The Crystal Girl

Once upon a time, there lived a beautiful princess named Leilany. She had long classic Hawaiian curls, a beautiful chai skin tone, cute monolid eyes, and iris’ a warm sable tone. She resided in a magnificent castle. A castle so big and beautiful that it could be seen for miles. The castle sat in the middle of an enchanted forest that was home to many fantastical creatures such as Griffins, Unicorns, Dragons, Faries, anything you could imagine. 

Except it’s the 21st century, Leilany was just a normal 7 year old girl, and she didn’t have a castle or any mythical creatures. But that didn’t stop her imagination from running wild. She did, in fact, live next to an “enchanted” forest, but it was one she was forbidden to enter. Her parents enforced that rule since she was very small.

Her father, Kai Iosua, born and raised in Hawaii, was very adventurous, and that spirit seemed to pass on to his daughter. He made it his main goal to inspire her to be whatever she wanted to be, and if she wanted to be a princess so be it. Her mother, Akari Iosua, was born in Japan and was raised very traditionally. She too wanted the very best for her daughter but she didn’t always appreciate her husband putting ideas of princess’ and faires into their daughter’s head but since she wanted her daughter to be happy, she let him.

They lived in New York state in Westchester County. As you may have guessed, they are a rather affluent family, Kai was a commercial airline pilot and his wife Akari was a Doctor. Leilany was enrolled in a very prestigious private school, but she didn’t like it all that much. The teachers didn’t like her imaginative personality interfering with her schoolwork and often had phone calls home about her being distracted in class.

She daydreamed about the forest next to her house most times. She was always curious about the secrets it held and wondered why her parents didn’t want her going into it. She imagined that it had trees perfect for climbing and a creek full of frogs, salamanders, and small fish. She wondered if it had trolls that lived there or maybe goblins. Every day when she returned home from school, she would watch the tree’s from her bedroom window, hoping that she could catch a glimpse of a creature inside.

One spring day she returned home from school and to her surprise, no one was home. Normally her mother was by then. There was a note on the fridge from her mother. Sorry I’m not home, I have to run a couple of errands, there’s some Onigiri in the fridge if you’re hungry. see you in a few hours, Love, Mom. 

Leilany opened the fridge and grabbed some of the delicious rice balls and some soy sauce and sat down to eat. As she was eating, an idea was starting to form in her head. Maybe she could walk a little bit into the forest, not far, and maybe just look around. Her mom wouldn’t be home for a little while and it would only take a few minutes. Mom will never know.

With her mind made up, Leilany finished up the rest of her Onigiri as quickly as she could and ran to get changed out of her school uniform into some play clothes. She pulled her unruly curls into a quick ponytail and then she was ready to leave. The excitement was overwhelming as she skipped to the door. She left her house in a hurry to see the woods that have been on her mind since she was practically a toddler. Once her feet were on the grass she took off running into the forest. 

The first thing she noticed was the light change as soon as she entered the forest. It was a very sunny day, but the trees grew so thick at the top that light had trouble filtering through and the forest floor was rather dimly lit. This didn’t bother Leilany, in fact, to her it made it feel almost magical. She continued to wander through, completely mesmerized at her surroundings. She walked a little further and stumbled across a small clearing. 

The trees didn’t cover so the sun shone brightly. There was a little crystal clear pool in the center. The sun sparkled like diamonds across the water and Leilany went over to get a closer look. There was a strange crystal-like formation in the center and it seemed to glow brightly. It was almost as it was glowing from the inside. It was a faint purple color, that could pass for white, but upon closer inspection, it was definitely purple. It was pretty big, about 6 feet, and it was amazingly shiny.

Leilany took her shoes and socks off and rolled up her pant legs to wade into the pool. It was only about a foot deep and the floor was soft sand. She was face to face with the mysterious crystal and she reached out to touch it. Her hand got close and the rock started humming. She quickly pulled her hand away and it stopped. She reached out again and it started humming again. She pulled away and it stopped. She pondered if she should actually touch it. Something that made a noise like that might not want to be touched. She moved her hand close to it again and it started humming again. She pulled away once more. Finally, she took a deep breath and as fast as she could, she swung her hand to touch it. 

Leilany saw a brilliant light come from the rock and felt herself being thrown back at an incredible force, almost as if in slow motion.  she didn’t have time to comprehend this before hitting the ground and everything went black.

It must have been hours later when Leilany finally came to. The sky was dark with night and as she shakily sat up, she couldn’t remember what had happened. The back of her head hurt so bad. She reached behind to feel the damage and she pulled her hand away covered in blood. She had never been hurt like this and she was scared that she might die. The wound wasn’t that deep, however, and by the time she woke up it had stopped, but she didn’t realize this and thought she was going to die. 

Tears streaming down her face as she cried, only some of which was due to the pain she felt throbbing at the back of her head, but lots of it was due to the intense fear she was experiencing. Leilany managed to stand to her feet and tried to get her bearings. She looked forward and saw the crystal again. All the memories came flooding back. She surprisingly felt no fear and instead walked towards it again. 

She knelt by the water, which illuminated the entire clearing, and she had the strange urge to touch it. She placed her hand upon the water and immediately she felt it shift. Leilany yanked her hand away and watched in shock as the water quickly turned from its current liquid state to solid crystal. It’s not frozen like ice would be, but just solid. She sat back, still having no clue that this was her doing. She noticed the grass that her hand lied on felt hard, and when she looked down, the grass was to the crystal as well. She jumped up quickly as it spread further.   She was scared but curious about the grass that was now in a solid crystal form. 

  Leliany was slowly backing away from the crystallized area, it was spreading rapidly and she started running as fast as she could towards home. The trees were now crystal. Now,  she couldn’t find her way home. The trees were her way home, that's how she got home. Leliany tumbled to the ground, her knee was bleeding from the sharp crystal that had cut her. She now feared that she would never find her way back. She was now in an area that was completely unfamiliar, it was so dark out, she was tired, she hurt, and all she wanted was to be at home. She fell over, but at this point was too tired to get back up. She shut her eyes and almost immediately was out cold. 

The rest of the night was a blur, she had a fuzzy recollection of someone, or maybe it was more than one, but someone picked her up during the night. Memory was foggy of that night, but somehow it led to her waking up in a strange medical room. This is where Leilany’s story really begins.