Fairy Tale Confessions, page 34
“Well,” I said out loud. The mist clung to my lips and eyelashes. “It’s time! I’m ready for my dreams to become my reality.”
I waited expectantly for the magic I saw with Fairy Godmother to begin. Nothing happened.
“I’m done doubting myself. I know I’m talented. I know I can create. I love myself. I’m ready! I’m ready for my dreams to float!” Still, nothing happened.
I looked down at my feet, feeling a new depth of sadness at how utterly alone I was. “I thought that my dreams would be more than fashion. More than design. I thought I could find the love that my father told me of right here.” I pointed down to the rock. “But it’s fine. My true love can come from my own two hands.” I looked meaningfully at my fists. “I can be happy with just this.”
“What if you can’t?” A voice called through the falls.
I saw Prince’s silhouette bobbing on the other side as he prepared to push himself through the stream. Black strands of hair clung to his face as he laid those gorgeous green eyes on me once again.
“Prince—”
“It’s my turn now,” he snapped, swimming straight towards me.
He carefully hauled himself out of the water and stormed up to me in a blaze of fury. Anger and passion radiated off his chiseled abs as he stood before me in a pair of soaked cargo shorts.
“You seriously think I want Summer?”
I tried to respond but he cut me off, stepping so close to me I had to tip my head back to look at him. “If you think I want any of this life without you, you’re dead wrong,” he cried, thrusting his hand through his hair.
“Prince, you don’t need to do this.” I looked down, clutching my arms across my belly to gain control of my emotions.
“Rell, I am in love with you!” he roared, his voice echoing off the cave walls. His breath heaved with his declaration. “That is the only thing I need to do. Don’t let whatever manipulated crap that wicked stepmother of yours said taint that!”
My mind wanted to run for protection, but my heart soared at the hope behind his words. I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came.
He reached out and gripped my wrists, touching his forehead to mine. “I fell in love with you the instant your head came up for air in the water that day.” Staring down at our hands, he continued. “I breathed with you in that moment and I finally knew what my father meant by a great irreplaceable love. That is all he’s ever wanted for me. And I’ve found that. With you.”
He sighed heavily and peered up through his thick, dark lashes. “Rell, this is the kind of fairy tale love that you feel in your gut and ache for until you can make it come true.”
I tilted my head back and looked closely into his eyes. My heart skipped a beat at the clear devotion I saw there.
“Are you a dream?” I asked on a whisper.
“A dream would pale in comparison to this incredible reality. I know we hardly know each other, Rell. But if you would open your heart to me, I could show you.” He laced his fingers with mine and pressed them against his chest. “I believe in love at first sight. But only with you. Tell me I’m not alone.”
As I squeezed his hands back, a cloud of mist swirled around us. Refusing to break eye contact, we both studied each other as a fantastical magic surrounded us, playing tribute to our heartfelt exchange.
“You’re not alone, Prince,” I finally replied. “I am in love with you too.”
It was all I could say. It was all I felt. In that moment with him, hopes, dreams and love commanded me.
“I was hoping you’d say that, Princess.” His mouth split into a broad grin as he reached into the cargo short’s pocket and pulled out my other glass slipper. The one I left behind last night.
I smiled and reached out to touch the smooth glass in his hand. The meaning behind this small gesture made my heart sore.
Gazing seriously into my eyes, he said, “I’m never going to let this one break, Rell.”
He dipped his head and captured my lips in a swirling, all-consuming kiss. With the slipper nestled safely between us, I tipped my head back and gave him all of me to protect and cherish.
“I think I want to marry you,” he murmured against my lips.
I smiled. “Let’s try a date first, Prince Charming.”
And so we stood there, kissing in the mist...because it was time. Finally our very own hopes and dreams had become a reality.
And the best part was: Our happily ever after had only just begun.
The End
The Beginning
Amy Daws is a contemporary romance author who loved dipping her toe into the world of fantasy for this modern day Cinderella story. If you loved her contemporary style, check out her award-nominated adult romantic comedy series, The London Lovers Series. It's emotional, and self-deprecating, with lots of humor sprinkled in. To learn more, visit: http://www.amydawsauthor.com
CASTING CROWNS AND
OTHER CURIOUS THINGS
A retelling of Alice in Wonderland
By Elizabeth Montgomery
She said I’d never hold the crown.
She said I was a stupid girl.
A stupid girl that would lose her head.
I swear, the Red Queen will regret her outlandish words the day I hold her bloody head in my hand... crown and all.
* * *
Most Wonderlandians try to escape this horrid place the Red Queen called home. Not me. The people of this land acted as if they worshiped her, but it was just that: an act. They were terrified of her and her bloody reign. They'd bring her flowers, potions, teas and crumpets in hopes of surviving one more day in this tragic wasteland. It wasn't always this way, though. Once, Wonderland was a place where your best dreams came to life, the flowers were your friends and the dragonflies didn't try to kill your family. Those days were long forgotten under the reign of the Red Queen. Now the streets were filled with blood, savage beasts, and darkness. This land was no longer a place for happily ever afters. It was a place of nightmares and death.
