Light from up above guided her as she sprinted forward. The pathway, long and narrow, lead to endless possibilities of wonder and danger. Her breath lingered in the air as she continued to run towards an unknown exit. With every turn, the maze became even more confusing, desperation clouding her vision. Then, in a flash of purple light, she was sucked into a vortex, suddenly reappearing in a spacious room with towering windows. She looked down, realizing that her hands were bound in chains. Guards began filing into the room, one by one, until they flanked the back wall. Then, massive doors burst open behind her, causing the girl to whip around with a frantic look in her eye.
The woman who entered seemed to take all the air out of the room, rapidly approaching towards her with a murderous glint in her eyes. The girl's breath caught in her throat as the woman approached her slowly.
"Now, what is a girl like you doing wandering around my garden?"
Her voice held a power that sent shivers down her spine. She stood frozen in place, staring in a stupor up at the Evil Queen.
"Do you know what I do with pesky little intruders in my kingdom?"
The woman leaned forward, closing in on the space between them and clutching her chin between her fingers.
"I throw them in the dungeon," she growled, her nails digging into her soft skin.
"Guards!"
She jolted awake, sitting upwards and glancing around her room in a panic. Darkness surrounded her, but she knew she was still in her bedroom. As her heart continued to race in her chest, she tried to make sense of the nightmare she had just experienced. The feeling of loneliness and fear quickly began setting in, causing her to strip off her bedsheets and race out of her room, silently striding down the hallway until she arrived at her parent's bedroom. Even in the blackness, Caroline expertly navigated her way towards their bed and climbed up, situating herself between them and getting under the covers.
Her parents stirred slightly as she made herself comfortable, the both of them no strangers to the middle of the night ritual that Caroline was accustomed to doing in her younger years. The girl instantly felt the nervousness leave her mind, replaced by a tranquility that was long awaited. As she looked over towards her mother, though barely visible in the faint moonlight, she studied her softened features, something she had done ever since she could remember. There was a certain beauty her mother beheld, one that was heightened in quiet moments. Her confidence has always been something she admired, but it was her kindness that sealed the love she had for her mother.
She was fully aware that the same person she was gazing at was also the deranged woman from her nightmares that wanted nothing more than to end her existence right then and there. It still felt impossible that both personas existed in the same being; only time could fully tell that story. Those were her last thoughts before drifting off to sleep.
A wave of happiness passed through him as Robin awoke, the first feeling of positivity he had experienced in days. Caroline was tucked up against her mother, both of them fast asleep with no indication of the worries that plagued their livelihoods. In that moment, everything was okay.
Careful not to disturb them, Robin made his way downstairs. Evidence of the previous day lay strewn across the kitchen and living room, everything frozen in place. He knew that they had been preoccupied with other things, but the messiness was uncharacteristic. After searching the pantry for something to eat, Robin found himself staring up at the family picture that hung above the fireplace mantle. He remembered when they took that picture- Henry had just returned from a baseball game, and refused to go home and change out of his uniform. Caroline had a beaming smile on her face, the purple studded earrings reflecting small rays of sunlight. Even Roland was so much smaller in that picture, with the same curly hair. They all looked happy.
"We've all changed so much since that was taken," a voice sounded behind him, making Robin turn around with a half eaten pop tart in his hand. "I thought everyone would still be asleep- it is Saturday, you know."
"How was Emma and Killian's place?" He asked, watching his son withhold a yawn.
"Emma's still trying to do renovations, so the place is covered in dust," Henry told him, setting his bags down on the couch. "How are things here?"
Gesturing to the clutter around them, Robin gave him a dubious look. "We're all doing the best we can."
Henry began picking up stray items from the living room floor. "I know. One day this will be another one of our past stories to talk about at parties and we'll forget about how awful we feel now. That's what happened last time, anyways."
Robin followed his son's lead, and soon the clutter began to disappear, one minute at a time. "Maybe we shouldn't forget this time. It's because of all those past stories that we are who we are, right?"
"Right," he replied cautiously, "so when Caroline or Roland asks you why you stole from the rich and gave to the poor, or about how Mom ordered an entire army of soldiers to kill Snow White... you're gonna tell them the truth?"
Shrugging his shoulders, Robin began gathering the remaining food in the fridge to start on breakfast. "Is that such a bad thing? You know the truth, and you seemed to turn out fine."
Henry could only shake his head and suppress a smile in return, knowing he had a point.
Caroline snapped off a piece of bacon and gave it to Jupiter, who eagerly rose from her spot on the carpet to accept it. "Do you want to walk to the park later today? It's gonna be nice and warm out."
"Anything to hang out with you," Henry replied with a smile. He returned to stirring his cereal with his spoon, sorting out his next thoughts carefully.
"There's something I wanted to talk with you guys about," he began, quickly gaining the attention of his dad and sister. "I called Grace yesterday about what's happening at the university, and apparently things are getting busier with her nursing program. There's also this jerk trying to replace me as the chairman for the political science committee, probably because I've been gone for so long-"
"It's okay if you go back to Toronto," Robin calmly cut him off, "you have your own life to live. And I know you miss Grace."
Henry cast his eyes back down to his cereal. "I really do... but I can't leave Storybrooke with everything going on right now."
"We can manage just fine- your college career is the most important thing. You can't spend the prime of your life worrying about your family."
"I can when Mom is on the verge of a total breakdown," he replied, casting his eyes back down to the table. He could hear his dad audibly sigh.
"Things will even out again, I promise. We've overcome far worse things together."
"It still feels weird to leave at a time like this. What if the Wicked Witch shows up again? Or someone else who wants to take us all out?"
"Then we'll summon you back so we can do this all over again. That's how our family works."
Caroline felt a pang of disappointment at the thought of her brother leaving again. She knew he had a life to get back to, but leaving at such a time felt wrong.
"But right now, we have a park to get to," Henry said, interrupting her thoughts with a smile. The two of them left the house and started down the sidewalk, the morning sun already heating up the air around them. Noticing the mailbox on their path, Caroline stopped and opened it, taking out a single white postcard. When she flipped it around and read what was written, her eyes narrowed in disbelief.
Noticing her perplexed expression, Henry walked over towards her to see what the big deal was.
"What is that?" He asked, catching the words 'Greetings from the Sunshine State' written over a sunset on a sandy beach.
"Sometimes Lucy and I send each other postcards for fun," she quickly replied, sticking the postcard in her back pocket. Although the girl tried to get back her eagerness about being with her brother, Henry could tell something had been stirred up within her. The spark she had was familiar to him, something that he recalled from his early adventuring days.
As soon as the two of them returned back to the house, Caroline found herself rushing upstairs with the postcard in hand. She felt guilty for not being completely present during the one on one time with her oldest brother, something that hardly seemed to happen since their return. Getting down on her knees, she pulled a box from underneath her bed, opening it to reveal the diary worn by years of abandonment in her mother's childhood estate. Beneath the diary was the photograph of her grandfather.
"What are you doing?" Caroline whispered, reading over the contents of the postcard over again before placing it carefully on top of the diary. She put the cover back on the box and slid it back out of view, the growing number of secrets increasing by the second.
Hope you're doing well, my dear. -Z