A shadow of her former self

Once there was a little girl who, after many years, got much older. She looked much older, she really did. Other people told her that she looked much older and she could see it for herself when she looked into her own mirror.

But sometimes if she lay very still in her bed at night while the darkness clung tightly at her, she was sure she could feel the shadows of the old her floating softly onto her shape. Sometimes it would take a while for the old her to get a comfortable fit onto the new her but they would lay embraced with one another, weeping and consoling each other through their sorrow and fright until they felt a little better.