Once upon a time, there was a beautiful young lady sitting alone in her bedroom, gazing at the stars.  For the sake of storytelling, let's call her Essence.  Yeah, that's a nice name right?

Anyway, Essence was the prettiest thing on the block.  Long, beautiful, thick hair the color of crimson.  Sun kissed, honey dewed skin.  Medium sized brown eyes with flecks of golden throughout and finer than frog's hair.  Every dude wanted and tried to get her.  But she wasn't interested in the slightest.  None of those clowns compared to her dream man.  The man who would come and rescue her from the foolishness that was her everyday life.  She had to hold on to the belief that one day her prince would come.  

Now don't get me wrong, Essence had a pretty good life, considering those around her.  She had loving parents who worked their asses off to provide for her and her brothers and sisters.  But, with all of their hard work, sometimes it still wasn't enough to take care of home, forcing young Essence into the workforce at the tender age of thirteen.  Being the second oldest in a family of seven, she had no choice but to suck it up and get to work.  Her older brother had gone off to the Navy, leaving her to carry the weight.  She went to classes in the mornings, watched her younger siblings in the afternoon while her parents finished their respective shifts and went to work at night.  Sometimes she wouldn't get to bed until 3am, sleep for three hours, then up again at 6am to get the little kids ready for school the next day.  Where were her parents you ask?  Well, they were already gone by the time everyone else's day started.  So, whenever the rare opportunity presented itself, she would sit in her bedroom window (in a room she shared with two of her little sisters) and stare out into the distance.  Hoping, wishing and daydreaming about the day that the handsome prince would ride up on his trusty steed and rescue her from it all the way they did in all those fairy tales.

Essence lived for the thrill of a good story.  In a neighborhood filled with gang violence, petty crime, drug dealers and crack addicts, everyone needed an escape from reality.  While others found solace through gambling, a drug, or a video game, Essence found hers in books.  She'd always been caught up in the allure of a good read.  But her favorites were the fairy tales of her youth.  Even when the villain would try and ruin everything, she knew that there would be a happily ever after.  

Little did she know, her happily ever after would be coming sooner than she ever imagined. 

The question is, is she ready for her dreams and her reality to collide?