"Mal!" Maleficent yelled from the doorway. She couldn't be bothered to actually walk in the room and calmly wake her daughter up. She had just received the letter about a special invitation to Auradon for her daughter and she was thrilled.
"Must you insist on doing that?" Mal grumbled from bed, but she didn't move. She wanted to relish in her own sleep land for a little while longer.
"It's time to get up. There is news." Maleficent was growing impatient. She didn't want to waste another second. "Do you need help or can you get up quickly?"
Mal huffed and slowly opened her eyes. "I got it."
"I'll meet you in the common room. You have two minutes before I come back and force you out of bed." Maleficent walked out of the door. She knew her daughter was extremely headstrong.
Mal reached up and grabbed the handles that hung above her bed. Her body was still slightly weak from sleep, but she still had enough strength to pull herself up. Once she got in a sitting position, she scooted her body to the edge of the bed and maneuvered her body to the chair parked beside it. She released the break and began to wheel to where her mother was waiting for her. "What did you need?"
"Oh, lose the attitude." Maleficent rolled her eyes at her daughter. She wasn't going to let a sour mood ruin her excitement. She walked to the window that faced the city that banished them to the Isle all those years ago. "You have an invitation to go to school in Auradon." She gestured to the far off city.
"No," Mal grimaced. She didn't want to be surrounded by a crowd of people, much less leave the house. "I'm not going." She told her mother defiantly. She had not left the comfort of her home in almost two years, not since the incident.
October 18, 2017 started out like any other day for Mal. She left to meet her friends at the safe house on the other side of the Isle. She walked around similar to her mother. She held no fear in her eyes as she glided down the streets to the hide out she and her friends had. She threw the rock at the sign that was connected to the gate. She walked swiftly up the stairs to the room.
"About time," Jay, Jafar's son, called out. It was no secret he was extremely impatient. He never had to wait for anything in his life; he simply took everything he wanted.
"Oh, shut up," Mal shot back at him. "Are you ready?" Mal glanced around the room for the others. "Where is Evie?" Mal noticed her best friend missing. Jay and Carlos, Cruella de Vil's son, shrugged. Evie was rarely late to anything. The girl strived on being punctual. After all, if she was ever going to nab a prince, she would have to be on time for everything.
"I haven't seen her since yesterday morning." Carlos recalled. "She said she was going home to do something for her mother and that was it."
Mal rolled her eyes. Leave it to Evil Queen to throw off Evie's time management skills. "I'll go get her. I'll be back in a little while." Mal walked down the stairs to the street. Evie lived the farthest away from the hide out, but there was a shortcut through some alleyways that Mal frequently took.
Mal heard the fighting before she actually saw it. The Isle was notorious for fighting among different gangs. Normally, someone could about business unnoticed, so Mal didn't think twice as the noise got louder. She saw the arguing people out of the corner of her right eye but paid no attention after she passed them. She could see Evie's house right in front of her when she felt a piercing pain in her back. She screamed out in agony as she fell to her knees and then landed finally on her stomach. She could only hear white noise as her vision started to spot. This was by far the worst pain she had ever felt.
Mal was immediately shaken from her flash back by her mother's voice. "You are going. Don't you get it? This is our one chance to escape this prison." It was no secret Maleficent was single handedly the most feared villain on the Isle, but that didn't mean she wanted to stay here. "Listen, if you get the wand, we can be free." Maleficent said as though the whole plan was obvious.
"And how do you expect me to do that?" Mal gestured to the chair she was confined in. "I'm not exactly able to run rampant."
"You play the pity card." Maleficent waved her off. "If you don't come back with the wand, you are grounded forever." Mal tried to win a stare off with her mother, but it was pointless. No one ever won against Maleficent. "I win." She singsonged in victory.
"Fine," Mal sighed. She didn't want to go, but she had no choice in the matter. She didn't want the whole world to know that she still existed. After the incident, Mal took coverage in the house. She hadn't seen the outside world in nearly two years. Rumors were constantly circling around what happened that day. No one had seen or heard from the two guys that started the fight. Many people swore they could hear the screams of the men through the walls of the house. Many claimed that Maleficent had killed them for killing her daughter. She had no clue what her friends thought but it was all pointless. There was no way she could protect and instill fear the way she used to. She sighed when she realized in just a few short month it had been two years since she last saw her friends. Maleficent sent them away at the beginning and eventually they stopped coming. "When do I leave?"
