“I must be dead,” I thought. “There’s nothing, no sound…I’m floating in a huge space of nothing.” I looked down and saw my body suspended in mid-air, only there was no ground beneath me, just an endless white space. To my surprise, all my wounds from the past few days, were still there, and they still hurt when I touched them. Perhaps…perhaps I’m in hell, or something like it. I could also feel my heart beating - why?

“Where am I?” I said aloud, and my voice, though weak, was clearly audible.

“Exactly where you were, Alex,” a voice replied, and I turned around in surprise. And when I saw who it belonged to, I got an even bigger shock. It was a girl, about my age, but not at all normal in appearance. Her skin looked more like gold than actual human skin; it gleamed bright yellow in the strong light. Her hair likewise resembled silver, and floated about her head as if it were weightless. In her eyes glowed a strong red light, and her whole appearance reminded me of something straight out of fantasy. And the biggest surprise of all was her size: she was no bigger than I was.

She floated towards me like a ghost, while I suddenly found myself on some kind of hard, though invisible surface. As she came closer I began to panic, and I remembered stories about people being tormented by demons after they die. But surely they were just stories; there’s no real place like hell, is there? I fell to my knees, to scared to run, as the unearthly girl came to a stop and hovered over me. Then I saw her smile, and suddenly, somehow, I was no longer afraid of her. Whoever she was, she was a friend.

“Don’t be afraid, Alex,” she said, in a voice that seemed to radiate compassion. “I will not harm you. I only wish to talk. My name is Mary and, no, you’re not dead.”

“Is…is this real?” I asked falteringly.

“It is, in your mind,” she continued. “You are still trapped in the snow, Alex, but your mind has created this place, this refuge, for you.”

I struggled to believe what she was saying. This had to be some kind of dream, or hallucination. But why would I dream about this strange being?

“Who…who are you?” I asked, as politely and calmly as I could.

“Oh, that’s a long story,” she smiled. “I suppose you could call me an angel, or a spirit, if you wish. But I’m just another kind of being, and one who has a great appreciation of humans. Humans like you, who I’ve met before.”

“B-before?” I was really confused now. Perhaps my situation was worse than I thought, if my mind has to resort to this…whatever it is, to save itself. The girl smiled again and seemed to understand my dilemma.

“Alex, you don’t remember me because you haven’t seen me; I made sure I always remained hidden to you. But I’m sure you remember this, don’t you?”

In her empty hands there materialized a bottle, and I gasped in amazement. It was the same, blue, old-fashioned glass bottle that I’d found standing on my kitchen cupboard long ago. I had opened it, fallen asleep unexpectedly, and woken to find myself permanently shrunk. I reached out to grab it, but it disappeared again. I looked up at Mary, or whoever she was, and demanded an explanation.

“Very well,” she said. “I suppose you deserve the truth. It was I who shrunk you, removed your clothes, and hid you away. I tried to erase every trace of you, or else you would have been in danger of being found. Ah, you look upset…you’re probably wondering why I would do such a thing.”

I nodded, bewildered, and she continued.

“If you’ve been around as long as I have, you grow tired of merely observing people. You start to feel, well, attached to some of them, you want to help them. I could see you weren’t happy, Alex. After all, nobody cared for you, nobody loved you - you were heading towards a life of emptiness, and you’d never be truly happy. So I decided, perhaps wisely, perhaps not, to do what I did, and here you are, in a happy relationship, with everything your heart desires.”

“No, I’m not!” I said, as I stopped attempting to make sense of what was happening, and just accept it as real. “I’m not with Emily in some ‘happy relationship’! I’m stuck in the freezing cold snow, miles from home, because I just happen to be too small to make it back!”

The strange girl’s expression became one of pity, but for some reason I felt like hating her. If this was all real, it was her fault that I’m in this situation, her fault that I’m going to die.

“How…how could you do…this to me?” I yelled. “You had no right to…to shrink me and force me to live like this! If you’re really who you say you are, take me back to Emily, or restore me to my real size!”

“Listen, I…”

“Do it!” I screamed. Tears were flowing from my eyes now. I just couldn’t accept it that some magical ‘spirit’ was to blame for all my problems. I could only think of Emily, and how much I wished she was with me right then. The thought that I would never see her again was too much for me to take. As I was busy crying I didn’t notice Mary sitting down next to me.

“I’m truly sorry, Alex,” she said quietly. “I never meant for this to happen, and you’re right to hate me for what I did to you. Sometimes I do things in the hope that they may have good consequences, even if that doesn’t always turn out to be the case. I can’t take you back to Emily like you asked; I’ve already interfered too much in your life, and to do so again would be wrong. This sounds unfair to you, I know, but if you were in my position you would see what I mean.”

She paused, while I kept on crying.

“I went to visit Emily last night,” she continued. “She was asleep, and I told her that you were still alive. That you haven’t given up on her. I wanted to talk to her directly, like I’m doing with you now, but I was afraid of how she’d react to me. She still loves you, you know. It’s been hard for her, but she believes, I think, that you will be together again. Love like yours can never be underestimated.”

“I don’t want to die!” I cried. “Please don’t let me die! I only want to see her one last time, please!”

“And you will, Alex. But not if you don’t try. You’re still alive, after all. I don’t expect you to forgive me, but, when you’re with Emily again - and it will be soon, I think - remember the day your life changed, and if you’d have done anything differently had you known how it would all turn out. Now I must leave you. I can see now that it would be better for me never to return to this world. Goodbye, Alex.”

She laid her hands against my face, and disappeared in a flash of light. Instantly I felt something like an electric shock hitting me. I was jolted awake, even though I thought I’d been awake the whole time. So what I saw must have been a dream - or was it? I wanted to try and figure out what just happened, but I couldn’t. For one thing, I was back in the unendurable cold. Around me was so much snow that I couldn’t see anything else, and the bitter cold hurt me to my bones. But I was definitely alive, and I felt infused with some new kind of strength or energy. It must have been that shock, I thought. I surge of new hope ran through me, and I began to dig through the layers of snow and ice.

It took all the effort I had, but I broke free of the snow and looked up at the open sky. Far above me was the gigantic park bench, only this time it was occupied. On either side of me rose two enormous brown boots, and when I craned my neck I saw two legs above them. Someone was sitting directly above me, and hadn’t noticed me. I struggled through more layers of fresh snow before I reached the base of one of the leather boots.

“Help me!” I screamed as loudly as I could. “I’m down here! Help!”

But the person on the bench didn’t hear me. My voice was just too feeble to reach his or her ears. I also didn’t have the strength to draw attention to myself, not from down here. I looked around frantically, but quickly realized that there was only one thing to do: climb up the person’s legs, and try to get their attention that way. There was no time to waste: within minutes I could be frozen solid. I clambered up the side of the boot and managed to make it all the way to the laces. But my body was already exhausted, and my strength gave out. I collapsed between the thick laces and curled up into a ball for heat.