Chapter 9

Remember Remember

Storybrooke…

I feel all bubbly and nice inside. A new job – I don't have to live on the streets… yet. We walk in silence, his cane the only rhythm that broke that awful – deadly silence. Should I say something? Or does he appreciate the silence. I never knew I had this much submission for a man I barely know. The buildings lining the pavement are old, but yet they seem like they were build yesterday. As we arrive he opened the door with - what looked like - an antique key – you know the ones with all the curls and tiny flowers. I stare at it longer than I need to, really. The thought of working for this well-known man – well – it makes me all bubbly and weird inside. The loopy feeling when you set foot into a fast car. That moment when you know it can go over 200 kilometers an hour. Just that moment when you can still decide to not go with the plan. No – now is not the time to feel shy or doubtful. Get your ass in that store! My brain roars at me.

Mr. Gold makes this nice gesture - saying while doing so: "Ladies first."

"So…" He begins while he walks behind the register. "I will show you around and ah – maybe you could start dusting the place a bit. It's something I have neglected these few days." So he did show me around, letting me into every room – filled with lots and lots of trinkets and other treasures. I will have a good time investigating every piece here. It is stuffed with it.

"So here is the feather-brush. You can start in the front and work your way to the back. If there is anything you are – thinking – off… Don't hesitate to ask." I raise an eyebrow. "Well there is something I want to ask…" My bravery and an unusual urge to have everything clear start to kick in. "How much do I get paid." He chuckles – which is a weird thing to do, considering I'm deadly serious. "You can live rent-free in your apartment and here is – " He gets his wallet out of a pocket inside his neatly ironed jacket. "I hope this is enough for the week." A check in my hand tells me something I can't believe. I look at it and then back to him. "But this is too much." I tell him, disbelieve all over my face. "Why, I can make it less if that is what you wish." He gins as his hand moved towards the check and I hold the piece of paper to my chest. "Thought so." With that he moves to the back, leaving me and my thoughts alone.

I look around. The last time I came in the store looked a bit – different? I don't know how to describe it to you other than things had moved. That's very weird because I don't know anyone whom would buy from the old pawnbroker. Yet he is the riches guy in town – even richer than the Miller family – you know – the mayor!

I start dusting around tiptoeing as to reach the highest places. I find all weird objects, among them a watch that I is turning backwards. Who on earth wants to buy a broken watch. There are also two dolls – creepy looking – shiver making creeping looking dolls. It's like they follow me with their eyes. I will stay at a save rage from them, hoping to do them last so I don't have to think about it.

The room is cramped with stuff all over the place so after a good few minutes I stop and look around. If I want to dust this place I really need to have a system. So that's when I start observing the room more – dividing it in boxes. Every time I check off the box and go to the next. It's really a rhythmic job and well – I like it. After a hour feeling like I had to sneeze every few minutes the job was done. I know this sound all boring and maybe it pretty much is – but somehow I get this satisfied feeling. Like I'm mend to do this. I shrug it off an start looking for a piece of cloth to clean and polish the wooden floor.

"Are you done dusting, dearie?" Mr. Gold asks as he enters the front of the shop again. "Yeah, I did. A while ago." I say, while finishing cleaning the bucket I used for scrubbing the floor.

He looks around – checking the place – and I spot a little tiny smile. A real one this time. Not the plastic ones he throws around town. He should do that more often – you know – smile. "I must say, miss Black, I'm impressed. Well…" He looks around again and there – right there I can spot this sparkle in his eyes. "You can go now. I need to finish some business here." The weird tone in his voice tells me not to argue with it and on that que I got my jacket and leave. I stuff my hands in my pocket since it is still cold out. As I do so I feel this paper – the check Mr. Gold has given me. It was too much, it made me work harder. If that was the goal, then he surly knows how it works. With my thumb I flip the corners of the folded check. Should I cash it straight away? Or should I wait until the end of the week. While I'm still deciding what to do my feet drag me to the bank. Well, at least my subconscious knows the answer. Confident – I place the piece of paper on the counter. The feeling when I got the cash in my hands – knowing I don't need to pay the rent – knowing I have this and I can actually buy something. Well It makes me feel again all bubbly and fuzzy inside. Maybe change wasn't bad. Maybe life only can get better from now on.

How I was wrong. The next day I went back to the shop.

