Shining light

Chapter 1

Eleanor looked at the clock. It read 18:01. "I'd better hurry down for dinner," she thought. She went out of her room and started walking down the stairs. All the kids at the orphanage were running down the stairs to get to the dining hall.

"Oh, Eleanor. Are you still here? I forgot you even existed," shouted Abby, the orphanage's biggest bully who had a particular interest in making Eleanor's life a living hell. The other kids on the stairs laughed as Abby pushed Eleanor into the banister on her way down the stairs.

"You are such a weirdo, always running off into the forest. Do you think you are some kind of nature freak? Why don't you just disappear? Nobody wants you here," Abby taunted. The laughter continued. Eleanor froze in her steps.

"You are so plain and forgettable. No one will ever find you attractive or want to adopt you. Just leave now to save yourself the embarrassment," Betty laughed. Betty was Abby's best friend and an even bigger bully than Abby herself. Betty laughed loudly as she ran past Eleanor.

Eleanor, still frozen, watched as everyone ran past her, laughing, until she was all alone on the stairs. Tears started to roll down her cheeks. "Forget this. Forget everyone. I didn't want to eat dinner anyway," she muttered to herself.

Eleanor started running down the stairs. As she ran through the dining hall, the laughter increased. "Oh no, the baby's crying. Better run home to mommy. Oh wait, she doesn't want you either," Abby jeered. The laughter intensified as Eleanor maneuvered herself through the people, tables, and chairs.

"Eleanor! Stop running! If you leave now, you will not be allowed to get any food tonight!" Dorothy shouted strictly. Dorothy was the headmistress at the orphanage, and she had made it clear to Eleanor on multiple occasions that she had had enough of her always running off into the forest. If she could have thrown Eleanor out of the orphanage, she would have already.

Eleanor ran out of the front door of the orphanage and started running in the direction of the forest. "If Emily were still here, she would not have let them bully me. I wish she were still here," she thought to herself.

Eleanor often thought back to the time before her best friend Emily had been adopted. They would spend every moment they could together. They loved spending time in the forest, playing hide and seek, tag, and just enjoying nature and the animals together. Life at the orphanage had been good, but then everything changed when Emily got adopted. Emily never contacted her again, and Eleanor was all alone. Eleanor then started to close herself off, and she became an easy bullying target for the younger kids.

As she ran and her tempo started to increase, her thoughts started to scatter and dissolve into the rhythmic pounding of her footsteps. The worries and insecurities that once consumed her mind began to fade away, replaced by a growing sense of peace and freedom. With each step, she started to feel more and more like herself.

She ran past her favorite spot in the forest. It was a little clearing where the sun could shine down and embrace her. She loved sitting there on the mossy ground, which almost felt like a bed. It was her own little sanctuary where she could relax and enjoy nature. She would always stop there, but not today.

Today she ran past it. Today she had no destination in mind. Today she just wanted to escape from her life, so she kept on running. Her surroundings slowly started to become more and more unfamiliar to her as she ran further and further away. She didn't even know that the forest was this large. The sun started to set, but she did not want to go back, so she kept running.

It started to get darker and darker, and it was getting harder to see. There was a clearing up ahead where there was a bit more light. She decided to take a break there to gather her thoughts. Breathing heavily, she sat down under a tree.

"What should I do now?" she thought to herself. She did not want to go back to live in a place where she was clearly not welcome. She longed for something more.

"Maybe I'm just going to start living in the forest." she shook her head, as she would most likely end up dying from starvation.

"I wish I had a loving family," she thought and sighed.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, an oval-shaped purple light materialized itself. The purple light pulsed and danced in the oval shape. As she stood up and slowly approached it, the surface became more and more transparent, allowing her to see another world beyond.

"It's a portal," she gasped. Eleanor's eyes widened as she looked through the portal. She saw a bedroom with an aura of elegance. Beautiful tapestries, a high ceiling, exquisite paintings, a majestic fireplace, and high-class antique furniture. The bedroom looked like something straight out of an old fairytale. Eleanor had never seen anything like it before, but it strangely seemed very familiar to her.

The portal drew her closer, so close she could touch it if she wanted to. She curiously moved her head around to try to see as much of the room as she could. She half expected there to be someone in the room, but she couldn't see anyone.

Summoning her courage, she poked the portal. It felt like touching water, and the whole portal started to ripple. The ripple slowly died out, and she could see the beautiful fairytale room again.

"What the hell do I have to lose?" she thought as she took the last step and went through the portal.