When I was little I wanted my own house. I told my dad I was tired of snow castles and I was big enough for a house. My father found a place near the edge of the forest. When he was finished building he said a snow angel moved in and was paying rent. He said I had to wait a few years. I waited those few years. It was more than a few damn years!

~Audris

“Get up....Audris!”

I jerk awake and catch my breath. I'm still safe. It was just a dream. I open the door and watch my foggy breath escape into the cold. I quickly walk back inside and grab my things. I put on my snow suit. I have a bag stored with all I need. Everything is organized. Everything has to be organized if you want it to be clean. Who knows what kind of mess I will deal with in the woods. My plan was always to head to the Snowfell Palace. It's an underground palace filled with ice pillars, sculptures, everything you heard growing up in the fairy tales. The reality is different, but that's what I knew as a child. I can still hear my mother reading the stories to me with a warm drink. The whole planet is covered in myth, but all I ever saw was run down towns and overpaid idiots like everyone else. I'm not entirely exclusive. I was overpaid, but I'm not an idiot anymore. I actually care about Elissa Moon and I hate the Mastals.

My back aches from sleeping in the chair and I stretch before heading out on my way. I grab a few candles and and shove them in my pockets. Hopefully there wouldn't be any Shasis in the forest. They're kind of like us - not all of them care for humans.

The woods becomes a sanctuary from the snowy distance behind me. I feel good, like the trees are hiding me and, at the same time, lost. My thick pants slow me down, but at least I'm warm. Everything feels like a dream with spurts of my reality coming into the picture. Besides the scattered branches, at least the snow is clean. Maybe this is a new beginning for me. I sniff and try not to rub my nose too much. My scarf already feels nasty.

“This is going to take forever!” I yell at myself.

Everything takes forever, even when you have nothing to lose. You're waiting for something better, but by the time you get it you don't even care. I wish I spent more time with my wife. Actually, I don't know about that. I think I just miss feeling that everything would be fine, even though we both knew it wouldn't. We did everything together except start our own family. I look above me and try catch a glance of a space stations. The trees block my view.

“They ruined everything,” I think.

I stop and listen as loud humming echoes the distance. They grew louder each passing day. Mastal ships were flying over, but these ones weren't looking for anyone. There were too many. Too many to waste on a single killer. I climb over another fallen tree and pull out my map. It would take several days until I reached the nearest town, Editta. From there I could find a ride further north. The locals were friendly. I never knew them well, save one, but I remember the poem my mother read. It was in the story.

There the Shasis sleep

Because everyone is calm

In the towns of the forest

They sang us this song

Stupid poem. What do Shasis know? For a brief moment I stop and try reminisce. My mother died from a broken heart when I was young. At least that's what I tell myself. It helps to cover up reality with a fairy tale. I understand. I really do.

I wipe a few tears and keep myself going. The crisp air slices my face. Life is worse as a child. You're stupid, naive, and someone else has to take care of you. Somehow I felt the contradiction. I needed people if my escape was going to work out. I didn't have a clear plan. I didn't know what was going to happen or what truly was out there. The outcome was uncertain.

As the sun continues to beam on me, I sigh.

“Audris...You'll always be my neon love....”

“I know mom,” I whisper back at myself.

Everyone on Elissa Moon was someone's special neon love. Someone who shined light in their life where there wasn't any naturally. For some it's their children. Others it's their Shasi. It's not really that special. I suppose that means it's not much of a fairy tale either. Neon is fake and unnatural, but you can't ignore it's light here. Never on this planet.