The clock strikes midnight. The usually busy streets are strangely silent. The only sources of light are the full moon and stars overhead which sing a lullaby to all of the dreaming citizens below. All of a sudden, a single room in the midst of the sleeping city brightens.

A girl appears behind the glass, her body dark against the luminous chamber behind her. She tentatively steps out of the doorway, and collapses on a chair near the edge of her balcony. For one moment, she glances up. The moon illuminates her face, and the whole world can see the longing in her azure blue eyes. Inhaling then exhaling deeply, her breath is clear in the chill air.

Suddenly, the girl leaps up and swings her legs over the edge. Time freezes as she hovers in midair. Like a cat pouncing on a toy, the girl springs off of nothing yet soars through the sky. Something magically starts to grow out of her back, extending towards the stars. Wings. They are outlined in a deep fuschia color, but filled in between is a whole spectrum of cold colors that comes to life. It’s almost as if her wings were originally a blank canvas onto which a galaxy has been freshly painted. A ring of dazzling turquoise sparkles floats around the wings. The fairy tilts up and they catch the glare of the moon, glinting as bright as a diamond. She takes a deep breath, then sprints across the heavens, before ascending and vanishing into the atmosphere.

What she doesn’t know is that I, Jane, an ordinary orphan girl, am watching her every move from my small room in the orphanage beside and underneath her apartment. Like always, I’m intrigued by the fairy. My life is quite boring, after all, I’ve lived in this orphanage for as long as I can remember. Every night, I peer at the girl as she flies away, while praying for a chance of my own adventure.  

The faint steps echoing in the hall remind me that Ms. Mary, the orphanage mistress, is checking to make sure that I’m fast asleep. I crawl away from my windowsill, and back into the uncomfortable bed. Curling up on my stiff comforter, I tug the thin blanket over my body. I shut my eyes as the door creaks open. A light shines on me. Seeing my closed eyes, Ms. Mary trudges out, slamming the door, not bothered that it may wake me up because her job is finished. I open my eyes again and sigh.

How I wish that I could sprout wings like that fairy. Then I’d fly away from this place. Forever.