It had been raining all morning.

Jacob waited patiently near the kitchen window, hoping that the sun would come out soon. He let out a heavy sigh and returned back to his drawing of a deer. Jacob wanted more than anything to see one in real life. That was his dream ever since he heard Priya talking about the deer she saw on her camping trip.

The only animals Jacob ever saw were birds or the occasional squirrel sunbathing. One time, he saw racoons sifting through their trash at night. He had asked Lori to take a picture but she just rolled her eyes at him.

There was a tapping at the door, followed by the shrill sound of the bell ringing. Jacob shot up immediately, abandoning his crayons and rushing to open the door for Lori. Jacob loved his sister and missed playing with her. They used to dig up brittle rocks in their backyard together and presented their treasures at dinner.

Ever since Lori got a phone, she didn't have time to play anymore. She would spend hours in her room, doing homework or talking to friends. Lori strolled into the kitchen, ruffling her brother's hair before grabbing a drink from the fridge.

"Look what I drew," Jacob said, proudly presenting his drawing. "It's a deer." The ears were a little long but the image still resembled Priya's description.

Lori quickly glanced at the picture. "That's a good drawing. You should show mom." A moment of silence followed as she pulled out her phone. Frustrated, Jacob climbed the stairs to show his mom the deer and ask about going outside.

His mom was sitting at her desk, scribbling away in a notebook. Jacob didn't quite understand what his mom's job was but he knew she worked with numbers. For the longest time, Jacob thought this meant his mom's co-workers were people that looked like numbers. Thinking about the image now made Jacob laugh and shake his head.

"Hi, sweetheart! Everything okay?"

"Can we please go to the forest now? You promised that after work we could go," Jacob pleaded and placed his drawing on the desk.

Jacob's mom looked out the window. The torrential downpour had stopped for now and had become a soft drizzle. "Is it okay if Lori takes you? I still have one more meeting to attend," she said, pinning the drawing to her corkboard. There were dozens of drawings there, most of them were of animals that Jacob read about in books.

After a good deal of convincing, Lori agreed to take Jacob to the forest but she wasn't happy about it. She mumbled to herself about the cold and also scolded Jacob for jumping in the puddles. People drove by in their cars, splashing water onto the sidewalk and making Jacob giggle.

They were headed towards a small patch of woods behind Jacob's school. The part of the woods bordering the school was enclosed with a fence and kids were strictly forbidden from entering there during breaks. Jacob and his sister had to walk away from the school until the fence disappeared.

The two huddled together below an umbrella, staring off into the musty forest. Jacob could barely contain his excitement as they stepped inside. He marvelled at the trees and took a breath of fresh air, allowing the scent of wet detritus to fill his lungs. It was like they had entered into a completely different world, void of any concrete. The city noises felt muted, overwhelmed by the sound of a serene silence. Even Lori cracked a smile as she found a stump to sit on.

"I haven't been here in years," she whispered, longing for another time. "Mom used to bring me here when I was little."

"Was that before I was born?" Jacob asked, picking up a flat rock.

"Yeah, kiddo. That was before you were born. We stopped coming here after there were reports about a parasite floating around in the water there." She pointed further into the forest and Jacob could just make out a thin stream of water.

He thought back to his book on animals but couldn't remember reading about parasites. He knew his sister was clever and was also studying animals at school. He asked her, "what's a parasite?"

"It's a tiny creature that can make some people sick. But the reports turned out to be false. There was no parasite." Tipping her head back, she examined the trees. Her phone pinged and she swiped at the screen. Jacob was about to make a joke when he saw something at the corner of his eyes.

It was a tiny ball of light fluttering between the bushes. He frowned, convinced that he was seeing things but then he saw it again. Jacob headed deeper into the woods, leaving his sister behind. A wave of sadness passed over him when he lost sight of the light.

He now stood before a tree with a thick trunk, scratching his head in confusion. Suddenly, something tugged at his hair and Jacob spun around, hoping to catch the culprit. There was no one there. He heard a burst of tiny laughter above him that sounded like wind chimes.

Looking up, he saw the light again but this time there were more. Jacob stared on, wide-eyed and at a loss for words. "Fairies," he thought himself. It was difficult to make out how they looked like but Jacob was certain that he had stumbled across a hideout for fairies.

There was a rustling in the bushes, pulling Jacob's attention away from the flickering light. Lori stumbled out from the bushes, her hair messy and mouth in an angry scowl. "How come you didn't wait for me?" she demanded.

Jacob pointed above him but the floating orbs had disappeared again. "Did you see that?"

"See what?" his sister asked as she pulled out a leaf from her hair.

"The fairies!"

"Don't be ridiculous. Fairies aren't real," Lori replied plainly. "We should go home now. I have a lot of work to do."

"Not now," Jacob whined. "I haven't seen a deer yet." A part of him was hoping to catch another glimpse of the light again.

"I don't have time for this." Lori flipped her dark hair over her shoulders.

Feeling angry, Jacob crossed his arms and glared up at his sister. For as long as he could remember, Lori had towered over him but now he was almost as high as her shoulders. "You never have time for anything."

But Lori wasn't listening anymore and her face was completely pale, like she had just seen a ghost. She spun around in a slow circle. "I think we might be lost." Seeing the panic in his sister's eyes caused the anger to ebb away. There was a distant clap of thunder and the sky above them darkened. Jacob found himself edging closer to his sister.

"It's okay. We can call mom," he suggested, trying to remain calm. Lori held up her dead phone. Dread seeped through Jacob, turning him into stone. "This is all my fault," he said with a sigh.

They remained quiet, listening to the steady patter of rain. Lori sighed and shook her head. "It's not your fault." She gave him a small smile. "I'm sorry for getting mad."

A rabbit scampered past their feet and they shrieked. The siblings broke out into a fit of laughter, their tears mingling with the raindrops. "We should follow the rabbit," Jacob said with a shrug. He could tell that Lori was going to protest at first but she didn't say anything.

The rabbit had hopped towards the bushes that Lori had emerged from earlier. It was safe to assume that was the right way out. "Now what?" Lori asked once they moved past the bushes.

There was a golden bird, perched on a nearby tree. It chirped at them and took flight as they approached. "We follow the bird," Jacob stated. This time Lori didn't hesitate and let her brother lead the way.

After several minutes of walking, Lori tapped her brother's shoulder. She held a finger to her lips and crouched down. Standing a few feet before them was a family of deer, nudging their noses against a patch of mushrooms. They moved elegantly across the forest floor.

"There are three of them. Like you, me and mom," Jacob whispered. They watched silently until the deer vanished into the forest.

"Look, that's the stump I was sitting on before," Lori said shockingly.

Sure enough, they had found their way out of the forest. The siblings walked home together, hand-in-hand, splashing in puddles and laughing all the way.