The girl was born into a quiet life, kept safely from the outside world. Snow fell, but the room was warm and welcoming. Mother tucked her in the crook of her arm and Father kept watch over her while she slept. They loved her with all of their hearts.
Her face was bright. Her laugh lightened the mood when the skies were grey. Her hazel eyes were filled with wonder. She marveled everything around her, because there was always something new to see.
As you might expect, she grew. She grew to love learning and seeing new things. She saw the light in everything around her.
The girl loved nature. She would play for hours in the yard. Her best friends were a tiger and a rock. The rock was round and smooth. She always carried it with her for luck. The tiger was fuzzy and a lovely hue of orange. She would guard the girl's bed while she slept. The girl loved sitting with them and having afternoon tea. She liked to pretend she was the good witch of the south, Glinda, from The Wizard of Oz. They would sit with her while she looked for magic everywhere she could.
Magic, the girl found, was in objects called books. The leather bound covers and scent of the pages were enchanting. Father had a vast collection of them. By the ripe age of five, Mother started to read them to her. They started with simple children's books, but quickly moved on to Tarzan, Sherlock Holmes, The Time Machine, and many more.
She loved the adventures in her books. She would read stories over and over until Mother gave her a new book. She particularly liked the Sherlock Holmes stories. She read about his adventures and came to love them very much.
When she began school, she began to perceive the deeper parts of her stories. The good and the bad, starting to form not only in stories, but in the characters of her classmates. The good, her friends, a few teachers, and family. The bad, the children who picked on her for being too quiet or too smart and that one teacher that had would yell. She despised yelling.
Her school life wasn't easy. She was often bullied by the other girls, her friends began to slowly drift away. They either moved or went on their own path. So, the girl was left alone with her books and stories.
When the girl was ten, she told herself that she would become the people she read about in her books. She wanted to be courageous, intelligent, and above all, kind and independent. Most of the girls at school always had someone do their work for them and they were so nasty to each other. She told herself, no matter how long it took, she would go on an adventure and, just maybe, become the hero.
