by Dana Piazzi
“You can be the queen,” said Chloe.
“Yes!” Zoe sparkled a bit brighter as a pink gown and gold crown materialized on her.
Chloe turned to Daisy. “Do you want to be a princess with me?”
Daisy felt her heart melt. “Of course.” She watched as a purple gown covered her normal outfit.
“Let’s play!” Zoe said excitedly as her crown fell in her face.
For the next two hours, the four of them explored the castle, fought dragons, and listened to the mermaids sing. Then they heard a voice. “Chloe! It’s time to go!”
The scenery shifted again and they were back at the park. A woman was waving to Chloe from the benches.
“That’s my nanny.” Chloe sighed as she looked at her normal clothes. “I have to go.”
“What if we go with you?” Leo asked.
Chloe’s eyes lit up. “Yeah! I’ll ask!” The girl ran to the woman and clasped her hands together. “Can my new friends come home with us?”
The nanny looked behind Chloe. Daisy, for Chloe’s sake, waved. The woman nodded. “Of course they can.”
“Great!” Chloe jumped up and down.
Daisy looked at Zoe and Leo and chuckled. “This is going to be great!”
Zoe lost her balance and fell back. “The storm’s getting worse, Captain!”
Chloe, now seven, stood up and clutched the wheel. “We can make it!”
Leo shook his head and mane back and forth, soaked from the rain. “We’ll never make it!”
Daisy held onto her hat. “I have to agree with one-eyed Zoe and peg-legged Leo on this one, Captain!”
The waves rocked the pirate’s ship back and forth.
Chloe gasped. “Over there! The clouds end! We can make it!”
“Hurry, Captain!” Zoe struggled to keep her balance.
Chloe clutched the wheel so tight that her knuckles were white. “We can do it! We can do it!”
A wave came over the side of the boat and drenched them all. Zoe was knocked off her feet. When she opened her eyes again, the storm was behind them. They all breathed a sigh of relief.
“You’re our hero, Pirate Chloe!” Daisy smiled.
Leo stood on his hind legs, which he didn’t do often, and put his paws in the air. “Three cheers for Captain...”
“Chloe!” came Mom’s voice.
The scenery suddenly changed, and Zoe found herself on Chloe’s bed again. They were all dry and back in their normal clothes. The posters of Dora and Disney princesses reappeared on the walls. Zoe smoothed the wrinkles from her pink sun dress and sighed.
Chloe dropped the pillow that she had been holding. “I’ll be right back,” she said, and hurried out of the room.
“That was a good one!” Daisy smiled.
“Her imagination is magnificent!” Leo bragged.
Zoe had to agree. The years they’d been there, Chloe’s imagination had only progressed. The young girl had realized that when she played with the three of them, anything she wished could happen. Chloe had grown a lot, too. She understood that she was the only one who could see them, and she was okay with that. She didn’t talk about them much to her mom or nanny, but when she did, the women would just smile and say, “That’s nice.” Zoe knew that since Chloe was only seven, her imagination would only grow. And that thought thrilled her more than anything else in the world.
Chloe came back into the room. “Mom is taking me to the store to go school shopping, but as soon as I come back, we’ll have a big feast to celebrate our survival.”
“Sounds good!” Zoe smiled.
Chloe ran back to join her mom and left the apartment.
Zoe huffed. She hated that Chloe had to go to school. They had to sit there for hours doing nothing. They had learned that there were other fantasies in the building. There were two with a little boy downstairs, and another with a little girl a few floors above them. But spending time with other fantasies wasn’t as good as spending time with Chloe.
“I suppose we should send in our report now,” said Leo. The lion closed his eyes and concentrated. A bubble suddenly formed above Chloe’s bed. “We wish to speak to Sand Man.”
Zoe went over and sat on Leo’s back, which had become a normal resting place for her.
They all waited for the president to appear. When he did, he gave them a wide smile. “Why, hello! How are things going?”
