Rescue from the Forest

William smiled at me, his beautiful green eyes glowing in the darkness. He made his way towards me through the fog and stretched out his hands. I smiled knowingly, I was finally home. I reached out my hands to meet him and walked forward. But the closer I got to him the thicker the fog grew. It came in streams from all directions making it harder and harder to see. Eventually the only thing I could see was his glowing eyes. Then I blinked and they were gone.

I ran forward in the darkness only to trip over my long braid of hair. Suddenly the fog cleared and I was falling out of the tower. Down, down, down getting closer and closer to the thorns around the base of the tower; the air was thick with anticipation as the ground came closer. I stretched out my arms to brace my fall.

I woke up with a start. Hand clutching my chest, panting. It was the worst dream I'd had in a long time. I thought back through the dream and remembered the beginning, I had dreamed of William. Just thinking of him made my heart-ach. Why did I miss him so much? I wrote it off as missing the only person in this strange fairytale world that I knew. What about Rebecca? Well I missed her too of course. If I had dreamed about her I would have felt the same… wouldn't I?

I stopped thinking about it and dragged myself out of bed; still absently rubbing the sore spot in my chest. My hair was worse for the ware, sticking up in random places and knotted beyond belief. I walked into the bath room and washed my face in the washing bowl. When I got back into the room the breakfast/lunch basket was on the table filled with fruits, veggies, bread and even a little oatmeal.

I spent the first part of the morning slowly eating breakfast. I had to figure out how to boil the water over the fire to make the oatmeal. After that I sat around and read through a couple of books. I could now sew a quilt and get oil stains out of silk! It was a slow morning to say the least and it dragged on forever. Right after lunch I was so bored that I lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

My life was a mess. I'd been sucked trough a portal into a fairytale land. Now I was living as what seemed to be all the damsels in distress tales from classic bedtime stories. Who was next or would I finally break the vicious cycle? As I sat there pondering the hours ticked by slowly. Eventually I ran out of questions and fell asleep. Only to wake with another near heart attack….

"RAPUNZEL!" Mother Gothel screamed, "Are you up there girl?"

I tore out of bed and ran to the window. "I'm so sorry Mother Gothel," I screamed back, "I fell asleep and didn't hear you calling."

"Now now my dear, that's alright now please lower down your hair." I winced and looked behind me at the tangled mess.

"Mother Gothel? It seems that I had a little incident with my hair," I said meekly.

"What's that my dear? What's wrong with your beautiful hair?"

"Well you see…" I said as I stalled in order to think of a good story, "You left your golden scissors here last evening… and I thought I could wash my own hair while you were out… I didn't know they were special scissors…"

"Ha-ha," Mother Gothel laughed, "Foolish girl, it's my greatest joy to care for your hair. Let your hair down, I'll asses the damages later." I slowly wound my hair around the hook and lowered it to the ground. I looked like an extremely old fraying rope. Mother Gothel sucked in a slow breath then let out a few chuckles. She grabbed onto the bottom of the hair and began to climb. I couldn't watch and it hurt more than normal.

"Dinner will have to wait," Mother Gothel said as she came into the room and set down her basket, "I'll fix this mess first." She led me into the bathroom and started filling the tub. "Where did you put the scissors?"

I went into the bed room and searched the floor until I found them underneath the dresser. I walked back into the bathroom and handed them to Mother Gothel. She put them into her pocket and had me get into the bath. It took her an hour just to unbraid my hair and wash it in the tub. It took another hour and a half for her to comb out the tangles and re-braid it. By the time she finished I was starving. It took her forty five minutes to make dinner. But it was the best thing I'd had in a long time, chicken and dumplings!

After dinner Mother Gothel told me not to mess with my hair and left. I sat on my bed completely stuffed and looked back at the ceiling and thought. It wasn't that life as Rapunzel was terrible it was just that I wanted to go home to my own life. I was tired of living another girl's life. One already completely determined; a life where I had no free will. I sighed and climb under the covers. I would sleep off the stress of it all and think of a way to escape tomorrow.


I woke the next morning when the light came through the windows and blinded me even though I had my eyes closed. I rolled out of bed and got started on the new morning routine. I washed my face, brushed my teeth, ate breakfast from the basket and picked out the outfit for the day. Today I decided to be a 'girly girl'. I chose a pale pink dress with a white underskirt. I even went as far as to wear a hoop skirt. I thought it would be a boring day so I decided to spice it up with a little makeover. I put on some perfume and used what little makeup was around. There was a charcoal gray eye-liner of sorts and a soft pink blush. I looked like a living doll when I was finished. After getting all 'dolled' up and I had nothing else to do so I settled down in a window sill and started to read.

