Not

She walked through a world filled with mystery, with dark spots so black they looked like living Rorschach ink blots surrounded by a misty light she mistook for the sun.

She tried to empathize with a world that appeared to have more light, less mist, more stability, but empathy is like day dreams. It does not feed you, sustain you, make you stronger.

Her quest?  To keep from being swallowed alive by the dark, to find the place where the sun shone through more efficiently than the mist.

It was a fairy tale existence without the happily ever after. Fighting trolls and ogres is highly over rated, because they come in all shapes and sizes in a never-ending stream. Growing up is meant to dim eyes and dull perception -- to hide the unbearable and make the facade the norm.

But one day she met the sun in all its glory, like everything else it was disguised as something it was not. Not infallible. Not a sure thing. Not hers to own, but a place to bask.

Reflecting off the mist, the sun gave her world a focus, a sparkle and made the dark harder to find. 

But there is a price for everything.