It’s our first day hiking in the Rockies. We came well prepared with everything we could need. Food, water, supplies, we had it all! But nothing could prepare us for we encountered.

We were walking on the trails taking in all the nature when we heard soft music. Someone was playing the flute. Just then a beautiful white deer gracefully appeared on the trail out of nowhere. It beckoned as if telling us to follow, and we did. We followed it for a long while until it reached two trees bending towards each other forming a sort of arch. The deer jumped through the arch and it was gone.

Since the deer jumped I also decided to jump in (I know I was being irrational but it was exiting!) . The next thing I know, I’m in a fairytale. No like really. The grass was bright green, rainbows in the sky, flute music everywhere, blue sky, white marble buildings, people going about their day, and a silver stream cutting through the valley. Then I noticed something. These people weren’t just people.

The had animal features. One had cat ears and a tail, one had deer antlers, one had wings, one had fox ears. Some of had no animal features but their ears were long and pointed and they had glittery wings like a fairy. Then I noticed their eyes. They had normal eye colors but also others like purple, orange, yellow, and pink.

In all this amazement I didn’t notice my friends and beautiful girl with silver hair, blue eyes, and deer antlers standing behind me. My friends told me that this was their home in a completely even tone and a glazed expression on their faces. I turned to the deer girl to ask what happened but she merely smiled. Her eyes turned red and time seemed to stop all around us. She kept saying the word home and at some point I think I started repeating after her. Then, I never left.