It was the closest I ever felt to flying.  The sounds of the trees rustling around me.  The sun burning into the backs of my eyelids creating bright spots.  The wind blowing my hair back as I rushed forward and then sped in reverse as I fell backward.      

It was my favorite place; the playground at the center of my neighborhood.  I felt so free when I was on the swings.  I would swing for hours, lost in my own thoughts.  

The only thing I hated was leaving, but I did have a home to get to.  I would always tense and get ready to leap from the swings and really fly, but the thought of falling and crashing made me dig my heels into the sand, which brought me to a slow underwhelming stop.  

Most of the kids had grown up and now rarely anyone came, so I was usually the only one there, which was fine with me.  I would, however, hear people pass, and often they would be kids from my school.  Most of them didn’t notice me, but on the rare occasion one did, they would glance over and murmur to the other.  

“Who’s that girl?”

“Don’t you recognize her?  She was in our class.  She never talks to anyone.  She just stays on those swings all day.”

“Should we try to talk to her?”

“No, she seems happy where she is.”

That’s how most of their conversations went. I would sigh in relief when I heard them leave; I really couldn’t talk to people. Yet, I always felt a little pang of sadness. She seems happy where she is.  I would always ask myself.  Was I?  Then I would shake myself.  Of course I was.   Every time I tried to talk to people my brain would go blank and I got all tongue-tied.  Then I would turn red and decide never to speak to them again.  No one liked an awkward mouse like me.  I was better on my own, the invisible girl on the swings.

In my head, however, I was none of those things.  In my head I was a star streaking across the universe.  My mind was where I dwelled.  It was the place where I was happy.  Sometimes I wished I could talk to others and be happy in the real world, but it just wasn’t that way.  It was impossible, I was far far away, and there was no way I could ever be pulled out.

***

“So where are you?”

My eyes flashed open.  Someone was speaking to me?  I glanced down and saw a boy leaning against one of the poles that held the swing-set up.  It was not just any boy.  It was the student council president at my school from last year.  He had just graduated!

I dug my feet into the sand sending a spray out in front of me. “Um,” I rose to my feet once the swing had come to a complete halt.  “I...uh…”  My throat had already closed off.

“I'm sorry to interrupt your thoughts, I just wanted to say hello.  I’m Michael Mays.”

I stared.  Who didn’t know who he was?  But all I said was.  “Oh.” Then there was that awkward silence that always happened when I tried to speak to anyone.  Finally I said.  “I’m sorry, I’m just going.”  I turned away from the tall boy and headed toward my house.

“Please wait,” Michael caught my arm and I instantly tensed.  He dropped his hand as I slowing turned back to him.  I couldn’t look him in the eye, so I stared numbly at my shoes, feeling foolish.  “You never answered my question.”

I scrunched my eyes, trying to remember.  What had he asked?  

“Where were you, when you were on the swing?”

For some reason that made my head snap up.  I blinked several times at him insurprise.  “I don’t understand.”  I said.

Michael beamed at me, at which I turned away, my face burning.

“Ellen Harris,” he said softly, surprising me more that he knew my name.  “The Daydreamer.”

Slowly, I looked back at him again.

“You live in a world far from ours.”  Michael explained.  “I’ve seen it in your eyes.  You dream and I think you might just get lost in those dreams.  You could say I’ve come to find you.”

My eyes widened at that statement.  “I...I...I was a girl with wings,” I whispered.  “Soaring over the castle as the sun set far in front of me, setting the hills ablaze with the most beautiful colors.  I was laughing and thinking of never coming back down.”

Michael’s gaze bore into me, making me pluck absently at my t-shirt.  “Wow,”  He murmured.  “Now, I’m really sorry I interrupted you.”

“Um,” I glanced back where my house stood.  “My mom is expecting me home soon for dinner.”  In reality, I was probably fine, but I could barely stand this awkwardness. Yet part of me didn’t want this conversation to end.

“Okay, I get it.”  He quickly scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to me.  “Here’s my number.  You should text me sometime.”  

I took the paper, totally dumbstruck.  He wanted to talk to me again?  “Um, okay.”

“Cool, see you later.”  I watched him until he had jogged out of sight.

***

I couldn’t stop thinking about it, the folded paper, tucked away in my pocket.  The rest of the day went normally.  I did my chores, my homework, and helped make dinner.  It was only when I was in bed that I took out his number.  