Not only did I find my way inside, but down into the secret tunnels. They led into a dark and dusty castle cellar. I explored cobwebbed tunnels and dead ends, until I finally found a small opening in a stone wall. A screeching voice reverberated above me. That voice could only belong to one person: The Red Queen.
I was directly under throne room.
The opening was no bigger than a rabbit hole. But I was determined that the Red Queen would eat her words. Arms first, I squeezed through the opening. Once out of the tunnel, I climbed atop a few scattered stone blocks. On my tiptoes I peered through a small fissure in the mortar between the ceiling and the back wall.
The Red Queen
Blood spilling savage
Ruler of Wonderland
Loves hearts and all things red,
especially when the red things spill from the bodies of her enemies.
"Fetch me my tea, Richards," the Red Queen's voice squawked like an angry crow.
"Yes, your majesty. Is there anything else I can get for you?" Richards's tight voice echoed through the grand room.
"If I wanted anything else I would've ask for it, you idiot," she spat condescendingly.
Richards cowered. He quickly recovered and hurried past the Red Queen and escaped through an old wooden door. The door groaned as he pulled it open and bustled behind it, disappearing from sight.
Richards
The Red Queens man servant,
in more ways than
he wishes to be.
Richards couldn’t have been much older than me, but the few years he’d spent with the Red Queen had done a number on his looks. A deep, twisted purple scar trekked across his eye and down the length of his face. A reminder of the Red Queen’s temper. Rumor in the woodlands was that Richards’s face fell victim to her majesty’s razor sharp nails after he spilled a tray of brudleberry crumpets into her lap; it was said his cries for mercy could be heard from outside the castle gates and into the village. She broke his spirits. Literally. No longer a confident young man, he hunched over. Dressed in a tattered button-down he carelessly tucked them into his potato sack pants.
Before the Red Queen claimed him as hers, Richards was well known amongst the ladies of this land. Swoons filled the street as he walked past, along with estrogen––it was quite the scene when Richards left his small crooked purple house. Needless to say, the Red Queen didn’t take kindly to someone attaining more attention than her, so she had her cardsmen grab him one night as he walked through the village after a midnight rendezvous with one of the Spratly sisters. Once in the Red Queen’s clutches, she threatened to behead everyone he ever loved if he didn’t stay with her as her servant. Obviously he took the deal.
Adjusting my footing, I stared through the crack in the wall. The Red Queen was perched upon her golden throne. Her legs rested carelessly upon the arm as her long, black ball gown, plentifully adorned with brilliant heart-shaped rubies, dangled to the floor. The stones pulled in small bits of light that crept through the large stained glass windows that bordered the ceiling, making the space around her shimmer. The sparkle almost made it look like a happy place to be. I knew better.
As the Red Queen sat there picking at her pointed fingernails, she chatted up one of her cardsmen about the fate of a prisoner. It was like she was discussing which jelly she'd prefer on her toast as she debated what his head would look like as it rolled from his shoulders. She was a sadistic bitch.
Cardsmen
Ruthless, spear carrying, blood thirsty
mercenaries belonging to the Red Queen.
Their paper bodies cannot be torn,
But they can be set ablaze.
The prisoner the Red Queen was speaking of was one that I was going to set free— Tyden would never meet the Red Queen’s fate. He was my reason for treason. His crime? Loving the Red Queen's sworn enemy: Me.
Alice (Me)
An ordinary girl with an extraordinary mind.
Hated by the Red Queen.
Prophesized to rule Wonderland by the seer.
Always dressed in blue,
it’s the color of all things wonderful.
I closed my eyes and thought back to the moment the Red Queen took him from me. Unbeknownst to Tyden and myself, the Red Queen had sent her army of cardsmen to retrieve him on the night we were to seal our love in the most intimate way. Two bodies becoming one. The air was thick with lust, swirling around us as his jet black hair fell across his left eye and swooped down to the corner of his devilish smile. The moonlight from the window cast dancing shadows across his bare body, calling attention to each flawless muscle as he sauntered toward the bed and knelt down over me. The weight of his body on top of mine felt magical, his hands gently wrapped around my middle sending a wave of electricity through to my spine. There was nothing more than a breath between us when a thunderous roar rang through the forest, shaking the walls of his home. As if we were of one mind, Tyden and myself leaped to our feet and raced to the small window across the room. It was a mob of cardsmen that followed behind the two headed black beasts, their hooves pounded the earth as they pulled behind them the notorious black carriage. They were taking aim directly at Tyden’s home.
Tyden
Son of the Mad Hatter
Lives outside of the main village
Secretly makes potions and
sells them to the Wonderlandians
And last, but not least, the love of my life.
