The girl and her heart

Once upon a time, there lived a girl. She had a great life: a loving family, a rewarding job, and quite a few loyal friends. But sometimes she had this weird feeling as if something was amiss. So one day she decided she would go on a journey to see the world and find something she wasn’t yet aware of on the way. She figured the best time to leave would be straight after her birthday party, at the very beginning of winter.
December walked in quietly, too bright, too green, and too warm for girl’s liking. She could almost smell the feeling of wrongness in the air. But when the time came, she packed her things and set off anyway.
Her journey didn't really have any purpose or ultimate goal except for putting her own capability to the test. Which she successfully accomplished, since during this adventure she had to deal with huge iron birds and wander through dreadful dungeons with mazes in them. But also she got to see a whole lot of amazing palaces, vast fields and forests inhabited by fay folk. All that made her journey worthwhile.
Eventually, her path led her to a beautiful old city. She was roaming its streets when she spotted a huge hill with a fortress on the top of it. Feeling a strange pull towards it, she began her ascent. A small dragon was lurking at the bottom of the hill, but the girl managed to sneak her way past him.
When she walked into the fortress, she stopped and looked around. She saw some beautiful vines that had crawled their way up the walls of the most modest building in the courtyard. She came up to it to get a closer look and admire the mesmerizing plants.
And then, right in the middle of an ancient castle, she found what seemed to be her heart. It dawned on her that most likely it was what she had been unknowingly looking for all this time. At that moment she knew that the hollow feeling she had had in her chest for many years was her missing heart.
And here it was, miles away from her hometown, hidden in plain sight and lit by warm rays of sunshine. Over the years, it had got covered with thick bark which preserved it from harsh outside world. It seemed old, dried-up and neglected, but gave off the impression of toughness and sturdiness anyway. And the girl just stood there looking at her heart and not knowing what to do with it.
But the longer she stayed, the more it showered her with the sense of peace and quiet that can only appear when a part of you you were missing clicks into place. She basked in it, keenly aware that this place was her real destination. She was about to reach for her heart but stopped short as if she had been burnt.
She had a sinking suspicion that she was about to make a huge mistake. Although so close to her heart it was hard to remember what it was like not to have it, the feel of nearly absolute emotional numbness was etched into her memory. She had always been somewhat detached, indifferent towards people around her. A mere spectator, so to speak. Before that moment she had always thought it to be a great gift – not to feel anything, to be unperturbed by anyone’s actions. So she couldn’t even comprehend how she had got to the point where she started questioning herself.
Having remembered the sweet nothingness that had always filled that place in the middle of her chest, she made a step back. All of a sudden, she had a hunch that she didn’t really need her heart and she would be better off without it. After all, what could she possibly need it for?
Adamant that she was making a right choice, she turned around, left the castle and never looked back, leaving her heart there for safekeeping. Perhaps, she thought as she was going down the hill, I'll come back for it one day, but to be honest, it's highly unlikely.