, well, the purpose was defeated.

"Elsa?" Ian's voice followed by a knock on the door drew Kiri's attention.

With a yawn, Kiri sat up and stretched, rubbing Elsa's sleepy eyes. "Yeah?"

"Hey, so how are you feeling?"

"Alright, guess. I just woke up and I'm drowsy and a bit hungry but alright otherwise."

"That's good. Well, I'm gonna make breakfast. Go ahead and come out when you're ready."

"Ok." Kiri sighed and prepared to face the day.

This is the same story as it was before, just rewriting it to fix all the mistakes that I missed before.