It Only Took a Minute to Fall in Love With You
"And then she came slashing through the vines, crashing and rolling, I could see from the way she rolled, every limb of her body, every arm, every leg flashing out to the sides, the way her voice sounding, the pitch of her scream, it was ear piercing, it was shriek, a sound of great, excruciating pain." Gasps from her audience surrounded her and almost had her stern, serious face breaking to a smile as she made her way slowly around the circle, the story streaking in and out of her mind, her soul, every part of her body ached with it, this all powerful need for story telling, for entertaining, even if the audience did consist of 4, six year olds. "She fell to the ground, but didn't move, didn't get up, I could see her, she was closer now, much closer, her arms were the hairy arms of a beast, I noticed as I edged closer yet keeping my distance, was it even human? Was it alive?" Elise Parker saw the eyes of a litter girl to her right widen in fear and she smiled. She didn't want to scare them, really she didn't, it was just sometimes she forgot about them, forgot how young they were, how scared the could become at such the simplest thing, best to add a happy ending, she decided with a small sigh, "it was human," Elise came out, she could feel the excitement slipping from her, the joy that she got each time she was in front of a group, each time she formed a story, but she also saw the kids relax, their eyes turning back to normal size, their sighs of relief flooding through the hot summer air, "and," Elise sighed, she was not the girl who told happy ever after stories, her kind of stories were not the kind where the prince saved the princess but as she looked around at her audience she realized that, that was all they wanted to hear. Her voiced bored with the words now as they came out of her in a rush, "she was not a hairy beast but a beautiful princess, the price came and saved her blaw, blaw, blaw, they live happily ever after, I'm sorry for taking up your time, now go play."
Elise collapsed into the grass disappointed, she truly wished she could find other audiences, bigger audiences and older once, ones where every story didn't have to have a prince and a princess and ones were every story didn't have to end with happy ever after. Three of the children stood up, backing slowly away before breaking into a run for the swings, but one little girl's stayed where she was, seated on the ground, her big eyes hooked on Elise.
"You know," the girl said after what seemed like forever, "I don't believe that is how you planned to end the story."
Elise looked back at the girl and nearly laughed, had it been that obvious she had meant for the story to have a complete different ending, it didn't matter she assured herself with a shake of her head, who would care how the story ended and she was sure that most of the children hadn't even noticed the rushed ending but she stared at the girl, one raised eyebrow and when she spoke her voice was quietly controlled, "go play with the other kids little girl," was all she said.
Without another word the girl jumped to her feet an scurried after her friends.
Alone, Elise ran a hand over the perfectly chopped grass, she considered herself to be a farley pretty girl, she was tall and skinny with long golden hair and eyes the color of blue ice, her face was fine boned and smooth, yet almost had a rough look to it.
"And then she came slashing through the vines, crashing and rolling, I could see from the way she rolled, every limb of her body, every arm, every leg flashing out to the sides, the way her voice sounding, the pitch of her scream, it was ear piercing, it was shriek, a sound of great, excruciating pain." Gasps from her audience surrounded her and almost had her stern, serious face breaking to a smile as she made her way slowly around the circle, the story streaking in and out of her mind, her soul, every part of her body ached with it, this all powerful need for story telling, for entertaining, even if the audience did consist of 4, six year olds. "She fell to the ground, but didn't move, didn't get up, I could see her, she was closer now, much closer, her arms were the hairy arms of a beast, I noticed as I edged closer yet keeping my distance, was it even human? Was it alive?" Elise Parker saw the eyes of a litter girl to her right widen in fear and she smiled. She didn't want to scare them, really she didn't, it was just sometimes she forgot about them, forgot how young they were, how scared the could become at such the simplest thing, best to add a happy ending, she decided with a small sigh, "it was human," Elise came out, she could feel the excitement slipping from her, the joy that she got each time she was in front of a group, each time she formed a story, but she also saw the kids relax, their eyes turning back to normal size, their sighs of relief flooding through the hot summer air, "and," Elise sighed, she was not the girl who told happy ever after stories, her kind of stories were not the kind where the prince saved the princess but as she looked around at her audience she realized that, that was all they wanted to hear. Her voiced bored with the words now as they came out of her in a rush, "she was not a hairy beast but a beautiful princess, the price came and saved her blaw, blaw, blaw, they live happily ever after, I'm sorry for taking up your time, now go play."
Elise collapsed into the grass disappointed, she truly wished she could find other audiences, bigger audiences and older once, ones where every story didn't have to have a prince and a princess and ones were every story didn't have to end with happy ever after. Three of the children stood up, backing slowly away before breaking into a run for the swings, but one little girl's stayed where she was, seated on the ground, her big eyes hooked on Elise.
"You know," the girl said after what seemed like forever, "I don't believe that is how you planned to end the story."
Elise looked back at the girl and nearly laughed, had it been that obvious she had meant for the story to have a complete different ending, it didn't matter she assured herself with a shake of her head, who would care how the story ended and she was sure that most of the children hadn't even noticed the rushed ending but she stared at the girl, one raised eyebrow and when she spoke her voice was quietly controlled, "go play with the other kids little girl," was all she said.
Without another word the girl jumped to her feet an scurried after her friends.
Alone, Elise ran a hand over the perfectly chopped grass, she considered herself to be a farley pretty girl, she was tall and skinny with long golden hair and eyes the color of blue ice, her face was fine boned and smooth, yet almost had a rough look to it.