A long time ago, there was a young girl named Bella. She had two loving parents, her mother, whom they spent everyday talking and doing special things together. Whereas her father worked everyday. He loved Bella and her mother very much, but his life was in his work. They did not get to spend much time with Timothy, Bella’s father.

     One night, it was storming vigorously, the power went out and Bella and her mother, Sarah, were very afraid. The winds were high blowing, and the lightning, continuous. Sarah called Timothy at work, and expressed her fear, and begged for him to come home. He battled with her that everything would be okay, but she was afraid that it wouldn’t. Finally, Timothy gave in, and left work to come home.

     He did not work far from their home. Quite some time passed, and Bella and Sarah could not understand why Timothy was not home yet. They turned on the news to keep an eye on the weather. About fifteen minutes into watching the news, they showed an oblivious car accident. The wind had blown so hard that eerie night, it pushed the car straight into the ditch.

     Sarah started to pace the room, afraid that something had happened to her husband. Suddenly, she heard weeping in the living room and ran to see why Bella was crying. She asked Bella, “What’s the matter sweetheart”? Bella, without saying a word, pointed to the television screen and held her head down. When Sarah turned toward the screen, she saw clearly that the car that had fell into the ditch was her husbands.

     She fell to her knees and wept with Bella. That night seemed as if it would never end. Sarah, of course, blamed herself, for rushing Timothy home. She did not work much, and didn’t have much money. They planned the funeral and attended the next day, which devastated both Bella and her mother. Sarah knew that they would have to make a big change to move on with their life.

     The day after the funeral, as Sarah had not slept in two days, she awoke Bella early before the sun rose, and told her to pack everything she had. Bella was panicking as she knew of nothing that was going on. She didn’t understand why her mother was in such a hurry. Apparently, Sarah had hit rock bottom and had to forget her husband to make a happy life for Bella and herself. They put everything they could fit into the car, and left. They rode, and rode, and rode. Bella, who was weary of saying anything to her mother, asked where they were going. Her mother sat quiet, and stared contently at the road ahead of her. Bella kept quiet for a while.

     A couple of hours later, after seeing nothing for miles, her mother pulled off into a small trail way, barely visible, and stopped. She looked at Bella and told her that where they were going is where they would stay. Bella asked her mother would she love it, and Sarah replied “I sure hope this place will make all of your dreams come true.” So they continued on down the trail. Bella was astounded at the beauty of the forest, and became very excited about their new home.

     They pulled up to this small cabin, surrounded by huge oak tree’s where only small, but beautiful, rays of sunlight could shine through. Wild flowers grew everywhere, and birds sang with joy in their voices. They went into the cabin, it had been empty for quite some time, so they spend the first few days unpacking and cleaning. Sarah wanted to home-school Bella so she would never have to get out into the horrible and devastating world they lived in.

     Weeks passed by and a routine for Sarah and Bella’s days came natural to them. Each morning they would wake up, go down to the river to get fresh water. They then would get baskets to fill with fruits and berries. They would take care of the flowers and feed the animals that came around the cabin. Sarah would spend a great amount of time each day working with Bella to learn everything she needed to know. This went on for years and they lived as happy as anyone could be.

     One morning, Bella awoke early. She decided to surprise her mother with breakfast in bed. She worked very hard to make the food look, smell, and taste as wonderful as it possibly could. She sat breakfast on a tray, and walked into her mother’s bedroom to find she was still asleep. “This is odd”, Bella thought to herself. “Mother is always awake by now.” She shook her mother to wake her, noticing the cold covering her skin. Bella continued to shake Sarah, over and over. “Mom, why won’t you wake up?” She screamed.

     Bella became very afraid. She turned her mother over and pushed her hair out of her face to see that her face was pale and her lips were blue. Bella remembered what her mother taught her about first-aid. Bella, scared to even check her mothers pulse, reached down slowly to grab her mothers wrist, only to find that her mother had passed away. Bella wanted to fulfill her and her mothers dream and realized she would have to be the adult now. Bella, who is seventeen years old now, covered her mother’s head as tears fell down her face.

