In a simple neighborhood on a quiet street in Ohio there was a modest apartment on the second floor of which Teresa Harnois was preparing for her first semester in her first year of college. She was a pretty young woman of Italian descent. She had long dark hair and hazel eyes with fair skin and always seemed to carry her petite figure with poise and dignity.

In addition to having borderline autism she also had a gift of insight that was magical. Which was that she could look into any person's eyes and see a memory inside their soul just like watching a movie clip in a small one-reel theater. She'd had this gift since her childhood and it used to be a burden to her and others around her, but as she grew older she naturally began to control when she could do it and also fine tune how she could do it also. She developed the ability to turn this insight off and on at will, though she could still always tell a person's nature by looking into their eyes, and she would every now and then come into contact with a person's eyes and unexpectedly see a vivid memory inside their mind. Whether it was a good or bad memory for them there was always a reason why she had seen it as she would always find out why one way or another. And when she found out why the memory was there and she had seen it, what she would so next about it always was a challenge in some way to her for better or for worse.

She reflected on her life thus far as she packed two suitcases. One containing all of the clothes she would bring with her. The other one containing possessions she'd had mostly since childhood that she still looked fondly on. One was a clown doll which played music when a key in its side was turned. Another was a night light in the shape of a large ball that when plugged in would turn different colors of light. And she also had a snow globe with a castle in it which when shook instead of snow had tiny stars flutter around it.

Just then her mother came into the room. "Are you ready?" she asked.

"Yep!" said Teresa as she closed her second suitcase.

She went up to her mother and gave her a hug. "Goodbye Mom," she said. "I'll miss you."

"You promise to call me every day," her mother said with misty eyes.

"Of course," Teresa assured her. "As long as you still promise me that trip to Disneyland during the Summer break like we talked about."

"Absolutely," said her mother. "I am looking forward to it as much as you are. And remember I love you," she kissed her daughter on the forehead.

"I love you, too, Mom," said Teresa.

Teresa was driven by her mother to her college dormitory. She entered her room and found another girl already in it unpacking her own suitcases. This was her roommate. She was tall and skinny and was wearing a pink tank top and a pink plaid skirt. She had long dark brown hair and matching eyes behind a pair of thick glasses and when Teresa looked into them she could tell she had a warm heart and a kind spirit.

"Hello," she said. "I'm Teresa Harnois. What's your name?"

The other girl finished putting her framed pictures on her night stand and replied, "Lila Pinksley."

"That's a nice name," said Teresa. "What are you going to be studying at the University?"

"Early education," she replied. "I want to be a kindergarten teacher. I adore kids. I also want to take a minor course in creative writing because I want to write love stories. What do you want to study?"

"I want to study psychology and philosophy," replied Teresa. "Because I want to pursue a career in helping people to resolve their problems. And I also want to study creative writing because I am planning on writing books for children to enjoy."

"Sounds awesome," said Lila. "What sort of stories?"

"Well, I've thought of this one about a king without a castle who has one made for him by magical fairy after he learns humility and kindness so he can fall in love with a lonely peasant girl from a neighboring land called Genoma."

"Now that's a book I'd love to read to my future students and my own children when I have them," said Lila. "I don't have a boyfriend yet though. My parents were really strict about that. But I hope to find one soon. Maybe around here even. What about you? Do you have one?"

"No," said Teresa. "But I just never thought to look for one I guess. My mom always told me the day would come when I would find the man of my dreams in the best place though But I guess I'm just too shy to really think about where that could be."

Teresa spent a little while longer getting to know her new friend and then they both headed out to their first college classes.

As she and Lila went separate ways down the halls to their respective classrooms, she carried her books in front of her and tried to peek around the corners to locate the door of her first class. She was quite startled when she suddenly bumped into a young man coming down the hall from the opposite end and dropped all of her books which fell to the floor.

"Oh my! I'm sorry! Pardon me!" exclaimed the boy with sleek brown hair and blue eyes.

"Oh no! I'm even more sorry!" said Teresa awkwardly as she bent to pick up her books.

"Please let me help you," he said as he bent with her. "My name is Johnathan by the way."

"Thanks, and my name is Teresa," she said as he piled her books on top of each other.

Just then he picked a small golden ring with a butterfly on it with little round diamonds set in its wings.

"Is this yours?" he asked as he handed it to her.

