unsatisfied sparkles- a new series.

Cotton Candy doesn't mind this all that much. She has their large house all to herself. And the ghosts. But that's another story, not important quite yet.

Her mother, Annie Candy, disappeared the day of the big flood. She wasn't anywhere near the actual flood, though. As for brothers and sisters, all Cotton Candy has to keep her company is an incredibly domesticated runt cat named Side Of Fries. Cotton Candy takes her almost everywhere in her little backpack.

Her life was cluttered, though. Cluttered with school, no one caring about anything but the new fashion and making sure they were passing their classes so they wouldn't lose their trust funds. She knew there were others there but the trust fund babies were the ones who constantly cluttered her vision of the better things. Heavy thoughts, like faith in religion and inability to be loved were overlooked and cluttering her mind. Boys ignored her, causing for less clutter but she gladly welcomed that clutter…

The bookstore she works at, Hell's Heaven, is cluttered with stacks of untouched books. Their rotting pages, ancient glue, and leather bound covers create this somniferous odor that pulled in only the right customers. The others went down the street to the big chain booksellers, the places with no souls.

Those leather bound editions are her favorite. She always hopes to find one like Bastians in The Never Ending Story. Her imagination fires with the thoughts of opening a book and being drawn into this fantasy world where anything she can dream can happen. The lines in her dreams are fuzzy at best and everyone speaks in slow sweet words, soft into her ears.

"I live to dream." she says to herself one afternoon, when she thought she was alone in the store.

"No, we live to die. We're born, we suffer, we die." came a voice from behind the Gardening shelf.

"So, we live to die, huh? Well, what is death but an eternal cat nap or an infinity sneeze?" Do we not dream when we die? Or is it just the ultimate dream?" she said, her curiosity at its peak.

The enigma spoke again.

"Do you live to dream so you can escape your life?"

The mysterious voice stepped out from behind the Gardening shelf, a boy with a smile cooler than a Dr. Pepper on a hot Friday afternoon.

"What in the world do I have to escape?" said Cotton Candy, her short blue pigtails swaying gently.

"Hopefully not me. My name is Fred but almost always people call me Vanzetti. You may call me either."

"I will Either."

He was brilliant, bright red hair somewhere between a sunset and a sunrise. A skewed posture, shoulders hunched slightly forward, his weight thrown to his right side. With his hands buried deep in his trouser pockets, he looked like a mistaken angel who left his wings at home.

They made quite a pair, he would visit her at work, bringing treats for Side of Fries. They would play hide and seek much to the dismay of the customers looking for the original texts they were hiding behind. Other times they would just sit behind the counter and talk.

The ninth day Either visited Cotton Candy, he had a present for her. More than the usual triple shot caramel latte he brought from work for her. It was a box that people put clothing in, wrapped in tissue paper that looked like the sky over the ocean.

"You sweet boy, what did you possibly get me?"

"Why don't you open it up and see, my sweet Cotton Candy."

She tore at the tender blue tissue paper and quickly broke the seal on the box.

Inside it was another box. This box was the size of an oversized paperback book and wrapped in Tweety Bird yellow tissue paper.

She opened it to reveal a third box, the size of a jewelry box. This final box, wrapped in Emerald City green tissue paper, was empty inside.

Cotton Candy looked up at Either. He walked behind her and reached around her to pick up the smallest box.

"This box is to hold this," as he magically made an emerald ring appear in his hands, "a way happening ring I found when I was walking on the beach the day I met you. The emerald is real, I have a theory that it's from a pirate ship that sunk and has been slowly washed to shore for at least a hundred years. Just for you."

"Thank you so much!"

"I'm not done yet… this second box is for this book. Youth in Revolt is my favorite book in the whole wide world, and that's including the dictionary."

"Websters New World. I know."

Cotton Candy was already overwhelmed.

"You're just too much for me, daddy-o."

"I promise I'll stop after this. Now, I got you this hip and banging jive sweater just because I thought I'd love to see you in it."

It was a classic pink angora sweater from a different time and place. The fit was perfect, Cotton Candy looked super cool, hipster-style, with her blue hair pined down with barrettes shaped like a hammer and a sickle.

"You're something else, Either, my rocking and rolling boyfriend."

"So, it's official?"

"That you're rocking or that you're my boyfriend?"

"Both."

"Only if you let me kiss you."

They kiss, his lips sweet with Mountain Dew, even though he only drank one over four hours ago.

"So, I'm you're rocking boyfriend."

"The most rocking I know."

It was right after this event that Cotton Candy discovered her latent abilities. That is when she came to my attention. I am the one who observes from the shadows, waiting for the sign. When she opened a doorway to the dream world, I took that as my cue.