Every word coming out of their mouths added to the plates of stones hauling and heaving at her feet, her footsteps coming to a slow stop. She watched as the huddled cloaks and snow boots in front of her shuffled their way further and further away with a persistence never seen before. Their murmur of voices never seemed to drown out with distance, however.

“She isn’t doing enough for her age level, just look at her compared to Jasmine, she’s younger but even she seems to be doing more… She doesn’t take life seriously, doing useless things… She needs to learn responsibilities… We’re only doing what’s best for her….”

The slow snowfall began to clump, from a flurry of powder to an icy whirlwind. The snow was violent. Bargaining, screaming, demanding to be heard. Her footsteps came to a halt.
Deep breath in —
There was a burning sensation on her cheek. Snow. It melted off her face and left a salty stain
— Deep breath out.
The hooded figures whom she called family became dolls nearing the horizon, ornaments decking the snowglobe that was the world. Yet it was not them that had her attention. Through the blizzard was something she had not seen in a long time, a glow. But it was also something more: A hypnosis. It was the pure chime of laughter, it was a symphony of tender voices. It was the faint hum of a lullaby, it was an architecture in the void. It was everything, and it was nothing.
She couldn’t quite find a word to explain it.
Like a moth drawn to light, it drew her in. The journals in which she locked up her prayers erupted, each word written enticed her closer and closer to the glow– her family. She took a step forward, and another, and another. Her staggering steps turned to steel sprints, though it felt like she was flying: wax wings making its way towards the daylight. Even the heavy snowfall seemed to stop. And as the cold air struck her face and stole her breath, the only words materialized in her brain were–
Forward, faster, fly.
The closer she got, the doll-like figures became human again, so she kept getting closer, closer, and closer. Her family was living, blinking, feeling humans… a fact she often forgot. Finally, she reached them. The light. They were walking in a uniform line, like statuettes on a shelf; she placed herself in between figurines.
“…and this next school year I heard math classes get really hard– oh, hi Ariel– sorry anyways what I meant to say was…”
“Hi, mom, dad, I didn’t mean to lag so far behind, I was just tired-”
“Huh?– oh, yeah, your grades this year were worse than last year, try to get them up by the end of the semester. Oh, Belle, did you ever end up…”
The wind picked up abruptly, but she replied.
“That’s not what I meant….”
“But make sure to mention the… what did you say Ariel?… the transcript before you….”
They addressed her by name! The name they had chosen for her, a piece of her family latched onto her identity. Maybe they never really left, maybe this was family. Had she interpreted their way of love wrong? The light surrounding her family seemed to surge at her, overflowing with hope. She swore she could see the green leaves of springtime sway in the winter storm. But what was this stiffening, suffocating feeling?
“Oh, nothing important… Um dad, when we get home, could you help me with my math homework?”
“–What? Homework? What homework? You need help? Do we need to get you a tutor?”
She didn’t need help, just her dad.
“No, it’s something really small, I get everything else, I really just need your help.”
“I don’t have time, I have to take Belle and Jasmine shopping for their classes. I’ll sign you up for the tutor your friend’s dad recommended me.”
Friend’s dad… he had been thinking about her after all! Her dad was busy, of course. How could she have been so inconsiderate…?
But sometimes, she wished she was their first option, like Belle was. Jasmine was. Was she being inconsiderate again?
As quick as these thoughts flooded her mind, battling her optimism, she drowned them. Look for the positive, she thought to herself.
“Wait, what about mom? Mom?”
“I agree with your father, you should get a tutor. Both of us are too busy handling all two of you at once, and your sisters’ needs are more significant than your schoolwork.”
Look for the positive.
“Just give us a break, Ariel.”
Look for the positive.
“Well, I can help out, I don’t really even need a tutor. Or I could tag along with the shopping, or anything.”
“Finish your work first.”
Look for the positive.
Her brows furrowed in frustration and her vision tainted with fury, her body feverish with lively flames. She watched her fire slowly engulf her precious glow, but she tried to reignite her passion for her family and regain full control of her consciousness.
So she closed her eyes,
Deep breath in–
The snow again. One salty stain after another,
– “Ariel? Let’s take a family photo.”
Family? She opened her eyes to find her family assembled, picture perfect
Peace? Her dad had his arm reached out to her.
Hope? There was something in his hand.
“Can you take the photo for us?”

“Smile everyone. 1,” Her fingers wrapped around the camera, the one dad used to document her childhood with.
“2,” She stared into the screen at the grinning, mocking figures whom she called family.
“3.” The camera shuttered.
She lowered the camera from her eye level, the picture came out perfectly aligned, in an eerie, rigid formation. But she noticed something; from the camera came a faint glow.
And stuck in there they were, ever frozen, like dolls. Transported into the camera.
She finally found the word for the glow,

A fantasy.