Chapter 1: "Another Sleepless Night"

It's almost 1 a.m. but Ice still can't sleep. She doesn't know what's going on with her mind.

She needs to wake up at 6 a.m. later but she really can't sleep since she woke up this morning.

She’s so frustrated again.

She’s confused… She just can't help but to think of so many things and it's endless. Every thought has a series of questions that she can't answer.

Waking up has been exhausting for her. She's lost getting no sleep because of her past mistakes playing over and over again in her head. These mistakes become a person that hurts her and tortures her every night before she goes to sleep which is also her. At first, it's not that bad like what the people around her think. She just ignores it. She'd just go on with her day and tell herself to forget it all. Just as soon as she does that, another thought comes into her mind followed by another and another and another. They're endless.

Doing everyday tasks isn't easy for her and she feels like she’s just forcing herself to do it in order to get through another day... Over and over, she'd catch herself saying that it's just a bad day. Yes, nothing went wrong… Not even close but she's having so many bad days but she still doesn't have a clue as to why. The only thing that she could think of is that she’s not happy anymore.

Running around people then asking her if she's okay only makes her feel terrified or horrified rather. They're willing to listen but not all of them really understand her... The problem is, people just listen to me to reply and not to understand.

”It’s all different now. I'm different now...”, she suddenly whispered to herself.

Everything got so different. Her grades went a little lower. She has a difficulty of staying focused. She thought that maybe that's the reason why some people begin to dislike her and in order to avoid that, she just pretends... She just lies over and over again.

Every time she's alone, she feels her body dropping similar to what happened when she woke up at dinner time. She begins to cry because she's just lying to everybody for everything and she also feels like nothing but a burden to them...

“It doesn't matter anyway because I'll never be able to put words of exactly how I feel. I sometimes show people though, and I'm also crying for help but no one would notice me until I plummet like a sinking ship down into the dreary depths below. They even sometimes call me overdramatic...”, she told herself…

She feels miserable because it seems like she's watching herself go crazy over emotions and have no control over them... It's just like she’s drowning but the people around her are watching it happen...

She's alone, confused, and empty now...

Their world continues but hers somehow stops...

She watches them smile, be happy, and just have fun while she's just sitting there and doing nothing... But then again, she would feel tired to do anything and sleeping at night doesn't and wouldn't help her because she knows that if she wakes up again, she'll just do things over and over again but she's tired...

"Ouch...", she whispered into the quiet night and held onto her head. It hurts again...

She suddenly felt thirsty. She sat up for a moment and felt her throat getting dry.

Their bed is a bunk bed so she needs to climb 3 steps down.

"Ouch, Ice! It hurts!", Audrey shouted which got her startled.

She quickly went down and checked on Audrey, her little sister.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, Audrey! I didn't mean it. I'm really sorry.", she said while kneeling in front of her.

Her eyebrows met each other and she's massaging her foot.

"Here. Let me help you.", she insisted and got closer.

She sat close to her and placed her foot on her lap and massaged it gently for a minute.

"There... Is it okay now?" she asked her.

“It’s okay now. Where are you going?”, Audrey asked in her little, still sleepy voice.

“To the kitchen. I’m thirsty.”, Ice answered while pointing at the door.

“I’ll go with you.”, Audrey said.

Ice nodded. She helped her put her slippers on. Then, they went to the kitchen.

She got a pitcher filled with cold water and a drinking glass. She let Audrey drink first then her. She immediately returned the pitcher inside the refrigerator and went back to their room.

Their house wasn’t that big. It’s just enough for a family with four members and two dogs to live.

They passed by the living room and managed to make their way through the dark and finally entered their room.

They noticed the balcony door was open. The cold wind blew and the coldness of the air made their shiver. It got them cold. Ice carried Audrey and put her down to her bed.

The curtains were observably blown softly by the cold wind. She closed the door and suddenly, something banged in one of the objects inside their room. It came from their cabinet.

Both her and Audrey were shocked. They looked at their cabinet and they saw its door opening. Audrey was almost crying and Ice couldn’t bare the scene of her sister crying in fear. She quickly approached it then suddenly, Audrey screamed as a man with large wings went out of the cabinet.

Audrey stopped screaming and got amazed instead.

"Ice, there’s an angel!", Audrey shouted to Ice out of full amazement.

Ice was nailed to her position. She also couldn’t speak out of shock.

The man landed beside Audrey and acted as if he was going to take her.

She snapped out of her head and shouted at the boy.

"Hey! Where are you taking my sister?!", I shouted then quickly ran to Audrey.

The man looked at me and whistled loudly.

Ice didn’t know what that mean and so does Audrey so they both hugged each other tighter.

Another man with a large pair of wings went inside their room through the balcony door. The man who just whistled quickly took Audrey and the other one took Ice.

They flew while holding their hand. They felt like their weight was gone as if they were never heavy and there was no such thing as “gravity”.

"Let us go! Where are you taking us?! Get us back to our family! This is kidnapping! You both would be arrested for this!", Ice shouted on air to the man taking her.

He looked at her then said, "Shhh sleep first."

He sprinkled something on her face and the man taking her sister did it to Audrey as well.

“Audrey!”, Ice called out to her sister while shaking her head almost violently to remove the sparkly things on her face. Before she could calm down, she began to slowly close her eyes and fall asleep.

