You wake up in the middle of the night. Your room is dark, and the house is silent. You wonder what disturbed your sleep. You look around and notice that your window is open, causing your curtains to billow softly in the breeze.

That must be it, you think.

You get up to close the window, then turn back to go to bed.

You lie on your side with your eyes closed. Suddenly, you hear tinkling, and then a tiny patter of feet. You slowly open your eyes, and notice a faint yellow lighting the wall in front of you. Carefully, you turn to land on your back, and see something glowing inside one of your drawers. You quietly get out of bed, and quickly tiptoe to the drawer. You slam the drawer shut, and instantly you hear rattling and shaking inside. Immediately, and image of a small feral animal comes to mind, it crashing into the sewing materials your mother brought for you when you were younger.

Suddenly the windows burst open. You turn around, but you see nothing there. You run to the light switch to turn on the light, aware of the things darkness may hold. The room is full of light, and now that you still can't see anything out of the ordinary, you feel the tiniest bit safer. You go back to bed, sure that you can fall back to sleep even with the lights open.

Once again you close your eyes. You are about to lose consciousness when the light that was able to pass through your eyelids dims. You open your eyes, and find yourself once again immersed in darkness. You clutch your blanket, even though you know this flimsy piece of cloth won't protect you from anything. You're terrified.

The windows burst open again, and you force yourself to look at it. You hold a gasp. You see a silhouette blocking the window. You freeze.

The figure rushes—no—flies—inside.

This is a dream, this must be a dream, you think.

Your eyes carefully follow the figure as it slinks towards the light switch. A second later, light floods the room, and you see yourself looking at a human being. A girl.

You squint, hoping that she doesn't see you. You see her floating—floating?—across the room, looking as if she's searching for something. She goes all around the room, looking behind your desks and searching in your closet. She even looks under your bed, all the while you are holding your breath. She seems to have found what she's looking for, since she darts under the bed. Something hits the top of the bed hard, causing you to rise several inches in the air and land on the bed with a soft 'oomph'.

Got you, you hear the girl say.

You wonder what it is.

You slowly turn on your side to watch the girl emerge from the bed, holding…nothing.

You look more carefully, and then you notice that some parts of your vision are several shades darker than they should be. You see the girl look at a patch of wall, and you see her throw this, this darkness, across the wall.

It's a shadow.

The shadow, it tries to get away. The girl throws herself on it and somehow manages to grab the shadow's ankle. You see the shadow struggle, but the girl has a strong grip, and as she gets to her feet, you see that the shadow is still in her grasp. You hear her mumble something about soap, and then you see her looking through your things, those on top of your drawer, those on your shelves. If you weren't so terrified, you'd be fuming by now.

You see the girl turn around, and you have the sinking feeling that she notices you. She glides through the air to where you're lying, and you're sure your heart stops.

She floats to the side of your bed, leaning over you, so close that your noses are practically touching.

Her eyes are catlike, and the lightest blue you've ever seen.

She pokes you and you squeak in surprise.

Hi, she says.

Would you mind soaping my shadow and me together?

You just stare at her. Several seconds you find your voice. You ask, Soap?

She smiles, and you have never seen one more beautiful.

You know, with a needle and thread.

Oh, she means sew, you think.

You find her mixing up words utterly adorable.

Oh sure, you reply.

You roll out of bed and head over to your sewing drawer. You open it, and you suddenly remember the wild glowing animal. You move to close the drawer, but it's too late; its inside bursts with light, and you manage to see a small winged creature darting its way out.

Oh Tinkerbell, there you are, you hear the girl say.

This pretty girl's going to help me soap my shadow on.

You blush, and almost miss the high-pitched 'Hmmmph.'

Oh come on Tink. You know you're not the only pretty girl out here.

Somehow, you become even more flustered. You quickly grab a needle, a thimble, and some thread, and move over to where the other girl is, hoping your blush has subsided. You motion for her to sit on the side of the bed, and she quickly does so, while you Indian-sit on the floor in front of her. You put on the thimble, and then thread the needle. You don't start just yet; the girl is eyeing you warily.

