You will either be ridiculously happy or ridiculously annoyed to hear that this is perhaps the last you will see of me this month, as I embark on a ridiculous Nanowrimo journey. This is good becuase hopefully I will either finish this story, or be really really close to finished come Dec. This may be bad becuase you will not get anything more for a while and some of the chapters you will get may be absolute Nano-word-count-filler-crap, but hopefully not many of them. Also becuase....
Guilt Trip
"Grimm!" I shout suddenly, leaping up from the bed. "Lexi, the tower is vibrating again!"
"What?" Lexi says confusedly, landing experimentally on a desk.
"Why exactly would I make up something like that?" I shoot back, walking awkwardly around the room. The tower isn't shaking or anything, it's just a strong vibration, like a massage chair… weird. "I'm supposing this isn't normal."
"I have no idea why this is happening!" Lexi says, pulling at her braids, I think she is really starting to get stressed, but I don't get to savor the slight revenge.
Suddenly I find myself on the floor as it goes from a vibration to violent shaking. "Curses!" I shout trying to get back on my feet. I hear a creaking and the stones all start shaking more individually.
Pillows start falling off the bed and the vanity is threatening to do something dangerous. I climb unsteadily to my feet, and move quickly to the window with Lexi buzzing around in a frenzy. The trees aren't even disturbed by the spontaneous collapse of my tower. I take a tight hold of the braid and am just edging myself out of the window when the shaking increases again. I tumble out the window and my arm feels like it is being wrenched out of its socket. Bricks are now starting to work themselves out as I try to hurry down while avoiding falling shingles, I am not so successful.
My entire arm suddenly goes numb, and for one terrifying moment I loose my grip on the rope. I glance down at my now useless arm, painless, but the quickly coloring is not at all reassuring. Curses!
I try to keep moving down, now, one handed. Much harder than it sounds, and it sounds pretty hard doesn't it? I wrap my arm in the braid and try to move with my feet all while avoiding more vindictive shingles and getting to the bottom before the bricks work them selves out. I manage about half way to where I need to be to drop and safely avoid the brambles before the bricks start to fall.
CURSES!
"Dairson, jump!" I hear below me. I take a single instant to groan at how damsel in distress-esque this seems before I let go of the braid and drop. The fleeting doubt runs through my head that I probably should have taken more time to consider this instead of that stupid, unthinking, split second decision. I mean, I just put my safety in the hands of-
Oof.
I land winded, but whole and mostly unbroken in Donovan's arms. Yes I can appreciate the irony, shut up, I don't care to hear it at the moment, or ever for that matter.
I am set down in the grass a few yards from the danger zone, and of course the first thing Donovan says is, "You see, my fear of heights is justified."
I groan and sprawl out on the grass.
"What in the two worlds just happened!" I groan, tightly shutting my eyes.
"I would say the tower just collapsed," Donovan mutters, falling to the grass as well. I peek over at the tower and sure enough it is finishing quietly shaking itself apart.
"How perceptive of you," I try to push myself up but am quickly reminded of my invalid arm. I groan, "I can't really tell, but I think my arm is… whatever works for broken in this bloody place." I peer over at Donovan and suddenly notice how banged up he is looking. I start up, "And what happened to you?"
Donovan grimaces, as if his pain isn't numbed, why wouldn't it be?
"You would have fallen into the brambles," he shrugs it off like it's nothing. I suddenly feel guilty… curse it!
"Can you feel it?" I ask, pushing to my knees and hurrying over to him.
"Yeah, but-"
"You idiot!" I knock him on the head with my good arm, "You should have just let me fall! At least I don't feel pain in here!"
"Hey, you don't get to call me an idiot, you owe me now," Donovan grimaces.
"No I get to call you an idiot and a troll brain and all other manner of insults I can think of for being so stupid!" I shoot back, examining his arm and then leg.
"Don't do that again," Donovan takes a sharp breath when I touch his ankle, "the brambles really dug in down there."
"I'm not sure if I can reiterate enough how stupid that was," I say grudgingly, lifting his pant leg to find a bloody torn up ankle. I frown, I'm sure it looks worse than it really is but it looks pretty gross, and we are remembering that I am sqeamish.
"Shouldn't I get some sort of credit for saving you?" he guilts me.
"You do," I say, poking the other ankle, perhaps harder than I need to, "normally I would be sitting here mocking you, for getting these trying to satisfy some knight in shining armor complex. But since it was me you were pretending to save I am being guilted into pretending to show concern here, so be grateful!" I shoot back.
"You are so difficult to please," Donovan mutters, falling back into the grass with a wince.
"Yeah, yeah, blame all of women kind," I say. "Look, I have no idea what we'll do about the fairy tale, and Lexi seems to have disappeared. But for now at least, I am gonna go see if I can find some water to maybe wash off the blood a little." I feel better with a plan, however lame it maybe.
"Stay out of any more towers, I'm not gonna rescue you again," Donovan mutters moodily.
I roll my eyes but struggle up without the use of my arm, harder than I thought it should be. Good thing I'm left handed at least.
