Okay, guys, here is the next chapter. I hope you like it. School starts for me on Monday. I will be taking two classes and working on a thesis, so it may take me a while to post new chapters for the next ten weeks. I will, however, check reviews regularly and take in any advice you have to offer. Please leave me a review if you like it. I could use some good criticism. I'm always open to advice that can help me become a better creative writer.

-Once upon a time there was a fairy prince who lived in the hottest desert in the most beautiful oasis in the world. It had the tallest palm trees with the greenest of leaves, the most luscious green grass, and a silver pond with water that tasted of sugar crystals.

This fairy prince could have anything he wanted. If he wanted the sweetest berry in the world, his servants would scout the entire desert for a single berry that could be considered the sweetest. If he wanted it to rain, he would have the entire kingdom pray to the moon goddess until it rained. The fairy was completely happy with everything he had until the day a young maiden showed up at his oasis.

She had eyes of violet and hair as black as the night. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She looked tired and weary, and she came with another man. He was her lover. He could tell by the way they looked at one another and the way they kissed. That would not do.

He waited until the two fell asleep and ordered all the small fairies to remain hidden in the palm trees and pray to the moon goddess to turn her into a fairy. He had decided that she would be his queen.

The moon lit up and the moon goddess materialized in its light and floated down to their level right above the palm trees.

"I cannot change the young woman into a fairy unless you can demonstrate your love for her," she explained.

"but I do love her," the fairy prince responded.

The goddess lifted an eyebrow. "You have one month to prove it." With that she faded away into the darkness of the night.

On the first day of the month the prince sent his servants to search the desert for the most beautiful cactus blossom to give to her as a gift. The servants found various blossoms and presented their findings to him. He picked out the most bloomed and richest of them all, and when the maiden rested under the trees he had his servants gently weave the flower in her ink black hair. The prince was convinced that he would win her heart, but when she wok up and checked her reflection in the sugar pond and saw the blossom she assumed that her lover had searched the desert for it as she slept. She placed a kiss on his lips as he continued to sleep. The prince was not pleased.

On that same day, the prince ordered his servants to begin to weave a lovely basket of various threads that glimmered in both the moon and sunlight. He sent other servants to find the sweetest of berries of the desert to fill it with.

It took a total of three days to fill the basket full of what the prince decided were the best berries, and the prince ordered his servants to place the basket near the pond to ensure that the maiden would see it when she checked her reflection. When the maiden woke that morning and found the basket, however, she decided that the mysterious basket would be the perfect gift for her lover. When he awoke she presented him with the basket and he ate each and every berry that was meant for the maiden. The prince fumed with anger as he watched from above in a palm tree.

An entire week passed, and all throughout the week the prince had his servants scour the desert, the forest, and even some nearby human cities for the most exotic and unique gifts to offer the maiden. To his dismay, she believed to either from her lover or a good gift to him.—

Elizabeth hit the wall of writer's block hard at three o'clock in the morning; three hours before she liked to wake up to go to work. When she woke up late she knew that she could still make it to work on time, but also knew that she would not be able to avoid Jake. She thought about how she would deal with him as she showered, brushed her hair, and slipped on a blue pencil skirt and white dress blouse, but she could not concoct any plan. There was no getting around it. She would just have to face him.

He had been waiting for her in the dining room, one of the rooms that she had to pass through in order to exit the apartment. She rolled her eyes when she saw him sitting at the table, but felt her heart almost leap out of her chest when she saw her phone laying in front of him. He looked up at her with crossed arms and a ticking jaw. "How long have you been seeing him?" he asked. He was sober at the moment, but that didn't make him any less nuts. In fact, it was even worse. When he was sober it made it difficult for her to blow him off as she did the other nights. She could already tell that this was going to be a bad day.

"Seeing who?" she asked.

"Don't act dumb!" he said pounding his fists against the table. Her phone shook as the wood underneath it rumbled. Elizabeth flinched, and all she could do for a moment was stare.

"Who is John?" he demanded.

"John?"

"The asshole who called your phone to leave a message thanking you for letting him keep your book."

Elizabeth let out an aggravated sigh. Jake was, once again, fooling himself into believing there was something between them. "He's just an officer I met the other day at the hospital," she calmly explained, "I dropped my book, and we met at a café during my lunch break yesterday so he could return it. He liked my book, so I let him keep it."

"You had lunch with him?"

"Yes," she said simply and matter of fact. Why should she defend her actions?

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Jake said standing up. He towered above her, and he seemed to grow larger and larger as he approached her. Elizabeth could almost feel herself growing limp. He glared down at her. "You mean to tell me, that you had lunch with some asshole cop, yet you can't even cook dinner half the time?" his voice was beginning to raise, "yet you can't even make dinner more than half of the time?"

Now was not the time to correct him on his irresponsibility, she knew, unless she wanted a broken nose. She hated him, and she hated submitting to his controlling personality, but she knew the only way to get out of this situation was to give him what he wanted. She bowed her head and avoided eye contact. "I'm sorry," she mumbled, "I won't talk to him anymore."

"Damn right, you won't," he said, "I've erased his number from your phone." He grabbed the phone off of the table and dropped it in her hand. He then sat back down at the table and nodded towards the door. "Go to work."

The minute the door closed behind her she mouthed the words, "fuck you." She was, of course, going to continue to call anyone she wanted. She just hated having to deal with Jake. I can't do this for much longer, she thought as she walked towards the elevator. She had no other choice. She was going to have to find a second job. Not only would it keep her away from Jake as much as possible, but it would help her to make enough money to possibly move out into a better living situation. I guess I can kiss sleep goodbye.

She stared at her phone and scrolled through her contacts feeling more than displeased that John's number was now erased, but she remembered that Jake was not too bright. She checked her "missed calls" list and recognized John's number and grinned to herself. She re-added the number to her contacts, but put it under the name "Cindy." I'll never let him have complete control.