- Wake up kid! Time to rise and shine!

- Ugh...

I moved my head from over the pillow where it laid and opened my eyes slowly trying to get acquanticed with the soft sun rays coming through the window which greeted me into a brand new day with lot's of oportunities ahead of me... 

There was just one step I had to make to start this new day the sun placed ahead of me, just one to start deciding the course of my uncertain future, just one, and it was the simple step of standing up from the bed, but I wasn't ready to take it yet, because that would mean that the night was over, that would mean waking up from the land of dreams and having to face reality, and also... I've always been kind of lazy. So, not willing to stand up, I looked around just turning my head. A small blurry plastic window allowed the sun rays to get in without being too much of a burden. And yes, they were made of plastic. The "walls" of the tent had a different patern as seen from the outside. One could have expected them to be stripped and bright coloured both outside and inside, but they were actually of a soft cream colour and without any mark at all. I guess that I wouldn't have been able to sleep if they had had a bright colour... 

Still from my position I could see a wooden chair where my clothes stood carefully folded. A small silver necklace stood on the top of everything else. I reached out a lazy arm to take it. It was a single silver chain with a small cross, nothing too fancy, but really important to me as it was the last thing I had from my grandmother. I didn't really believe in gods of any sort, but I knew that she had been a very devoted woman, so I kept it, not only to have something from her, but because I somehow felt protected when I carried it around. I left it were it was. Next to the necklace stood a small stuffed pink rabbit. It wasn't time to stand up yet.

I turned my head in the opposite direction. A big wooden chest stood open, and empty, next to the other side of the bed. It was widely decorated, as if the maker had wanted to use the horror-vacui tecnique, which basically consisted in not leaving anyhing without decoration. It had soft pastel colours, blues, greens and pinks above any other, with slight traces of red, orange and beige and white. It seemed to be telling some kind of fairytale through it's craving. A beautiful woman sat under what seemed to be a willow tree next to a river. Then, the same woman appeared again chasing after a deer, or was she following him? I couldn't really bet my hand on anything.

I looked from the chest to the door of the tent, which was nothing more than a gap covered with plastic wires to have some privacy. A really small man stood next to it waiting, rather patiently I must say, for me to stand up and get dressed. He had a soft smile hidden behind a long brown beard which reached the floor. Actually, I think that if the beard had been a person it would have been taller than the man. I stopped staring at him, not wanting to make the man feel uncomfortable, besides, who was I to talk about weird people? You just had to look at me to know that... I suddenly realized something, there weren't any mirrors in the room. How was I supposed to know if I was properly dressed? Or if my hair was well brushed?

Sighing, I stood up from the bed, finally, my bare feet touched against the cold sand. I hadn't realized until then that the floor was actually just sand so I felt slightly taken aback at the feeling of the small grains of sand flowing through my toes impulsed by a light breeze coming from the small gap where the tent connected with the ground. I reached out to unfold my clothes. There was only a light green buttoned shirt, black tight jeans and socks and short Converse in the same colour. The colour on the Converse, though, was slightly faded from the continued use of them as they were my favourite shoes, and the only ones that still fitted me perfectly to be honest. There also was the small patch I used to cover one of my eyes. I carefully placed the small necklace over the bed and stared to get dressed. The first thing I put on was the plushie, tying it to a small wire coming fro the back of my neck. I'm not going to get into many details of how it works for now but the wire actually reaches my vocalic chords and even though I can't use my mouth I can talk through the pushie redirecting the sound from my chords to it. It's more complicated than that though. I finished getting dressed making sure that the shirt's neck covered the wire and, finally, I put on the necklace

Once I was done, I turned around to look at the man, I had to look down if I wanted to see him so  I decided to kneel so my eyes were at the same level as his own. That gesture seemed to make the man chuckle, probbly because he wasn't used to that kind of gestures coming from other's. I just hoped I hadn't bothered him and it didn't seem like it at all, so everything was fine. He looked back at me and spoke with a rather soft voice.

- I see that the Prince was right kid, you are quite interesting.

A thousand of questions came flowing to my mind impulsed by those simple words. Who was the Prince? What did he mean by interesting? Where was I supposed to be? Was I... at home? Was it somewhere else? Where was that charming man? Was he the Prince? Did I really do well trusting them? I had been way too reckless accepting the man's offer without even knowing him... for as much as I knew, they could be a slave-trading secret organization waiting to sell me to whoever offered more, but something told me that they weren't. 

Something in the way those slender fingers curved upwards greeting me, inviting me. Something in the small man's smile. Something in the light cream of the walls and the sand on my toes. Something on the woman and the deer. There was something that told me that I really was at home, that I could trust them. 

And so, without making any question I followed the man outside my tent. The sun rays greeted me widely, almost blinding me, and the sound of laughter reached my ears. Bright coloured tents spread in front and behind me. Kids running passed next to me, careless, free. 

And somewhere a light flute sounded.

The day had just started.