Her name was Jenny. She was a ordinary girl for the most part. She never stood out in the crowd and most days she was overlooked. She never wanted to stand out though. She preferred the solitary life, where she attended school unnoticed. Then returned home where she found solace in writing about the life she wish she had. Something magical happened when she wrote though. She didn’t just write a story but became the story. She could write herself into any place and time. She had been able to do it ever since she was able to pick up a pen. Jenny’s parents had skipped out on her when she was only 6, right after little brother Michael had gone missing. They never found him, and most everyone believed that they never would. So she lived with her aunt in a tiny house on the lower part of New Orleans and most days her aunt never noticed her comings or goings. The great thing about it though is while she was away in her story, time passed slowly in reality. So she was able to go wherever she wanted whenever she wanted, and not worry too much about missing anything.
Today though was a dreary day, a hurricane was on the move and most everyone was leaving town but Jenny wasn’t worried. The levy’s would hold back the water just like they always did. So she turned the lights off, sat down at her desk and lit a candle. She listened to the wind beat against the windows and watched the shadow of the rain trickle down the wall. She wasn’t sure where she was going today, but she felt like going somewhere beautiful, and magical. Some place sunny where she could rest her mind. So she began to write, and as she wrote her pen became her thoughts. She closed her eyes and when she opened them she was in the middle of a field of daisies. The light of the sun fell perfectly on her face. She closed her eyes taking it all in. Smiling as the daisies came up off their stems and danced around her, singing her favorite song as they swayed. She danced with them, spinning in circles in her yellow sun dress before falling to the ground laughing along with the flowers. She leaned back and looked up into the sky, as the clouds began to form into shapes. The billowing white clouds came together forming a herd of horses, and the crash of thunder rang in her ears as they raced across the sky. Then silently she closed her eyes and within minutes drifted off to sleep.
When she woke up the everything was just as she had left it. Perfect. She yawned and stretched out looking around wondering what she could think up next. Then suddenly something happened she didn’t understand. Something she didn’t write.
There, 20 yards ahead of her was a large White Tiger. She stood there, frozen. Unsure of what to do. Never had something come into her writing that she had not thought up. As much as she wanted to be afraid, she couldn’t. She only felt peace and then suddenly and overwhelming sense of curiousity. She began to walk towards the Tiger as if in a trance. The sun reflected brightly against its white fur and she stopped shielding her eyes. Then out from behind the Tiger stepped a small boy, she couldn’t’ make out his face against the light of the Tiger, but as the boy stepped out in front of the lion she gasped. “Hello Jenny” the boy voice was soft and sweet like a melody. Jenny fell to her knees, as he walked toward her. Tears instantly pouring down her face then disappearing before they hit the ground. She reached up her hand and cupped the side of his face “How are you here Michael?” she whispered. She had tried to write Michael into her stories many times but could never remember exactly how he looked. His face gleamed with beauty, everything about him was more beautiful then she remembered. Even his once brown eyes were dancing in a mixture of green and blue. “We have come to take you home Jenny” he replied grabbing hand and pulling her to her feet. “We?” she asked , searching her brain for any excuse to why this might me happening. He pulled her towards the white tiger who stood exactly in the same spot as before. “Yes, Rapha and I have come to take you home” he exclaimed. Jenny came to a stop only a few feet from the Tiger. It’s eyes stared into her. They were soft eyes though, and when he looked at her she couldn’t help but feel complete, and as if the Tiger were looking at her in adoration. “Come now Jenny” the tigers voice sent a shudder through her body and it filled the air around her like a song. It was neither the voice of a woman or a man but something she had never heard or explain. Something she could of never thought to write. “I am home, I mean..I was, and then I came here…” but before Jenny could finish everything disappeared around her and all she was standing outside her house in New Orleans. The rain pelted against her house and the wind blew around her but she didn’t move or get wet. That’s when she saw it, a huge wave of water coming towards her and her house. She tried to run but couldn’t and watched in horror as the rushing water flew past her and through her house, and when the water settled her house was gone, the water had taken it without hesitation.
Before she could blink she was back in the field. She stood there in silence. “The levy’s broke, while I was away...they said that wouldn't happen...” she whispered staring at ground. Then she felt the hand of her 4 year old brother fill her own, and he looked up and whispered “Let’s go home.” The sadness of what she had just seen vanished the instant he touched her. She turned grabbing her little brother and hugged him. Crying as she did. She was so overwhelmed with joy, and happiness and love that she completly forgot about everything back home. Then they both walked hand and hand into eternity with Rapha.
