When I was little, every day was a fairy tale. The sun always shone, and adventure was hiding in every corner of my family’s farm. I was a princess, living in a castle, and my mom and dad were the queen. The horses were really unicorns. The pigs were magical trolls. Bucky, the grumpy black cat, was an evil dragon. Back then, everything was perfect. I would wake up every day with light streaming through my window. I would go into the kitchen and eat a royal feast with the king and queen, and then I, Princess Madelyn, would go on an adventure. I would feed the unicorns, and help clean the magical trolls cavern. I would even brave the realm of the dragon. Then I would visit the phoenixes who were really chickens, and the gnomes who were actually sheep. I know now that those were chores, but when I was Princess Madelyn in my castle which was actually my family’s farm, Nothing was boring. Even though I did the same chores every day. Even though I had to do a lot more work than the other kids who lived near us. But it wasn’t just the fact that I was convinced I was a princess that made my days on the farm the best days of my life. It was because I had Lacey, and the meadow. You see, near the back of my farm, there was a lush, green meadow where every wildflower you could imagine grew. The grass was long and blew in the wind, and if you laid down and just watched the clouds you felt like you could stay there forever. It was my favorite part of the farm. And Lacey, was a girl about the age of 12 who helped with the farm to earn extra money. But every day after work was done, she would come with me to the meadow to play with me. We would pretend that we were princesses from neighboring kingdoms, who fought evil together, had tea parties, and attended balls. Even though, for me, it wasn’t pretending. And for me, it didn’t matter in the slightest that she was 6 years older than me, she was Princess Lacey, my best friend. And for years, even as I got older, and Lacey got older, I still played with Lacey in the meadow. I still believed I was Princess Madelyn. Until everything got taken away from me. And I lost my castle, my kingdom, the king and queen, my meadow, and I lost Princess Lacey. Because when my parents died in a car accident when I was 9, everything changed. I had to live with my Aunt and Uncle in New York City. I left the farm behind. I left Lacey behind. I left my fairy tale dreams behind with them too. Because As soon as I stepped foot in the city, somehow, I knew. I knew I wasn’t a princess anymore. I knew that none of it was ever real. So I just focused on doing what they told me to do. I did well in school. I made friends. I studied at the library and learned to play piano. I learnt to be normal. I learnt to stop caring about what happened to the farm which was probably sold. I learnt to stop caring about Lacey who’d probably stopped caring about me as soon as I stepped foot outside of our farm. And I haven't believed in fairy tales since. Well, not exactly. Because when I turned 13, something happened to me that changed my perspective on the world. Something happened that made me believe in fairy tales again. Which is the story I will tell you now.