"In an hour," Mal's eyes nearly popped out of her head. There was no way she could get all of her things together before then. "Oh don't get yourself going," Maleficent rolled her eyes. Her daughter had been near insufferable with her anxiety since the incident. "You'll have plenty of time." She started to go back to the room Mal had just rolled out of. "I'll gather your clothes. You get whatever else you need." She went straight for the closet. Mal had been living every day in sweat pants and baggy shirts. It was the easiest thing to slip on and off. She looked at the jacket hanging in the very back of the closet. Mal used to wear it every day on her adventures with her friends. She felt bad keeping the fact that she wasn't the only one going to Auradon, but she needed this win. Mal needed this win. She decided to grab the jacket and hide it deep in the bag. She hoped Mal would return to be the ruthless leader she once was, wheel chair and all.
The next hour was a whirlwind of packing for Mal. She was sure there were things in Auradon that she would have access to, but she wanted to get the things she was used to. She had made a device to help her slip on socks and she wasn't about to ask for help.
"The car is here." Maleficent's voice broke through Mal's thoughts. She was overthinking the plan to help her mother escape once more. "Let's wheel you out." Maleficent went to the back of the chair and began to push her to the door.
"Maybe this isn't such a good idea." Mal began to feel apprehensive each inch closer to the door she got. "I can't leave you here." She knew it was a lame excuse. She needed her mother far more than the other way around, but she wasn't going to admit it.
"You're going." Maleficent's word was final. She kept pushing Mal to the doorway. She wasn't going to give Mal a chance to back the chair up with her hands so she pulled the chair around and opened the door with one hand. "It's going to be fine." She told her daughter before she pulled her out of the house.
It felt like time stood still for Mal. She scrunched her nose at the fresh air that still smelled as bad as she remembered. She held her head down and refused to meet the eyes of anyone staring at her. She could hear the whispers of the people crowding the car.
"Mal?" Mal heard her name in a whisper. She knew the voice very well even though she hadn't heard it in almost two years. Mal glanced up to see the familiar eyes of her blue haired best friend, Evie. "You're alive?" Evie asked softly. She thought it was all just a dream.
"Yeah," Mal whispered and moved her eyes across the faces of her old best friends. Shock and betrayal was written all over their faces and Mal had to look down to hide her shame. She didn't want them to see her like this. In fact, she didn't want anyone to see her like this. She thought that this was the way no one would have to find out about the truth.
"Why…" Her friend, Jay, trailed off. She didn't want to answer anything. She just wanted to leave in the car. She didn't even know why everyone was gathered there.
"We need to leave." One of the Auradon guards told the group. He was horrified by the girl in the wheelchair. He was told that he was picking up four kids from the Isle, but not once was it mentioned the disability of one. "Do you need help?" He approached Mal cautiously.
"No," Mal stuck her head up at the request. She carefully wheeled herself to the side of the car and maneuvered her chair make sliding in a bit easier. Once she put the brakes on, she slid into the car. "Mother, can you grab the chair?" Mal poked her head out of the door. She waited until Maleficent grabbed the chair out of the way and shut the door on the surprised faces. She breathed out in relief the second she was alone but her relief was short lived with the door opened again.
"Can you slide over?" It was Carlos who asked. He had been relatively quiet since she exited the house, but that didn't stop the surprise written on his face.
"Why?" Mal wasn't vicious when she asked. She only felt shame coursing through her veins.
"We are going." Evie said as though it was obvious. She didn't know how to feel about seeing her friend. She had blamed herself every day since the incident. She was the one who got caught up in her beauty routine. It was her who Mal was going to get that day. She thought that her friend had died the second she found her on the ground. She was angry that she was left in the dark for so long.
"Oh," Mal whispered. She manually moved her legs and used her arms to move the rest of her body. Once she was out of the way, the others began to pile in the seats facing her. Mal leaned her head back against the seat and closed her eyes. She had no idea what the car ride was going to entail and she wasn't ready for the questions or the betrayal the others had for her.
I have this idea that has been playing in my mind. Let me know what you think.