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Hey everyone! This is a personal story I wrote with some help from my friend @RukaP. It's about a princess who has trouble finding her little feelings, which is something I’ve struggled a lot with in the past. I hope that this tale helps all the other princesses and princes out there, who might need it. This story isn't up on Patreon yet, because I'm still doing final edits and stuff. But I'll have it up there in a few days. As always, thanks for reading! ~Sophie -------------------- A Magical Place By: Sophie Prologue: I closed my bedroom door with a sigh, rubbing the sides of my head with my palms. It had been a long day. An exhausting day. ‘Like every other day of my life’ I thought. I sat down on the edge of my bed and looked around my room. Next to the door, a bulletin board was littered with push-pins and post-it notes. To do lists. Reminders. Stuff like that. Beneath it, my piles of clothes were carelessly strewn about the top of my dresser. I should have put those away days ago. But the windows on the far wall were black and empty; clouds hid the stars. I had to get to bed soon. I changed out of my day dress and into a long grey shirt; this was the only time I didn’t have to look my best. Then I peeled the cold sheets away from my mattress and climbed into bed. As I laid there, staring up at the ceiling, I counted the hours. In ten, I would need to be dressed for the council meeting. In eight, I would need to eat a quick breakfast of eggs and toast. In six, I would need to wake up. Until then, I was alone. Alone for six hours. My thoughts drifted to warm summer nights, years ago. My friends and I would make up songs and put on concerts in the town square. I stayed out until sundown catching frogs by the river. And when I finally crawled into bed, my teddy bear and I would exchange stories until I had fallen asleep. I never could find solace in solitude. Rather, on nights like this, I would feel a rising fear in my chest. Like something could come out of the dark and snatch me up. It would rip me away from this kingdom like an old patch. But there were no monsters in the dark. Every adult knew that. I looked up at the teddy bear from ten years ago, sitting on a high shelf in the corner of my room. With a quiet sigh in a quiet room, I closed my eyes and urged myself to sleep. A sharp sound snapped me back into the waking world. A loud bang, without an echo, like a ruler on a student’s desk. But as I searched the room in a panic, I didn’t find a ruler or a desk. I found a woman. “Sorry about that,” she whispered in the darkness. “I didn’t mean to wake you.” She had a lit candleholder in her hands, and warm light flickered across her face. Beautiful bright eyes. A cautious smile. And she was dressed in a maid’s uniform. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes with annoyance. “What are you doing in here? It’s the middle of the night.” How long had it been since I’d fallen asleep? A minute? An hour? I hoped I could fall back asleep after all this… “I’m just getting something,” she said, and began rummaging through the chest at the foot of my bed. I took in a sharp breath and balled my hands at my sides. “Excuse you!” I said harshly, breaking the pattern of whispers. “This is my bedroom! That’s my stuff! Are you new here or something? Don’t you know who I am?” “You’re the princess,” the woman said plainly. Then she pulled a small pacifier out of the box and slid it into her pocket. “There we go.” “That’s not yours,” I said sharply. Though it was hardly mine anymore, either. Something from a long time ago, when I was very little. “Are you still using it?” the woman asked with a little laugh. “No, but…” But just seeing it hit me with a wave of nostalgia, like someone had punched me in the stomach. All those memories came trickled back. Building sand castles at the beach. Tea parties with imaginary tea. Pretending to be super heroes. “Hm?” The woman tilted her head and caught my eye. “Are you alright?” “I’m fine.” But I didn’t feel fine. This late at night, I never felt fine. Why did she have to wake me up? Couldn’t she wait until morning to get some old pacifier from my room? “You seem a little lost,” she said to me, sitting on the edge of my bed. I gave her a look of confusion. I’d never had a maid sit on my bed before, in the twenty-odd years I’d been living in this castle. There was a clear dichotomy between a princess and her help. But the woman sat down so effortlessly… “Who are you?” I nervously asked. An assassin? A robber? Or just one of the villagers trying to take my stuff? “A princess, like you,” she said brightly. “I’m Rachel.” Princess Rachel… it didn’t ring a bell. But the way she spoke and smiled, I knew she had some formal training. “And why are you in my room?” I asked. “I told you. I was getting something.” “My old pacifier?” “Yep!” “Why?” “Because I don’t have one.” …she wasn’t making any sense. “You seem to have a really busy life,” Rachel said, glancing around my room at the stacks of papers on my nightstand. I had to read through them before the weekend. “That’s the life of a princess,” I sighed. “Meetings, papers, ceremonies… the work never ends.” “Sounds awful…” “Yeah. But that’s just how the world is.” “Well,” she answered, “it doesn’t have to be.” I looked at Rachel as she stood up, smiling down at me with mischief in her eyes. “There’s another place. A lovely, safe, adorable place. Warm… inviting. Soft… beautiful. Free of fear and shame and guilt.” The way she spoke about it… it was almost entrancing. “A place like that doesn’t exist,” I told her, though I was no expert on geography or world travel. Maybe it did. Wouldn’t that be a dream come true… “It does,” she assured me, “but only magical princesses get to see it.” “Well, I’m a princess,” I said, “but magic isn’t real.” “Oh,” Rachel sounded almost disappointed in my answer. But she nodded her head all the same. “Well… then I’ll have to keep looking.” She took a few steps toward the door and I felt a flurry of emotions. A place where everything was warm and soft? A place that was inviting and safe? It couldn’t actually exist. But I needed it to. I needed to be away from these awful feelings. I needed to stop being afraid. “Wait!” Rachel’s hand was barely on the doorknob when I called out to her. She turned to look at me with confusion and I sulked into my bed with blushing cheeks. I couldn’t believe I was actually going along with this, but… “Tell me more… um… about this place.” With a smile, Rachel returned to my bed and patted me softly on the top of the head. “Of course.” -------------------- Like & Comment! 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