“Great!” Daisy said happily. “Chloe’s wonderful! You should see what she can come up with!”
“I have.” The president nodded. “I’ve been monitoring her dreams for some time now. Quite an imagination that girl has. Many of her dreams include you three. You’re doing a wonderful job there. I hope you realize that.”
“It hardly seems like work anymore,” said Leo.
The president smiled. “Keep up the good work!”
Zoe didn’t mean to, but she had been thinking about it for a while now and she couldn’t help blurting out her next question. “How much longer do we have with her?”
Daisy and Leo’s smiles faded as they waited for an answer.
The president sighed. “To tell you the truth, I don’ know. Although the child has good dreams most of the time, there is still one bad dream that keeps reoccurring.”
“What is it?” Daisy asked, alarmed.
“I believe it is because her father left her. Chloe is afraid that the people she cares about most will go away, as well: you three and her mother.” The president frowned sadly.
“So, we still have a long time with her?” Zoe asked hopefully.
The president shook his head. “I don’t know right now. But I’ll tell you when I think it’s a good time for you to leave.”
“Thank you,” said Leo.
The bubble before them popped, and small grains of sand sprinkled onto the carpet.
Leo was sleeping pleasantly when Zoe hopped on his back. “Where is she?”
“She’ll be home in a little while.” Leo stretched.
“But she’s never this late,” Zoe complained.
“She’s a growing girl,” Daisy said in her sweet voice. “The girl’s ten now. She does things with her friends.”
“But what about us?” Zoe asked. Her glow seemed dimmer than usual.
Daisy gave Leo a sad look, and all he could do was nod. He didn’t feel that they had much more time with Chloe.
“I’m home!” Chloe’s voice rang out as she ran into the room and jumped onto her bed. “Are you ready?”
The fantasies nodded in union. The room began to change. They all stood together as trees grew up around them.
“Where are we?” Zoe asked.
“In the jungle,” said Chloe. “Legend says that if we’re brave enough, we might find the ancient temple of...” She paused. “Um...”
“Let me guess. The name was lost in time?” Leo asked.
Chloe brightened. “Exactly! That’s good.” She pulled out a sword that had appeared on her waist. “Onward, fellow explorers!”
The four of them wandered through the jungle for some time. They found the tower and almost got inside, but many traps prevented their entry.
“I suppose that is how it is supposed to be.” Chloe sighed.
The wind picked up, and Leo smelled the sea and he felt his heart sink. He knew Chloe hadn’t imagined this.
“What’s that?” Chloe asked, hearing the waves hitting the sand.
The fantasies followed her as she made her way toward the smell of the ocean. They followed her out of the jungle and onto a white beach.
“Wow!” Chloe marveled.
“Why don’t we try the pyramid again?” Zoe suggested.
Leo shook his head. He had seen this beach before. It was the shore of memories…of childhood. It appeared when a child was growing up, and their world was changing. Leo tried not to remember, but an image of himself and Ben standing on this beach came to mind. Ben floated away on his pirate ship to the other world, away from his childhood and away from him.
/> “What’s that?” Chloe pointed to another island.
When the girls were silent, Leo knew that he had to answer. “That’s the world of adulthood. A place much different from this world.” He hesitated. “You’ll go there someday.”
Chloe turned to him. “And you guys will come with me?”
Leo was about to answer, but he remembered what the Sand Man had said when they talked to him last week. Even though Chloe was older, she still dreamed that she would be left by the people she cared for most. He couldn’t tell her that she would have to make the journey into adulthood without them.
Daisy rescued him from having to answer. “Do you hear that?” she asked.
Chloe turned to her. “What?”
Daisy shrugged.
Chloe snapped her fingers. “The temple. Something must be happening at the temple. Come on!” She ran back into the jungle with Zoe close behind. Leo and Daisy smiled at each other before running after her.
Daisy paced back and forth.
“We don’t have a choice,” Leo argued.
“Time can’t be up yet,” Zoe cried.
