Courtney looked at her small, drab room and sighed. Her dolls sat in a corner along with her warrior princess outfit, sword, and shield. She spent countless hours playing with these toys, one moment giving tea to her dolls and the next fighting her friends as the warrior princess. While her real world life had become a much better place since she had visited Elysia every night, she still missed her earlier childhood when she and both her parents spent so much time together. She lived in a happy world then, one filled with family parties, trips to the movies and parks, and just time spent quietly together. Then, the anger and the darkness came. Her father and mother, suddenly lost their jobs, and the arguments started soon after. Her mom found work at another company, but her dad did not find a new job. Then one day after a long argument the police came and took her dad away. Courtney had seen him only once from afar since that terrible day. In her mind, she journeyed back to this time. Courtney, lay in her bed, waiting for sleep to come. Just a few months ago, Courtney had been able to fall asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. When sleep finally came this night, Courtney found herself in front of an elaborate wrought-iron gate with a large sign reading Elysia set amid the swirling pieces of iron. The sun shone very brightly, birds sang happily, and sweet flower smells escaped from the spaces between the iron bars of the fence. The place looked very much like illustrations in her books, but instead of being pictures on a page or the more fuzzy parts of the dreams she remembered, this place seemed very real to her, as real as the life she ordinarily led. Even in her eleven-year-old mind, Courtney knew this place could not exist, but nonetheless she stood here

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