Ch 1; Beasts of the Forest
So here is the first chapter of my story already. I had (and still have) much fun writing this story. This chapter is slightly based of the webcomic Ever After, that can be read on Snafu Comics or Snafu Comics Wiki. But anyways here is the story!
In a place Far Far Away, there is a little village called Grimmoire. In this little town all the wonderful fairy tale character reside. There are many happy people living together. Princes save princesses, animals experience funny adventures, and a lot more. All of these people having their own happily ever after, or at least it seems that way. Because behind all the happiness there are untold dark stories, stories of people who didn't get a happily ever after, people who went through a horrible event and even became traumatized for life. Lately this happened very often in Grimmoire, the people who have been badly traumatized are brought to the Mental Institute Ever After, a small island close to the village. When they noticed people were causing trouble because of their trauma they were taken by the government and brought to the mental institute.
Ever After is a place where they try to recover the patients from their trauma. They let them slowly heal until they can assure they will cause no problems in Grimmoire. But lately nobody has come out of Ever After, nobody. It's like they are trapped there. Is it because they've been that badly traumatized or is there something terrible behind all this?
On the island a little man was running towards the Control Tower, a very weird looking tower. If a tornado managed to pick up about four dozen gothic cathedrals and slammed them all together, it'd look like the Control Tower. The man was running with small steps, so he wasn't fast, and he chuckled a bit while running. He had a map, with papers in it, in his hand which was shaking nervously. The man entered the building and took the elevator upstairs to the ninth floor, of the ten. The door opened and he now stood in a room with three other people.
"Ah there you are Rumplestiltskin. I was wondering what was taking you so long." a living egg said, who wore a nice suit.
"Sorry master, here are the forms." Rumplestiltskin said and handed the map in his hands over to his boss. The egg looked at the files and looked to Rumplestiltskin again.
"You are dismissed." the egg man said while looking at the documents. Rumplestiltskin smiled and left the room.
"What does it say Humpty?" a tall man asked. He had gray hair but was bald in the middle, he wore a long doctor's coat, black glasses and he had a huge grin on his face.
"Those are just some forms about how many patients we currently have, and the incident files of them. But I see that there is one patient who is actually making progress." Humpty Dumpty said with a frown on his face. "Hulda, would you mind taking this patient to Professor Cricket? Remember that we need her."
"I will do so sir." an old woman said. She wore a nurse outfit with a long white coat over it. Her hair was gray and tied in a knot and she also wore small reading glasses.
"Thank you Mother Hulda, you are always so kind." Humpty smiled as Hulda left the room.
"Dr. Know-All." Humpty said to get the attention of his creepy colleague. "When is the next session starting of our dearest patient?"
"Soon, soon sir. I just have to make some preparations and call the soldiers and battle-maids and then we can begin with the session." the doctor grinned.
"Wonderful."
"Then I will go now, I will alert you when we are going to begin." Dr. Know-All left the room leaving Humpty Dumpty alone.
"Everything is going great. Just don't mess this up, like the previous time. I don't want you to screw up my plans again." Humpty mumbled to himself and sat down in his comfortable round chair behind his desk.
"Secure the perimeter! Move it people! Move it!" a woman shouted through a crowded area where many soldiers and battle-maids were preparing for something.
"The boss is here, Dr. Know-All." Rumplestiltskin said as Humpty Dumpty walked into the room. Rumplestiltskin left and Humpty stood next to the doctor watching the army getting ready.
"Make a semi-circle around the door! This is a code 41-niner blue! Come on people hurry up!" she shouted again. A semi-circle was formed around a big locker door where a patient was kept. All the people were aiming their weapons at the door.
"Mmm… This is the farthest any of the inmates have ever gotten." Humpty said. Suddenly a swooshing sound was heard behind the doors, after a brief second of silence the door broke in pieces and fell on the floor. A little girl stepped out of the entrance.
"Good lord! There she is! She's…really small." a soldier said. The girl wore a red cloak with a red hood. Under her cloak a blue dress could be seen, her cloak was attached to her dress with a yellow ribbon. Over her dress several brown straps could be seen and on the end of her dress was a white semi-circle.
"Isn't she armed?" another said. But then she drew a saw-blade and rushed towards the army.
"Holy Christ! Fire, fire!" a soldier yelled. Red threw her blade towards some soldiers.
"Lieutenant look out!" a battle maid shouted.
"Ha, nothing I can't handle sweetheart. I'd like to see her cut her way through this!" The blade hit the shield of the lieutenant and the blade went back to Red. She then spun her blade rapidly around which surprised the lieutenant.