The door was slightly open – which is kind of strange. As far as I remember he always closes the door. "Hello?" I pop my head around the corner. "Mr. Gold – Oh my god!" The moment I enter the door I see him lying on the ground with a big wound on his head. Quickly I sit beside him and check for his pulse. 'Okay, so he is still alive. That's nice.' I think while gently brushing his hair out of his face. "Mr. Gold? Can you hear me. Wake up." I begin to babble softly, but when he doesn't respond I begin to speak more clearly. "Mr. Gold. You need to wake up." I get my phone and dial the emergency number – but before I hit the green button to make the call he spoke to me. I couldn't understand but his hand grabs my arm which I'm holding my phone with. "I'm okay." He repeats and smiles a little. "Just a bit shaky. Could you help me sit up?" He asks while I put my phone away. "You just had a blow on your head, you need to lay down for a bit. Here…" I sit on my knees so he could rest his head on my upper legs. "Now we need to do something for that gash on your head." He has a handkerchief in his pocket and hands it to me. "Were you here all night?" I ask while cleaned his wound. He just nods with his eyes closed. "Who did this to you?" In my head the question sounded more like who wouldn't…

"You must be discreet about this, miss Black." I nod while a wipe away some dried blood.

"It was Ashley."

"The pregnant girl?"

"Yes her."

"Must be the hormones."

"She stole something from me. That's how I got the wound. I caught her, rambling something about changing her life. I don't know, she looked pretty upset."

Looking if I done an alright job I tell him we should go and get it checked. As his wound was looked after we stop in front of the pawnshop. He assures me he is fine. "Go, you helped me far more than necessary. Thank you." He then turns around and limped off to the direction of the yellow bug.

So that gave me the rest of the day off – which gave me time to photograph again. This time however I'm going to get a different subject of photographing. I don't know when it started but I got kind of fascinated by birds – I need to set them in a frame.

And so I did – hiking down the path of the forest, camera in one hand, my flashlight in the other. The sun began to set and even thought it was could I didn't feel it. My excitement on different lighting on photo's got me all hyped up like a geek would feel when he got to play with his new gadget. As I go further down into the forest it gets darer and darker until the last bit of light disappears, surrounding me in the thick black dark. This does creep me out – to be honest. I know my way back and I try my hardest not to slip on any glibly leaves.

But you've seen this coming right. I Slipped. All the way down and landed with my face flat in the ground, As I am unconscious, seeing the threes blur I feel something – something foggy. And that's when I close my eyes and let the darkness surround me.

"I can go and fly to the village." I say while laying down the straw on the floor next to the spinning wheel. "I told you, Sarah," And as he says my name he let out the mockery in his tone. "You are – not – allowed to go to the village ever again." I sigh. How can he be so strong headed. "Let me go as a bird. Let me fly over it. Maybe I can see what is going on there." I snort. "I mean you are hardly the socializer." He turns around and give me this evil look – and when I first came here it would have scared me to death. Now I can only smile inwardly – knowing he will never be mad at me. "Go and clean the kitchen. Oh and erhm – in the meanwhile – leave me alone!" He grumbles and goes back to concentrate on his spinning. I roll my eyes and leave to go and actually clean the kitchen.

Later that evening, when the moon shines high up in the sky, I sit in my room, staring out the window while holding some parchment on top of a book. The drawing is one of a swallow, flying freely out and even though the drawing isn't alive you can see the freedom dripping off the image. A sigh escape my lips. I need to go out soon and fly further. See what's out there and getting more used to the magic. "Sarah, are you up there?" I roll my eyes – every single time… "You know I am." This is starting to bore me. Why does he ask me where I am when this stupid bracelet is telling him my exact location.

"About our conversation a while ago. You need to practice the shapeshifting more often and I decided…" I shot off my place grabbing his hands and dancing around. "do you let me go to the village?" I ask, a smile broadly on my face. Rumpelstiltskin loosens himself and shakes the image of a happy thought away. "Stop acting like you are in some kind of fairytale." Immediately I stop dancing and tried my best to put on a serious face. "Sorry, sir." He waved it away – making his way to the window that overlooks the forest. "You are not allowed to go in to the village. However –" He turns around and says: "You are however needed somewhere." As he speaks I see mischief in his eyes. I know when I need to fix his shit. "What is it? What do I need to do now?" I cross my arms and tap my foot. "Do you want to expand your horizon or do you want me to go out of this room and lock it behind me." And before I use my brain I spat out: "I will unlock it anyway." And that's when he turns around and made it for the door. "No – no." I practically ran to the door and grabbed his arm. "I'm sorry. I am interested in what it is you have to say."

His stoic look softened and he turns around, a hint of victory sparkling in his amber eyes. "You need to fly as a bird to a young pregnant princess. She is going to ask you to call for me. She has another deal for me and I need you to look around. She – ah – has a way with talking to birds." I raise an eyebrow. "You want me to fly by let her talk to me and then after a little inspection tell you that she wants to make a new deal – which you are already aware of." I sum up. He giggles joyfully and replies: "Exactly. Good you get it." He walks out of the door, down the stairs and I follow. "What's in it for you?"

