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"What?!" the children exclaimed.

"She only imagined it?"

"So Philip isn't real?"

All four of them were confused. They didn't expect the story to turn out like this.

"What did I say?" the man reminded his children.

"To be quiet and not to interrupt you," they mumbled. The man nodded and looked at them for a moment before continuing with his story.

"Adelaide was confused. She couldn't believe that she had just imagined everything. Once she had recovered enough to leave the house again, she decided to look for the clearing she had dreamed of..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Almost a week had passed since I had woken up. I had spent most of my time in the house, Aunt Kara didn't want to risk me getting sick again.

I hadn't been sleeping a lot lately. Ever since I had woken up that day, my dreams had turned into nightmares. I kept dreaming about this strange man, who stood above me with a hateful look in his eyes.

And every time, just moments before I would wake up, I would hear his hoarse voice.

'You shall have a happy life, sweet little Briar Rose, but it won't last long.'

I didn't understand why he would call me 'Briar Rose'. I had never heard this name before in my entire life. At first I thought that maybe he wasn't talking to me, but to someone else. But as those nightmares kept haunting me night after night, I realized that those words were meant for none other than me.

But not all dreams I had were about him. In some of them I was in this clearing in the middle of the forest, a young man sitting next to me. His hair had the color of the hazelnuts Aunt Melody and I would go picking in the fall. And his eyes, they reminded me of the grass that would sprout in the spring.

Every time I would look at them, a feeling of safety would overcome me. It felt like nothing and no one could hurt me as long as he was there with me. But just like it was with the nightmares, I would wake up eventually and realize that it was all just a dream.

This man wasn't real; he was the product of my imagination. Just a dream.

"Adelaide, where are you going?"

I turned around as I pulled a brown cape over my head. Aunt Kara stood in front of me, a scrutinizing look in her eyes.

"Aunt Kara," I greeted her with a smile. "I was going to take a walk. It is such a beautiful day outside."

"How are you feeling?" she asked while stepping closer, the back of her hand touching my forehead.

"Good, as you can see the fever hasn't returned," I said.

"No, it hasn't." She let out a sigh and removed her hand. "Alright, you can take a walk."

My mouth formed into a smile. For a moment I almost believed she would allow me to go.

"But you have to be back in an hour."

"Thank you, Aunt Kara, I will be soon. I promise," I said. Kissing her cheek, I turned around and opened the door.

"And Adelaide?"

I looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Yes?"

"Don't go too far away from the house," she said.

I nodded and left the house. Taking a deep breath, I smiled to myself, the sun warming up my skin. A shadow appeared above my head followed by a crow. I lifted my head, my eyes landing on a black raven.

"Come on, Ray, we are going into the woods," I said, continuing my walk.

As I kept walking deeper into the forest, flashbacks of my dreams floated through my mind.

I had been wandering around, without a destination in my mind, I suddenly found myself in the middle of a clearing. Looking around, I had a strange feeling of having been here before. This place looked so familiar.

The feeling of dizziness came over me, forcing me to sit down. As I sat there on the ground, my hand reaching out to rub my head, Ray let out a cow. I searched for him in the sky, but couldn't find him.

Where was he? I thought to myself confused and looked around.

I finally spotted him sitting in a tree not too far away from me. And as I looked at him, just sitting there, staring back at me with a crocked head, images of the stranger appeared in front of my eyes.

Looking around, I realized that the feeling I had earlier wasn't just a feeling. I had been here before, in my dreams.

How could this place be real? I thought.

Suddenly a strange sound echoed through the air. I jumped up, startled. I had heard that sound before, in my dreams. A horse.

But it couldn't be real, could it? I must have imagined it. The forest was quiet again, the sound long gone.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm down. I shouldn't have gone so far into the woods, I was still recovering from the fever and now I had overexerted myself. Yes, I was probably just tired. That explains why I had imagined the sound.

I sat back down, feeling calmer now that I had a logical explanation. Closing my eyes, I lay down, the grass tickling my bare hands as sunbeams warmed up my skin. Time seemed to pass by and soon I found myself dozing off to sleep.

The sound of a branch breaking, brought me back to reality and I jumped up startled. I turned around to where the sound had come from and found myself facing a young man.

"Adelaide," he greeted me with a smile.

I stared at the man, a frown forming on my forehead. He looked familiar, but I couldn't quite grasp where I had seen him before. And then my mind finally remembered.

"No," I said, my eyes wide open. "This can't be real. You are not real."

