Hehe Taryn's in for the ride of her life

When we finally reached the small cottage, Chord and I tried our best to act excited. The father rejoiced in our return and happily accepted the gifts of precious jewels from our pockets. The wife however, well she had passed away.

"I guess I sorta forgot about that part." Chord said, scratching his head.

I rolled my eyes at him but grinned. "Look who doesn't know their tales now."

"Shut up, Bauer."

The tale ended quickly after. The father prepared us a decent sized meal from the food that was left in the house and that night, after we had all gone to bed, the tale switched.

When I opened my eyes, I was no longer in the little cottage. Instead, I was crouched down next to an open doorway. I was a little disoriented from having just been in bed that I nearly fell over. I somehow managed to stay on my feet.

There were two people inside. They were arguing. From the sound of it, one was much younger than the other.

"But Mother! It is unfair! Why must that witch of a sister have everything that I can not? Is it not enough that she is so much prettier than me? I will have to live in her shadow all my life!" She sounded like a spoiled brat. She was on the verge of tears, but I knew it was only a ploy to get her way.

"Hush child," The mother scolded, "she may hear you."

"What do I care? She knows I hate her. She is not my true sister. She's not even your real daughter! Why do you treat her with more respect than me?"

"I do not!" The mother protested, but the daughter wasn't listening.

"If you truly loved me, you would give me that beautiful blue apron. It does not deserve to be worn by the likes of her. It would be far more befitting for me."

"I agree with you my dear, but she is not likely going to simply give it up."

The daughter groaned. "But mother, you promised!"

"Hush now child. I made a promise and I intend to keep it. The wretched girl has lived far too long anyway. Death will be happy to greet her."

My mouth felt dry. I didn't know who these people were, or which tale I was in, but I knew I didn't like them. Who plots to kill their own daughter? Even if she was only a step-daughter. I tried to remember which tale these events belonged in, but I couldn't think of anything. This was all new to me. Perfect. So I had no idea where I was, or how I was going to get out. I'd have to find Chord and see if he knew anything about this.

"Really mother? You would do that for me?"

I wanted to scream at her that it wasn't an act of love. The mother was planning on killing someone. Wasn't the proper reaction for that somewhere along the lines of, "AAAGGGGHHHHH"?

"For you my beautiful daughter? Anything." The old lady cooed.

I dared a glance into the room. I nearly choked when I saw her. Beautiful was the exaggeration of the year. The girl was at least seven feet tall and her face was so covered in warts and boils that I could hardly make out her features. She had slitted black eyes and thin lips that she kept pursed together. Either that was a wart, or her nose was really off center. Her hair was piled on top of her head half-hazardly.

The girl's arms were about twice as long as her legs and her hands dragged the ground. She wore a simple brown dress that barely came to her knees and thin brown slippers that didn't cover her large feet.

The woman in front of her wasn't much better. Her arms were normal length and she was considerably shorter, but her face was much like her daughters. Not as many warts and her nose was in the right place, but there was definitely a family resemblance.

"Tonight, when you both lay down for bed, be sure to sleep on the far side, against the wall. Force the other one to sleep on the edge of the bed and then I will know which one she is. I will use your father's old axe and sever her head. This way, there will be no way you will not have what you desire."

I cringed and rubbed my neck. Beheading wasn't my idea of fun. What kind of a twisted tale had we found ourselves in this time?

"I will do as you ask." The daughter replied. She sounded pleased with herself.

"Of course you will," I muttered under my breath as I crept away from the door. Whoever that poor girl was, she was about to have the night of her life.

That's when I realized my doom. I was the step-daughter. The elegant blue apron was tied around my waist. I was wearing a simple white dress and my feet were bare. I groaned. What was it with the curse and refusing to give me shoes?

I really didn't like the idea of getting my head chopped off. My mind raced as I struggled to remember which tale it was. It didn't seem familiar at all. I wasn't even sure I'd even heard it before. I had 'The Essential Grimm's Fairy Tales' back home, but I never actually read the entire thing. Most of the tales were so depressing and ended with people dying. I had never really appreciated them until now, when they had literally become my life.