---

She woke up to a room.

It looks fine and great there but she felt so wrong about everything.

She felt uneasy.

“Is this a dream? Am I dreaming?”, she asked herself.

She felt something moved beside her... She quickly froze.

She looked at it slowly.

She sighed as soon as she knew it was Audrey.

"Audrey? Audrey. Come here quick.", I commanded.

"Ice, where are we? Have we been here before?", Audrey asked to her.

She said no. She doesn’t really know anything. As in, no clues. No hints. This is all new to her.

She tried to get up but she just fell down. She feels dizzy like a baby who just learned how to stand up and still falls down.

She was about to explore the place when the same boy walked in the room. It was the same boy that first saw them and took them there.

"Hey, you! Yes, you! Where did you bring us?! Why are we here?! Answer me right or I’ll punch you right!", Ice shouted at the man whilst approaching him and raising up her clenched fist to scare him.

"I'm Troy. Calm down, Miss Ice. We're not gonna hurt you and your sister. We're fairies. We brought you here because you saw us and to obey the rules of our world, we need to bring you both here.", Troy explained.

“Fairies?! Gosh! I'm too old for this magic thing!”, Ice shouted with her hands on her waist.

She looked around and spoke again.

"Okay, alright. Get out now, guys. I already had a good laugh on this one...", Ice said, convincing herself that this is all just a prank.

Troy looked at her like she was a complete idiot.

"Wait, you're all joking, right?", Ice asked to which Troy responded with his head shooking. Ice backed away and went near Audrey.

"Fine. Well, you’re a fairy, right? Why don’t you just erase our memories about all of this and just let us live happily in our world?! Why do you still have to bring us here IMMEDIATELY?! And also, how did you know my name?! ", Ice asked.

Ice was already scared but she didn’t want to show it since she thinks that showing it would be an advantage to the fairy.

"I knew you since the day you were born. Anyone here is assigned to watch kids like you until they reach 20 years old. My duty is to provide happiness to you. And... about that 'erasing-your-memory thing', we can’t do that because our queen is the only one who can do that.”, Troy explained.

Ice felt like she was muted. She can't speak. She just looked at him and it all felt like she knew him before from somewhere.

“Have I already seen him? Do I know him?”, she thought.

"Ice, it looks like he’s a good fairy…”, Audrey said to Ice.

Audrey then approached Troy and held his hand.

“Mr. Troy, can you guide us while exploring here?", Audrey asked, innocently.

"Sure. Let’s bring your sister with you.", said Troy to Audrey while looking at Ice and gesturing her to follow and go with them. "If it’s okay with her.", he continued.

Ice never answered him. She doesn’t want to. She never talks to strangers.

He looked at Ice again then went out and followed them. Outside the room, everything looked so unreal. It was really unbelievable through the eyes of Ice.

She found herself walking by a fairy's side in his own world. The houses were different as well as the surroundings. There were so many trees and plants. It looks like a village in a jungle.

Troy explained to them about their world but Ice wasn’t. She thinks about him with his throat all dried up from talking. She doesn’t really pay attention and cared about Troy. All she ever thought was leaving the place with her sister as soon as possible. She doesn’t want to stay in the world she’s in.

She suddenly remembered that they need the queen to go home so she tried to calm down and be nice to Troy.

"Where’s your queen?", she asked, coughing, whilst trying to be nice to him.

"She just left earlier when both of you arrived here and it looks like you’re both going to be spending a long time here before you can leave. ", Troy explained and smiled as if it’s alright with Ice.

She suddenly lost her temper and her face turned red. She got mad again.

Audrey wrapped her arms to Troy’s leg.

"That’s okay, Mr. Troy! Just make sure to explore us here, okay?", said Audrey.

Ice felt a little betrayed by what she sees… She got even more mad.

"Of course! It’s important to us fairies the smiles of everyone because that makes us more powerful and stronger.", Troy explained again.

Audrey smiled at him. Ice’s conscience began to haunt her and it made her contemplate if she still should do her plan or if she should leave the place.

“But I don't belong here. We don't belong here so we have to leave. We'll leave this place even if it would hurt Audrey. It's for her own good anyways.”, she thought.

"Hi, Troy!”, a fairy greeted Troy and kissed him on his cheek.

“Oh, it looks like you have someone with you. Who are they?", said the unknown fairy.

She landed directly in front of the man.

"Hi, Trixie! These are---", said Troy, interrupted by Ice.

She thought it looks flirtatious.

"Whatever!", Ice said rudely, disgusted by what she’s seeing.

"Nice meeting you, Grumpy.”, said the fairy while wiping off the dirt on Troy’s shoulders.

"Okay, I have to go now. I just checked on you since I heard you’ve arrived. Pay attention to your pet, okay? Or maybe give her food. She looks hungry so that’s maybe why she’s barking at me.", she said, referring to Ice.

"Whatever again, loser! Get lost! No one asked you! You even have the nerve to tell that when you look uglier than me... You look like a beluga for Pete’s sake! You should be submerged in the waters.", Ice responded.

"No, thank you. Do it yourself. You stink anyway.", she said.

Ice laughed sarcastically then looked at Troy and Audrey. They both laughed too.