When you've reached the point of insanity, there's no going back, not really. Even when everyone else has forgotten, and you've convinced yourself that you can fit back into the world again, all it takes is one thing to make everything collapse around you.

Lyra tried to convince everyone she saw humans in the Everfree Forest. Once they grew tired of her, and started calling her insane, she stopped. And just as she starts to believe she's passed that point in her life, the river she frequently visits gives her a gift that makes her rethink everything she knows.

Author's Notes:
Woo! First One-Shot. This was pretty fun. Dark and moody description, pretty nice. Got a nifty little emo-looking photoshopped picture there, that's a nice touch. It's symbolic. Symbolic of what? Read the story to find out! (Oh, now you have to.)

Well, I'm not too familiar with the fanon about Lyra and her knowledge about humans, so I made up a lot of it for the purpose of this story. If something doesn't fit with what the community at large agrees on, I'm sorry, kind of. It's all fiction anyway.

I don't write shipping stories, but for all of you that are crazy about it, I left some room open for interpretation about weather L+BB were in a relationship. Honestly, I don't care, and I don't think it has any impact on the story, so I left it out. But I didn't put in anything that said they weren't. So there.

Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, if you couldn't tell.

That's about it, I think.