I was woken up by light taps on my thighs. When I looked down, I saw a small kitty that was looking at me curiously. I had never seen it before, but it seemed really adorable.

I took a small twig and started playing around with the kitten until I heard the voice of a little girl, "Lucy, I told you not to run away!"

I looked in the direction where the voice came from and saw a blue haired girl coming towards me. When she stepped closer, I noticed that she was wearing a beanie that had the same light blue color as her hair and eyes.

She lifted the cat off the ground and looked at me. I wanted to stand up from the grass to introduce myself when she suddenly sat down beside me with her side leaning against the tree.

I also turned around a bit, with my left shoulder leaning against the big tree, so that we were looking at each other.

Now that I looked at her, I thought that she wasn't only cute but also really pretty. I wanted my wife to look like that once I grew up.

"Hi, I'm Alma White," said the blue-eyed girl. That was a strange first name, I had never heard it before.

"My name is B-Brea," was my answer, but for some reason, I felt really nervous...

"I'm sorry that Lucy woke you up, she seems to like you," stated Alma while looking down at her cat, "Usually she's scared of people and never leaves my side."

"She is cute and small," I replied. The kitty looked really young.

"She will stay this small forever. Mommy said she is sick and will not grow..." replied Alma sounding sad.

"Why are you sad? Isn't she cute like this?" I asked.

"She is really cute, but when I am sick, I don't feel good. I don't want Lucy to not feel good..." said Alma.

"But she looks happy... look," I said and pointed at the cat, that was happily playing with one of the cute twin tails Alma had.

She glanced at the kitty and started smiling, then nodded. She asked, "Are you new here? I live a few buildings down the road, but I have never seen you before."

"My Dad is on a trip for work, I live on Greenback Island," I answered.

She looked a bit disappointed, but then started smiling again and said, "Then let's have lots of fun now!"

She took my hand and stood up, pulling me into the direction of the slide. It was red and built into a hill, with a tunnel going through under it. I had never seen such a long slide before.

Alma dragged me to the backside of the hill before letting go so she could climb up. There was a rope which you could use to pull yourself up, but I wanted to use the small steps that were on the right side. I was bad at sports, and I didn't want to show that to her.

She put her little kitten down and started climbing up, which looked really easy for her. She had reached the top within seconds, while Lucy followed me to the steps.

After reaching the platform at the top of the hill, Alma pulled my arm into the direction of the slide and chirped, "Let's slide together!"

I sat down on the slide and wondered how she wanted to slide together with me, it was too narrow to sit beside each other. Suddenly Alma sat down closely behind me, hugging my belly from behind.

I didn't know why but I could feel my face redden as the girl was pressing herself against me. I didn't want her to notice my red ears, so I pulled us into the slide.

It didn't take long before we reached the bottom, but I really enjoyed it. Then Alma turned around and said, "Look up."

I looked at the top of the slide and could see Lucy as she laid down on her belly and slid down. I had never seen a cat do that and it made me laugh a lot.

"Want to do it again?" asked Alma cheerfully, looking like she genuinely enjoyed my company. I nodded, and we went up once again.

When we reached the top, Alma looked like she was waiting for me to sit down. I said, "No, this time you are sitting in front of me."

"But I am taller than you, so I should be behind you," replied Alma. I didn't care about that, I just didn't want her to see my red face. I pulled her to the slide and made her sit down.

After that, I sat down behind her and saw something move under her shirt. I pulled the shirt up a bit and saw that she had a cat tail growing out her back.

Alma stood up and turned around to me, looking really sad, "Why did you do that? Now you won't want to spend time with me anymore..."

"Why wouldn't I want to play with you?" I asked because I genuinely didn't know. She pulled off her beanie and revealed her ears, which were at the top of her head and looked like ones from a cat, not a human.

"Everyone who found out about me being a cat stopped talking to me, so I hide it..." stated Alma with tears in her eyes. Without thinking, I made a step forward and hugged her tightly.

"Your ears are really cute. I like them," I replied and took the beanie from her hand, before placing it back on her head, "Let's have some more fun."

Alma looked at me like she couldn't believe what I just said. I pushed her back to the slide, sat down behind her and hugged her tightly, ignoring my blushing face, before shoving us down the slide.

After sliding a few times, we went over to the swings. We sat down on them, while Lucy laid down beside us on the grass.

