you've fallen in love with your enemy & other short stories

you're exploring an enchanted winter wonderland

hey it's been a while, hope you're doing well and okay, love u <3

The soft fall of snowflakes decorates your hair like miniature diamonds, you almost feel like a princess swirling around in the soft plush of snow. Your hair feels like delicate waves, your normal attire feeling like a beautiful dress, and your heart. It's enraptured in a place that's most certainly not home.

You smile as you catch snowflakes on your tongue. The winter wonderland almost seeming magical, the trees aglow with a light you've never seen before. The snow looks just a little more pure than it usually does. And the sky, what a marvellous blue.

And then you stop. Your heart telling you what your mind cannot. Perhaps this place truly is magical, perhaps there is some sort of enchantment. You can't really remember how you got here, perhaps you fell through a hole, entered through a magical wardrobe, or maybe stepped into a museum painting. But you're here.

And so you walk. Past the golden leaves where little fairies sit and watch you in childlike wonder, as if you're the most beautiful thing they have ever seen. Past a little bridge where goblins grouch softly but show you the way kindly, as if you were a pesky child, and past an intricately designed gate.

Strangely it's not the fairies or the goblins that enrapture you the most, but the leaves. How beautiful it is that leaves grow in this winter land.

You open the gate to see a whole different world. One where there are no magical creatures, where the winter is cold and uninviting, and one where the trees lay bare and empty, not a leaf in sight.

"Don't go there." A voice says.

You quickly turn back around to see a boy of your own age. Dressed in a white loose shirt, grey rings lace his fingers. He smiles and gently closes the gate. "Stay here," He says. "Trust me you don't want to go there."

"Don't I?" You ask, unsure. You're not sure why, it is home is it not?

"Why don't you stay for a while, and then decide after?" He says.

You look back at the gate, hesitating. And then you look at the majestic world again and nod. It won't hurt to stay a little longer. There's so much left you want to experience.

He grins and starts to run into the woods. Laughing you chase him, his laugh rich and melodious. And eventually you stop.

You talk and laugh and dance in the snow. Until you know him like the back of your hand. He shows you the most beautiful places, castles you never would have dreamed of, sunsets you could only ever imagine, and you meet creatures you had only ever seen in fairy tales.

You want this adventure to last forever. Until you remember the gate. And you remember home. 

You turn back to him forlornly, and as if he knows what you're thinking his brow furrows sadly too. "I guess this is goodbye." He says.

You nod, wondering why you feel so sad about leaving someone you have just met. Perhaps because he has become a friend. Perhaps because of that promise of an unknown future. Or perhaps because there is a chance you will never see him again.

And so you both walk to the gate. And then you ask him a question, a selfish one but one your heart says before your mind can catch up.

"Come with me?" You ask.

He pauses, before smiling at you softly. "I can't, I must go home."You nod, you knew that would be the answer of course, it would be your answer too. And then you freeze, realising what he has said.

"Wait, go home?"

He nods. "Yes, I must go back." He points to the gate. "To the place I stopped you from going into because I thought if you saw your world like I do you'd never want to go there. To a world that could never compare to the beauty and magic of this one."

You laugh, before pointing to the gate. "You silly boy. That's my home too."

He turns to you in surprise, before his eyes light up and his lips curve into a joyous grin. He shakes his head, before holding out his arm for you to take it. "Maybe home is a little more magical than I thought."

You smile. Before you you step through the gate together, leaving your winter wonderland feeling more enchanted than when you first entered it.