By Luciana Liu

            Searing pain flooded through my body moments before I fell through the sky, helplessly grabbing at the air. My heart raced, as the world seemed to pass by in slow motion. I closed my eyes as I braced myself for when I would inevitably hit the ground.

            Winter watched from the top of the castle, as she saw her older sister fall through the air. She smirked as she saw her sister disappear into the dense cluster of trees far below.

            Ringing filled my ears as I regained my consciousness. I tried moving, but my whole body screamed in pain. Broken tree branches littered the ground around me, covering the ground with millions of tiny spruce needles. I gasped for air, but it was no use, my lungs felt like they were on fire. Is this how I die? I just die like that? How pathetic. What would mom say? Oh wait...she also wanted me dead. I guess this is a win-win for everyone. Winter can inherit the throne, and Mom wouldn't have to live with a disappointment like me. But what about me? Where is my happy ending?

            "You killed her right?" Queen Frost demanded. Winter nodded.

            "Of course I did! You really think I wouldn't follow through? I'm not a coward like my sister!" Winter shouted; she was done with always being in her sister's shadow.

            "Good. I always knew you could do it."

            "What are we going to say happened to Aurora? I mean if people find out that I killed my sister that would damage my reputation!"

            "Don't worry, darling. I already have it covered. We'll just say one of the servants pushed her, and that they will be receiving the death sentence. It will garner us plenty of sympathy and keep any of the servants from talking."

            I awoke to a persistent tapping on my arm. It must be a little critter. The pecking became more persistent. This creature was really starting to annoy me, so I opened my eyes to a little fairy smacking my arm with a miniature twig. "Shooh!" I yelled. The fairy nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of my voice, but she didn't budge, she just kept staring at me. "Look here, let me die in peace. I've already had it rough enough!" Why did everyone always have to bother me even on my deathbed?

            "But you're not going to die," the fairy replied. I studied her face. I couldn't figure out if she was dead serious or was just trying to make me feel better. "Look," she continued, "I healed you right up." This fairy is a wacko. Hmm. Now that I think about it, my body doesn't hurt as much as it did five minutes ago.

            "Woah! You actually healed me!" I gasped in disbelief, jolting upright.

            "You bet!", the fairy replied, a smile on her face, but then that smile quickly vanished. "Look," the fairy said sternly, "You should have died, but I gave you a second chance at life. The universe will suffer imbalances, if you don't do something to even out what I have done for you."

            I sighed. "What do I have to do?" I mean how bad could it be?

            Turns out it's really bad. This crazy fairy just told me that I have to save the universe all by myself! You hear this?! The whole entire universe! She doesn't even give me any guidelines or anything! She just shows up and says, it turns out your mom is really evil (you think I wouldn't know that! She told my sister to kill me!) and she stole these special magical flowers from the Dream Dimension and hid them in random dimensions, so now the whole world is going to end. Then, she tells me I have to risk my life again and retrieve these magical flowers, so I can return them to the Gateway to Dreams or something.

            "Hello? Are you even listening to me?" the fairy fumed.

            "Huh? Oh yeah, sorry. It's just that my head still really hurts.

            "Well we don't have time for that. I need to send you on your journey as soon as possible."

            "Wait a second. If you're so powerful, why don't you just retrieve the magical flowers yourself?"

            "Ugh. Like I told you, there will be imbalances in the universe, so YOU must do it, not me."

            "Well, that's dumb. I think you're just lazy." The fairy immediately grew as red as a tomato, crossing her arms like she was a little toddler.

            "You know, that's it I'm done helping you." With that, the ground caved in beneath me, bringing me down with it. Ugh. Fairies and their tempers.

            "What do you mean her body is gone?" Queen Frost shouted, spitting out the wine she had been lazily sipping away on. The Queen's advisor cowered away in fear. She did not want to be the next one to die.

            "That's...that's impossible!" Winter cried, "I saw her die with my own two eyes! Mother, she is lying! She is lying! Would you really believe this snake over your own daughter?"