The man looked at me with a frown and stepped closer. "Adelaide, it's me, Philip."

"Philip?" I mumbled to myself, the name sounding familiar.

"Yes, Philip, don't you remember? We met two weeks ago. It's me, Philip," he said, taking another step forward.

"No, don't come any closer. You are not real, you're just a dream. I must have fallen asleep again," I thought to myself.

"Adelaide, you are not dreaming, I am real," he said, his eyes staring at me, making it impossible for me to look away.

"I am not?" I asked confused. But I had to be asleep, how else could he be here?

"No, you're not," he said. "Why would you think that?"

"But- but how can you be real?" I asked.

"Don't you remember? We met two weeks ago," he said. "I got lost and found you picking berries; you helped me get back to the kingdom of Gilion."

"But that can't be true, I was sick for a week, I had a fever. We couldn't have met," I stammered.

"Adelaide, you weren't sick when I met you. Don't you remember, we used to meet here every day? I am real, Adelaide," he said again.

"How do I know that I am not dreaming right now?" I asked.

He stepped closer and took my hands in his. "Would you feel this when you would be asleep," he asked me, his eyes staring into mine.

"But I thought that it was all just a dream," I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

"Why would you think that?"

"My aunts, they said that it was all just a dream, that I had only imagined you."

"Your aunts lied to you," he said.

"My aunts wouldn't lie to me," I said, taking a step back, removing my hands from his. "They would never lie to me."

"They lied to you if they told you that you imagined all of this, Adelaide. It was never just a dream," he said. "Don't you remember the last time we saw each other? You made me promise to come back, and I did."

"You said that I shouldn't forget you," I suddenly remembered.

"And you said you wouldn't."

"It wasn't a dream," I mumbled to myself, my hand reaching up to my lips.

"No, it wasn't. Do you remember now?"

I looked at him, my eyes wide open. But if it wasn't a dream, then my aunts lied to me. Why would they lie to me about something like that? I suddenly remembered that I had run after Philip because he forgot something. I had almost, no, I did reach the end of the forest. But something stopped me.

A wall. But not one of stone, it was an invisible one.

My eyes widened as I realized that my aunts must have had something to do with it.

"I- I have to go," I said, slowing walking backwards away from Philip.

"Where are you going?" he asked me confused.

"I have to- I have to go." I turned around, ready to run back home.

"Wait!" he called after me. I didn't turn around, I didn't wait for him to catch up with me. I had to get home; I had to talk to my aunts.

"Adelaide!" I heard him call after me.

I ran as fast as I could, my feet barely touching the ground. Why would my aunts lie to me about it? They never lied to me before, why wouldn't they just tell me the truth?

As soon as I neared the cottage, I rushed into the house and searched for my aunts. I found them at the table talking.

All of three of them looked at me with wide eyes when they saw me burst into the room.

"Adelaide, what is it?" Aunt Iris asked worriedly.

"Why did you lie to me?" I asked them, tears welling up in my eyes.

"What are you talking about?" Aunt Kara asked me confused.

"You know exactly what I am talking about," I said, anger starting to boil up in me.

"No, we don't, Adelaide," Aunt Melody tried to calm me down. "What is it you think we lied about?"

"You lied, I didn't have a fever for a week. Those memories I have aren't dreams, they really happened."

"What do you mean?" Aunt Melody asked me confused.

"When I woke up I told you that I met a man. You told me that it was all just a dream. But I know that he wasn't just a dream. Why did you lie to me? Why did you want me to believe that none of this was real?" I asked, a single tear rolling down my cheek.

"Adelaide, we didn't-" Aunt Kara said, but I cut her off.

"Don't lie to me, I know what I saw is real," I said, taking a deep breath. "Why is there an invisible wall stopping me from leaving the forest?"

Aunt Iris and Aunt Melody exchanged a look of concern. "Adelaide," Aunt Iris eventually said. "We were only trying to protect you."

"Protect me from what?" I asked them angrily.

"The-"

"Iris, you can't tell her about it," Aunt Kara warned her with a sharp glare.

"We have to tell her, she needs to know about it," Aunt Iris defended herself.

"Know about what?" I asked.

My aunts exchanged a silent look before Aunt Iris looked at me with a guilty expression.

"Your curse."

Hey guys! Hope you liked the chapter! I have decided to enter the story into the Wattys! What do you think about it? Let me know by leaving a comment and thank you for voting!

~Tessa