"On the road to Hell there was a railroad line, and a poor boy workin' on a song..."

[y/n] was a hungry young girl. All she had were the clothes on her back and the single apple in her hand. The apple was old and rotten, but she knew she had to eat it in order to survive the final days of this harsh winter. Summer was approaching and [y/n] knew that she would have plenty to eat when Persephone finally arrived. So she closed her eyes, braced herself, and bit into the moldy fruit. It tasted like cardboard. She coughed and managed to swallow the chunk of apple. [y/n] tore a small piece of cloth off of her thin brown coat and carefully wrapped the apple in it. She then placed it in her pocket and took a deep breath. The apple needed to last her two days.

[y/n] walked around for hours. She lived her life in poverty and was always traveling around. She had to find food, shelter, and work, but not one place had all three. She looked up and saw that the sun was starting to set. Pink, orange, and purple hues filled the sky, making [y/n] smirk. She has always enjoyed the work of art that sunsets created by painting the sky. But, the sunset also meant that it was almost nighttime. After hours of walking, [y/n] was incredibly tired, so she sat down on a nice patch of dry grass under a large nearby tree that she had found.

She took some dead leaves and formed a pile with them. This would be her pillow. [y/n] then laid down and curled into a ball. She pulled her jacket over her legs and quickly drifted into a deep sleep.

While asleep, [y/n] dreamt of her perfect life. She had a large house with a thousand bedrooms and a hundred fireplaces. Some of the fires were always burning so she never got cold. Her pantry was filled with enough food for her to have three meals every day. The scent of flowers sometimes filled the house. She went to bed on a mostly-full stomach every night. She slept on the second softest bed that anyone had ever felt and woke up whenever she wanted to. It was a life of luxury and the complete opposite of the world she lived in now.

Morning came and the fires in [y/n's] house went out. The scent of flowers melted away as the small bit of food from her pantry disappeared. The bright sun was rising and it was time for the cold and hungry girl to get back to her miserable and desperate life.

[y/n] yawned and stood up. She wiped the dry grass off of her dirty brown coat and shook the dead leaves out of hair and started to walk. Suddenly, the most beautiful sound [y/n] had ever heard filled the air. She turned around and saw an attractive young boy with a lyre leaning against the tree that she had called home the night before.

The young boy was tall and fair-skinned. His messy dark brown hair framed his rosy cheeks and kind hazel eyes. His long brown trousers were rolled up to his ankle, exposing his worn-out black boots. The boy's thread-bare white shirt was stained with brown patches of dirt. He had brown suspenders and wore a red bandana around his neck. His fragile hands were strumming a simple yet gorgeous melody on his lyre. [y/n] thought he was the cutest boy she had ever seen.

The boy began to sing along to the tune he was playing on his instrument. "La la la la la la la," he sang. He repeated this over and over again until he looked up and noticed [y/n] staring at him. The young boy smiled at her, but she didn't smile back. She was too busy looking at the dry patch of grass she had been laying on that was suddenly full of fresh, bright green grass. She thought she was dreaming.

[y/n] thought to herself, Did his song just do that? That's not possible! She shook her head and started to walk away. She didn't walk for long, though. She wanted to see the boy again. Instead of traveling around and trying to find work like she did every day, [y/n] quickly ran back to her tree to see if he was still there. He was gone.

Devastated, she sat by the tree all day. [y/n] thought about the boy's adorable smile and his pink lips. She stroked the patch of green grass for hours. She tried to sing his song, but couldn't remember the full melody. She waited for him to return, but he never did.

The light was starting to fade so [y/n] performed her usual nighttime routine. She took some dead leaves and put them into a pile and laid down. She pulled her jacket over her legs and fell asleep.

She dreamt of her perfect life. Except in this dream, the young boy was with her. They had a giant house with two thousand bedrooms and two-hundred fireplaces. The fires were always burning so the two of them never got cold. Their pantry was filled with enough food to feed two villages. The scent of freshly picked flowers always filled their house. Both [y/n] and the boy went to bed on a full stomach every night. They shared the softest bed that anyone had ever felt and woke up whenever they wanted to. It was a life of luxury and happiness.

Before the boy came along, [y/n] had only dreamed of what she would need to stay alive and be satisfied. Now, she saw no limit to what she could wish for. Even if it was only in her dream, the boy showed her how the world could be, if she only dreamed a little bigger.

As she slept, a smile crept onto [y/n's] face. In her many years of wandering, this was the only time she felt truly happy.