"Gonna come and get me yourself then, eh little girl. Come on then! Let's…" Red threw her blade towards the shield that went straight through it and the lieutenant, to the horror of the others.
"For the love of god someone shoot her! Shoot her!" one said. "Holy shit did you see that!?" another said.
"This isn't boding well…" Humpty said with a serious face.
The soldiers that surrounded Red all got sliced into pieces by her.
"Don't worry, I got her!" a battle maid said, but as soon as she finished her sentence Red sliced her body in half. The army was shocked but before they could even move they also were obliterated. A huge soldier with a giant Gatling gun shot on her. Red easily dodged all the bullets and sliced him followed by others who surrounded her. Red then continued killing everyone and headed towards Humpty Dumpty and Dr. Know-All.
"Cease fire everyone! She's heading for the president, cease fire!" someone shouted out of the room. Red landed on the fence and wanted to attack Humpty but suddenly someone stepped on her shoulder and she fell on the ground, unable to move.
"Pff…That was terribly anti-climactic. Though I suppose we've allowed her enough fun for quite a while." Humpty said as he looked at the little girl lying on the ground. A orange cat with a black hat, yellow plume, red scarf and metal boots landed on the fence behind Humpty.
"Thank you for your assistance, Mr. Boots. Take the girl to the solitary chamber on level C-7, if you would be so kind." Puss nodded and took the body and left.
"Entertaining as that was, see to it that we do not have any more unexpected surprises. We can't afford further risks to the completion of the project. Dr. Know-All, could you see to it that all the men are back on their feet before you-know-who arrives?" Humpty said.
"Yes sir, Mr. president." the doctor smiled. Humpty left the room, Dr. Know-All then faced the nurses who stepped into the battlefield.
"Okay you know the drill. It's time to clean up." Dr. Know-All said. "I want to have enough time to restore the body's." the doctor left the room as the nurses started to collect the limbs of the torn apart persons.
"Why are we actually doing this?" a male nurse said as he picked up a leg from the ground and put it inside of a cart.
"For Dr. Know-All to re-initiate the bodies of the fallen ones." a, slightly overweight, nurse said to the intern.
"How is that even possible?"
"Don't ask me, all I know is that Dr. Know-All is capable of doing anything. Without him here we all would be like this." the woman said and held up a ripped of face of a soldier, which gave the creeps to the intern.
Little Red Riding Hood was walking through the forest, on her way to her grandmother. Her mother was very ill, so she was sent by her mother to bring her a basket of bread, apples and some milk. She was having fun walking through the forest, she saw bunny's and fairies. But then she heard some laughter.
She heard it again and felt a presence close to her. She began running towards her grandmother's cottage. She heard it again and looked around but didn't see anything. She ran towards the door of the cottage, she touched the doorknob.
"Where are you going so soon little girl?" she suddenly heard from behind. Red looked behind her and a glob-like wolf merged out of the ground, the Big Bad Wolf, to the shock of Red.
"Please, please open." Red mumbled to herself as she tried to open the door.
"What is your name little girl?" the wolf asked.
"Oh please, please, please, please…" Red almost cried, still trying to open the door while she saw the wolf approaching.
"Don't you remember me? Once very well acquainted yes, within my belly I do believe." the wolf came closer. "Won't you come back!" the wolf shouted and dashed towards Red, who could quickly dodged and fell on the ground and saw handcuffs around her wrists.
"Wh-what!?" Red said and looked at the handcuffs. She looked back at the wolf with tear filled eyes.
"You haven't forgotten, have you silly girl? You will not forget." the words of the wolf constantly haunted her mind.
"Stop! Don't come any closer! Go away!" Red shouted. "Y-You're not… You're not supposed to be here! Why won't you leave me alone!" the words still were haunting her mind as she cried for them to go away.
"Child look at your hands. It is there."
"W-What… who?" Red looked at her hands as a big saw-blade appeared there.
"You have the means within you. Now you must kill them. You must kill them all! Kill them, kill them now. Every one of them. Or they will gobble you up. Now, child." Red's anger began to rise which seemed to please the wolf.
"Yes…yes, that's right. You are doing well, dear. Let it grow within you. Release your fears."
"Leave…"
"Let it consume you."
"…me…"
"Do it… now."
"…ALONE!" Red shouted as she grabbed the saw-blade in her hands and stormed at the Big Bad Wolves, and slayed each one of them, not to realize it was the army that was trying to stop her.
"There is such anger, such fury inside you. Don't worry, you're such a good girl. You've made such progress, we are all so proud of you. You will be well again soon, and when you are well, you can come home. Don't you want to come home?" the wolf whispered in her ears.
