Prologue
A Land Without Magic, many years ago...
How easy a heart can be taken, and how easy it can be broken by those who hold it.
It was a summer day, the scorching sun was beaming down, the air was humid, and the sky was clear, a girl called E sat in a bus by the window, daydreaming as she often did. E attended an educational center for adults with intellectual disabillities, and on that day E and others were going on a trip to a reptile center. E was formally diagnosed with dyspraxia, but her major issues stemmed from her agoraphobia, and so E was experiencing a mix of emotions that day. As the bus pulled up to the reptile center, E's tummy began to churn, the idea of having to get off the bus and enter an unknown building gave her a lump in her throat, she sat and fidgeted until she was the only one left on the bus, her key worker, J, waited patiently, E took a deep breath and pushed herself to do it.
E made it into the reptile center and her worries quickly melted away upon meeting a small bearded dragon, E was elated to be offered the chance to put the small dragon onto her shoulder and hold it. As she held the dragon and posed for a picture, she noticed a girl with short black hair and piercing blue eyes smiling warmly at her, she smiled back and wondered who the girl was. A while later, E was by herself as other people were getting the chance to hold the bearded dragon, she scoured the room for signs of more animals and stopped on a coin slot machine that gives you balls with Pokémon inside, and standing beside it was that girl she had noticed earlier, popping a coin into the machine.
E approached the girl with ease and before she had the chance to introduce herself, the girl began a conversation, she explained that she loves Pokémon and couldn't resist the coin machine, E then introduced herself and the girl introduced herself as M. M was in the center because of autism and arthritis. The two girls hit it off immediately, they spent the rest of the day together and by the time the bus arrived to pick them up, E's cheeks hurt from smiling. Over the coming months the girls switched numbers and saw each other every thursday when they both attended the center. E loved M's sense of humour and passion about her interests, they would talk for hours about these subjects and E appreciated having a friend that she could have a good natter with. But eventually, E's agoraphobia got the better of her due to many circumstances, and she left the center, however, E and M stayed in touch.
M clearly missed E and E felt guilty for dropping out, but her agoraphobia was too overwhelming at that time. M would ring many times a day to speak with E and was eager to meet up, but was very understanding about E's agoraphobia. It took a long time, but eventually E was ready to meet up with her friend. It started out slowly, meeting with M and having a natter in the car while E's mother and M's mother waited in the other car. Eventually E and M exchanged social media profiles and were in contact regularly. For the first time, E felt like she had a proper friend, someone that made her happy and made her feel worth something. E used to wake up sad, but since meeting M, that had stopped. M was very generous, she would send E presents and letters, she never forgot E's birthday and on E's birthday M came over to E's house, then on M's birthday, M came over to E's house because M understood E's agoraphobia, which E greatly appreciated.