"I bet I can swing higher than you," said Alma and started moving forward and backward. I did this kind of thing pretty often with Quinn and Ida, I knew how to swing high.

"I bet you can't," I replied and also started swinging. I was gaining height fast and seemed to be getting higher than Alma. After a few minutes, Alma began slowing down.

"Okay, you win this one... but I know something where you won't beat me," stated Alma and waited for me to slow down. After I got up from the swing, she took my hand and pulled me into the direction of a big climbing frame.

It was very colorful and really high. I was bad with heights and also didn't like climbing, so I was scared to go there.

"Let's try who can reach the top first," said Alma cheerfully.

"Um... I... I don't want to..." I said looking away from her. Alma looked at me with a curious expression and seemed a bit disappointed.

I didn't want her to think that she was the problem, so I decided to be honest and spoke, "I-I don't like heights, and I'm b-bad at sports like climbing and such..."

She looked like she felt relief and took me by the hand. Then she said, "That's no problem, I can help you climb, and once you are at the top, you will see that it's not high."

The touch of her hand made me feel strange, and although I still didn't want to climb, I even less wanted her to let go of my hand. I nodded, and we went closer to the entrance of the climbing frame.

Once we entered, the whole structure seemed even bigger. There were many different ways to choose from. Lucy followed us in and laid down near the entrance.

"This way is easy, you won't have trouble climbing up here," stated Alma who was still leading me by the hand. We started climbing up big stairs that led around the back of the climbing frame.

We reached the last step, and I realized that I couldn't climb that one like the ones before. It was much higher, and I would have to pull me up with only my arms.

I tried pulling me up but couldn't muster the strength I would need. Suddenly I felt a touch on my bum and was lifted up. I looked down and saw Alma who was pushing me from below.

"See, you did it all by yourself. Almost, at least," said Alma cheerfully. I was thrilled until I looked around and saw how high up I was. I screamed for a moment and then started feeling dizzy.

Alma hugged me from behind and said, "Don't be scared, I am here with you and will hold you."

After calming down again, I was standing there for a moment, before sitting on the floor. A wooden fence was between me and many feet of nothingness.

"Look down. It's not that high, and you also can't fall," spoke Alma. I moved my head closer to the fence and looked down.

For a few seconds I got sick, but then I realized that Alma was still hugging me. I got a feeling of safety, and suddenly the sickness went away. I didn't know why, but just by her touch, I could look down without feeling anxious.

"You are right, it's not high," I replied after the beating of my heart slowed down to regular speed.

"See, told you," said Alma cheerfully, "let's go back down."

There was a slide on the side that led back to the entrance, it was going down in a spiral form. We slid down and went back in, where Lucy was still sitting.

"Want to try a harder route? I'm sure you can do it," asked Alma. I nodded, and we started climbing.

After going up and down for a few times, we stopped, and I wanted to sit on a bench after picking up Lucy. I was carrying Lucy while Alma looked around what to do next.

On our way to the bench, Alma suddenly did a handstand. But instead of staying in the handstand, she kept moving and made a full circle.

"What was that?" I asked because I had never seen that before.

"It's called a cartwheel. You move from standing to a handstand and then back to standing," Alma answered, "do you want me to show you how to do it?"

I nodded and replied, "Yes, please."

Then we spent quite some time with trying cartwheels and handstands until I could do it. When I finally managed to do my first proper cartwheel, Alma said, "You learned it way faster than me, you are really good at this."

"Thank you..." I said shyly. I never knew how to respond to someone saying good things about me...

"You should become a cheerleader, it would suit you," said a very cheerful Alma.

"A cheerleader? What is that?" I asked. I heard that word before, but I don't know what that is.

"Cheerleaders jump and dance at sports events to cheer for their team, and they have competitions. I think they look really cool. That's why I want to become a cheerleader when I'm in high school," she answered.

"I-I don't know... I'm bad at sports..." I replied. It sounded like fun, but I didn't think I could do it.

"You can do it, I know it. You just need to try and give it your all," cheered Alma. I thought about it for a moment, then nodded.

"Yay, we will both be cheerleaders," Alma seemed very happy and hugged me tightly. I hoped Ida and Quinn would become cheerleaders with me; it would be much more fun if we are together.

"Let's go play again, I want to build a sandcastle," said Alma happily. I nodded, and we started in the direction of the sandbox.

Alma took a red bucket and sat down on the wooden frame of the box. She started filling the bucket with sand until it was full.