Red looked up and saw all the wolves merge together to one big bad wolf that broke the cottage of her grandmother, Red looked up in fear. The wolf was smiling at her while Red looked with widened eyes not believing what she was seeing.
"Oh, child…" the wolf laughed. "What big eyes you have."
Dr. Know-All walked through the corridors of Ever After until he arrived at the elevator. Just as always he was greeted by security, but didn't respond. He went down to the lab of Professor Cricket.
"Hello Dr. Know-All. You look fine today." the old cricket said.
"Thank you. And how is our little red doing?"
"The session of today was pretty heavy, but like always she's recovering rapidly." he said. "Seeing the intensity of her grimm leaving her body she should be in critical condition, but she's doing better than other times."
"So she's recovering, that's always fine to hear. And how Is her mental status?"
"It's still hard to figure out. After each session she displays other events, although the same elements can be found." Cricket turned towards the window and looked at Red lying in a white dress on the table in the room behind the glass. "Her Grandmother's Cottage keeps returning, and two weeks prior a silhouette of a man and now a bunch of wolves."
"I see."
"She herself still can't remember what happened that day exactly, this everything is just a possibility of what she thought happened that day." Cricket turned to the doctor again. "But might I add , I'm a bit of concerned of the frequency of your sessions as of late. I believe her mental facilities are only going to deteriorate the harder we push at them."
Dr. Know-All laughed. "We have nothing to worry about this little girl here. She still has so much to show us."
"Are you familiar with the phrase 'does the end justify the means' doctor? If this continues like this I'm sure we will end up with a hollow shell, and all of our observations will have been for nothing."
"Hmm… When will she be ready to go to her chamber?"
"I think I can get her there tomorrow morning."
The doctor had a frown on his face but turned it into a smile again. "No, I want her back in two hours, she must be ready for the next session. We need the twins to come in here quickly, if this little scheme is going to be of any fruition." Dr. Know-All paused for a little while.
"I see. If you are sure about it."
"Professor Cricket, we both know Red recovers in no time. Just take care of it, okay?"
"I do. I just want to alarm you of what can happen, it can be even worse then I just said."
Dr. Know-All laughed. "I will see you soon, professor." Dr. Crooked left. Professor Cricket shook his head and turned back to watching Red's condition.
"Where are you book?" a young girl was walking around in her chamber looking for a book of hers. She wore a long blue with a black corset-like over it, an upside down heart on it and white sleeves. She had long, almost golden hair and sparkling blue eyes. But on her face were several scars, a big one over her left eye and a big one at her cheek. In addition to that she also wears a black necklace.
"Miss Goldilocks." a little pig walked to her window, the pig had a big blank eye and a smaller black eye. Goldilocks looked happy and headed over to him.
"Iggy, I seem to have lost one of my favorite books. I looked everywhere, can you help me find it?" Goldilocks asked.
"Have you looked everywhere?"
"Yeah really, it's nowhere to find."
"Have you also looked on the ceiling? Most people forget to look at the ceiling." Iggy said and pointed up. Goldilocks looked up and the book fell from her head.
Goldilocks chuckled. "It was on my head the whole time."
"But miss Goldilocks, you have visitors. There are some nobles from the main island who want to meet you."
"Oh gracious, well then hello. It's a pleasure to meet you."
The nobles were two old men in a tuxedo, a woman wearing a white fur jacket and her little daughter who wore the same. The nobles studied Goldilocks, her appearance and behavior.
"She looks pretty normal to me. And she also doesn't wear the same costume as most patients." the woman said. "They look quite finely tailored, as a matter of fact."
"Oh, b-but that is very easy to explain. Miss Goldilocks is one of our s-class charges. Her alignment is much more advanced. As such, her com-comfort is of most utmost priority to us. S-class patients are given unique uniforms as a result." Iggy explained.
"Ah I see what you are trying to say. To comfort them in their surroundings." one of the man said.
"Exactly. Dr. Know-All himself came up with the idea, and it seems to have done a- an amount of good for our patients." the little girl walked up to the glass and looked at Goldilocks and studied her face.
"Mom look at her face, it is all covered with scars!" the girl said. Goldilocks looked confused as the mother walked towards her child to get her away.
"I what? I don't have any… scars." Goldilocks said.
"Yeah you have, your whole face is covered with them." The girl said as she was pulled away by her mother who also looked at the face of Goldilocks. Iggy also saw the sad face of Goldilocks and tried to continue.
"B-but if you… if you wanted more information about the… uniforms…" Iggy said but was interrupted.
"There's, there's nothing there. Nothing." Goldilocks said. "I don't, I've been… " a weird shadow appeared behind Goldilocks to the shock of the woman.