I glance back at Donovan, sprawled in the grass, arm over his face, before I start off into the trees.
I can't get over my guilt as I wander deeper into the woods, and it sucks. I am not supposed to feel any sort of sympathy for Donovan Erubus, source of all evil, but… well, he's not that evil if I am perfectly honest. Somehow, somewhere I started tolerating him and he suddenly turned out to be… amusing.
I stop, shocked by this sudden realization. I wouldn't go so far as to admit that I think of him as a friend, but I far from hate him as much as I did. Which is quite something.
I don't want to have to think about this any more.
So instead I stumble through the forest trying so hard not to think that I don't even notice the stream until I am face down in it, sputtering water and feeling quite stupid.
I haul myself out of the stream, really not much more than a large pebbly trickle, muttering all sorts angry things and blowing at the water still hanging onto my lips. I look down at my soaked front and curse. Just what I needed. Curse my stupid arm, if I had had control of my arm I would have had better balance or at least have been able to catch myself. Shut up, I would never lie to you.
I crawl out of the stream, shaking water out of my short hair and turning the hacked up frizzy mess into a stringy tangled mess and use my one arm to try and wring out my dress. I should really do something about my other arm, but it is easier to just ignore it for the moment. Wow, am I messed up at the moment.
"Alright well," I mutter, "at least I found the cursed water, now to just…" I trail off realizing I have no way of transporting the water to Donovan.
Wow, smart.
Here I am trying to be oh so terribly smart and helpful and all I manage is to waste my time! I bet Donovan noticed too, I bet he was just covering up his grin when he put his arm over his face because he realized how stupid I was being!
"AHG!" I growl at the sky and flop down in a mass of skirts and frustration and wet hair. I run my fingers through my mop of hair and try and think of how exactly I am going to transport water without any sort of container.
'Bucket, bucket, bucket,' I think at the curse, hoping it might catch the hint and just drop a bucket into my lap, it seems to be dropping just about everything else on top of me anyway!
But of course, no luck. But that would just be far too easy now wouldn't it?!
I grown and rest my forehead on my knees. I sit, listening to the stream and trying to think.
Suddenly I have an idea. It probably won't work, but it's better than sitting here.
"Well, here goes nothing," I mumble under my breath, stumbling back over to the stream before I step right into it and lie down. I quickly soak every inch of the cottony blue fabric of my over dress. No where near the most effective or most sanitary way to transport water, but if I am lucky and I hurry, I should get back to Donovan with some water… I hope.
I take a quick sip of the water myself before climbing out with my now water logged clothes, and I start off at a jog back towards where I hope Donovan is.
The curse must still be helping me a little bit because even after what I am sure are two wrong turns I end up back on the other side of the tower clearing even sooner than I had hoped.
I give the mass of tumbled stones a wide berth and hurry over to Donovan. He is seated upright and examining his injuries himself, but as soon as he hears me he looks up and despite how absolutely ridiculous I must look I grin proudly.
"I am going to hate myself later for being too tired at the moment to think of anything clever to say about this," Donovan says with a half grin.
"I'll let you take a nap or something later," I say as I struggle out of the top layer of my dress without squeezing any water out, "for now, just be glad you are getting anything, the curse wouldn't give me a bucket."
"I see where that might've posed a problem," I hear Donovan's muffled response through the dress as I pull it all the way of my head leaving me in a looser but still just as wet white under dress.
"Here," I say, tossing the wet over dress at Donovan. He flails as the dress catches him in the face.
"Thanks, I really needed that," he mutters, gathering the skirt into a more compact ball.
"Well, your face really is looking the worst at the moment," I grin. I frown as Donovan tries but fails at trying to reach his legs without bending too much.
"Oh give me that," I say bending down and snatching the dress away from him.
I hear him hiss as soon as I start wiping away blood, "I know you aren't really a girl, Dairson, but could you try and be a little less rough?"
"I know you aren't really mature but could you stop being such a baby?" I shoot back, but trying to be a little more careful all the same.
Donovan makes a big show as if he is going to say something and then stops, "You know, I don't think I even need to say anything, you're hair is ridiculous, you are soaking wet, and your dress is practically see-through, nothing I say could be better than what you have done to yourself!" he says with a half grin.
"What!" I shriek clutching the blue dress over my front and stumbling up and away, "It's not that bad it is? It was stiflingly thick while it was dry and-"
"And now it's wet," Donovan finishes.
"Aw, cursed- you troll headed creep!" I growl, backing quickly away with the over dress. "I can't believe you-"
Donovan rolls his eyes, "Aww, come on, Dairson, I was just kidding, it's not that bad, honest, I was just… I was just being a guy, now come back here with that water," he orders.
"You just had to go and make that awkward!" I say, not moving an inch. If he thinks that I am going to… after that… what if he was leering at me that whole time!
"Please, Elle," he says rolling his head back, "I'll trade you my jacket if it's that awkward for you now, I'd just really like to get this blood off of me."
"Alright," I mutter, holding my hand out for the jacket before I will do anything.
