Our Island

Mason was the single father of a young, eight year old daughter, Kia. One day, when the weather outside was sunny and warm with a nice cool breeze and the air was fresh from the rain not long gone, Mason decided that today, they would climb a mountain.

When he'd been Kia's age, Mason's father had done the same with him. He'd climbed with him all the way to the mountain's top where you could see the whole city, right out to the ocean. And so he set out to do the same with Kia.


"No Dad!" She complained when Mason told Kia his plan. "I don't want to climb a mountain. Not now, not today, not ever!" Being quite tall, Mason had to kneel before he was at Kia's eye level. "Sweetie." He said, stroking her cheek. "Just give it a go. It will be worth it." He promised. "I suppose." Kia said reluctantly. "Well," Mason said, rising once again to his full height. Kia peered up at him as he continued to speak. "You don't know untill you try, do you?" "I guess not." She admitted.

So Kia and Mason climbed the mountain. When they reached the top, Mason knelt beside his daughter once again. This time, so that he'd be around her height. Mason pointed to an island far in the distance, over a vast patch of sea. "See that island there?" He asked. Kia squinted hard before answering. "Kind of." "That's our island." He told his daughter. Because that island had been in his family for years, and now it was he who owned it. "Really?" Kia gasped, looking skeptically at her father. "Yes." Mason grinned at his daughter who had the beginnings of a smile on her lips. "We can go there any time you like." He promised. "Even now?" Kia asked, excited suddenly. "Well maybe not today." Mason admitted. "But soon."

As Kia and Mason were coming back down the mountain, Mason looked at Kia, a big grin still on her face. "See?" He asked, grinning back at her. "You don't know until you try."

Pure Imagination

"What do you see Lucy?" Asked Rosalie. She and Charlotte leaned forward eagerly in anticipation of Lucy's answer. Lucy squeezed her eyes and concentrated. Hard. "I see a lake. Its shaded. There are lots of trees surrounding it and its lined with rocks. Kind of like a protective little fence. Its a little twisty, but at the end theres a pretty little bridge." Charlotte and Rosale looked at each other, smiling. She was doing it. Using her best abilities to her advantage.

The only thing was, Charlotte and Rosalie weren't there. Not really. No, Charlotte and Rosalie didn't exist. Only to Lucy. They were figments of her imagination. Though she was only 9, she was lonely and so she'd conjured Charlotte and Rosalie from her wondeful imagination and it was they who had become her friends. Despite being only figments of Lucy's imagination, Charlotte and Rosalie were very much their own people. They were unique in their own way.

Charlotte was a very serious, sophistaced girl who was determined, strong minded and was known to have a fiery temper on occassion. Her hair was a rich, deep milk chocolate brown and her eyes a piercing but demanding emerald green.

Rosalie on the other hand was very much a dreamy girly girl who loved pink. She was bubbly, loyal, encouraging and supportive. Her hair was an angelic, rich, yet natural blonde colour and her eyes a soft, shimmering sky blue.

Throughout their time together, both Charlotte and Rosalie had been encouraging Lucy to use the brilliant gift she had in her wonderful imagination. Charlotte practical as always saw it is a convinient, peaceful way to centre oneself and remain calm in difficult situations while Rosalie saw it as a reliable, luxurious means of escape from reality.

As time wore on however, Lucy grew up and matured and so Charlotte and Rosalie faded from existence, though the memories always remained. She remembered them and though they were mere figments of her imagination, Lucy often used the wise advice Charlotte had given her or looked back on the kind words Rosalie had said in times of need.

Later in life, Lucy became an author and, Charlotte and Rosalie served as inspiration for Lucy's most sucessful work. A series written on what their lives could have been like had they been real, living people and on the friendship they'd provided her with and the kinds of people Rosalie and Charlotte had been.

'This may seem a little strange,' Lucy wrote in the acknowledgments section of the first book in the Rosalie Charlotte Chronicles, 'but there are two people without whom this series would not have been possible. Charlotte and Rosalie were my imaginary friends during my childhood and they served as the principal inspiration for these chronicles.' "Because sometimes," Lucy said the words as she typed them on the page, "It is pure imagination which helps us through life's most difficult situations."