I stared up in disbelief at the castle. I'd never been to Disneyland. My mom had claustrophobia and my dad had a fear of flying, so we went to the World since we lived so close.
I was sure I was dreaming, or delusional from the fear, or hallucinating— this was just a malfunction…
Yet my life had never felt so beautiful and real.
Sleeping Beauty Castle, where Uncle Walt himself had stood and said, "To all who come to this happy place, welcome."
Kyra gasped, her eyes like saucers. I wondered if she had ever gone to Disneyland.
Then she said in a singsong voice, "I want to go back to Disney World."
In a second, she was gone.
I thought I might've passed out. I should've passed out.
I could describe the whole thing in two words: sensory overload.
Or just one: magical.
Both applied.
I thought of being back in the World for a split second, and then I opened my eyes to the storage room, the air conditioning hitting me like a gust of wind, which I practically never felt, living in Florida.
But we weren't alone.
A blond girl had her back bent over a shelf of whatsits, mumbling about something, and she turned her head as we came back.
I couldn't breathe.
It was a Rapunzel.
She saw us and she would report us to Security and we'd be banned.
At least, that's what I thought.
Her big green eyes studied us curiously.
"Where did you come from?"
I thought I might've passed out. I should've passed out.
"We…"
But Kyra had no idea what to say.
What could you say?
Then the eyes lit up with a sudden realization, and I was really confused.
"You're the girls!"
What girls? I thought.
"Come on,"
She walked over to us and held out her hand. Kyra tentatively took it, and then she held mine.
I wanted to know what she was doing and where she was taking me.
"I'm Rapunzel, by the way," she said excitedly as she pulled us through the deserted park closer and closer to the castle. She chatted about how happy everyone was going to be, how satisfied she was to have found us first.
Was it some kind of insane trick?
Spoiler alert: it wasn't.
She took us into the castle, and my everywhere felt electrified. I was in Cinderella Castle. And for whatever reason I was, it wasn't for her Royal Table.
She let go of Kyra, but my hand stayed locked with Kyra's.
"Yeah," she said, smiling at us. "This is it,"
I was absolutely starstruck.
Flabbergasted.
Thought I was dreaming.
I was light and dizzy as the Rapunzel led us up...up to the Suite.
Kyra and I stared at each other and I think we both squeaked.
The Cinderella Castle Suite?
Yeah.
What was even better was that a Cinderella herself was there.
My mouth opened and closed like a fish. Everything was not computing. At all.
"Oh, Rapunzel," she got up in the most regal way possible and looked at us. "You found two more,"
Two more what? I thought.
Then she hugged us.
After, she told us to sit down on the bed and said she and Rapunzel would explain.
I knew it was a dream. It had to be.
A really weird and crazy and confusing dream.
But it really wasn't, no matter how many times I told myself it was.
The Cinderella took a deep breath.
"First, I think you both should know that I'm real. We all are,"
The real Cinderella?
The real Cinderella.
The real Cinderella?
The real Cinderella!
"And we fear there is a great darkness coming to our happy place. For quite some time now, the Villains have been getting stronger. Faith in our magic has been dwindling, and we think they are trying to break out of the prison we keep them in. And if they do, who knows what they'll do?" Her blue eyes welled up with tears. I was way too shocked to console her. It was too much to take in.
"So, we called for special people. People who believe in the magic and can help us. We discovered the spell to summon you just recently, and cast it as soon as we could. So, you've got a lot riding on your shoulders. We're not strong enough to do this alone,"
Rapunzel put a hand on one of each of our shoulders.
"We don't want to overwhelm you, though. Tonight, we just want you to—"
Just then, a girl came out of the bathroom wearing the necklace, smoothing out her checked skirt.
"Oh, Marcia, we were just explaining everything to these two girls," Rapunzel walked over to the prim-looking girl.
"Girls— what are your names, by the way? Anyway, meet Marcia. She's gonna be one of your partners,"
I shook my head. None of this could be happening. No. No.
When I stopped shaking my head Marcia and Rapunzel were still standing next to each other.
It had to be a trick. Just a mean joke a cast member was playing. I'd have seen it on the news the next day— "Girls Get Banned From Disney World, Pranked by Princess Character Actresses."
Then into the room came two more girls, both around my age like Marcia and Kyra, and wearing necklaces identical to mine.
One had bright pink hair and was wearing all black, and the other was wearing a green jersey-striped T-shirt. Like Marcia, neither of them were wearing Disney clothes.
"Get off me, I'll scream again," The girl with the pink hair was yelling and cursing. Oh, I forgot to say— Mulan and Merida were holding them.
I guess they weren't as compliant as Kyra and I were.
"Now," Rapunzel said, a stern look on her pretty face and two fingers pointed at us. I didn't notice they got us to stand in a circle.
"What are your names? Let's get that stuff out of the way first,"
We exchanged names: Kyra, Lucy, Alex, Marcia, and Stephanie— Steph, she said.
"Like I was saying," Rapunzel continued. "Tonight you're probably disoriented and taking it all in, so we just want you to go on two rides. Splash Mountain and Small World. There's been some weird stuff happening to the rides, and we want you to go check it out,"
"We're all so busy it's hard to actually go to see what's going on— we have to sleep too, you know. And we want you to experience it for yourselves. So, there's your mission," Mulan said, crossing her arms and frowning at Steph, who was glaring right back at her.
The thought of going on Small World was kind of unsettling, so I inched closer to Kyra and stared at her Splash Mountain shirt so she would get the message.
"Lucy and I will go to Splash Mountain," she said with confidence. I had no idea how she had it. I couldn't even put a coherent thought together, much less a sentence.
"Fine, then I guess we're going to the dumb scary kids ride?" Steph snapped. I was glad I didn't have to be with her then.
"I hope you're happy when the dolls kill us,"
Rapunzel squinted. "Why would we be happy? Come on,"
Then Merida came in.
"And another thing, they wouldn't kill ya! They're sweet once they stop singin'!"
Cinderella gave Merida a look™.
I couldn't really comprehend what I was getting into.
So far, so good with updating! I saw the new Cinderella Castle, and I can't say I like it, but to each their own. I hope this chapter was enjoyable.