Glancing over at my clock revealed that it was almost nine.  Lots of kids were up at this time.  I shook my head suddenly.  What was I thinking?  He had said text him sometime, but he didn’t mean just a few hours later.  Something came over me, a feeling that I couldn’t explain.  I texted him only one word.  

Ellen: Hey

Less than a minute later, he responded.

Michael: Is this the daydreamer?

I texted back.

Ellen: Yes

Michael: Sweet! I knew you just couldn’t stay away :)

I blushed.   

Michael: We need to talk again. You should meet me tomorrow at the park again @ 5am

I couldn’t believe it!  This couldn’t be happening.  He wanted to talk to me.  A strange excited trill buzzed through me, but there was still the same fear I always had. But in the end I agreed.   

The next morning I awoke to my alarm.  Jumping out of bed, far more awake than I ever was when it went off on a school day, I rushed to get ready.  

It was still dark outside as I pulled my bike out of the garage.  He had said to bring it.  

Michael was already at the park when I arrived.  He beamed at me again.  “Are you ready for an adventure?”  

“I like adventures.”  I said, giving him a small smile back.  

“Excellent!”  Then he hopped onto his own bike and began to ride.  “Follow me!”  He called behind him.

It had been a while since I had ridden a bike.  I had forgotten the strange freedom that it came with.  When I was younger, I had been so afraid of falling, that I didn’t take off my training wheels till I was much older than most children.  Then I thought of the swings, and realized, that I hadn’t really changed.  I still couldn’t let go of those chains.

The wind rushed past me as we zoomed down a hill.  I couldn’t stop the cry of laughter that escaped my lips.  It had been a long time since I had done that too.  I heard Michael laugh from up ahead.  “I’m glad, you’re already having fun!”

In the end we went up several hills that I was not fond of, but after we stopped, he showed me something amazing.  Mist covered a grassy expanse filled with dandelions and beyond it the light of the dawn was peeking over the hills.  “It’s so beautiful.”  I whispered.  

“Is it kind of like that place where the girl with wings was flying?”  Michael was watching me.

I looked down and began picking at the grass.  “It’s better, because it’s real,”

Michael sat beside me.  “Real is good, but so are stories.”  He nudged me gently.  “Reality is important and it’s important to be present in it.”

I shut my eyes tight.  

“But sometimes reality is scary,” Michael continued.  “And we need an escape from it.”

I bit my lip and finally looked him straight in the eye.  “Why are you talking to me?  Why did you take such a notice in me?  I’m invisible.  I’m a mouse that exists, but--”

Michael held up a hand to stop me.  “You’re not invisible.  No one is.  If you want to know why, it was because I noticed you.  I noticed you all alone at lunch.  I noticed you in the library, head stuck in a book.  I noticed you in English writing your own adventures in a little notebook.  You were always in another world, but you were always alone.”  His eyes bore into me.  He swallowed and took my hand causing me to jump.  “I was thinking maybe we could help each other.”  He took a deep breath.  “I’m going to be leaving at the end of summer to go to college, and I’m telling you, I’m terrified.  I need an escape.”  He blinked at me expectantly.

“You mean me!”  I squeaked.  

“If you will tell me stories then I will show you the beauty in reality. Not all of it is so scary.  Please Ellen.”

I couldn’t be sure if he was kidding.  He just wanted me to tell stories?  That’s so absurd!  But his eyes had a pleading look.  Before I knew it my mouth spoke.  “Okay.”

Michael’s infectious smile stretched wide.  “Alright, I brought you to a beautiful real place.  Now you take me away to one in the lands of fantasy.  Tell me a story.”

So I did.  I told him of a girl who befriended a fairy.  I told him how she visited the home forest where all the fairies danced around her, spilling their magical dust all over her. Soon she left the ground and flew in the sky with them. Over time she breathed in so much fairy dust she turned into a fairy herself!

Michael just kept smiling at me.  It was unnerving.  He claimed that he loved the story and wanted to hear another, but then I realized how late it was.  We had stayed up in those hills for quite a while and I realized that I hadn’t told my mom where I was going.  We left, but Michael said that he would text me soon.  

***

It was the strangest summer of my life.  I had never felt so happy.

Michael took me to meet his friends.  He had so many.  I had been quiet and shy of course, but then he said those words.  “Tell me a story.”  

I loved telling stories. It was easy for me. I told my stories not just to Michael, but his friends as well.  I told them of a boy with chaos powers and how hated the world until he found someone who cherished life and helped calm his storm.  I told them of a girl caught in a race between all the aliens of the universe. I told them of a boy who was cursed to a world of shadow.  I told them of another species of human who hid themselves as circus performers.  

