The Labyrinth: Another Tale



II



"If we shadows have offended/Think but this/and all is mended/That you have but slumbered here/While these visions did appear."--Puck; 5.1.419-422; A Midsummer's Night Dream



~*~

"We're hungry. Go make us dinner," Celadry demanded, looking at her sister disdainfully. "We want lasagna."

"Now!" Anatasia added, glaring darkly at her older sister.

Bryanna sighed, then walked into her house, dodging her two younger sisters. "Okay," she murmured. "Just let me change clothes..."



Bryanna quickly ran up the stairs and changed into a new set of clothes. She still wore her silver dangling Celtic knot earrings (that meant eternity) in her bottom set of holes, and in the second set, was her favorite pair of black opal earrings.

She wore two necklaces: a leather thong with a shark's tooth attached to it, and another leather thong--this time, it was a choker, and a silver Egyptian ankh dangled down from it. She wore her chunky purple watch, and two purple and green jade bracelets. The only ring she wore was another silver Celtic knot design--only this time, it meant 'love.'

Bryanna decided to wear her favorite pair of short cargo jean shorts, and a forest green tank top that brought attention to her long red-orange hair.

Before she left, Bryanna stood in front of her mirror and pulled her hair away from her face, debating on whether or not to wear it up in a ponytail. Seeing her pointed ears, she grimaced and dropped her hair, allowing her ears to be covered by her thick mane.

As she slipped into her dark blue Vans with dragon symbols, a memory came to her:

**A little girl, no more than three or four, sat on a bench in a playground, alone. Her hair was pulled up in a high ponytail, revealing her unusual pointed ears. Lonely, she watched her classmates play ball.

After many more minutes, she grew sick of being lonely. She stood up and walked over to the large group.

"Can I play?" she asked softly.

"Why would we want you to play?"

"Yeah, Ugly-Wannabe-Fairy!"

Soon, the children took up the chant: "Ugly Fairy! Ugly Fairy! Ugly Fairy!"

"Go away! We don't wanna play with you!!"

"Yeah! My mommy called you a 'freak!' We dun wanna play with 'freaks!'"**

Bryanna shook her head lightly, clearing the memory away from her mind.

After that day, Bryanna had always worn her hair down, to hide her unusual ears.

I just wish I could hide my eyes just as easily, she thought sourly as she grabbed a scrunchie to put on her wrist--just in case.

Just like her ears, Bryanna's eyes were equally unique. They were slanted, tilting up at the corners. With her delicate, aristocratic eyebrows, she truly looked different.

'You look just like one of the Fae--an elf, or maybe an Irish fairy princess,' her best friend, Aimee, used to always say.

But, now.....Aimee lived a million miles away. Bryanna sighed, and walked into the kitchen, ready for another night of hell.



Two hours, and many messes later, Anatasia and Celadry were finally done with their lasagna--after completely destroying the kitchen.

Again, Bryanna sighed, on the verge of tears, as she stoically began to clean up the mess.

Once she was done, she stood up, ready to go to her room, shut the door, and read to her heart's content. But...she found her way blocked by two demons, more commonly known as her two younger sisters.

"We want a story before we go to bed," Anatasia said, crossing her arms and glaring at her sister.

"No,"was Bryanna's flat reply. "I'm tired and I want to be left alone."

This time, Celadry piped up. "No, Bry-Bry,"she said, using Bryanna's hated nickname, "you'll read us a story, or we'll tell mommy and daddy that you were being a bitch."

Bryanna stared at the fourth-grader in shock. "Wh-What did you call me?"

"A bitch,"was the calm reply.

Bryanna stared at the girl, thinking for several moments. She didn't want to deal with her parents, not after dealing with what happened earlier tonight. Soooo......the only thing to do ws to do what Anatasia and Celadry wanted.

She nodded her consent and followed her sisters upstairs, to their room.

The two young girls quickly changed into their night clothes, and hopped into bed. They stared at their sister expectantly as she stared back. Finally...

"Long, long ago......there lived a king, a Goblin King, who loved a girl."

----listen!thestory,it'sthestory!---- the goblins hissed.

"But she was naive, and did not know of his love. One night, frustrated, she spoke carelessly. She wished her baby brother away."

----how?howdoessheknowofthestory?----

"In order to get him back, she was forced to take a test. She had to solve the Goblin King's Labyrinth. She....she faced hardships unnumbered....and she--she fought her way to the castle, beyond the Goblin City."

----sheknows!howdoessheknow?HEwillnotbepleased!----

"She confronted the King, wanting her little brother back. And in one moment...she spurned him, and his love....And the Goblin King was left all alone," Bryanna finished, her gray eyes eerily glowing silver. But she blinked, and it was gone.

Bryanna looked down at her sisters and stared. They were scowling at her.

"Dun like that story!" Celadry exclaimed.

"It sucked!" Anatasia, Bryanna's sixth-grader sister, added.

Bryanna sighed and stood up, walking over to their light-switch. "I wish the story was true,"she said bitterly.

----QUIET!sheisgoingtosaythewords!listen!----

"I wish the goblins would come and take you away--right now,"she said as she turned off the light. Bryanna started to walk away, but before she got far, she noticed something.

Silence. Absolute silence.

Bryanna slowly stopped and turned around, her gray eyes wide. No, she thought with dread. No, it isn't possible....

She quickly walked back to Anatasia and Celadry's room. When she got there, she tried to flick the light switch on. But...the light wouldn't come on.

"Oh, no...." Bryanna whispered, the dread now solidifying to a lump in her stomach.