Chapter 1
As a young girl Arianna was bullied. She was different than everyone else in the village because
she was born with a rare skin condition called Vitiligo (a skin condition where there are
splotches of pigment on your skin, look it up) and she was made fun of constantly for her
strange looks. Nobody wanted to be her friend, everyone thought she was ugly and weird.
Except for her mom, she thought her daughter was the most beautiful and unique girl she has
ever seen. Ari was always supported by her mom, "Ari, I don't care if people think you're ugly or
not, you are beautiful." Ari believed her mom and continued being her bright and cheerful self,
despite the weird looks and mean comments people gave her.
But still, her desire for a friend still was in her mind. Sometimes she would take rocks, stick
googly eyes on them, and talk to them, that's how lonely she was. When she was 12 her mom
passed away from cancer, and she was alone. Her father had already left her at an early age of
4 because he was tired of looking at her ugly face. The thought of that sometimes made her cry
herself to sleep. But now Ari is 16 years old, she still doesn't have any friends but she is always
constantly trying to find friends. "Hello, would you like to be my friend?" Ari says skipping to
some random people. They look at her and scoff, "Ew it's that weird girl, why would we want to
be friends with some ugly person like you?" They laugh. "If you really want friends so badly, why
don't you just go into the forest, I'm sure you will find friends there in no time." One says. "Yeah
because you're an ugly creature, just like them." The other one says. "Guys, I'm pretty sure
she's probably gonna get eaten before she even makes friends." They all laughed. Ari, didn't
say anything, You know what? Sure, maybe i'll find friends in the forest, at least they will be
better friends than you guys, she thought, while walking away. Next day, Ari wakes up and
grabbed a red cape draping it over her shoulders, she put her boots on and strapped on her
bag. She packed her bag full of food and supplies. Ari finally walked out of her house, turning
around she gazed back, somehow knowing she probably won't be seeing her house ever again.
Her village will now be a shadow to the past she once was. And she set off. The road to the
forest was long and tiring, her legs were aching as she walked the trail. Finally she reached the
wall of trees. The huge trees would cast long shadows down to the forest floor, mushrooms and
wildflowers were scattered throughout the forest, it was beautiful. But even though the forest
was pretty, it gave off a mysterious and magical aura. Ari liked it though, it was much more
beautiful than her home. She decided to stop and rest on a nearby rock, opening her bag and
pulling out an apple. While she enjoyed her lunch, little did she know something, or someone
was watching her.