Narrator
It was chaotic.
Many nurses and doctors were running hastily around the halls. Some were too frightened to make a sound, while others were loudly explaining directions. The screaming of sirens stung patients' ears, but it wouldn't matter… Many looked tired and haggard, yet almost all of them had a special gleam in their eyes; they were determined to complete everything successfully… But they did not. They made a life-changing mistake that night… all because they weren't paying attention, to the two precious children in the nursery.
Alone in separate hospital rooms, were the mothers of those children, whom lay passed out. And so for both women, their partner could not make it for the event… but each had a different reason. A reason that would affect the two blond infants at rest in their cribs…
Arun
"Aaaah," I yawn groggily, as I enter the kitchen. "I wonder what breakfast is, ne? This morning will be…"
"Dinosaur pancakes!" Mother exclaims with excitement as she sets the platter down. I grab myself a serving happily and sit next to Dad at the big, fancy dining room table. He takes a sip of his coffee, rattles the newspaper in his hand, and then bids me a good morning."
"Good morning, son." He smiles delightfully. "Are you excited for your first day of school today?" He brought the cup to his mouth again…
"… Wait, what?" I ask innocently as he spits his beverage across the table. I giggle slightly, and he lets out a strong, kind laugh. "I'm just kidding papa, I remember. How could I forget? This is such an exciting experience – I'm sick of being stuck in this house!" My tone grows more and more exited towards the ending of my reply.
"But – this house isn't big enough for you?" Mom asks worriedly.
"Naw, mom, that's not it… I'm just excited to finally meet new people."
"Oh, I see." Dad smiles humbly. "I thought we'd have to move into an even bigger house, but it's a good thing we don't – this house is plenty big… and expensive."
Just as breakfast ends, and I finish my babbling, mom takes her usual role in cleaning the table. She swiftly and calmly cleans up my horrifying mess… How can she handle somebody like me so calmly? I wonder, just as I notice how grateful dad seems to have her… I… I-I want to be like mom. I quiet down to myself unconsciously, but am interrupted by my mother's words.
"Arun?" she peeks at me. "Are you ready for school? We're going to head out in a few minutes…"
"Uh… Y-yeah." I stammer, but I soon pick up the cheery mood again. "Just let me grab my backpack real quick!" I emphasize the end of that sentence with a slam of my bedroom door.
Merida
"Merida! Where are you?" A feminine voice pierces my eardrums as I release another arrow. "Merida…" It strikes close to the center of the target… "Merida!" Ugh. Annoyed, I lower the bow and turn swiftly on my heels. There stood my mum as mad as ever.
"What is it, mum?" I start to clean up the arrows from the yard – which is indeed, very large… I guess that's to be expected though, since we live in this fancy estate. I mean, our house reminds me of our old home back in Scotland. It's made of fine stone, decorated with vines, and gives off a Victorian feel. I suppose it's traditional…
"You're going to be late for school, Merida… And I might be late for work at the station." My mother spoke in a frustrated voice - one could easily tell – but I let it pass, since I'm a troublemaker anyway…
I have a feeling that she might put me in jail one day, y'know, with her being the chief of the force and all…
"Okay, okay, mum. I'm going!" I say, with a mischievous giggle… Then, suddenly, I pick up my stuff and run. "Last one to the car's a rotten egg!" Hearing this, I could tell that my mother started to run after me.
"Wait, Merida! Don't forget you're backpack!"
Rapunzel
After a long night of rest, I hear a familiar sound floating from… the kitchen? Curious, I finish getting ready as fast as I can; I brush my short blond hair, button my soft violet dress, and slip on a pair of purple flats. There we go.
As I exit my room and peek around the hallway's corner, I get a decent view of the kitchen. All I see is a bit of my mother's back, with her black, curly locks settled on top. I hear a faint sizzle, and a few flips, but that wasn't the familiar sound.
I walk quietly into the room.
"… - let your power shine. Make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine…" Oh, I've heard this before… This is the lullaby mother sings to me, right? In the midst of enjoying the song, I unconsciously start to sing along with her.
"Heal what has been hurt, change the face design. Save what has been lost –"
I stop.
…Why…? Well… That's because mother stopped, but it's also because… The look on her face –
- seemed to be pained.
It was one that, at first, looked like surprise… or utter shock. But the eyes, themselves, is where the pain lurked. In the deep, misty, depths…
"U-uh…" Was it my fault…? "I… I-I'm sorry, mother – I'm so… so sorry." I apologize desperately, and quiet down near the end. There's no response, - it's silent… until…
"Rapunzel." I straightened up and paid full attention. "That song… You shouldn't sing a song so easily like that." She paused. "You should never, sing a song where you don't know the words."
"B-but I do, mother… Didn't you h-hear me-"
"No, Rapunzel." She says sternly and slightly turned. "No… You don't know the words." I stared, confused… "What they mean… that is." She said the last part in an almost inaudible manner, but enough for me to hear. I… don't know if I understand…
Because of the room's silence, she takes it that the subject has ended, and finishes cooking. After that, we eat, and leave for my first day of school. The ride is uncomfortably silent.
When we reach the drop-off, I exit the car, but hesitate to close the door behind me…
Will there be a tomorrow? I ask myself.
What about the next hour…? Will they come?
Unsure of the answers, I decide to break the last of the silence – starting with a goofy grin.
