The early lights on the morning fell on my face. I sat up with a yawn and rubbed my eyes. Families of butterflies swarmed overhead. My blue eyes smiled with my face. I jumped from my bed and ran to the window my blonde hair bouncing after me. The sun was high in the sky, the tower rose above the snow capped mountains. The green grass lay beneath me. I crinkled my nose at the imaginary smell. It would be light and smell of the dark soil of the earth. I sat on the stool and rested my head cheek against the open window. I heard a crunch and jumped up. The cloaked figure made its way across the cut lawn towards the tower.
"Mother!" I cheered. I threw my hair through the window and watched it tumble to the ground, but the figure didn't grasp it. The wall behind it burst, bricks flying across the lawn. What emerged seemed like an entire army all dressed in black. I jumped back and tried to pull my hair back up, but they attacked it like an ambush of lice crawling over my hair. They yanked at it, pulling me towards the window. I tried to grip onto the wall, but my strength was no match for theirs. I tumbled out of the window gasping at how fast my pace was. A man caught me and slung me over his shoulder.
"Let me go!" I shrieked, kicking and clawing at the air. I was tossed against the ground, the impact knocking my breath away. I had imagined the grass to be soft; but this wasn't how I imagined finally breaking free.
My legs and arms were bound and a handkerchief was tossed into my mouth.
"Don't do anything rash to her hair," a man barked. Another slung me over his shoulder and the men marched from the lawn through the broken bricks. Outside waited a carriage.
"We don't have all day!" he snapped closing his watch between his fingers.
"Take it easy," another one sneered. He opened up the carriage door and I was flung inside. They piled up my hair next to me.
"Missions like this take time." he shrugged and slammed the door. I squirmed desperately to get loose, but it was no use. I wasn't escaping. The whip hit the horse and there was a loud cry of hooves hitting against the cobblestone.
I closed my eyes and allowed myself to cry. They had found me.
The carriage rolled into a dark place. The sun had disappeared and the carriage went pitch black. The door creaked open and a grey swirled sky rose above me. A man pulled me out of the door and I slid on my ankles to a big grey building. The doors swung open and a strange scent caught in my nose. I tried to cough, but I gagged on the handkerchief shoved down my throat. I was thrown against a chair and spun around to face a table of men. The handkerchief was torn out of my mouth and I choked on the dusty air.
"So this is the famous Rapunzel?" said the man at the head of the table. His face was wrinkled and he had deep sunken eyes. "I can't believe its taken us so long to find you. How could we have missed such hair?" He rose from his chair and started to circle around the table. I needed water, but I was too afraid to ask.
My hair was pulled and my head yanked back.
"Why did it take us so long to find you?" he spat.
"I've been locked away," I cried out. He let go of my hair.
"Continue," he said starting to circle around the table once more.
"When my mother was pregnant with me, all she wanted to eat was the Rapunzel plant. But the only kind available was in our neighbor's garden. My father went to the garden to steal some, but he was caught. Our neighbor promised not to press charges and give him the plant as long as he promised to give up the child."
"And why did she want you?" the man snickered.
"Because my hair grew at an incredibly fast rate," I muttered.
"Speak up," he ordered. "There's no need to mutter." I repeated myself louder.
"And why does your hair grow at such an incredible rate?" he asked plopping down in his chair.
"I-I don't know," I stuttered.
"So if we cut your hair right now, you wouldn't care?" he asked leaning forward, his eyes boring into mine. I turned my head.
"No," I whispered tears coming to my eyes. "C-c-cut it." the men around me started to laugh. I opened my eyes and saw the men shaking in laughter.
"Lock her up in the dungeon," he said making his way towards me. He grabbed my face in his hand. "You will talk, whether you like it or not."