            "You are right! Guards, take my advisor away!", the Queen commanded. The Queen's advisor cried out in fear as a stocky guard dragged her across the cold, icy ground. "Next time do your job properly, you incompetent imbecile!" the Queen cackled. Winter gulped in fear as the advisor was yanked out of the throne room, her cries of mercy echoing throughout the icy castle.

 Winter thought worriedly, "What if Aurora is really alive? What will Mom do to me if she is?

            "AWWWWWWWW!!!", I screamed as I fell through the dark void for what felt like an eternity. Splash! Crash! I fell into some kind of weird water-like slime. It's cold tentacles wrapped around my body, sticking to my legs like glue. I looked around in a frenzy. Where has this crazy fairy sent me? Based on a quick scan of the room, I deduced that the whole area was made of weird water-like slime, even the sky. For some odd reason, the slime didn't fall from the sky, it just kind of stayed in place, as if it was cemented there. That's weird. I saw a gazillion reflections of myself staring right back at me, but they were somehow all different. It seemed like they were their own people, not just my reflection. I reached out and I touched one of them, which created a cascade of ripples on its silky-smooth surface. I looked around some more, and that's when I saw it. Perched on a pedestal, about twenty feet in front of me, sat a flower that shone brightly. It too looked like it was made of that water-like slime, but it seemed almost like its own breed of silvery glass. Each petal was curled out almost as if a blacksmith had carefully molded it from a piece of metal. "That must be one of the magical flowers," I whispered, as I started toward it. Glip! Glump! I couldn't move. When I tried again, the slime seemed to yank me back, as if it was consuming me. "What's happening!" I cried as the slime started to undulate around me. In a panic, I attempted to make a run for it, but the slime yanked me back even more, its tentacles latching onto every inch of my body. Glump! Glump! I froze. Something was right behind me, and it wasn't slime.

I slowly turned around to find one of my reflections, yanking my arm back, submerging it into the icky substance. "AWWWW!" I shrieked as my reflection started to emerge out of the substance, a sick smile strewn across its face, this time jerking my arm violently. My heart raced as more of my reflections rose out of the slime, grabbing at me with their slimy fingers. The more I tried to fight them off, the more they pulled me into the depths of the cold slime. Wait a second. Maybe if I don't fight back they won't fight me. Before I could get more unnerved by my creepy reflections, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Glip! When I carefully opened my eyes, I was surprised to see that my reflections had sunk back into the slime. Don't get too excited, Aurora. I carefully inched toward the glowing metallic flower. When I got within a foot of the flower, I quickly dove for it, snatching it off of the pedestal. As soon as I touched it, everything went pitch black.

            "What do you mean one of the dream flowers is missing!", Queen Frost roared.

            "Your Majesty, please calm down, it's not good for your health!" the royal messenger cried.

            "Calm down? You are really telling me to calm down?" the Queen questioned angrily, "I have reason to believe that my daughter is still alive and might come back to take revenge on us all! Also, Winter, I thought you said you finished her off?"

            Winter stammered, "I did...I really did! I don't know how she didn't die from that fall, it was at least a thousand-foot drop!"

            "Well, you need to finish her off for real this time! Don't you dare disappoint me!"

Winter clenched her fists. "Don't worry, Mother, II won't."

            Vroop! I felt like I had been sucked into a vacuum, as I spiraled down into a world made entirely of wrinkly blueish purple paper. I fell with a hard thud as I crashed into a heap of ripped paper. "Why do I have to always fall from high places?" I groaned as I picked myself up and surveyed my surroundings, tucking the metallic flower in my dress pocket at the same time. Now where is the next magical flower? I craned my neck to look around. "Aha! There it is!" I said eagerly, setting my eyes on a watercolor bluish lavender paper flower that was nestled on top of a ginormous paper cloud cutout. Now the big question is, how do I get it? The cloud was at least two stories above me and was well out of my reach. That's when it came to me. The paper walls and floors had musical notes on them! You are probably wondering how that helps in my situation, but from what I have learned, so far nothing is as it seems here. Sure enough, I was right. I carefully watched as the music notes started coming out of the paper, floating about aimlessly. They seemed big enough to climb on, so I sprinted towards the closest one and hopped on. With my arms firmly wrapped around its neck, I readied myself to jump onto the next one. I was able to easily hop on to the next one and the next, until I was one musical note away from the flower. I held my breath. The next gap was pretty far, and if I missed, I would surely go falling to my death, except this time I would have no second chances. "One, two, three!" I cried as I leaped for the musical note, my arms outstretched. My heart stopped.