"G'bye mother!" I laugh cheerfully and wave. "I love you – see you later~!" I give one last smile and skip to the front doors. I hope she knows… I hope –
"Goodbye, darling!" I hear her faint voice behind me. "Have a nice day!"
As I enter the front doors, I see strokes of brilliant colors and bright pictures plastered everywhere. W-Where am I…? I stop in my tracks and try to take a clearer look at my surroundings when suddenly –
"Ouch!" A loud voice sounds right behind me just as I feel a thud on my back. Curious as to who exclaimed, I turn around. I see a bundle of ginger curls – much like my mother's – and above her I see a tall, elegant-looking woman with long silky hair.
"O-Oh…" Did we bump? "I'm sorry…" I glance at the girl, who seems just about my age, and then I quickly look down in shame.
"Don't worry 'bout it," a thick accent fills my ears. I peek up. "Right, mum? I was just a wee bit surprised, that's all." She cracked a silly smirk and grabbed my hand, making me look up with an abrupt gasp. "Let's be friends, alright!" I suppose she asked, but it seems more like a demand… Either way, It still made me happy.
"Well then, I'm Elinor, and this is my daughter… " The older woman trailed off, but then nudged her child. "Introduce yourself…"
"I'm Merida!" She says, excitedly. Then she starts to drag me into the building more. "What's your name?"
"U-uh… M-my name? Uh…" I pause. "I-it's… Rapunzel…" I say quietly – and then I notice that Merida's mother is leading us to a certain door. It's very colorful, and it has this strange marking in the middle of it that looks a bit like: "K – A"… What does that mean…?
When we enter the room, Merida and I are led to a short, blue table. At this table sat a nice, friendly-looking woman. She immediately starts to converse with… Elinor. What are they talking about? I ask myself, but then I notice Merida trailing away from the table towards the cubbies. I follow, and then we play to our hearts' content… not caring about what the adults are doing.
After a while of building weird shapes from blocks, Merida's mother returns to say good-bye and takes her leave – but Merida doesn't seem fazed… Why isn't she upset…? Isn't it said when your mom leaves? I wonder, but I keep to myself and watch all the other adults leave, but one – which is the nice-looking lady. She stands in the front of the room.
"Good morning, class." She starts. "My name is Mrs. _, I am your new kindergarten teacher." The kids start to whisper... "From today on, you will attend this school and do many things – learn, play, make new friends… You guys will have fun, trust me…" She smiles genuinely, but then gasps in excitement – "Oh! Yes, yes… Yes! I almost forgot – the first activity we'll be doing…" She pulled out a puerile hat from the chair behind her. It was tall and striped with red and white. "We're going to play 'Cat got your tongue'! It's a fun little activity where we pass around the hat - in a circle – and the person in possession of the hat gets to wear it, and be the cat. While they are the cat, you are not allowed to speak until they are done introducing themselves. 'Kay?" She grins again.
"Okay!" Every child replies simultaneously, give or take a few that may have said otherwise.
Mrs. _ then sits at the edge of the big round rug, facing inwards. "Come and sit in a circle with me, please." We do as she says, and I sit right next to Merida, whom sits beside the teacher. "Okay, which way shall we start?" She asks – and the boy on her other side beats Merida in answering. He takes the hat enthusiastically and plops it on his head.
"My name's Ralph! I like to build with building blocks, but my towers always fall… I'm actually a really nice guy – and I like to play with people… So… So please play with me!" He nervously asks that last part, leaving Mrs. _ to a slight giggle.
"Okay, Ralph. Thank you so much for sharing." She ruffles his hair gently. "Please pass the hat to the next person in the circle." He passes it to a kid named Felix, and just like Ralph, he says a few things about himself.
For a few minutes, the hat makes its way around the circle normally - until it reaches a strange boy… His hair's a shaggy, tasseled blond, but it has unique streaks of light blue. His orange t-shirt was obscured by his overalls, which only went to his thighs mid-way… He turned the hat inside out and pulled the whole thing over his face.
"Mrph mmm msh mah-nn –"
"We can't hear you!" Merida screams impatiently, causing the boy to lift up his hat a bit. He peeks from under - a bit sheepishly - and starts over…
"My name is Arun… I like to dress up and… and play with dolls. I get nervous around other guys – and so… I rather play with girls. Um, " he hesitates, "thank you." He starts to pull the hat over his pink face again, but the kid next to him rips it off his face. He was deeply surprised, but the girl disregarded his reaction.
Well, he may be embarrassed… but at least he's honest. I smile to myself and watch as the rest of the kids introduce themselves, with Merida and I at the end.
"Okay kids," the teacher calls. " It's time for recess! And then after that, we have snack time." She waves to us as we rush outside, but some stay behind to play with toys. Merida dragged me over to the peculiar boy, Arun.
"Hey kid –"
"It's Arun," I whisper.
"Hey Arun," she restarts. "Wanna play with me and Rapunzel? I'm sure we can get along…" She cracks her wide, tomboy grin.
"I agree." He says in reply, and yanks us down by our wrists. "Thanks for playing with me, Rapunzel and…"
"Merida!" She informs him as she runs over her Barbie with a monster truck… He just stares, but then he starts to laugh and continues with his family of dolls, which included Barbie. And with that, he said that I had to play Ken… But I didn't mind…
Because that was the moment when it all started.