"Oh yes!" she exclaimed as she took it gratefully. "It must have fallen off me. Thank you."

"Who gave it to you?" he asked.

"My father did," she replied. "He made it himself because he's a jeweler. It's very special to me."

"So you like butterflies?" asked Johnathan.

"Yes. I like all bugs actually," she said. "Because they are important to the whole ecosystem."

"That's right," he said, "That's why I like bugs also. And in fact I am on way to my entomology class right now."

"That's cool," she said with a smile.

She looked into his eyes and could see that he had a big heart and was a bit eccentric, which had made him put up with peer pressure for years but he had finally found his confidence through hard work and perseverance.

"Bye. I'll see you around," he said. And they went their separate ways.

Teresa went through all of her classes and at the end of the day she had a various assignments to do. Including an essay for psychology on how grief can affect a person and what besides time can heal the wound. She decided to go to the local library to check out some books to help her with her homework.

As she got onto her bicycle she looked up at the sky and noticed the darkening grayish clouds overhead. It seemed as if it might rain soon. But being a brave sort she decided to go on and make the trip now anyway.

She began peddling at a steady pace down the block. After a little while she heard thunder start to rumble and began to peddle faster hoping she could outride the oncoming storm. But shortly she began to feel light raindrops pattering onto her. She picked up speed and leaned forward trying to notice.

More thunder came upon her, much louder than before. This was followed by lightning streaking across the sky. The rain began to pour harder and harder onto as the wind also picked up in strength and speed.

She felt her hair being blown back by the fierce wind and as she continued to peddle she felt the wind beating harder and harder against her whole body. Somehow the wind seemed to be affecting the motion of the bicycle. It seemed to be rushing forward of its own accord somehow. She gripped the handlebars as tight as she could and continued peddle as fast as she could. She was almost there.

Then all of a sudden the wind took on a terribly ferocious turn and she impulsively leaned back and her front wheels lifted up. She tried to stop but the bike kept dashing through the wind. Then a very strange thing happened. Her bike lifted completely into the air and kept moving as the wheels seemed to keep going round and round in the gusting wind of their accord mysteriously. She was stunned but couldn't do anything to stop the forceful pull of it.

She felt herself going higher and higher on the bike into the air. The wind was now getting to be impossibly stronger around her and she felt herself being whooshed back as the bike reared upward and took a shot toward the sky. She found herself clinging on helplessly to her handlebars, her knuckles white and shivering. The wind howled as it thrust her up into the clouds higher until she seemed surrounded by their dark gray mass.

Then suddenly there appeared out of thin air a bright green beacon of light that grew in size and intensity. She headed straight toward it and closed her eyes tightly as her bike made a dive through it.

In an instant later she was surrounded by calmness as if the storm had just passed. She opened her eyes and found herself surrounded in pure white clouds lit with a silvery lining by the shining sun. She felt at peace for a moment but then she realized suddenly that she was now rapidly falling downward with her bike. The clouds fell away from above her and she caught sight of the green grassed ground far below her. She closed her eyes again and hoped desperately for a safe landing.

After what felt like so long she found herself and her bike crashing lightly onto the earth below. She lay there with her eyes closed and gasped for breath after her hard ordeal.

After a moment she suddenly heard a low and soft voice say, "Who is this witch?"

She opened her eyes and found herself staring into the faces of two figures. One was a little girl with short blonde hair wearing a yellow dress. the other was a tall lanky manlike thing with a large pumpkin as a head. For a moment she felt she might freak out at the sight of this.

Then the girl beside him spoke. "She doesn't look like a witch to me."

"But how did she fall from the sky," asked the pumpkinhead.

Teresa slowly began coming to her senses. "I... I'm not a witch at all. And where am I?"

"You're in the Land of Oz," replied the girl. "I'm Dorothy Gale, and this is my friend Jack Pumpkinhead."

Teresa shook her head and blinked. She slowly started to get up again. "This is Oz?" she repeated in astonishment. "You're Dorothy? I always thought you looked different. And where are all the Munchkins? Am I dreaming or something?"

Dorothy smiled a little replied. "The Munchkins are in the East far away from here. You are indeed not dreaming. And we welcome you as a visitor to our land. The Emerald City isn't far from here and if you will come with us I will bring you to Ozma and she may help you."

"Okay," said Teresa. "Whatever you say."