 The world seemed to slow as my hand nearly missed the note. "AWWW!" I shrieked as I dangled precariously from the note. Using all of my strength, I slowly grappled my way onto the note, despite the immense pain in my limbs. "Phew! That was a close one!" I sighed, as I reached for the delicate paper flower. Just as before, the world seemed to spin as soon as my skin grazed the flower, except this time it was different. Instead of free falling from the sky, I found myself standing upright in a grand bedroom made almost entirely out of ice. I gulped as I felt myself start to hyperventilate. I knew this place all too well. It was my home.

            Hands shaking, I carefully tucked the delicate flower into my dress pocket. Out of all places, why would the flower have had to be here? This place caused me so much pain and suffering over the years that it was impossible to ever feel safe here. Tears in my eyes, I hurriedly looked around the room, until my eyes settled on an ice sculpted flower that lay on my desk. I quickly rushed to it, snatching it from the table. Something doesn't feel right. I slid the freezing cold flower into my pocket. Bang! That's when it all went black.

            "Wake up, you little weakling!" a voice shouted into my ear, causing a siring pain to rush through my head. I opened my eyes to see Winter standing right in front of me, making that ugly smirk of hers. Just seeing the sight of her, made my blood boil.

            "You little brat!" I screamed as I lunged toward her, knocking her to the ground.

Winter just laughed like a maniac.

            "I wouldn't do that if I were you," Winter warned, gesturing to the high drop that was below us. I recoiled. This was where she pushed me off. Sensing my fear, she scoffed, "I knew you would remember this place. This is where it all began." Hot rage flowed through my veins, as I grabbed Winter by the collar, and yanked her to the castle railing.

            "Do you know what I've gone through because of you?" I yelled, tears filling my eyes. For the first time, I saw fear in Winter's eyes as she glanced at the far drop below. Seeing her cower in fear made me loosen my grip on her. That was a mistake. Winter made a sadistic smile, as she pushed me away and forced me closer to the railing.

 "I guess you are still a coward. You were never able to follow through, and you will die because of it!" she screeched like a banshee.

            "No, you're wrong. I have changed, and you can change too," I said my voice trembling.

            "You really think I would want to become like you? Never!" Winter lunged toward me, but I dodged, sending her flying over the railing.

            "Winter! No!" I cried reaching out for her, but it was too late. Winter looked back up at me with regretful eyes as she disappeared into the endless mass of trees below. I choked, as I tried my best to keep my composure. Even though Winter had been mean to me, there used to be a time where we were good to each other. Real sisters, not the type that pushed each other off of buildings. It wasn't her fault that she was like that, Mother had brainwashed her to hate me. Make her believe she was inferior. Make her believe she couldn't just be herself. Her real self. Wiping my tears away, I took out the three magical flowers, holding them up to the sky. Almost immediately, the clouds parted, and the sun shone through for the first time in ages. I smiled; it reminded me of the good old days.

 Suddenly, I felt my body get lifted off the ground as the three flowers drifted towards the sky, dancing in the wind. I floated along with them, drifting ever higher into the sky. Soon, I landed on a huge fluffy cloud along with the mystical flowers. In front of me shone a humongous golden gate that glistened in the sun. "It's the Gateway to Dreams," I gasped, walking toward it as if I was under a spell. I touched the polished gates, feeling their warmth under my skin. The three magical flowers danced around the gate before nestling themselves on the top of it. A blinding bright golden light shot through the sky, traveling throughout the vast land, basking it with its warm golden touch, bringing back dreams to dreamers wherever they might be.

            I smiled, a twinkle in my eyes. It was now a new beginning for me, maybe even for Mother, a fresh start. It was truly a gateway to dreams, for me, and Winter, wherever she might be now.