If you believe

Scarlet was someone you'd have to double-check if she was real when you first met her. Not a typically gorgeous girl, yet she appeared to be from another world. With raven-black hair and eyes as blue as the Caribbean, her sun-kissed skin seemed out of character. Her legs were so long that she seemed to float instead of walk. There was something angel-like about her that mesmerized anyone she happened to cross on her way.

In reality, Scarlet believed herself to be quite ordinary. That was the reason why she tried to alienate herself from the world as much as she possibly could, just to avoid the reality she believed in: everybody who knew her would judge her over her unoriginality. That her head was always in the clouds annoyed people, but she didn't care, and, certainly, she'd never change anything about herself.

With unearthly looks and her tendency to daydream, it was no wonder that she unknowingly steered all gazes upon her whenever she walked by. She owned the streets in some sort of way, the streets she loved and knew. The streets she loved to wander until she got lost.

After an especially long and gruesome day in schools she decided to walk back home instead of taking the subway. One of her favourite kill-times was, after all, inventing a new reality around her, and that was easier to do when she didn't have to share her personal space with sweaty factory workers and snobby businesspeople in suits.

Scarlet started walking and, due to her overactive imagination, she quickly traveled into the magical town of her mind, where nice elves walked graciously, talking fast in a language she didn't understand. Stardust seemed to hang in the air, but when she paid attention, she could hear squeals from these dust-like particles, and she noticed they moved with some sense of direction, and with much more velocity than they would if carried by the slight breeze that hung in the air.

She saw two very youthful figures walk outside of the whole in the left side of the road, a shop that she believed to remember to be a tailor's. But in this new and improved reality, she saw long dress-like clothes in multiple colors, instead of the dull and repetitive gray, navy blue and black suits that were usually intended to attract customers.

The mixture of colors and unfamiliar sounds, along with the tall bodies, long faces and peculiar ears made it very easy to forget the purpose of the walk, to forget that, in fact, she wasn't like any of these creatures, that it wasn't her reality.

Distracted and sensory overload, Scarlet didn't notice the little woman standing still in front of an alley she didn't know, until it was too late. She violently bumped into her, but, surprisingly, she lost here balance while the old woman (at least, she appeared to be old, but she knew that it was hard to judge the age of the creatures she encountered during her little trips) didn't move, as if she were fixed onto the ground she stood on. The woman merely looked at her and blinked, simply startled.

"I'm so, so sorry", Scarlet started to mutter. The woman didn't answer, but she blinked again, slowly, taking her in. Scarlet mentally face-palmed herself. Of course she didn't answer, why would she know English in this idyllic place? She tried to communicate with signs, but she didn't get a response either. 

While she was trying to apologize to her, she didn't notice how the people around her became the boring people she saw every day again. The cafe on the corner of the street filled the air with coffee smell again. 

The woman looked away from Scarlet and fixed her gaze back on the alley on her left. Startled from the change of scenery, Scarlet looked around. Everything was back to normal, nothing she had seen a minute earlier was there anymore. Nothing except for the woman. With the change of light l, now that the stardust (could they have been fairies?) was gone, she looked so much older (much older than anyone she had ever met) and fragile. Scarlet unwillingly looked for pointy elvish ears, but, even though they were a little weird, there was no reason to believe she was a magical creature.

Through another person's eyes, the whole scenery was odd to watch. A teenager was standing still in the middle of the pavement, looking at an empty spot in front of the closed gate if and old and abandoned manor. 

Scarlet stood still until she heard the heavy cursing of a biker who had to hit the brakes to keep them from crashing.

"Lunatic, go take your meds", she heard him say. He didn't address the elderly woman, though, even when the jump of surprise had caused Scarlet to bump into her again. Muttering profanities under his breath, he jumped onto his bike again and left.

"I'm so sorry, ma'am", Scarlet apologized again. She saw her in her reality, didn't she? She'd speak English for sure. Her apology was med, once again, with silence. As she started to leave, she heard a throaty voice behind her.

"I know you can see me. They can't. You have the gift." Taken aback by these odd words, Scarlet turned around to face her.

"What gift? And why can't they see you?" Any sane person would have walked away. The woman was clearly confused and someone should call for help. "Do you want me to call someone for you?" 

"What you saw back there was real. You can go back if you want to." She turned back to the alley.

"What do you mean I can go back? I imagined it all".

"You unlocked the portal, and now you can go back." This time, she directly pointed at the alley." 

Scarlet hesitated. If it weren't for the city noises around her, the smells and the way her hair waved whenever a car passed, she'd have sworn she was dreaming or imagining it.

"I can go with you if you want." The elderly woman (or, was she an elf, after all?) said kindly, and she held her hand out for Scarlet to take.

A million different sceneries crossed her mind. It had to be a trick. To rob, kidnap or rape her. Nevertheless, the alley seemed to lighten up by the end, with the same golden glow she had seen earlier. Even though she could think of thousands of reasons to pretend none of it had ever happened, her curiosity won the internal battle. She out her hand into the fragile-looking one she was being offered, and immediately got surprised by the firm grip, as well as the youthful touch of the skin. 

Against the (rational) warnings in her head, the extravagant pair started walking towards the light. Even though a tiny part of her brain told her to run, she continued the path. The glow became more intense with every step they took, until its intensity was enough to temporarily blind them. When the light settled, she could see, as promised, the world she had left a couple minutes before. The only difference Scarlet could notice right away was how, now, the words that the pedestrians spoke made perfect sense to her. She tried to speak to one of the people (elves, she had to keep reminding herself) to see if this new ability extended to speaking as well.

"Where am I?" She asked to a young-looking elf.

"You're in Arthor, of course." He answered with a no-nojsense face. 

"Thank you very much!" She replied happily.

'This isn't normal' she thought, and she turned to where her guide stood. 

The woman had rejuvenated 20 years since she had last seen her. 

"How…? When…? Why…?" Scarlet couldn't formulate any questions. 

"You believed, you followed me. Now you're one of us." She answered, with the same ease as if she were talking about the weather. 

"One of you?" Scarlet couldn't believe what she heard. 

"Yes. That's the magic of it." As a reflex, Scarlet brought her hand to her ear, to check if the Hy were as pointy as all the rest of the people she saw around her. She felt that, even though one wouldn't notice it right away, she knew their shqo had changed. 

"But, I have things to do." Scarlet pointed out, even though she didn't really want to.

"I showed you the portal, you can go back and come here whenever you want."

"Really?" She asked excitedly.

"Of course, I never lie." The woman assured her.

Scarlet hesitated as she slowly started to walk to the portal back to the "real world". Not that she was so sure anymore about which in was real or not. 

After taking a longing look around, she stepped back. Although the light was different, she needed to blink twice to adjust to the new reality. 

A kid and his mother walked by as she started to feel stable again. They both looked at her, wondering who she was and where she came from. 

"Mommy, why is this girl here?" The mother looked at Scarlet suspiciously, because she wasn't there ten seconds before. 

"Don't worry, honey. Don't look at her. She's nobody." 

She started ushering the kid away, but he looked back, intrigued about the mysterious girl. Scarlet winked, sharing her secret through their eyes. The kid smiled, winked back, and followed his mother.