Title: Rapunzel's tower
Series: Twisted fairy tales
Author's note: This is also featured on Tumblr and my AO3 account.
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The tower that Rapunzel and her mother lived in was in the middle of a dark forest. The tower was safe, and the world outside was dangerous and scary, her mother always said. The tower was made of bricks, ten storeys tall, and had a large room at the very top. A staircase wound from the room to the bottom, even though there wasn't a door, and bookshelves were stacked full on every spare space the interior walls could afford. The room at the top had a single window that faced the forest, where Rapunzel could sit and look out at the dark expanse of trees. As Rapunzel's mother was a witch, she could appear and disappear from the tower whenever she wished. While Rapunzel was learning to become a witch like her mother, she still couldn't appear and disappear. The books in the tower didn't have that spell, but she enjoyed reading them nonetheless. Without that spell, Rapunzel was often left alone in the tower for days or weeks until her mother returned. In that time she cleaned, cooked and prepared food, brushed her hair, and then continued to read every book in the tower.
When Rapunzel was a young child, she pushed her mother's boundaries as far as she dared, just as all children do. While her mother demanded that she never leave the tower, she never said anything about leaving the room itself. As is true with nearly all children, they are fearless and rebellious, and Rapunzel was definitely both. She put her long hair up into a bun or ponytail to keep it out of the way, took a deep breath, and then climbed out of the window to the tower's outer walls. She held on to protruding rocks with her fingertips, her bare toes keeping her upright, and sometimes leapt up to grab onto another brick of the tower. After a few months of practicing every time her mother was gone, Rapunzel could scale the tower like a lizard, scurrying and jumping and climbing wherever she liked. Technically, she never left the tower, and Rapunzel's mother never knew that she'd been outside of the tower room. Rapunzel liked going up to the roof best, looking out at every part of the world that was so much more than the view from her small window.
Whenever Rapunzel's mother returned, she went straight to the bathroom to take off her witch's outfit, shower, dry off and get dressed into normal clothes before she even spoke a word. Once that was done, she hugged Rapunzel tightly, as though she never expected to see her again. Rapunzel always hugged her in return, and then begged for news of the world outside. Her mother rarely answered, and instead offered a bag of food to her for Rapunzel to prepare in the kitchen. Sometimes there wasn't much food, but they always managed, and Rapunzel had read enough to help her stretch the food for as long as possible. It didn't hurt that the books mentioned things to make the food taste better, either. Over dinner, they would talk about the books she'd read, and her mother would ask her opinion of them. Then they would sit together and her mother would brush her hair.
Rapunzel sat in front of her mother, the brush strokes long and calming. She gathered her nerve and asked again about the outside world. She tilted her head back to look at up her mother when she stopped brushing. Her mother seemed to be looking out of the small window, though at the same time, she was looking even further than that. Her lip trembled as she came back to herself, and her mother tugged on Rapunzel's hair lightly to get her to look straight again. As Rapunzel started to doze, the consistent movements of the brush slowly lulling her to sleep, her mother finally answered.
Tomorrow, I will take you outside.
Rapunzel tried to keep calm at her words, but she was smiling so widely that her cheeks ached. She was so excited that Rapunzel was certain that she'd never be able to sleep. Eventually though, she fell asleep, her hair brushed and braided by careful, loving hands.
When Rapunzel woke in the morning, her mother was already awake, had breakfast prepared, and was dressed in her witch's outfit. Rapunzel's chest ached for a moment, thinking that her mother was leaving so soon after returning, but then she remembered that she would be going with her this time. She rushed out of bed, ate her breakfast in record time, and hummed happily as she showered. Her mother had made her an outfit all of her own, even though she wasn't a witch, and Rapunzel was so excited that she almost tore the seams just getting into the outfit. It was a little big on her, but she didn't even care. Her mother made sure her outfit was on properly, and Rapunzel forced herself to stand still so she wouldn't delay them even more.
Her mother seemed amused at her excitement, though there was a sadness in her eyes as well, so plainly sorrowful that Rapunzel paused and almost wanted reconsider leaving the tower. Almost, at least. She watched as her mother moved up to her witch's platform, her eyes widening as her mother beckoned her over. Smiling broadly, Rapunzel stood beside her mother and held her hand tightly, looking at her tower room for a moment. Then her mother spoke her magic words and they disappeared.
The place they appeared in had people all dressed in witch's outfits, just like Rapunzel and her mother. She held on to her mother's hand a little tighter, shocked at the amount of people that were there - and all of them witches! Rapunzel thought that her mother was the only witch in the world, but she supposed it was a little silly to think that. Of course there were other witches beyond the tower and forest.