His friends were now saying it too.  “Tell me a story.”

Michael kept his word too.  He took me places.  He made me meet new people.  After I had told them stories, I began to tell of some of the real adventures I had had.  I told them of the time when Michael had taken me tubing and he how he flew out of the tube backwards.  I told them of the trip to the amusement park and how Michael had hidden behind me when the clown walked by.  

“You know,” He said, resting an arm on my shoulder.  “I really like your smile.  This summer it just keeps growing wider.”

I beamed at him.  “Whose fault is that?”

Michael shrugged.  “Guilty as charged.”

He was guilty.  Guilty, because summer was only three months.  Guilty because he was leaving at the end.  

There was a party for him.  And during it my stomach hurt. So many people were there that I felt lost in the crowd.  Everyone wanted to talk to him. I wanted to disappear, go home, but I couldn’t just leave. He would be leaving soon enough. My eyes burned at the though.  I didn’t want to say goodbye.  

For so long I had been so deep, that I believed it was impossible to get out, but this summer had changed everything.  He had changed everything.  Only now, I felt myself slipping again, shrinking, disappearing again into fantasy.

Before the party ended, I found myself face to face with him.  I hugged him.  “I’m going to miss you.”  I whispered.

“I’ll miss you too.”  He replied.  

The tears fell, but I didn’t want him to see. I turned away.  “Bye.”  Then I walked away.   

“Ellen!”  He called after me.

But I didn’t turn.  I just couldn’t.

***

            I stared at the swing.  The last time I had been on it was the beginning of summer.  That was the longest that I had been away from it.  Did I even want to…

“Ellen,”

My throat closed.  A cool breeze blew my hair into my face.  “Hi, Michael.”  I said without turning.  

“You abandoned me at the party yesterday.”  

“You know I’ve never been good with crowds.” I close my eyes already feeling the sting of tears again.

“Actually you’ve been doing great with crowds.”

I whirled to face him.  “But that’s because of you!”  I cried.  “You showed me the world I was afraid to face!  You showed me that even I could find a way in this place!  Now you’re leaving and I don’t know what to do!”  Tears flowed freely down my face.  I let my head drop.  “I can already feel myself falling.”  

Within two paces he was there his hands on my shoulders.  “Don’t, please don’t.  Don’t fall when you’ve come so far.  Ellen, I’ve only introduced you to reality.  Now it’s your turn to grab hold and pull yourself forward.”  He glanced over at the swing set.  “Get on the swing.”  He said suddenly.  

I blinked at him again.  “What?”

“You heard me.”  He nudged me forward.  

 “Now get going.  Swing high.”  He commanded.

I complied.  

“Now close your eyes.  I’m going to tell you a story.”

I watched him for a moment, and then I did as he said.  

“Once upon a time, there was a girl, a beautiful girl.  She was a princess and not just any princess.  She was princess of the angels.  But she was so unsure of herself that she hid her wings.  She was afraid that she would fall or that she would never be what people expected her to be.  Overtime she began to meet people that were like her.  They would hide it well, but she discovered their insecurities and she realized that maybe she could help.  Her confidence began to grow until she eventually let go of all the things that were holding her down.  The most beautiful golden wings grew from her back and she let them spread wide.  She didn’t even think.  She only jumped and flew.”  

As if I was connected to those words, my hands shoved off from the chains of the swings and I launched myself through the air.  And I flew.   This was flying.  

It was brief, but it was real.  I did not land gracefully, but I landed smiling.  

 “Thank you.”  I murmur in his ear as we embraced again.

“Thank you.”  He replied.  

I looked into his eyes.  “I’m pretty sure I got the better part of the deal.”  I said a little guiltily.

Michael shook his head, his own smile reflecting a bit of sadness.  “You’re wrong about that.”

***

I admit it was hard without him, but I found myself making my own friends, discovering other talents I possessed, and overtime it got easier.

It was a few weeks into the school year when I finally got a text from Michael.  

Michael: Sorry I haven’t had time to talk lately. College and my new job have got me crazy busy.

Ellen: I’m just glad you found some time :)

Michael: I don’t want to scare you, but college is really hard, and I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing.

Ellen: I bet you’re not the only one

Michael: That’s true...I miss you

Ellen: I miss you too

Michael: Ellen can I ask you a favor?

Ellen: Anything

His next text made me really smile 

Michael: Tell me a story