“When we are given orders, we have to follow them,” said Leo sternly. “She’s turning eleven in a few days. Our time is up. If Sand Man thinks that our job is done, then our job must be done. He said he’d come by to pick us up and take us back.”
Daisy heard the doubt in his voice, but didn’t say anything.
Leo stood and made Zoe get off his back. “I’ll tell her when she comes home.”
The fantasies waited for Chloe’s arrival in silence, each remembering the painful times when they had to let children grow up. Daisy knew that the two fantasies from downstairs and the one from a floor above them had already gone back to Fantasy Land months ago. Could it really be their time to leave, too?
They heard the front door open and shut, and they held their breath as Chloe made her way to her room. But when she entered, the girl’s face was blotchy and her eyes were puffy.
“Chloe!” Daisy cried as she ran to the child. “What happened?”
Chloe wiped her eyes. “Mom was in an accident. They don’t know if she’s going to wake up.”
Daisy brushed the tear off Chloe’s cheek. “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry.”
Chloe sat down on her bed. “I’m so scared.”
Leo put his head in Chloe’s lap and let her stroke his mane. Daisy took a seat beside Chloe, and Zoe sat on the other side and held the girl’s hand. They sat like that for a while.
Someone cleared his throat in the doorway.
Daisy looked up and saw the president standing there. Although she didn’t mean to, she glared at him before turning back to Chloe. “Don’t worry.”
It was apparent that Chloe couldn’t see the president standing there so none of them said anything about him. Leo looked up at Chloe and smiled. “We’re here for you.”
“Leo...” the president said from the doorway.
“You’ll be alright, because we’ll be here with you,” said Leo, ignoring the president completely.
Chloe wrapped her arms around all of them.
The president sighed. “Just know that the longer you stay, the harder it will be to say good bye.”
“We’ll all make it through,” said Daisy. She said this to Chloe, but it was directed to the president and he knew that.
“Keep sending me updates,” he said before vanishing.
Daisy wrapped her arms tighter around the girl’s shoulders. They had more time with Chloe. They had to get her through this. She needed them. She really did need them. Daisy also petted Leo’s mane. He had done the right thing. She hoped he knew that.
Her nanny came into the room. “Are you ready, Chloe?”
“Are we going to the hospital?” she asked.
The nanny nodded.
Chloe looked up at Daisy. “We’ll be here when you come back.”
“Come on, dear.” The nanny held out her hand.
Daisy watched Chloe go and listened to the front door close and lock. Then she turned to Leo. “Our job is done, huh?”
Leo smiled. “We can’t leave her right now. If her mom doesn’t wake up, our departure will crush her.”
Zoe pounced on his back. “Thank you, Leo.” Her glow was a bit brighter.
Leo shrugged. “But Sand Man is right. Staying will make it harder when the time comes to say goodbye.”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” said Daisy with confidence.
Zoe was trying to see how many back flips she could do in a row when Chloe came in and placed her backpack beside her dresser. Leo and Daisy had gone to greet the new fantasy that had arrived yesterday downstairs, so it was only the two of them in Chloe’s bedroom.
“Did it hurt?” Zoe asked.
Chloe sat down beside her and pulled her hair back. “A little. But the pain’s gone now. See?”
Zoe looked at the new earrings Chloe had gotten. She had never been with a child long enough to see them get their ears pierced, so this was a brand new experience for the pixie.
“So what have you been up to?” Chloe asked her.
“I played with your birthday balloon for a while,” said Zoe, looking at the large balloon with the big eleven printed on it. “Then I talked to a cat that was sitting outside the window, I took a nap, and now, I’m trying to see how many back flips I can do in a row.”
“What’s your score?” Chloe asked, giggling.
“Nine,” Zoe answered with pride, “but after that I got too dizzy to stand up. I fell off the bed a couple of times.”
Chloe laughed and fell back onto the bed.
“Are you doing anything in the next hour?” Zoe asked, standing on Chloe’s stomach.