My only hope was that I would somehow be able to find Chord before all that went down. Maybe he would know where we were or how the tale went. At least then I would know if I was meant to die or not.

The rest of the evening, I found it nearly impossible to sit still. I had just found out that my so-called 'family' was planning on killing me. But something was off. I could feel it. Something told me that it was really the other girl's life that was in danger. It didn't make any sense, but I knew I had to try and stop the mother. Whatever was going to happen tonight, it wasn't going to end well for the daughter.

"Quit moping around, child," the woman scolded, "hurry and help us clean up after supper. You are a part of this household. You are required to pull your own weight in chores."

I looked up from my plate, the food untouched, and blinked at her. "What?"

"What is the matter with you girl? You haven't even touched your supper. Do not tell me you are growing ill. I will not have another epidemic. I simply won't allow it. The last time someone became ill, the entire town was shut down." She shook her head. "It just simply won't do."

"But I'm not sick?" I hadn't been paying attention and honestly had no idea what she was going on about? Had she said something about an epidemic? Wonderful. That's just what I needed.

"You look pale enough. Perhaps it would be best if you went to bed now. I suppose I can manage cleaning up after you tonight. Your sister has already cleaned up and retired for the night. Go join her. I will be by to check on the both of you in a while."

"You mean 'kill us'..."

"What was that girl?" She snapped. "Speak up! Do not mumble so much. How is anyone supposed to understand what you are saying?"

Just to annoy her, I mumbled a few choice words in her direction and left the room. The bedroom wasn't hard to find. There were only four rooms in the small house. The kitchen, two bedrooms and what appeared to be some sort of storage room.

The room was barely large enough for the bed. There was nothing else in there. The sister had her back pressed again the far wall and she was sleeping soundly. The soft snoring proved that much. She had left plenty of room for me to crawl into bed next to her.

I remembered what the old woman had said about chopping my head off. Suddenly, crawling into bed didn't seem like such a good idea. There was no way I was letting that woman chop my head off. I was rather fond of my head and preferred to keep it on my shoulders.

I stood there for a while, just staring at the sleeping girl. I had a sudden urge to reach over and roll her over to the other side of the bed. It would have been easy enough to do. Then it would be her head that got removed and not mine. She deserved it right? She was the one plotting my death after all.

Wow...where had that come from? Sure I'd always had a temper and I didn't mind knocking people around every once in a while when they really deserved it, but I wasn't a killer. It had to have been the magic of the curse working in me. At least, that's what I tried to convince myself. As said before, I had no idea what this tale was or how it went. What I did know was that there was no way I was going to let either of us die tonight. I was there to save them, and that was exactly what I was going to do.

The curse must have gotten tired of waiting for me to come up with a plan because the girl rolled over in her sleep. She stretched and sighed, now on the opposite side of the bed. If the old woman were to come in then, she'd be a dead girl. I couldn't let her stay there.

I rolled my eyes, trying to keep from getting too frustrated and rolled her back over. The girl was an incredibly hard sleeper. Even when I accidentally rolled her too far, and her head hit the wall, she only moaned and smacked her lips in her sleep.

The curse was determined to play out the way it wanted to. The girl kept rolling back over to the other side, no matter how many times I rolled her back. Frustrated, I stuffed both our pillows under the blanket to make it appear as if there was a person sleeping there. Then I sat on the ugly girl. She groaned, but didn't wake up.

It wasn't long after that the woman entered the room. I quickly laid down beside the girl, on the side next to the pillows to keep her from rolling over and getting killed. It wasn't easy. She fought and pushed against the me the entire time.

The old woman limped into the room, an axe hung limply in her right hand. It was a scene straight out of a horror film. Slowly, she reached out with her left hand and patted the pillows lightly. An evil smile formed on her lips. Clutching the axe with both hands, she swung it with more force than should have been possible for an old woman.

The deadly sharp blade sliced through the air and slashed the pillow like butter. I felt the blade graze my cheek. The same exact spot where the scars were from the monkey. I winced but bit my tongue to keep from making a sound.

Satisfied, the woman hefted the axe over her shoulder and limped back out of the room. It was then that I realized I wasn't breathing. I quickly released the breath I was holding and wiped the blood from my face. There was more of it than I expected. The cut was deep. The wound burned with a mad flame. I blinked back the tears forming in my eyes and scooted over to the other side of the bed, pushing the pillows off the edge.

