There was a girl, quiet, reserved, invisible. One may question why it was said that she was never alone. No one talked to her, no one noticed her, but she always had someone to occupy her. The girl would travel to the most exotic places. She would go on daring adventures. She was a different person with the ones she ventured through life with, and they meant nothing to all but one.

She stood at the top of the street, her neighborhood still asleep behind her. A bag slung over one shoulder and her phone in hand. Earbuds plugged in, she listened to her favorite playlist as she watched the dark, early morning sky look down upon her. A shadowy figure moving above the clouds caught her attention. Its blue wings peaking from the edge of the white cotton balls. A dragon, ten times her size, swooped down low, gliding effortlessly, just above her head. A huge wolf peaked between the trees, the glowing electric glue lightning bolt across its face illuminated the surrounding snowy forest.

The bus pulled in loudly, the breaks screeching to a halt. The faded yellow paint had a blue tint in the dim light. The tall doors swung open and the stop sign on the side folded out. Her eyes glanced back at the woods on the other side of the road where five wolves had joined the one. Each one was saddled and with a rider sitting on its back. The girl stepped onto the vehicle and took a seat in the third row by the window. A perfect view.

The doors closed and the bus lurched forward. The sun had begun to rise in the east, painting the sky a vivid red-orange. Looking out the window, the girl watched the wolves run along side her, their riders glancing her way every now and then. The dark blue dragon had been joined by a small red one, flying lopsided loops in the air. Sparks crackled at the sides of its mouth which was curved upward at the ends like a smile. A small, dark figure shot out of a cloud of grey and purple smoke. A girl barrel rolled as jet black wings extended from her back. She dove down to the window and waved. The girl who had been staring outside waved back.

Hello friend she thought. The half-dragon girl nodded and ascended back up into the sky. As more people boarded the bus, the girl's gaze never left the window. As they crossed over a bridge, the girl saw a royal couple dancing by the edge of the lake. Fish reflected the sun and moonlight, a the remaining fireflies lit up the tall grasses. A few ducklings followed their mother along the bank near tall reeds and the old stone bridge arced over the connecting river. The half-dragon girl rode a palace horse along the path beside the bus to an awaiting prince at the bridge. She watched a girl with strawberry blonde hair covering her eyes as the giant blue dragon lifted her onto its back.

She looked to the sky which darkened above her as distant galaxies lit up the star spotted space. A girl sitting on a large rock, was watching too and waved to the girl on the bus.

When the bus arrived in the school courtyard, the girl stepped off and walked silently into the building. People crowded around those with words to say and things to share. The girl walked past all of it. She sat down in the second row of her math class, alone in the room, save for her teacher who was grading the tests they took the previous day. She pulled out an old book, decorated by a detailed illustration of a giant wolf. The girl opened the book and silently read. With ten minutes until the bell was to ring, she pulled out her notebook and pencil and began writing. Thirty front and back pages filled with her imagination. She began writing on another page. She saw the clumsy, red dragon sitting in the corner of the room, and the strawberry blonde girl in the seat in front of her.

The bell rang and her noisy classmates piled into the room. The lesson was all too boring until the dragon knocked over a pile of folders from the teacher's desk when a boy walked by. The girl chuckled and shook her head. You annoying dragon, she thought. The dragon rolled on the floor laughing. The bell finally rang and she was off to her next class. The dragon seemed to follow her everywhere around school, from math to history, to the computer room and to art. The dragon stepped on a paint pallet and walked around the room. Purple, green and blue footprints walked around the room.

Her teacher announced the end of class. Students washed their paint pallets and put their canvases on the drying rack. When the bell rang, the girl hurried out of the classroom to the cafeteria where she took a seat to wait for her bus. She pulled out her laptop and began typing quickly, not even looking at the keys as words poured out onto the document. She looked down at her phone. Two thirty-four. She packed up her computer and walked quickly past shouting groups of upperclassmen, all the way to the bus loop where her bus pulled in just as she arrived. Boarding the bus for her ride home, the dragon attempted to climb on with her. You need to stay off the bus, she thought. The dragon obeyed and crawled onto the roof. 

Earbuds in, the girl ignored her surroundings, gaze locked on the dragons soaring in the sky above, the two wolves looking over a foggy canyon at the blue dragon. She saw men dressed in wolf skins, riding horses, pulling a large wooden cage behind them, the people mounted on the wolves hover in the treetops. At the second stop to hers, the girl saw the half-dragon girl teasing the prince on the bridge. She smiled to know he was being treated as he should for his selfishness. The bus turned onto the street connected to hers and stopped at the intersection to drop off a few students. She watched as a hedgehog struggled to climb aboard. It crawled all the way to her seat. She picked it up and sat it in her lap as the bus bounced over a bump in the road. The bus stopped in front of her house, the doors to an afternoon of freedom opened. She exited the bus and crossed the road to her house. 

Through her eyes, the world was alive with creatures flying high above the clouds and running along the edge of the forest behind her back yard. She sat at the table by the bay window with her laptop and began typing, glancing ever so often at her backyard to see another character come to life. She blinked and they disappeared. She blinked again and they reappeared. 

At night, she stood on her porch and looked up at the stars, the lights of the minds of the people with bright ideas and endless imagination, among them, was hers, shining bright in the milky way. It was her creativity, her imagination, that brought these characters to life. Her endless swirl of thoughts meant nothing to all but one. Her.