The front door burst open. Splinters of wood shot from the door frame, impaling anything in their path. The cardsmen had arrived. Vials of smoke were slammed to the ground, making it impossible to see. Their boots slammed the floor with every step as they piled into the small house. Tyden was no longer beside me, nor did I know where he went. I could only imagine he had gone to fight the intruders. Sliding down to the floor, I felt my way to the back of the room and hid behind a large leather-strapped trunk. I wanted to throw my hands over my ears at the sound of flesh being pummeled. It made me want to throw up, but then a pleasant sound came and made me feel a bit better; the sound of crumpling paper. After a few moments, the smoke dissipated and I seized the opportunity to glance around the base of the trunk; I almost wish I hadn’t. Tyden put up a fight, grabbing the paper soldiers one by one, making contact with every swing of his fist. He ducked and dodged the cardsmen’s attempts to grab him. His upturned lips taunted the paper bodied soldiers.
A boisterous voice belonging to one of the cardsmen echoed through the room, “Where’s the girl?”
My hand came to rest over my mouth as I saw Tyden’s face turn grim.
They were here for me. Not him.
I quickly tucked myself back behind the trunk. My breaths turned shallow as my heart pounded in my bare chest.
Tyden was stronger than any man I had ever known, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the legion of cardsmen that flooded through the gaping void where a door once stood. After his hands and feet were bound by the vines they used as rope, he was pulled outside and shoved into the black carriage driven by the two-headed beasts. He was sure to be chained and thrown into the bowels of the castle; to be brought before the Red Queen by the next afternoon. All the other unfortunate Wonderlandians who had the displeasure of riding in that coach had met a similar fate
My chest heaved as I held back the sobs that so desperately wanted to escape. My face drenched from the uncontrolled tears that poured down my face as I watched the love of my life taken from away. I wanted to scream. I wanted to kill them all. Most of all I wanted him back and that was exactly what I planned to do.
When the pounding of the hooves were far enough out of earshot, I climbed out from behind the chest. I threw on my clothes and bolted out of the hollow entry. I pushed myself to run faster, harder, to hold back the tears that threatened to spill over. As I got closer to the main village, I could hear the people and creatures cheer as the black coach carrying Tyden rode through town. It was the law to cheer when a black coach passed by, even if it contained someone you held dear to your heart. Any Wonderlandian who broke the law would meet the same fate as the unfortunate soul occupying the carriage. Death.
* * *
As I shook the thought of that tragic night, I focused my thoughts back to the tunnels of the castle I was standing in. A shift in movement behind me caught my eye. I crouched down low and swiftly ducked into a darkened corner. One of the Red Queen’s cardsmen passed by the small rabbit hole I had wriggled through.
“Are you sure you saw someone come down here?” the cardsmen asked, his voice gruff and hurried.
“I-I thought I saw a girl,” a small voice said. Just then, a girl no bigger than a wonderweed walked past the opening and stopped. “You know, the girl? She was wearing the blue dress that the Red Queen told us all to look for. I know I saw her, I really did,” her voice faded with every other word, as if she was turning her head back and forth, looking for me.
“I don’t see anyone. You’re wasting my time, you ridiculous girl!” he boomed.
I jumped. A few pebbles rolled to the ground.
“Wait, what was that? Did you hear that?” the girl asked.
The paper-bodied cardsman held his lantern close to the hole, the light illuminated the red hearts that decorated his flat, cream colored torso.
“THE GIRL! I found her!” he shouted before he blew his whistle over and over, alerting the other cardsmen.
It was fight or flight; I didn’t have wings so that only left one option.
Without a second thought, I pushed off the wall with all my strength and barreled toward him. I snatched the lantern from his gloved hand while he was distracted with his obnoxious whistle blowing. I smashed the top of the globe. Oil spilled onto the cardsman that had managed to shimmy himself halfway through the small hole, leaving him in a bad position: stuck.
“What are you doing? Stop it!” he screeched as he tried to get away before the flames lit him up. All it took was the corner of his paper body to catch fire and within seconds he was engulfed in flames. Embers flew around the room and when they settled he was nothing more than a pile of ash, scattered on the stone. I stood there for a moment with a small sense of satisfaction as I stepped through the ashes.
I crawled out into the main hall, my skin and dress now covered with streaks of dark grey soot. I looked down both ends of the tunnel, waiting for the other cardsmen to come and finish the job this one had failed. None came.
The brown haired girl that had brought the cardsman down sat against the wall across from where I stood, her body trembling, as she held her head against her knees. Her back heaved. The heavy sobs caused the hem of her bright pink dress to shiver.
“What’s wrong, child?” I asked.
She pulled her head up. I offered my hand to her, but she recoiled.
“Are you going to kill me now?” she asked, her bright green eyes completely waterlogged.
“Oh my, no! I’m not going to kill you.” Jarred by her words, I stooped down so we were eye level. “I think you can help me, sweet girl.”
“I can?” she asked as she wiped the tears from her swollen eyes.
“I hope so.” I smiled at her, pushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Are you ready to do some good deeds?” I asked as I dusted off some the cardsman’s ashes from the front of my dress. It was slightly morbid to have the by-product of murder strewn about your person.
“I would like that very much,” the girl said as she pushed herself up to her feet. “I am truly sorry by the way, I just wanted her to like me, you know. I thought if she liked me she wouldn’t find a reason to separate my head from my neck.”
This girl was a prime example of why Wonderland needed to change. She was too young to know how remarkable and magnificent Wonderland could be, all she had ever know was this evil.