Chloe thought for a moment. “Only rescuing the last of the Bunny People. Do you want to come?”
“Finally!” Zoe squealed.
The room changed around them, and they were lying on their backs in the snow on a mountain.
“Then let’s get going!” Chloe stood up, and Zoe followed her into a cave that had materialized before them. “I have to warn you. The Bunny People are taller than I am, but don’t be afraid.”
“I won’t,” said Zoe, determined.
The two of them trudged into the mountain and looked around.
“What are we rescuing them from?” Zoe asked.
“The cold,” said Chloe. “We have to get them back to the jungle where it’s warm.”
Zoe was having the most fun she’d had in days. She smiled the entire way back down the mountain as she and Chloe pulled the Bunny People on a large sled, one she could never pull in real life. She smiled when she waved good-bye to them and watched them hop away. She turned back to Chloe. “So what do we do now?”
Chloe thought for a moment. “I want to check something.”
The smell of the sea reached Zoe’s nose and her smile melted. “Are you sure there aren’t any other creatures we need to rescue?”
“It’ll only take a minute,” Chloe promised. The girl wandered farther and farther away from the heart of the jungle and toward the beach. Zoe followed close behind. She noticed that her glow had become almost dull.
“Here it is,” Chloe said as she pulled back some bushes.
Zoe looked with distaste at the island that had gotten bigger since she’d last seen it … the island of adulthood.
“Does it seem bigger?” Chloe asked.
Zoe shook her head. “Nope.”
“I think it’s grown,” Chloe marveled. “I can make out buildings.”
“Um, yeah.” Zoe tried to sound as unamused as possible.
“What do you think is over there?” Chloe asked, unaware of the pixie’s forlorn face.
Zoe shrugged. “I don’t know what’s over there, but I think I’m getting a little tired, Chloe.”
The girl smiled at her. “Must be all those back flips finally catching up to you.”
“Yeah. I guess so.”
The scenery around them ch
anged again, and Zoe was back in Chloe’s bedroom. She wasn’t really tired, but she couldn’t stand the look in Chloe’s eyes when she stared at the silly island. Zoe had never wanted to end play time before, and that scared her terribly. Was Chloe’s departure getting close if they couldn’t have fun anymore?
“Chloe’s probably home by now,” Leo said as he climbed the stairs back up to Chloe’s apartment. Daisy walked beside him. They were both completely invisible to the others that passed. Even though people could pass through them, Leo always moved out of their way. It felt weird when someone went through you, no matter how magical you are.
“I can’t wait to see her earrings.” Daisy smiled.
Leo shrugged. “I guess. Why do humans have the need to stick things into them? It looks awfully uncomfortable.”
“I think earrings are nice,” Daisy stated.
“But they are a sign of growth,” said Leo.
Daisy sighed. “Must you speak of that again? You’re always saying things like that these days.”
“I don’t think we have much more time, that’s all.”
“Well, I don’t want you to talk about it anymore.” Daisy’s voice sounded shaky, as if she might lose control and start crying. So, Leo decided to drop it.
“Excuse me,” a voice came from behind them.
Daisy moved out of the way by habit, but Leo froze. He turned and saw an old man standing there. He was looking expectantly at Leo.
“You can see us?” the lion asked.
Daisy caught her breath.
The old man was dressed in baggy clothes and his hair was matted. He wore a bandana on his head and his right foot was a peg. He looked them both over. “Of course I can see you. We recognize our own, don’t we? Well, you probably wouldn’t call me one of you anymore.”
“You’re a fantasy?” Daisy asked.
“I was a fantasy,” the old man corrected. “I haven’t been called that in years, though.”
“What happened?” Leo asked.
“My kid grew up,” said the old man. “I wasn’t willing to let go.”
Daisy cleared her throat. “I think I’ll go back to the room. Leo?”
The lion shook his head. “I’ll be there in a minute.”
Daisy nodded to the man once more before hurrying up the stairs and passing through Chloe’s apartment door.
