Lost Girl

Time

A gentle snow blankets the rooftops in a pure white cloak. The clock tower in the distance ticks in an unfailing rhythm, counting down the minutes until the new year.
I sit in my bed, silent as can be, watching the dim lights of London sparkles against the night sky. The gentle breaths of my sleeping brother's live as a constant reminder that I too should be asleep, for responsible young ladies sleep when their work is done so they can rise early to work again.
Four minutes until the new year. The year in which I will turn seventeen. The year in which my mother has insisted I move out of the nursery where my brothers sleep. The year in which I must grow up and put aside childish things.
Lying limp in my hands is the rag doll that had been my dearest possession as long as I can remember. Mother puts her in my chest every day, chiding me for still sleeping with her, but I can't bear to see her stuffed away in a stingy old chest to be frozen in a loveless life with no children to play with her.
Three minutes until the new year.
I slip out of bed, careful to be perfectly silent as I glide across the room to a bookshelf lined with children's stories. Cold air slithers around me like a snake but I don't mind it. I don't mind the way it makes my long black curls sway like a curtain. I don't mind how it forms small bumps on my skin. It reminded me that even though it's cold, there are always warmer places to go.
The spine of my favorite book stocks out a little further than the rest. The story of Captian Hook and his journeys across oceans to find his sworn enemy. He's my only hope that those who do grow up have the chance to still live and adventure.
Two minutes until midnight. I move to the window, placing a hand on the cold glass. How I wish I could be free. As the hands on the clock move, I feel as if my fate of adulthood is being walked down the isle of life to me, to be forever tied and bound together in unity, in misery, in eternity. "Pleas stop." I whisper, leaning closer to the window. "Don't strike midnight."
A very curious thing happens. My plea, whispered into the night dissipates like any other sound. But the hands on the clock stop moving. My heart skips a beat and disbelief parts my lips. I fling the windows of my second story bedroom open and step onto the ledge , clinging to the open window. Time has stopped! "This can't be." I whisper, looking over my shoulder to be sure my brothers still sleep. Peaceful, still wrapped in the warmth and safety of childhood, they sleep.
The snow stops. I don't mean to say that snow is no longer in the sky, I mean to say that it freezes in place. A dog below freezes mid step, and the breaths of my brothers also stop. I, however, am not frozen. I still move, I still breathe. I am weightless in the absence of time.
"You are not a boy." A deep and lazy voice greets me, from where I do not know. I look all around until I see the tips of brown leather boots hanging above my head. A Boy, not much older than me sits on the roof, his arms crossed and a carefree smile pasted to his face. Dirt is smudged across his cheeks.
"That's right." I answer finally. "I am very much a girl."
He leaps from the roof. I gasp, expecting to see him tumble helplessly to the ground. Instead of a fatal fall, I watch as he hovers in the air, arms still crossed. "Is there a difference between a 'girl' and 'very much a girl'?"
I smile a bit despite my surprise and shake my head. "I suppose not."
"Well when I heard you ask for time to stop I was expecting a boy for that is a courageous request. But here you are, 'very much a girl'." He joins me on the ledge and peers in, seeing my brothers sound asleep. "It was you who called, was it not?"
"Well I-" I almost explain that I honestly didn't call a dirty flying boy to my bedroom window, but something like intrigue sparks in my person and I decide to see what he says if I admit to it. "I did call you, yes."
A rowdy grin stretches over his face. "I don't normally rescue girls, but there is a first for everything." He holds out his hand and returns to floating in the air.
I take it.