"…What was that? Was there something behind her?" the woman mumbled to herself while holding hands with her daughter. Suddenly Mother Hulda walked into the room.
"Ah, excuse me. I think it's time to move forwards the tour." she said. "It would be time for Miss Goldi's weekly appointment with at the psych ward. I trust you all understand." Hulda said.
"But Mrs. Hulda I have still some questions to ask Miss Goldilocks." Iggy said but then looked into the eyes of Hulda which scared him away. Iggy motioned the nobles out of the room and continued the tour.
Mother Hulda walked into Goldi's room. "Miss Goldilocks's, it's time for your appointment." she looked at Goldilocks and saw her stare into the distance. "Are you… alright?" Goldilocks snapped out of her staring and turned around. "Oh I'm alright. Silly me, I must've been missing some sleep." she said and giggled.
"You must be nervous. It is the big day for you, as I recall."
"Yes, that might be it."
"Well, let's go. We don't want to keep Mr. Cricket waiting." Mother Hulda walked over to Goldilocks and cast a spell on her hands. "I know how good you've been lately, sweetie. But we have to go about this the usual way, all right?"
"I understand."
"Your hands please." Mother Hulda made a circle around both of Goldi's hands, she then also made a circle above her head which both were made out of dark magic and appeared in the form of letters. Hulda then started to walk and a line from Goldi's magical handcuffs appeared.
"All right, let's get a move on. Stay close to me, a lot of people seem to be on the edge today." Hulda said and Goldilocks nodded. The two walked through the large halls of the base level of Ever After. Goldilocks occasionally waved at other patients that she met during her time residing here.
"Hey, Goldilocks!" somebody shouted from behind her. Goldilocks turned around and saw a puppet with a broom approaching her. He wore a large cloth, a small hat, dark brown hair and he had several gears in his ears and one in his eyebrow, acting as piercings. "Hi there, Hello, good afternoon!" he said and stood still next to Goldilocks.
"Ah, hello Pinocchio. And a good afternoon to you as well. How are you?" Goldilocks said happily.
Pinocchio threw his floor cloth aside. "I'm doing fine, thanks. So today is the big day huh. You're going to see Professor Cricket, for your big evaluation, right? I'm so excited!"
"Yes, yes. I'm quite excited myself as well… though I must say I'm more than a little nervous. I fear I may wear my wrist to the bone at this rate." Goldi said as felt her wrists and chuckled a little.
"Actually, that's why I sort of stopped you. I want you to take this along." Pinocchio said and held his hands up which showed a little wooden star with a pin in it.
"What is it…" Goldilocks said while she studied to object.
"It is my lucky wishing star. I've had it since… well like forever. I think it might be lucky. Well, if you want it to be." Pinocchio smiled and felt a bit embarrassed.
"Thank you very much. But don't you need it for yourself. I mean, they give you jobs like crawling through vents and stuff, those things do seem a bit dangerous to me."
"Pfff, don't worry. Nothing will happen, I'm made of harder stuff then you credit me for, ma'am." Pinocchio said and knocked on his wooden head which made Goldilocks laugh.
"Well I don't want to bother you anymore, and I have to get back ton work so I will get out of your way." Pinocchio picked up his floor cloth and wanted to leave.
"But wait, I haven't even put it on yet. You have to see if it looks good on me." Goldilocks turned to Hulda. "Nurse Hulda would you mind?"
"Heaven forbid that this boy doesn't make you come late for your appointment. Now then turn around." Goldilocks turned around and Hulda put the lucky charm around her neck as a necklace. "There we go."
"Ah I love it! And I will not lie, I feel at least twice as lucky as before. Thank you so much Pinocchio, I really love it." Goldilocks smiled as she couldn't be any happier.
"You really have a big heart! I know someday all of your kindness will be rewarded." She went to Pinocchio and gave him a kiss on his cheek. "I'm sure Mr. Cricket would be very proud of you. Take care of yourself, see you later." Goldilocks said as she headed towards Professor Cricket with Hulda.
"Bye…" Pinocchio said. If he wasn't made of wood he knew his whole face would be red. Suddenly a dagger was thrown through his mop. Pinocchio looked up and saw Puss in Boots scratching some wood to sharpen his claws.
"I'm not scared of you, bootlicker." Pinocchio said angry. He then continued cleaning the floors with his floor cloth. Puss only smiled.
"So Professor Cricket, I heard you're having a meeting with Miss Goldilocks today." Dr. Know-All said while he was playing an reenactment of Red's encounter with the Big Bad Wolf.
"Yes, she is almost recovered. This is the day of her evaluation, an important day for little Goldilocks." Professor Cricket said.