Donovan makes a face but quickly takes off his own dark green and gold jacket and tosses it to me.
I am struck by the feeling that something is weird. I try to think of what it is as I put the jacket on and pull it tightly around me before I return with the dress. It hits me as I kneel down to resume cleaning off his cuts.
"You called me Elle," I accuse, dabbing at a cut that had sneaked its way inside his boot, still holding onto the jacket with my numb arm.
"My mistake," he says quickly, avoiding eye contact, "Won't happen again Dairson."
"Oh shut up," I say, giving his leg a final dab before I throw the dress at him again, "I could care less what you call me, I was just noticing..."
"Yeah well…" Donovan trails off, wiping off his hands before laying the dress down beside him. I rock back on my heels, wrapping my arms around my midsection, not really sure what to say.
I blame Donovan for making it all so awkward.
Suddenly the world starts to fade to black. "Well, finally!" I exclaim, "took the bloody thing long enough to figure out it had screwed up! Gonna suck doing this over again though," I grin over at Donovan who collapses back on the grass at the thought of more heights. "Next time though, I'm cutting my hair to its normal length," I declare before the curse goes completely black.
I am taken completely off guard when the world starts to reappear and instead of Rapunzel's tower I find myself in the library again.
WHAT IN THE TWO WORLDS!
I must have disobeyed the story in every bloody way imaginable and yet I some how pass? I had to repeat Cinderella because I didn't do all my chores! I had to repeat Little Red Ridinghood for no reason at all! And in Rapunzel I knock down the whole bloody tower and it's fine?!
I mean, I'm not complaining that I don't have to do it over but… well yeah, I kind of am complaining, because this nonsense is driving me crazy! I mean, what am I supposed to do if whether I repeat or not is seemingly random!
I groan and fall back onto my butt, hiding my face in my hands.
This entire curse is a mess, a screwed up thrice cursed mess, and now that I don't hate Donovan with a burning passion, and the glitches and the tower and… nonsense, it is starting to feel like it is my fault!
I sigh heavily, dropping entirely onto the floor as if the air is suddenly a force too strong to fight. I bite my lip and press my eyes with the heels of my hands, trying really hard to find some reason not to just give up entirely.
This is so stupid, I got through the fairy tale! I didn't have to repeat even though I failed it miserably. I should be celebrating, not wallowing in misery!
I don't move.
I don't want to do this anymore! This curse, this mess, cleaning, cooking, plotting, matchmaking, THINKING! I don't want to think anymore. I just want to wake up one more time and be in my bed and for all of this to be a bad dream. I want to go to my classes, complain about homework, joke with Jaz, glare daggers at Donovan when we pass in the hall… well, maybe we could stay on good terms but… the idea is I don't want this anymore. I never wanted it. It was just an accident, a horrible terrible accident. I dealt with it until now, I was taking care of it, I could handle it. That's just who I am, I can always handle anything that gets thrown at me, but I don't want to handle it anymore! I want someone else to start taking care of it, to take care of me! I want someone to burst in and start telling me all the answers, tell me how everything works and make up plans for me, and then take care of them so I can just sit back and not mess anything up any more! I need a knight in shining armor, that's what I need! Someone to sweep in and give me my own fairy tale! How ironic is that? The fairy tale curse that I am fighting every step of the way trying to get out of, is supposed to give me exactly that, my own happily every after, and yet there is still none in sight!
Besides even if there was some sort of white knight to sweep into the fairy tale and make everything oh so perfect again what exactly are my chances that he would fall for me?
About zero.
Of course a guy like that would want a prettier girl, or more clever, or nicer, or girlier. Someone who didn't even have the remotest chance of kicking their butts in a fight, physical or verbal. Someone who wasn't sarcastic or loud or cynical.
Guys suck. A bunch of stupid, immature, hypocritical-
I finally notice the pressure building in my forehead, threatening to come out in tears and it finally forces me to realize how pointless all this self pity is. I am not going to get out of this curse by wishing, if that worked, the world really would be a fairy tale.
I sit up and rub my temples, relieving the pressure in my head. I don't have time for this. I have two complex plans that need doing simultaneously and if I don't do them, no one will. I have to find out about this puppet master character while getting Donovan and Adele to fall in love, AND keep the curse moving along and not just deciding to trap me there forever!
Crying and self pity factor in nowhere.
With a final sigh I struggle up to my feet, ready to do something slightly more productive, hopefully, when I realize the world is fading back out again.
Great, there goes all that time, lost!
... did I confuse you? Felt like moving to the bottom of the page. Anyway, even if by some miracle I do manage to finish this story, you will still be getting it chapter by chapter because I am evil and like reviews. Besides, it wouldn't be the same without the suspense would it? And I know someone out there would get angry at me if I posted 50,000 words worth of story and they felt tempted to read it all in one night and then there would be the lawsuits over their school grades dropping... and my lawyers have just generally advised against it. So be grateful that you are getting a nice long chapter to tide you over (and so soon after the last) and I will see you next month!