There once was a girl who believed in fairies and dreamt of goblins.

There once was a girl who played with dolls but didn't play pretend.

There once was a girl who wished her brother away…

Her home was quiet on that evening. It sounded like there was no one there but for the slight hum of a muffled song somewhere from within. In the shadow drenched living room, which took up most of the flat, there were neat piles of laundry, several glass bottles dotted around and a strong smell of vinegar in the air, as if someone had spilt a bottle all over the carpet by accident. They hadn't, but it was like they had. The singing started to wind down, words muffled still but clear through the flimsy wooden door of one of the bedrooms. A slight wind whispered through the gap of that door, lightly parting it from the frame, only for a steady, slender hand to gently push it shut.

The girl, to whom the hand belonged to, propped herself against the doorway for a moment before shifting the sleeping baby on her chest and slowly walking around their room, murmuring soft words and humming a slow tune under her breath. It was a small room. There was barely any room for the plastic crib within it, let alone the camping bed as well. But it all managed to fit, along with a small wall of soft toys encircling it. Their button eyes glinted in the low glow of the bedside lamp and their vibrant colours and peculiar shapes were half hidden in the shadows pooling out from the orange glow of the streetlamp outside.

The girl let out a tight breath as the little boy stirred in her arms and lightly thrust his legs forward into her stomach, but she made no other sound as she lowered him into his crib. The silence was absolute as she stared at her brother, hand gently cradling his face, naked adoration adorning her green eyes.

"I wish the Goblin King would take you away... right now."

There once was a girl who wished her brother away and meant it.