Introducing Tinselfannel

Tinselfannel was a girl, a fact which made her no different from half the world's population. She lived a relatively mundane existence, like the billions of mundane existences in the world, and was perfectly happy being a faceless, nameless member of the "public". Of course, it wasn't like she was abnormal or anything - she had lots of friends, she had decent grades most of the time, she wasn't starving - she was luckier than most of the people in the world. She wasn't an unhappy person because she had the ability to forget, and move on, and she didn't like to dwell on past events most of the time. She was liked by her friends because she was a good listener, always there to lend a shoulder to cry on, or a helping hand. Everyone thought that she would follow the course that had been set out for her - she would do the same thing that everyone around her was doing - study, get good grades, get into college, get a degree, get a job, get married.. the list would go on and on - a to-do list for every stage of her life. And Tinselfannel did nothing to dispel this notion. She herself never gave it much thought. Of course, she had dreams- wild,fanciful dreams- but she was content to live them out in her mind every night and then forget about them.

     You see, Tinselfannel liked to read. And she had a vivid imagination. So there were many, many new things she wanted to try, and she was fascinated by the very different lives that other people around the globe had. Whenever she mentioned wishing to try something new to her parents, they were horrified, because her parents were regular,average people- who were content to live within the small sphere of society that they had encased themselves in- and they had no ambitions for their daughter beyond following in their footsteps. They didn't want different. They wanted her to be the same as everyone else they knew. So their every argument started with, " But no one else is doing that..", or " Everyone else is doing this, why can't you?". They didn't understand that Tinselfannel didn't want to be the same, she thought same was boring, and shallow, and superficial. She liked her friends, but she didn't want to be like them. She wanted to know the whys of every action and reaction of the people around her. She wasn't content, but she didn't have the guts to do something to change that.So she just flowed down the path of life, drifting along like a tree branch pushed along by the current.

But that was all about to change. Even Tinselfannel, who liked to be honest with herself about her reasons for her actions and her feelings, didn't realize this about herself. Deep inside, inside her mind, there was someone else. A darkness. A cold, emotionless, manipulative presence.