"Now what's this?" A voice called from the base of the tower. At the edge of the forest was a man riding a horse. He was too far away to make out clearly. But he had dark hair and a dark blue tunic and brown pants. His horse was pure white. I jumped up and leaned out the window. Another chance to escape had finally arrived.

"I'm up here!" I yelled down to the man. He jumped in his saddle a little startled and looked up at me. He smiled and got off his horse. After tying it to a tree he walked a little closer to the tower.

"And what are you doing all the way up there fair maiden?" he asked, craning his neck to look at me.

"I was kidnapped and locked in this tower," I replied thinking quickly, "A kind old woman has been coming to take care of me but she is unable to get me down. Can you help me sir?" I'd lied about Mother Gothel because she'd been so nice to me; I didn't want him to think she was evil and try to harm her.

"A damsel in distress!" He exclaimed clutching his heart, "Surly I will do what I can."

"Do you have a sword?" I asked. A mischievous smile dawned upon his face.

"Aye, I do fair maiden. And what would you have me do with it?"

"Here!" I said, lowering my hair down the tower. He looked surprised as I wound the hair around the hook and lowered it to the floor. "Use my hair and climb up here."

"Don't you have stairs?" He asked, as he approached the length of hair.

"It's a bewitched tower. The only way up is to climb"

"Aye, then up I'll climb." He hoisted himself up and started to climb. It took him much longer to climb the tower and he was much heavier then Mother Gothel. By the time he reached the window my scalp was on fire. He almost lost his balance and fell out the window but he launched himself forward and fell on top of me instead.

"Ugh," I sighed as he landed on top of me.

"You look even more beautiful from this angle," He said seductively, smiling that mischievous smile of his. He was so close his face was the only thing I could see. He had dark brown eyes, almost black, and dark brown hair to match. He had a perfectly straight nose and sparkling white teeth. His face reeked of masculinity. He had a sharp chin and dark bushy eyebrows.

"Could you get off me?" I whined. He slowly pulled himself off of me and stood above me. He didn't offer a hand until I started to struggle around the hoop skirt. After I was up off the floor I walked to the window and started to pull my hair back up.

"That's quite a lot of lovely locks my dear."

"Part of the predicament," I sighed as I walked away from the window and went to sit at the end of the bed. He turned to face me and raised on eyebrow quizzically. "I was kidnapped and had my hair elongated by a pair of magical scissors. I would escape myself but there's no way down. And I have nothing but my hair to use as rope. But there's nothing to cut it with. That's where you come in."

"Really? And how is that my dear?" He said, walking around one of the pink arm chairs.

"I need your sword" I said as I spread my hands. He smiled at me and slowly walked forward. He put his hands on his belt buckle and started to undo the buckle.

"I'll gladly give you my sward," He said as he loosed the buckle and started to pull it through his belt loops. He walked closer to me and I jumped off the bed.

"What are you doing?" I stammered as I moved to the other side of the bed, creating distance. I guess the stories about the Prince were true. He was only trying to sleep with me.

"I'm giving you my sword," he said as he chased me around the bed.

"Wait STOP. I meant a real sword, to cut my hair." He just smiled and kept coming towards me. "I said STOP. I'm NOT going to sleep with you." I screamed at him at the top of my longs. That made him freeze. He looked confused.

"No one has ever refused me before," He said as he sat on one of the arms of the pink chairs.

"Well I am. I'm sorry but I have more standards than that. I just met you; I'm not going to sleep with someone without even knowing them."

"Most women throw themselves at me. You do know I'm a Prince correct?" He really looked puzzled. Like a small child scolded for the first time.

"Yes I know you're a Prince. But Prince or not I'm not going to sleep with you. Look, are you still willing to help me or not."

"Aye," He said looking sad a dejected, "What is it that you need?"

"Your sword, your REAL sword."

"I don't have it," He said looking me straight in the eye. He looked confused and genuinely sorry. "I came into the woods with a hunting party. I got separated but they have my hunting knives and sword. All I have is my bow." I sighed and sat back down on the bed. It was getting late in the afternoon. Mother Gothel would be there soon.

"Can you find this tower again? Can you bring your sword tomorrow?"

"Aye," He said, eyes glowing, "I'll bring it tomorrow." He stood up with a new purpose and walked back to the windows, fixing his belt as he went.

"Thank you," I said, "But you need to leave now. The woman who cares for me will be here soon."

"Tomorrow," he said.

"Tomorrow," I replied. I walked back to the window and wound my hair around the hook. He had a hard time climbing down but he finally made it to the bottom. I watched him ride away on his white horse and had a sinking feeling in my chest. Would he be back tomorrow? Would he remember how to find the tower? Would I ever get out of this crazy fairy tale existence? I sat back on the bed and waited for Mother Gothel.