Chapter one: the town of literally terrible everywhere

hi... I'm Thomas. I live with my sister, holly, and my mom, in the town of literally terrible everywhere. the leaves are grey. not brown, grey. or just not there at all. the weather is always so cold. 

I HATE it here. nothing good ever happens here. I wish I could leave. everything bad happens to Holly, and I feel bad for her. our mom is always at her work and she barely gets any sleep! we spend most of our free time at the library. I read a book about fauns once and it was pretty interesting for me.

earlier my sister was talking about how mom yelled at her for getting a 'C' in math. I noticed a tiny chunk of her hair turn grey. I didn't know what to say. "um... holly... did your hair just turn grey?" holly looked at her hair and shrugged. "weird."

"sis... are you okay?" I asked nervously. "I'm... I'm fine, Thomas! why are you always on my case?" she stormed up to her room. "holly..." "DON'T EVEN TALK TO ME." "HOLLY." she huffed. "HMPH." I rolled my eyes. "SORRY FOR TRYING TO BE A GOOD BIG BROTHER."

I sighed and went to my room. it was already late at night and our mom was on her night shift at the hospital. that night, I had a dream of a colorful world full of animals and gold. I knew what I wanted to do. I woke up early that morning to plan.

Chapter two: we set off to a better place

that morning I designed a map to this 'dream world', as I called it. my sister also woke up early and we sat in awkward silence as we ate breakfast. the rest of the day was quiet. we both stayed in our rooms, until holly threw a note under my door.

it said, 'Thomas, sorry I was mean to you. I was just angry and tired. -holly☺︎' I smiled slightly. then I walked over to her before she could go back to her room. "holly, I have something to show you."

I showed her my map. she smiled slightly. then I noticed her hair became fully grey. "but, Thomas... what if dream world isn't real? you probably just made it up to make me happy..." her voice trailed off as she smiled sadly. "well, we have to see if it's real before we give up." she sighed.

"fair enough." I held up my clenched fists in the air. "YES!" then we waited till midnight when mom was gone and snuck out. we walked through the woods with flashlights and my map. then we saw something very, very peculiar.

Chapter three:  well, this isn't going as planned...

something lunged at us. luckily, Holly was prepared. she kicked it in the stomach and punched it in the nose. it fell to the floor. "WHY ARE PEOPLE LIKE THIS?" Holly put her hands on her hips. "why were you tryna kill us?" "I was bored." "that's your reason?" "when you say it out loud, it sounds unreasonable." "who are you?" 

"Nico. well, I'm not so sure... I think I forgot." Holly squinted. "how did you forget." the creature shrugged. "I didn't mean to." I sighed. then I took a closer look at them. they had goat horns and knees that were almost backwards. they looked a goat and a human morphed together. a faun, I thought. "do you people happen to have a map to Aecrerona?" I squinted. "never heard of it."

the faun -possibly named Nico- pointed at my map. "what is that for?" I shrugged. "um... I'm not sure." I handed him the map. "well, I would love to go there, but it is very risky." "why?" "because of the queen." "what's her name?" "queen morbid fire." "that's probably not real." "that's what she wants you to think." "surrree..."

Chapter four: what does the fox say?

so, Nico came along with us and we kept walking. there was a HUGE mountain that we started climbing. I noticed Holly's feet slowly turning to stone. "Holly... are you okay?" she looked at her feet. "I'm fine... maybe I just stepped in wet concrete earlier..." I sighed. "Holly, your hair is grey and stone cold." "...maybe I'm aging too fast." "Holly."

"what?" "you realize you're slowly turning to stone, right?" "really?" "YES. HOW HAVE YOU NOT REALIZED THIS?" "I was too busy tying my shoes." "holly, your shoes are literally frozen solid." "oh." I sighed. "we gotta get to whatever that place is; quick." 

"um... I don't mean to interrupt your conversation, but I think we're going the wrong way," Nico said. I groaned. "we're never gonna get there! it's hopeless!" just then, a burst of gold sprinted through the forest and dropped a note. it said 'go left, cut right, go straight until you see the river. go left and then straight until you reach your destination.

 - Misutā Kitsune'

i grinned. "YES." I raised my fists to the air. "WE'LL MAKE IT!" "WE'RE SO CLOSE! WE'RE PROBABLY ONLY A COUPLE MILES AWAY!" Nico shrugged. "where are we going again?" "NICO." "what? I forgot." "YOU ALWAYS FORGET." "it's not MY fault!" "it... literally is." "NO IT ISN'T!" "it is."

Chapter five: almost there, but will we make it?

I glanced over and saw Holly's legs completely turned to stone. she couldn't even move her legs. "well... this is a problem." I sighed. "how are we gonna make it to that place when you're turning into a statue?" she shrugged. "I don't know." "HOLLY." "what?" "how are you not worried about turning to stone?" she smiled sadly. "what if we're just wasting our time? I want to go back home."

"Holly. if we go home, you will become a literal statue. if we keep trying, we might have a chance." she sighed. "maybe we could see the doctor or something to see if they could help me. come on." she realized she couldn't move. "so, let me guess. you're gonna force me to go because I can't choose to go the other way; aren't you." I sighed. "fine. if you really don't want to go, I guess you can just stay there forever slowly turning to stone."

she sighed. "fine. but if there isn't that place you're talking about, then I'm gonna punch you." "not if your hands turn to stone." she rolled her eyes. "you are infuriating." "and you are half made of stone." "you're testing your luck." "no, I'm testing your patience." "UGH." "you sound like a tea kettle." "IF YOU SAY ONE MORE THING." "if I say one more thing then what? you'll fall down and roll away?"

Chapter six: Kevin The Horse is witty

Holly sighed. "YOU ARE SO ANNOYING." then, from in the distance, someone yelled, "HEY! STOP FIGHTING!" and a horse rolled over. "hello. I am named Kevin and I'm a horse." "we can see that," I said exhaustedly. "THANK YOU!" "what?" "NEVER MIND! DOES ANYONE NEED A RIDE?"

"um... kinda," holly said. "WHY IS THE STATUE TALKING?" "HEY." "AAH THE STATUE IS OFFENDED DON'T EAT ME!" "I WON'T EAT YOU." "really?" "YES, YOU MORON." a single tear rolled down his face. "THAT'S MEAN." Holly sighed. "fine, I'm sorry I called you a moron. now, let's go." she climbed up onto Kevin and so did I.