     She put all her strength into picking Sarah up and carrying her to the river. When Bella reached the river, she stepped slowly onto the river bank, the water came up to her waist, and she laid her mother on the water and let her float away. Bella sat at the river all night. Thinking, what should she do? She stayed in bed for two days without sleep or eating anything. She awoke the third day with the reality of what had happened to her parents and realized both her mother and father would want her to live happily.

     Bella started her days as she and her mother would. Going down to the river to get fresh water and picking fruit and berries. She would keep the flowers beautiful and feed the animals. She was content with the life she had. She decided since she was alone, she would then start exploring more of the forest. Each day she would go to a different place in the forest, and a little further each day.

     One day she heard a galloping sound, as a horse or something relatively close to a horses gallop. She first was afraid and left back to the cabin. The next day, she wandered back to the same spot, and again heard the gallop of some kind. This time she knew it was a horse. Bella loved animals and wanted to see the horse, she moved through some bushes and pushed a branch back to see that it was a horse. But oddly, this horse was saddled, there had to be someone with the horse, but no one was in sight.

     She was afraid because she hasn’t been around anyone besides her mother in six years. She continued to look around and saw no one, so she slowly came up to the horse, and the horse was as sweet as it could be. Bella practically fell in love with the animal. She always had a soft spot for horses. About twenty minutes passed, and Bella heard footsteps ruffling through the leaves on the ground. It got louder and louder, but Bella was scared stiff, she could not move. A young and handsome man came around a huge oak tree carrying fish he had apparently caught from the river.

     He noticed Bella and tried to talk to her, she ran off, as fast as she could, back to the cabin. He thought she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. So from that day on, he came back to the same spot, hoping the girl he had seen, would come back. He came back for three days, and the third day as he was leaving for home, he heard a small branch crack as if something had stepped on it and broke it. He turned around quickly to spot beautiful long brown hair behind some shrubs on the river bank. He realized it was the girl he had been waiting for.

     He pretended as though he had not seen her, and continued to water his horse at the side of the river, somewhat making his way closer to her. Bella was curious. She wanted to know who this man was, and what he was doing here. He finally said aloud “tell me your name.” She backed up slowly realizing he had spotted her, and before she ran he told her it was okay to come out, that he was of no harm to her.

     She slowly stepped out from behind the bushes, and said “my name is Bella.” He replied “I am James.” She warmed up to his kind words very quickly, and as the day passed and they talked, it began to get dark. Bella would not be able to get home before dark. James offered Bella a ride on his horse, Jezebel. She accepted the offer, and they ran through the forest so fast, and Bella loved it. When they reached her cabin, he asked her to meet him again the next day. She kindly accepted.

     So the next day, Bella wanted to look beautiful, and not caught in torn clothes from hiding, like she had the day before. She spent all morning sewing the most beautful dress, and wore her mothers lucky necklace. She left for the river side where they had met, and he had not arrived yet. Time went by very slowly, or so she thought, as the sun moved across the sky, Bella could only think of one thing, something has happened. Something had happened to everyone close to her, and she believed with all her heart that it had happened again.

     She left to head home before the sun went down, explaining to herself that the only way not to get hurt is to stay away from everyone. She was upset, had found a friend, someone she could spend her life with, and something had happened. As she moped home, her cabin came into sight, and someone was sitting on the porch. She looked very closely before she took another step. She saw Jezebel and realized that it was James. “Why was he here? Why didn’t he meet me at the river bank?”

     She walked up to him, and he pulled out a bush of wild flowers he had spent all day picking for her. “I could never get enough beauty out of flowers to match yours”, he told her. She smiled and smelt the flowers he had picked for her. Their eyes met romantically, and a sweet kiss fell between the two. Bella smiled and could tell James had a good heart. He told Bella “you make me so happy, I never want to be without you.” Bella didn’t have to say anything back, he knew she felt the same.

     They planned to marry and stay in the forest. Bella made another beautiful dress, white this time. Again, she put on her mothers necklace. They met at the river bank, and James brought his father to marry them. They were so happy, and swore to each other that they would always take care of each other and never leave one another. So that is exactly what they did. The routine became theirs to wake up each morning and get fresh water from the river and berries and fruit to eat. Water the flowers and also feed the animals.

     Bella realized that this forest did make her dreams come true, just like her mother hoped it would. It was all real. They lived happily ever after.