After preschool, my niece ran up to me in a coral dress I’d never seen before. Her usual shorts were gone. When I asked, she simply said, “Swapped.” Inside her cubby, I found a velvet purse with a note: “She wanted to be princess today. I consented.” When I asked who gave her the dress, she said, “Hallway girl. Always has gum.” Gum isn’t allowed at school. And the girl? “She’s in the hall,” she said, like someone floating between places. That night, my sister recognized the dress pattern. “From high school… Lydia,” she whispered, clearly shaken.
The next day, I spotted a girl by a sealed storage room at school. She vanished when I blinked. Later, I found another note in the velvet pouch: “Tomorrow is someone else’s turn.” Ms. Leena, the teacher, revealed a long-buried truth—Lydia had choked on gum and died years ago. That night, my niece whispered, “She says it’s my turn forever now.” I returned to the school, followed the hallway, and found the storage room. Inside sat a little girl among piles of old clothes and forgotten things. She clutched a pair of sneakers marked “Lydia.”
“I just wanted someone to remember me,” she said. “You can still go home,” I told her. She let go of the dress, the shoes, the pouch—and disappeared. We donated all the items. My niece slipped a note in the pocket of the coral dress: “You can be remembered in good ways, too.” Weeks later, construction crews found Lydia’s old belongings during renovations.
The school created a reading nook, and in the community room, the coral dress now hangs in a shadow box. A plaque reads: “She showed her magic. We remember.” And whenever my niece says she feels like a princess, I believe her. Because now, somewhere, a little girl isn’t lost anymore.