"That birdie – is none of your business." Not again – I think. "How do I know how to get there and how do you know she will be there when I arrive." He gave me a look over his shoulder – the please-I-know-everything look.

"You will leave tomorrow. Now, go to bed. You'll catch a cold when only dressed in a thin nightgown, birdie." My cheeks redden the second he was done speaking. How could he always make me feel like I had done something really stupid.

And so I did. I loved the freedom – the flight and even the rain on my way back home. I reported that I hadn't seen anything suspicious and that she indeed wanted a new deal, but hadn't vocalized what it was she wanted to change.

And so he went telling Cinderella that a little birdy told him she asked for him.

I open my eyes and bright sunbeams hit my sight. It was so fierce that I need to close them for a bit. "Hazel?" I hear someone ask and nudge my shoulder. "Aah!" I grumble and try to sit up – not realizing what is happening. "You should rest. It's been a long night so I heard." I open my eyes and shapes start to form right in front of me. Then I could see color and finally I can see Mary Margret standing near me. "Where am I?" Oh god what a cliché – but the point is – I really don't know. "Don't worry, you are in the hospital. Leroy found you. What were you doing in the woods?" She asks looking worried. It strikes me that this woman nearly knows me and still worries over me. "I – my camera! Did they find it?" I ask – panic all over my face. "We did. But I think it can't be saved anymore." A groan escapes my lips and I slump even further down. "Dammit." Mary Margret must think me strange and I can't even deny that I'm not. Who in their right mind goes out till dark in the forest and doesn't expect something bad would happen.

Out of the corner of my eyes I see her hesitating. I can tell she want to ask me something so I look expectant at her – my eyes forcing her to spit it out. "Is it true you work for Gold now? I heard you've been fired at Granny's." So bold – how dare she?! Confirmed – I do not like people. "Yes." I answer – hoping my tone was the right amount of annoyance. "Yes, you've been fired or yes you work for Gold."

"Both." My eyebrow knit together, getting vastly irritated. "Why are you interested anyway? It's not like we are friends or anything." It becomes silent and neither one of us speaks. "Maybe I should leave. You need your rest. See you tomorrow." I eye her suspicious. "I'm out here in an hour." I hiss and I don't know what makes me this hostile. Maybe it was her tone about me being stupid to go for a walk in the woods alone. Maybe it was the look she gave when she talked about Mr. Gold. I think the last one was the last straw that breaks the camel's back.

"Not sure about that." She smiles friendly and bid goodbye. We will see I think and close my eyes to take a rest.

And there I lay – all by myself – grumpy and irritated. I need to stay one more day for observation and it drives me nuts. Just lying in bed with nothing to do. There's not even a television in this room. Okay, so it was stupid to go outside, by now I have kind of figured that out.

The next morning - when I counted the beeps and other strange noises for what seems like the hundredth time - I hear this familiar ticking sound coming my way. "Mr. Gold." He smiles and puts a box of chocolates on the cabinet besides my bed. "Hello, birdie." He says and something strange clicked in my mind – these visions or whatever they are race through my mind. I have to shake my head in order to keep my mind clear. He walks around the bed looking at the infusion and tubes around me. "How are you feeling. You seem a little – different." He hesitated which makes me wonder what for. "I'm fine. Just bored – that's all." I tell him matter-of-factly and I start to observe him as he sits in the chair next to me. "Why did you go out wander in the forest on your own now, miss Black? It seems you have a knack of hurting yourself." He smiles and I cannot I help but get infected by it – showing a bright smile myself.

"Thank you for coming, by the way. I could use a little company next to Mary Margret. I mean I don't even know her that well and she has visited me twice!" I exclaim making my words more powerful by throwing my hands in the air.

"That's nice of her, isn't it?"

"I know it is, but I don't know. It just doesn't feel good."

"So, you may be discharged today. Is there anything I can do for you?" How strange this is. I mean – he is my employer and I'm just an employee. "No, I don't think so." I say bit then something enters my thought. "Eh – maybe – If it's not too much a trouble. Could you give me a ride home?" I ask, not really looking at him and finding my bedsheets particular interesting.

"Of course I will." He says and stands up to my surprise. "I'm going to ask when they are thinking of setting you free." He smiles and I get the bird joke. I feel a lot better – as I didn't know I had feel so down. I grab the box of chocolates and began to devour them eagerly. He knows my favorite chocolates! What a guy…!