more about her

Once upon a time, there lived a little girl with flaxen hair called Jillian. Jillian had a mother and a father, like all the other little girls. She also had a little sister with eyes as blue as the sky.

One day, Jillian and her father climbed up a tree. Once they had reached the very top, he told Jillian that he had to leave. Jillian slipped off the tree, all the way down to the very bottom, and scratched her hands and knees on the twigs in the dirt. She saw her father waving from the treetop, but she found him always out of reach.

Jillian went to see her mother and her sister. They had made her a dress. When Jillian tried it on, she found that it didn't fit quite right: it was too tight around her ribcage and too short. Her mother made her stand still on the stool while she mended the dress: when her mother pricked her with the needle, Jillian pressed her lips and tried not to cry, even if it hurt.

When it was time to undress and go to bed, Jillian could not take the dress off: it was stuck on her too large body. The only way to get out, she thought, was to shrink until it would slip off. She couldn't ask for help, because she didn't have many friends. She had to do it alone.

And so, on that day, Jillian crept into a corner until she faded away.