𝐼𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐸𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑎 𝐿𝑖𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑦

~𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑇𝑒𝑛~

She wasn’t wearing new clothes this time, and her body had a fuzzy white outline.

Walking closer to the tree, Madelyn saw two girls sitting under it. A toddler was sitting on the other girl's lap who was a little older. They were smiling and reading a big brown book.

Madelyn came even closer, but the girls took no notice of her. She leaned forward to see what they were reading. The girls flipped the page, and the title was “CINDERELLA”.

“So, they like fairy tales huh? I have a feeling that'll be important later.” Madelyn thought out loud, writing in her notebook.

In the distance Madelyn heard someone call two names, but the voice was muffled.

“Daniella! Minnie!”

“Coming!” they replied standing up, their voices also muffled.

The two began running and the world faded to white. Soon the color returned, and Daniella and Minnie were much older. They were sitting in the same position, reading, and they were wearing beautiful pink dresses.

The girl on the others lap held a stick to resemble a wand and was wearing a flower crown made of pink tulips and white lilies.

Again, everything faded away and the next time it focused, an even older girl with long hair was sitting under the tree, alone, who Madelyn assumed was Daniella.

Madelyn bent down to look at the front of the book. “THE LITTLE MERMAID”

“Oh, I loved that one.”

After a moment Daniella stood up and began slowly walking away, leaving the book on the grass.

Madelyn reached to pick up the book, but it passed through her hand. She had to get on her knees to read the page.

She only caught a glimpse of the first couple words before the world faded away again. It returned and she found herself inside a bathroom, with Daniella looking at herself in the mirror. She looked just like a princess.

One last time, the world faded into a blank white space and the ghost version of Daniella appeared next to Madelyn.

“What happened? Why did the scene keep changing?” Madelyn asked Daniella.

“It was to cover the main points of my life.” She replied. “My sister and I would always read fairy tales and she would tell me I was like a real princess. She moved out years later and I made a promise I would become a princess, but I took it too literally. I had long hair like Rapunzel, I was pale like Snow White, I worked hard around the house like Cinderella, I was only missing Ariel’s feature. I wasn’t a red head, not a mermaid, so I had to do the only thing left. What do you think it is?”

“Remove your voice? That’s impossible.”

“Not if I find another way.”

Madelyn stared at her, puzzled.

Daniella dragged her finger across her neck.

Madelyn's eyes widened. “No way-”

“Yes way. I was a little crazy back then.”

“But why?! That’s insane.”

“I didn’t realize that at the time. Now I understand all my mistakes.”

The white space peeled away and the two were back in the library. As they were walking down the stairs, Daniella advised Madelyn to talk to Isabel to make things right. Madelyn noticed Isabel walking up and down book aisles.

“Hey, so, look. I’m sorry if I made you upset, I should have asked you for permission first.” She apologized.

Isabel paused. “I appreciate your apology. But remember that even though you are allowed here, we still are in charge and decide what you can or cannot do, alright?”

“What’s wrong with me bring my friend? He didn’t see any of you yesterday so it’s fine.” Madelyn protested.

“You can be with him outside of the library. I don’t know him so I can’t decide if I can trust him.”

“But you trust me. What difference does one person make?”

“I just want you to know about us. You seemed like a trustworthy person and let’s leave it at that, I don’t want to start another argument.”

Madelyn sighed. “Fine. So, are we cool now? Can we continue writing tomorrow?”

“Yes. You’re going to have to do it for multiple of us per day now since the anniversary is approaching soon.”

"I’ll see you tomorrow then. Bye”

“Have a good evening.”

The ghosts sprang into action to put spells on the stairs, close the curtains and turn the library into the usual seemingly abandoned place.

~~~

Four o’clock once again the next day. Madelyn knew she would have a difficult evening at the library having to record a couple of different stories.

Iden was the first to run up to her. After waiting for about a week he could finally show Madelyn his past life. Many other ghosts approached Madelyn to ask if she could help them afterwards. Of course, Madelyn agreed.

Right as Madelyn and Iden were preparing to start the pastway, Isabel pulled Madelyn away to meet other spirits and Iden waited. Frustrated, but waited.

She soon came back, and Iden couldn’t contain his excitement any longer. “Ready?” He asked, holding her arm.

“Ready.” Madelyn responded, and the usual dizziness and flash of bright light occurred.