What's that, you hear her ask.

You suddenly think that she has only heard about these things. You almost think to yourself that that is impossible, but stranger things have happened tonight.

You hold up your hands and say to her, This is the thread, while this is the needle. I'll be using this to sew your shadow on. And I'll be using a thimble to keep me from cutting myself.

You see her quirk her head and look intensely at you. You feel subconscious and wonder if you said anything wrong.

My father said that you only give thimbles to people you like. Do you like me?

Do I like her, you think, and you feel heat creeping up your cheeks once again.

I—I—yes, I do, you stutter. And you're not lying. You barely know this girl, but you're pretty sure you like her a lot.

Good, she says, and she leans back and closes her eye. You take this as a signal to start working. You lean in to get the shadow, but your fingers brush against hers, and you feel a slight buzz there that quickly moves through your entire body. You see her eyelids twitch, and you're pretty sure she felt that too.

You grab for the shadow a second time, and this time, you succeed. You start inserting the needle into it, and you feel it writhe in pain. You feel pity for the shadow, and you resolve to do it as fast as you can. You continue sewing the shadow into the girl's queer shoes, and you finish in record time. You tap her on the knee, and she opens her eyes. She grins as she sees her shadow and stands up, kicking it to the wall. This time it stays in place. The girl does a multitude of amusing poses to see if her shadow still works, and you feel a laugh escape your lips. She turns to look at you, and somehow her grin is even wider.

Thank you, she says.

Words have stopped coming to you, so instead, you nod.

She starts floating again, and she reaches out to hold your hand. Warmth spreads through your fingers, and you swear you've never felt this way before in your entire life. She slowly drags you to the window, and she descends to sit on its ledge.

She asks, Do you want to go home with me?

You reply, Home?

She pulls you closer and makes you sit on her lap. You feel yourself blush again as she drapes her arm across your shoulders, using it to point towards the sky.

There it is, she says. The second star to the right.

She puts her arms around you right then, and you feel that wherever she is, that is home.

But you're too smart a girl, and even though your heart tells you otherwise, you barely know her.

I don't know, you say. We barely know each other.

You see her look sad for the first time in the entire night, and you feel bad for causing this to happen.

She moves to stand up, so you quickly get off her lap. You turn to look at her and see that she's giving you a soft smile.

I guess we should start now, then, she says.

I'm Brittany.

A small smile graces your lips. Brittany is a beautiful name.

I'm Santana, you say, your voice barely above a whisper.

Her smile grows bigger.

I have to go now, Santana. But I'm coming back.

You feel butterflies in your stomach as she says your name, and the prospect of her returning even for a few seconds makes you feel dizzy with joy.

She steps closer to you and your breath dies in its tracks. You notice that she's a couple of inches taller than you, but then you lock into her eyes and you forget everything else.

Before I go though, she whispers, I'd like to give you a thimble, San. Because I like you. I like you a lot.

She presses you closer to her, and she leans down and you feel the world stop spinning.

She kisses you. She kisses you.

This kiss is all like you've read in your fairytales, but you know it's a million times better.

This kiss is calm and gentle and loving and everything you dreamed a first kiss would be, only this one is a million times more.

Too soon her lips leave yours, and you feel the warmth leave you as well. You're in a daze as she steps on the ledge. She calls out the room for Tinkerbell, and you instantly regret saying no. A mini-comet passes you by and flies out of the window. She looks at you with her crystal eyes, and says, Bye San; I'll see you soon.

All you do is smile.

She turns to follow Tinkerbell, and in a couple of minutes, you see her disappear into the night.

You close the window, not knowing what to think, and you move towards the light switch, but stops when you notice that someone has turned the lights off. Instead, you walk towards your bed, you slip into your covers, and you succumb to sleep, reliving the warmth on your lips until consciousness leaves you.

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