Leila (3rd person)
"Don't ever fall in love. It doesn't exist," Leila's mother always told her. She could see how this could be interpreted as harsh, coming from someone's own mother, but she could also see the broken, hurting part of her mother's heart where the words came from.
She knew there was a time when her mother did love her father; before she was born and he took the "too much too soon" approach and ran.
That's why Leila knew her mother would understand why she still had to go through with leaving the Faery Realm, even though Jamie no longer was. Her mother knew all too well the pain of an unsuspecting heart, plump with trust, being drained dry in an instant. She knew the suffocating feeling of realization, and the panic for escape. For her mother, the escape had been to Faery. For Leila, it would be from it.
She didn't know how long she would be staying; she could always go back, she knew where the portals were. But she wouldn't be ready for a long time. That much she could feel. How long did it take to forget that you weren't good enough, desirable enough to want to keep forever?
She peered down into the pink striped teacup that her latte was served to her in, silently hoping for answers to float up from the foam.