I put down Lucy, then also took a bucket and sat down beside her. We started building the castle, which took quite a while.

When we were finished, Alma didn't look satisfied. I asked, "You don't like it?"

"I do, but something is missing... we need someone who that castle belongs to," answered Alma. That gave me an idea.

I stood up and went to the bushes near the sandbox. I took two small twigs that had a few leaves and went back to Alma.

"Look, this is princess Alma, and this is her prince who protects her from all dangers," I explained and stuck them in the sand.

"No, this isn't her prince," Alma said shaking her head, "this is her princess, Brea. They protect each other and don't need a prince. But someone is still missing."

She got up and went to the bushes and came back holding an even smaller branch. I wondered what she wanted to do with that.

Before I could ask her, she tripped on a root that was sticking out from the ground in front of me. She started falling and was coming in my direction.

She was too fast so I couldn't catch her, and we both fell into the sandbox screaming. When I opened my eyes, Alma was lying on top of me, and I was lying on top of what was left of our castle. Lucy got up and then jumped on Alma's back.

After a moment of silence, we both started laughing and got back up. Alma began to brush off the sand from my back and said, "I wanted to add Lucy to our castle... sorry, now it is destroyed..."

She sounded really sad, so I spoke, "It's okay, isn't it? We had fun building it."

After a moment of silence, she started smiling and nodded. I took her hand and led her to the basket swing.

It was a big swing with a blue basket instead of the seat, and many people could fit into it.

We both laid down into the basket with Lucy and started swinging a bit.

"I have to go home soon..." spoke Alma sounding sad. I wanted to play more, but I was getting exhausted anyway.

"I don't know when we can meet again; I don't live around here..." I replied. For some reason I took off her beanie, exposing her kitty ears.

"Hey, give it back!" demanded Alma. I looked at her ears and wondered how anyone could not find them cute.

"You are really cute and pretty; I hope my wife will look like you when I grow up," I stated.

Alma looked at me confused, then said while laughing, "You are a girl, you need to marry a boy, Dummy."

"No, I want to marry you," I replied. I didn't want to marry a boy; Alma was much cuter than any boy.

"Okay, then let's marry when we are grown up," Alma answered smiling.

We kept lying and swinging for many minutes, until Alma said, "I need to go, it's getting late..."

We stood up and hugged, and I said, "I hope we will meet again soon."

"Me too," answered Alma smiling sadly, "but I have something for you."

Alma took off a blue braided bracelet that she had been wearing all this time and said, "Keep this. Until we meet again."

She handed me the bracelet before suddenly kissing me on my cheek and walking away quickly.

I could feel the heat rushing to my face, and I was sure that I was red as a tomato, then I sat back down on the swing holding my cheek.

'Why did she give me a kiss, isn't that something adults do? And why did it make me so happy?' I thought to myself while looking at the bracelet before putting it on.

Now alone, I went back to the slide because I wanted to try pulling me up the rope as Alma did. I wanted to show her that I could do that next time we played.

I started pulling myself up slowly, one step at a time. It was exhausting and took me some time, but I almost managed to get to the top, when I suddenly slipped and started falling backward.

My foot was tangled in the rope, so I started falling head-first to the ground. I screamed as the grass was coming closer. Only a few inches were between me and the floor.

Then I woke up, panting heavily. My eyes were still closed, and I could not open them, but I was awake.

I instinctively wanted to touch my hurting head, but my arms felt too heavy so I couldn't lift them at all. I managed to move them to my chest, and with the small bit of feeling I had in my hands, I felt my boobs.

It was me.

The eighteen-year-old me.

I had never had a more realistic dream. That was because it wasn't a simple dream, it was the memory I had long forgotten. The memory of when I met Alma for the first time...

I finally managed to open my eyes and the light coming from the window was giving me a burning sensation. I looked at my hands, but everything seemed blurry.

I wanted to lift myself up but noticed that I couldn't move an inch. I looked down and saw Alma sitting on a chair beside the bed, with her head resting beside my legs. I tried shifting a bit again, but nothing happened.

"Alma?" I said with a scratchy voice like if my throat wasn't watered in days.

She opened her eyes, and after a moment of just staring into my eyes, she started crying and leaped onto the bed, kissing me.

That was when I realized that I wasn't at home in my room. Everything looked white and clean.

It was obvious: I was in a hospital.