Chapter Text
Ten years ago
Taylor couldn't do much to stop herself from giggling. The young five year old was supposed to be sleeping, her bedtime long past. Still, Taylor didn't feel like sleeping, even if it was the middle of the night. Their neighbors were playing with firecrackers which woke her up. After watching the colorful explosions that lit up the dark night sky, Taylor decided that she wanted to watch them with Mama.
Slowly walking towards the door that led to her parents room, Taylor made sure that every step she took was on her tippy toes. It was easier said than done since she was wearing socks. Mama always made her wear socks whenever she went to sleep when winter came. Grabbing hold of the cold door handle, Taylor twisted it slowly, opening the door, the warmth from the heater her parents had in the room soothing Taylor's cold feet. Mama was right about wearing socks.
Sliding into the room, Taylor closed the door silently behind her. Mama and Papa's snoring filled the silence as Taylor covered her mouth with her hands to stop herself from giggling. They made a lot of noise whenever it was time to sleep. Sneaking her way to the side where Mama slept, Taylor stared at Mama's peaceful face for a few seconds.
Her auburn colored hair, which reminded Taylor of Emma, was messy, her chest slowly falling and rising with each breath she took. Mama looked like a princess straight out of Taylor's favorite fairy tales. Well, she would have if it wasn't for the drool that was trailing out of her mouth.
"Mama?" Taylor whispered as she wiped the drool off of Mama's face with Mama's own hair. Mama coughed slightly and her brown eyes met Taylor's own, albeit a bit more confusion in them.
"Taylor?" Mama murmured as she slowly sat up, careful enough to not wake Papa, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She grabbed the glasses that were sitting on the nightstand next to the bed. "Shouldn't you be asleep? It's way past your bedtime." Their neighbors decided to launch several more firecrackers judging by the loud explosions going on outside.
Taylor gave her Mama a big smile. "The sky's awake, so I'm awake, so we have to plaaay." Taylor whispered dramatically. Mama responded with a blank stare as she ran her hands through her hair, her lips turning downwards in disgust when she touched the hair Taylor used to wipe Mama's drool.
"Taylor, you know you're supposed to be asleep. You're going to wake your Father up, and you know he has work tomorrow." Mama scolded Taylor with a smile on her face. Papa groaned softly from his side of the bed and started twisting and turning.
"But you don't Mama." Taylor knew that the school Mama worked at was in the middle of its holiday break, and Mama had been getting restless with house projects over the last week. She painted the restroom at least two times already.
Mama sighed softly and pulled the blankets covering her off, revealing the baby pink, fluffy socks she wore to bed.
"I need to finish my curriculum for the semester tomorrow." Mama whispered. Taylor's smile turned into a small frown as Mama walked over to the bookshelf sitting in the corner. Skimming over several books, Mama grabbed an old book, worn from constant use. Taylor's eyes widened slowly with a large smile.
"Do you wanna read a fairytale?"
"Have you ever heard of the Snow Queen before?" Mama asked as Taylor wiggled on her seat next to Mama. Settled onto the recliner that Papa left in Taylor's room, Mama held a book with a worn out title.
Taylor shook her head, her eyes focused on the woman with white hair on the cover. Even with the cover faded as it was, the Snow Queen's eyes were still as vivid as ever.
Taylor felt the same blue eyes staring at her warmly.
"Most kids don't usually read this story around your age, but I'm sure you're mature enough not to get scared, right Taylor?" Mama said with a smirk on her face.
Taylor nodded. "I'm not scared Mama! I'm a big girl now." Her voice only cracked a little bit. Mama only giggled in response, and pointed at a small snowflake that floated past the Snow Queen's elaborate crown.
"What do you think that is?"
"A snowflake of course." Taylor smirked. Mama was going to need new glasses if she couldn't see that.
"You would be right, if this wasn't the Snow Queen." It was Mama's turn to smirk now. "That's one of the Snow Queen's loyal bees, ready to take children who misbehave to her ice palace. Children who liked to stay up past their bedtime for example."
Taylor blushed in embarrassment, but remained silent. She already made it this far, and she didn't need her big mouth messing it up for her.
"Now, do you remember what we do with books or with pages that don't have any pictures?" Mama asked as she opened the book to its first page.
"We imagine the scenes in our head using our imagination! Like a movie in our heads." Taylor answered confidently.
"Correct. By doing that, we bring the characters to life, and you can do so without a TV screen." Mama gave her a kiss on the top of her head. "Now let's begin…"
"About the mirror and it's pieces…" Mama started to read as Taylor closed her eyes, listening carefully.
For some reason, Taylor really wanted to go and build a snowman in the middle of Summer.
A/N
Prologue is finally done. After rereading my previous chapters, I realized that this would be needed. That way it does not seem like the memories came out of nowhere.
The reasons why they weren't as profound will be explained later.
It's Emma's fault.
My two frozen books have arrived, Forest of Shadow and Dangerous Secrets. I'll most likely read those before starting on chapter 5 to get a better feel for the characters in written form.