Her mother led her into a room that sprayed their witch's outfits, then through numerous hallways and rooms, up stairs, down stairs, and then into tiny box that moved on its own. Her mother didn't speak, and with her witch's outfit obscuring her face, Rapunzel wasn't sure that she'd hear her even if she did. When they finally stopped, Rapunzel looked around at the foreign and familiar items. She recognised a desk and chair, but not the odd box sitting on top of it, and as she saw the large window - even bigger than her bed - Rapunzel's eyes widened and she moved over, her mother reluctantly letting go.
The world outside of this window was very different to the world Rapunzel recognised. Her world had trees and water, and this world had nothing. She saw bricks, but not even the bricks of her tower, and the world was a grey red colour that just looking at made her feel sick. Rapunzel turned to her mother, confused, frightened, and still a little nauseous. Her mother had removed part of her witch's outfit so that her face was free, and she smiled with that sad sorrowful look in her eyes. Looking out at the world of bleak nothing, Rapunzel wished she'd stayed in the tower.
Her mother helped Rapunzel out of her witch's outfit, still as gentle with her hands as ever, and then led her to an adjoining room where people sat and talked about things that Rapunzel didn't understand. Radioactivity, immunity, teleportation pads, and Hazmat suits. They seemed to all think she would understand and have an immediate opinion, but Rapunzel just sat there mutely, her mother by her side. Then, on the large blank wall across from them, a picture of herself appeared. It showed her climbing out of the tower window when she was a child, how she'd climbed a few bricks left and right before pulling herself into her tower again. Rapunzel remembers how her arms had ached, her fast her heart had beat in her chest, how she'd relished the feel of the wind whipping at her. One of the people - scientists and technicians, her mother had said, and this one was called Flynn - looked at her and asked if she'd been scared. Rapunzel shook her head.
The tower's safe; the outside world is scary.
The others seemed amused at that, but Flynn and her mother looked at her, as if surprised by her response. The people seemed to no longer be interested in her, and her mother gently tugged Rapunzel out of the room. Flynn followed after them, joining them for lunch (silver packets of dried and powdered food, which explained where her mother got their food from each time she left the tower). He asked about the tower, about the books that Rapunzel had read, and her mother sat by her, smiling without sadness the first time all day. Rapunzel answered Flynn's questions, then as she became bolder, she started to argue with him, and then ask questions of her own. What sort of magic did he know? Did he live in a tower as well, or did he live in the outside world? What did immunity and radioactivity actually mean?
Rapunzel's mother quietly explained that she'd never corrected Rapunzel's view of science as magic, and Flynn just seemed all that more delighted. He explained that he was a scientist and grew food in laboratories. He was trying to make the food taste better, to make enough to feed the whole world, to give everyone a choice beyond bland and disgusting. Rapunzel felt comfortable enough to suggest a few improvements, things she did with or added to the food that her mother had seemed to like. Flynn's eyes widened and he wrote her recipe down, muttering something about consistency and formulas.
Flynn didn't live in a tower. He lived in an apartment, which was similar to the top of Rapunzel's tower, without the other nine storeys and winding bookcases. Immunity was something that protected people and not others, and the other technicians were trying to work out how to give everyone immunity. Radioactivity was harder for Flynn to explain, and her mother took over, explaining in terms that Rapunzel understood, with evil wizards and bad magic, magic that hurt people, ruined lives, and destroyed the world, nature, and the trees used to be green. Rapunzel wasn't sure she'd ever seen anything green before, but she simply nodded in return.
Flynn had to leave after they'd eaten, but Rapunzel asked if he would visit. When her mother nodded her acceptance, Flynn promised to visit as soon as scheduling allowed. Rapunzel felt like she was blushing when Flynn left, and ducked her head when her mother smiled and teased her lightly.
Her mother offered to take her wherever she liked, and as she listened to her mother's suggestions, Rapunzel suddenly felt homesick. She wanted to be surrounded by books, by trees, in her room in the tower that was so much smaller than the rest of the world, and she said as much. Her mother thought for a moment, and while she couldn't promise trees or her room in the tower since they weren't scheduled to return until later that day, she could definitely provide books. Rapunzel had to put her witch's outfit on again (Hazmat suit, she vaguely remembered), but if it meant she could get to more books, then she would wear it for days at a time! Her exclamation made her mother laugh, and Rapunzel smiled at the sound. She held her mother's hand as she led them to this bookstore so she could get more books on magic (science) and learn everything she could about the scary world outside of her tower.
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The end.
Thanks for reading; I hope you liked it!