Beside me, the girl sighed and stretched out. My entire body shook and my breathing was ragged. We had escaped death tonight, but I wasn't sure we'd have so much luck tomorrow.

I hated when I was right. It was clear I had messed with the story. The next morning, both the mother and her daughter were stunned to find me alive. The woman regarded me coldly. She sneered as her eyes fell on the open wound below my eye. She knew she had done it. In her mind, she had merely missed her target. She wouldn't miss again.

The daughter just looked miffed. She hadn't gotten her way. I was still alive and the apron was yet to be her's.

Even the curse wasn't sure what to do. I doubted anyone had ever messed with one of the tales like that. Completely changing the outcome of an event? Only I was dumb enough to try that. I had no idea what would happen. Maybe the curse would short-circuit and spit us all back out into the real world. Yeah, I know, wishful thinking.

I wished Chord had been there. He was so much more versed in how the curse worked than I was. I didn't know anything compared to him.

The day passed slowly. It was like the curse was trying to reset itself. I spent most of my time wandering around, hoping to find out where Chord was. When evening dawned, the events played out just as they had the night before.

The old woman made us both clean up after supper and then sent us to bed. The daughter immediately crawled onto the mattress first, taking the far side against the wall. Begrudgingly, I crawled in next to her. I had to find another way to escape the old woman's axe. I doubted she would fall for the same trick again. But I didn't really have anything else. I tried leaving the room at one point, but the door remained lock. I was trapped inside. Which meant all I had were the pillows. I thought about hiding under the bed, but that would have meant letting the other daughter die.

For a horrifying moment, as I laid in the bed staring up at the ceiling, I thought about just letting the woman do it. Letting her take my head would have been easiest solution. I quickly shook the thought from my mind. That wouldn't solve anything. Dying now would only mean that everyone inside the curse would be kept there. I was their only hope. I couldn't die now.

I was brought back to the present at the sound of the door opening. The daughter tried to roll over to my side of the bed, but I held her back. No way was she going to die tonight. Not if I had something to say about it.

I shoved her against the wall and pressed my back against her's. I held my breath as the woman approached. She reached out her left hand and frowned when she didn't feel anyone there. She reached further onto the bed.

I tried staying out of her reach, but it wasn't a very big bed.

Her eyes lit up with triumph when her fingers grasped onto my wrist. She pulled me over to the edge of the bed with surprising strength. I made a noise like a strangled cat as I tried to pull away.

"Lay still wench," the woman scolded, "so I can make it a clean cut."

"No thanks," I squeaked.

"Very well, but it would have hurt far less if you had chosen to be still."

My breathing quickened and time seemed to slow down. The woman raised the axe above her head. The daughter moaned, drooled and rolled over. I pulled against her hold on my wrist and used the momentum to swing my legs out, kicking her in the side.

She doubled over with an "Oomph" but kept a firm hold on my wrist. The daughter moaned again but stayed asleep. I took the opportunity and kicked the woman in the face.

She cried out in anger. Disoriented, she let go of my wrist and blindly swung her axe.

I screamed as it came toward me. I rolled out of the way and shoved the daughter back against the wall. Springing to my feet, I tackled the old woman. A foreign cry on my lips. We crashed against the door. The woman shook her head to clear the haze of her eyes and I scrambled away as she raised the axe over her head again.

I screamed again and threw my arms over my head in a weak attempt at shielding myself. A few familiar blue sparks floated across my vision. Before I knew what was happening, the woman was being thrown through the door by an angry hoard of blue sparks, leaving an old woman shaped hole in the wood.

My breathing was heavy as I pushed myself to my feet and slowly opened the door. The woman was sprawled on the floor of the bedroom across the hall. She was unconscious. The daughter remained sleeping on the bed.

I didn't know what to do. So I ran.

Thank you to Be Rose for sticking with me through both stories! You know, even if a writer only has one follower, it's worth every word written. So thank you so much! And to every other person who has read the story whether you fav/followed or not, thank you too! I love y'all!