"You know what that means, right?" Dr. Know-All said and left the puppets alone.
"Unfortunately I do." Cricket said. "Well, I think Hulda should arrive soon with Goldi so it's better for you to leave now."
Dr. Know-All was thinking. "Hm… I think I will stay. The boss will also come and watch the evaluation. We will all be here."
"I don't think that is such a good idea. Goldilocks gets very nervous with many people around, and you know what she is capable of, right?"
"That, I also know. We will watch her from a distance." Dr. Know-All walked away with a smile on his face. Shortly after that Hulda arrived with Goldilocks. Hulda unlocked Goldilocks and let her sit with Professor Cricket. Hulda herself left and joined Dr. Know-All and Humpty Dumpty somewhere high up in the room on a platform.
Goldilocks looked around and saw little figures of Red Riding Hood and The Big Bad Wolf. She then put all her attention to Professor Cricket, who just laid down a files in front of him.
"So Miss Goldilocks , we've seen you have made a lot of progress lately, you haven't caused us any problems at all really." Professor Cricket complimented her. "But, I would like to hear your story again, last time you seemed to have trouble with it, so I'd like to see how your progress has helped."
"Well, it's kind of hard to tell, but… I guess I have to tell." Goldilocks said but she wasn't excited as much as before. She grabbed her lucky star and started to tell her story.
"I remember I was playing in the forest with some other children from the village. We were playing with a ball… yes, a ball. But one of the boys kicked it too hard and it went deeper into the forest, the part where we are forbidden to go to." Goldilocks paused for a moment and continued.
"Because I was the closest to it, I requested that I would go and get the ball back. I found the ball near a cabin. Out of curiosity I dropped the ball and looked through the window, discovering no one was home. I went inside and saw hot porridge on the table. I sat on the smallest chair and ate the porridge but it was too hot, which caused me spit it out and the chair to break. I explored the house some more and found three beds and laid down in the smallest one. I woke up in the late-midday because I heard noises from downstairs. Suddenly a baby bear stood in front of me which chased me. I startled and ran downstairs and encountered two huge bears. The bears asked why I broke into their house and I told it was out of curiosity. I promised the bears never to do it again and they let me go." Goldilocks finished and took a deep breath.
"Hmm… interesting. Is that really what happened?" Professor Cricket asked.
"Yes."
"But why are you here then? And how did you get those scars on your face?" Professor Cricket took off his glasses. "I was hoping for some progress but it seems you still keep your fears locked inside of yourself."
"W-what do you mean? This is the truth, and why are people saying I have scars? There's nothing there. And my mother sent me here so I could learn my lesson, and I learned it, so why can't I leave?" Goldilocks said as the anger in her voice started to rise.
"Miss Goldilocks, have you ever felt your own face since you've been here? Have you looked in the mirror?" Professor Cricket said. Goldilocks stroke her cheek and felt a scar at her chin. She then looked around in the room for a mirror and was shocked when she saw one. She saw a big scratch across her eye.
"Do you now understand? Your mother brought you here because you are traumatized."
"No….no, that can't be true, no." shadows appeared behind her, two big shadows. Dr. Know-All was holding a figure of Goldilocks and put it down on a table next to figures of the three bears.
"President. It would be better to take Miss Goldilocks back to her chamber." Mother Hulda recommended.
"No, wait just a minute. I want to see what is going to happen." Humpty Dumpty answered. Goldilocks stood up and her scars began to bleed. The Three Bears became visible behind her and there was distortion in the room.
"Oh my, I've never seen Goldi this angry." Hulda said.
The bears stepped forwards towards Professor Cricket who just sat on his chair waiting for something to happen. Goldilocks then slid with her hand across the lucky charm that she got from Pinocchio. Her eyes widened and the bleeding of her scars stopped. The distortion faded away as did the bears, after that Goldilocks fell unconscious on the floor.
"That was very interesting." Humpty said. "Let's go doctor." he said and left the scene.
"Hulda, would you mind taking Miss Goldilocks back to her chamber?" Dr. Know-All said and Hulda only nodded. She walked towards the body of Goldilocks and cast a spell on her.
"She is far away from being fully recovered, isn't she?" Hulda asked.
"Unfortunately, yes. I still don't know what Humpty is up to exactly, but we have to keep our eyes open." Professor Cricket said. Hulda picked up Goldilocks.
"See you soon professor." Hulda said and left. Professor Cricket turned back to his computer and filled in some reports. From the corner of the room Puss in Boots it seemed that Puss was watching the whole time. He stood up and left the room quickly.
So that is it. More characters will be introduced along the way, and maybe you know them and maybe not but know that everyone has their own special ability too.
