Mavenbriar

There once was a curious little girl named Lucy. She was full of imagination and wonder and played with her toys and dolls all day, never tiring of the same old characters she flew around the room with. Lucy imagined a fantastical world full of magical creatures and castles as glorious as any on earth. She called this magical land Mavenbriar. Lucy, naturally, assumed the role as Queen of Mavenbriar, where all the magical creatures admired her greatly. She had a favorite doll, Veronica. Lucy had named Veronica commander of her army to defeat all the bad monsters that would attack her kingdom.

Lucy took her dollhouse everywhere she went, which she stored all her dolls and toys inside so she could visit her kingdom at any time. She loved Mavenbriar, better than anything in her life. At this time Lucy was setting up a story between Veronica and a mighty minotaur: Veronica was to climb the tallest mountain and find the minotaur as it had stolen all the kingdom’s gold. The two would fight and Veronica would return with what was once lost.

Lucy wasn’t a popular girl at school. She couldn’t make friends as easily as the other girls did, and on several occasions she was rejected at the school playground in her brave effort to join their games. Little Lucy would, instead of crying, hide away and play with her dolls, inventing knew stories in the land of Mavenbrair.

One day, Lucy was hiding beside a tree trunk playing with her toys and ruling over her kingdom; she had become accustomed to her loneliness at recess that she would spend her whole playtime beside this tree. While she was talking aloud and entertaining herself as the Queen of Mavenbriar, four girls came behind her and began to make fun of her. They called her lame and stupid for still playing with toys. One of the girls took her favorite doll, Veronica, and threw it away from Lucy, passing it around to keep Veronica away from Lucy. Lucy desperately snatched around in the air for her favorite doll, beginning to cry as they refused to give it back. One of the four girls caught Veronica and threw the doll in a muddy puddle. They pointed and laughed as Lucy bent down to hold her ruined doll. The girls ran away, leaving Lucy alone once again.

Lucy was deeply saddened at how ruined Veronica was, thinking to herself she’d never be able to play with her again. Lucy was so horribly humiliated that she never brought her dollhouse back to school again.

Lucy grew up quickly, forgetting about the silly days of make believe and moved onto more mature things, like dating and staying ahead of the latest fashions. She had lost her sense of wonder, and her imagination was rotting away. Lucy’s life had become rather dull and uninteresting; but she didn’t mind, she only concerned herself with her friends and maintaining her popularity. Overtime her parents had lost touch with Lucy, unable to share a common dinner together at the dining table. They didn’t seem to know anything about her anymore. To them if felt as if they sat with the husk of their once lively and colorful daughter.

In time, Lucy graduated high school and was preparing to move off to college. She went through her photographs and old toys, which were buried in the attic upstairs. As she sorted through her old belongings, Lucy found her old dollhouse. She carefully opened it up and remembered the magical world of Mavenbriar she had made up. Toys and dolls fell to the floor as she peeled back the house. There on the floor was an old and dirty Veronica doll. Lucy held it up and reminisced on the days of her youth, when she would create the most fascinating tales of adventure and romance. It was then Lucy miraculously remembered her unfinished story in Mavenbriar, Veronica’s quest to fight the minotaur and reclaim the gold. She was playing out the story at the playground by the tree when those mean girls came and made fun of her. Lucy looked around the attic and saw no one was watching her.

Lucy set up her dolls and toys and began acting out the battle, making the sounds of fighting noises and grunts for each hit. She changed her voice and fluctuated her pitch to become all the characters in the world of Mavenbriar.

Veronica slayed the minotaur and collected all the gold and returned to the kingdom safely. Lucy held the dirtied Veronica doll and suddenly missed this feeling, like she had lost a loved one. The years of shame and embarrassment had stolen her imagination away, leaving her barren of life and joy. She decided to put the dollhouse and the toys and all her dolls, including Veronica, in the same pile she was sorting to bring with her to college. Lucy decided it was time to grow up once more, and be a kid again. Lucy had found what was once lost.