The pixie's long fingers curled towards herself as she backed away into the shadows of the forest, beckoning Pepper towards them. Pepper could only see the faint violet of her hair and a face danced upon with patterns of leaves. She knew there was something wrong with this, some reason she shouldn't follow the little pixie girl. Yet it was so enticing - all she wanted was to step forwards.
The minute Pepper's foot lifted off the ground the pixie laughed, her lacelike wings beating furiously against the night time wind. "You stupid girl," She spat as she raked her clawed fingers against Pepper's cheek.
Pepper shot upright in her bed, damp and panting. She dragged her hand across her eyes and flattened it against her cheek. Just a dream. It was just a dream. As she shifted to untangled herself from her knotted bedsheets something heavy thudded against the wooden floor boards.
"What the-" Pepper bent over and picked up the object - a book. A book with a tiny pixie hovering against the cover, as if all she wanted was to escape from the drawing itself. "Jeez, I must've fallen asleep reading again."
"Pepper!" A loud shout came from outside her closed door making her jump and fall flat out of her bed.
Pulling her arm out from under herself she silently cursed her mother. Of course she would wake her up like that. Her mother never tried to be sweet and caring like the parents in Pepper's novels. It was always up and go with Kristen Thaice. "Yeah, yeah, I'm up mom,"
The door slammed open and Pepper's mother marched in with a tall woman, draped in a velvet green coat, tailing her. "Now now Peppy dear, why is it I'm always walking in on you and the floor?"
Pepper shot her eyes skywards, "No one calls me 'Peppy', Aunt Darla. It's not my name. Pepper is." Slowly she started untangling herself from her blankets, struggling to get up off the floor.
Darla's face paled. She was the kind of woman who expected people to kneel down when she walked in, to be awed and honoured when in her presence. Let alone being addressed to. "Well, Pepper, I just wanted to say hi-"
"And you couldn't wait untill I - I don't know - got dressed maybe?" Pepper walked over to her desk and slammed her book down, "Actually, now that I mention it, do you think you could get out so I actually can get dressed?"
Kirsten shot her daughter a look that could injure, "Pepper!-"
"No, no, Kristen honey you're daughter is right. I should have waited until she came down herself." Darla shrugged off her heavy velvet coat, "Mind showing me where I'll be staying tonight?" Her voice was tight.
The minute the two left the room Pepper stalked over to her door and shut it as hard as she could. Damn her mother. Damn her Aunt. Darla expected Pepper to be like all the other niece's and nephew's. Oh take me to Paris next Aunty! Oh no take me to Brazil Aunty! Screw them all. Why couldn't Darla pay attention to the ones who wanted it? Why was she always focusing on Pepper? All Pepper wanted was to hide away in her room and disappear into her books.
They'd all be coming soon though, her cousins, Aunts and Uncles. She'd be sharing a room with her cousin Lucy, who needed a humidifier to sleep. The sound had never bothered Pepper much, but it was the humidity it let off which curled her books and left them wrinkled.
Most kids loved Christmas, but all Pepper ever wanted was to not have to deal with the family. She didn't care about the presents, she just wanted them out of her house. She wanted herself out of her mothers radar again, and she wanted in to her land of imagination.
