You can drive all night
Looking for the answers in the pouring rain
Want to find peace of mind
Looking for the answers in the pouring rain
Cigarette Daydream- Cage the Elephant
Rapunzel POV
Despite the fact that I got attacked, going to the store actually helped me. I now have food in the house and as much as I hate what happened in that store Flynn still pushed me to go outside my comfort zone. I suddenly find myself craving more and being more willing to take risks. Things between Flynn and I have been more awkward than usual after he held my hand on the walk home from the store he went straight into his room and did not come out for the rest of the night.
Flynn had not even talked to me for a week he just would follow me around to my mundane government meetings and countless archiving sessions. I wanted to do more though and today, given it was my only day off was the day I was going to the light festival that we had every year.
I was reading when he came in and without hesitation looked at him and said, "We are going to that light festival thing tonight and you are going to talk to me and be helpful the whole time." He looked at me stunned. "Well-" he started, but I quickly interrupted "This is no time for excuses, you are going to take me and we are going to have fun." He sighed and said "I was just going to mention that you should probably bring a jacket, it is going to be cold tonight." It took me three whole seconds to realize he had just agreed.
I was ecstatic he had said yes! I let out a squeal has I gave him a hug and started to dance around. He had a confused expression on his face "Did you think I was gonna say no? I am here to do the things that you want to do." I looked up shyly "Well I was just nervous… and I didn't really know if it was my choice and all…" I fiddled with a loose thread on my sweat shirt. "Have you ever had a frog in the pond?" Flynn asked. I looked at him as if he had just spoken Lithuanian "A what?" He responded saying "A frog in the... Well clearly you've never had one. C'mere I'll show you how."
I walked with him into the kitchen and sat on the counter next to the stove. He got out bread, butter, and eggs. His moves were deliberate and robotic, I did not fail to notice the dark dramatic circles under his eyes. Someone was not sleeping well or not sleeping at all. I decided not to ask about it knowing he would probably not give me the answer. He came next to me with a pan and butter knife.
"Okay, so first you cut a hole through the center of the bread…" He looked at me and then sighed and said, "I'll just make it then you can eat it and tell me if it's good." I nodded but stayed to watch him make the new creation. He cut a hole in each slice of bread and buttered one side, then he placed them on the pan while turning on the stove. The next part of the process was unexpected. He cracked an egg and had the yoke land in the hole of the bread. Suddenly the name of the meal made sense the egg was the frog and the hole in the bread was the pond.
When the egg finally finished he opened the cabinet next to my head and grabbed two plates. This was the closest we had come to touching since last week when he held my hand. I jumped off the counter and grabbed silverware from the draw and sat down at my small kitchen table. He placed the plate in front of me and sat down. Eagerly I dug in and the fluffy egg and wheat bread filled my mouth in a sweet but savory manner. I moaned, "This is so good!" he smiled "Thought you would like it."
I nodded and then he asked a familiar question "So Brownie, who are you?" I set my fork down with a clank. I did not know the answer to this question. When I was rescued, the government only wanted to know the secrets I learned, so I had no time to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I mean I have my hobbies, but I have always wanted to travel and go to a foreign land and learn new things. Suddenly, I could see those possibilities because Flynn made me take that half a block walk to the store.
I looked to Flynn and said "I never had a chance to figure out who I am. I have so many dreams and well you're helping one of them come true tonight." He then looked confused "The light festival? That's your dream? You have got to have a bigger dream than that? Don't you ever wish that you could live in another world or be a character in a movie or story?" I had never thought about being someone different my job always seemed to important.
"Look I'm not trying to rain on your parade, but you haven't realized that in your haste to help everyone else you have lost yourself along the way." He said this in a matter of fact way like it was obvious that I had this issue. I stared at my plate and said more to my food than to him "Well I guess seeing the lanterns in a great first step." "That's it! A first step to finding who you are!" He exclaimed. I laughed as his face lit up, I liked talking with him. We ended up sitting on the couch talking all afternoon mostly about my other dreams and what the next step after the lanterns would be. Usually, I was lonely so having Flynn there was a nice perk to having a body guard. However, the carefree atmosphere soon came to an end when another call came in.
We knew it was not the military because they had changed to contacting me by cell phone. My land line number was changed and it was only still in my apartment, so it would not draw suspicion. Flynn put the phone on speaker. Harsh breathing came from the mouth piece and so did a sinister voice. It was the same voice from a week ago still laced with other audio. "I see you have a new friend Rapunzel, how sweet of them to send you a protector. Have they told you about his past, it's a very…interesting tale. Surely, he could tell you all about it." Another terrible laugh echoed through the room. "Well, I gotta run." Flynn jumped in now his voice strangled "Wait! Who is this? What do you want with her?"
They hung up the phone he slammed his hand on the coffee table. I touched his arm "It's okay Flynn." He looked at me incredulous, "No it is not O.K.!" He stood up from the couch running a hand through his hair. "I have been trying to hold this back, but Rapunzel you cannot believe that you being hunted down by a stalker is okay. I'm supposed to keep you safe and I haven't been doing a very good job. You've been attacked at a grocery store and I was almost too late to stop it and now you get another phone call and I freeze up because the criminal makes one too many comments about my past! I should have been talking to them the whole time, that's my job! So don't you dare try to say that this is O.K. because it's the opposite of okay. It's inexcusable."
He stopped breathing hard as if he had run a mile and before I could say anything the stormed off and slammed his bedroom door. I sank back into the couch and let out a breath. That was the most frustrated and angry I had ever seen him. I stood up and busied myself making tea. I only did this whenever I was sad or frustrated there was something about the hot liquid filling me up that was comforting. After finishing my tea I went to go talk to Flynn. He had promised to take me to the festival, but now I was not so sure due to his dramatic outburst.
I knocked twice and heard a faint movement around the room he opened the door only showing his face. He had a defeated look in his eyes as if he had been beat up. "Can I come in?" I asked. He stepped away from the door and held it ajar I walked in and noticed that the sheets on the bed had been changed to navy blue and the room had a new quality of life that it had lacked before.
Flynn sat on the edge of his bed and motioned for me to join him. I sat down reluctantly and he turned to me. "I'm sorry for exploding on you like that… I just lost control." He said. "When I was young my parents died from a terrible epidemic and I was sent to a foster home. There I watched a series of movies called The Adventures of Flynn Ryder. He was amazing rich, powerful, a world traveler, and most of all brave. He could do anything or be anything and well that sounded pretty amazing to me." He took a breath and looked down at his hands. "My real name is Eugene Fitz-Herbert and I only joined the military, so I could be someone I'm not, Flynn Ryder." He looked at me expecting a response.
"I have a secret too, I didn't know how to tell you this but General John F. Blake is my father and Major Andromeda M. Blake was my mother. I am the girl who was on the news a few years ago, the one who spent her whole life locked in a hidden underground chamber." He raised his eyebrows. "So that's who you are…" he trailed off. "So, um alias huh?" I asked "You're not mad are you?" he said. "No of course not, you had a dream and we're allowed to chase our dreams." I gave him a tight lipped smile. "I'm gonna go change for the festival you gonna be okay?" He looked at me a misty expression in his eyes "Yeah, I'll be fine now." He replied. I left the room and changed into something a little more formal.
At around five o'clock I heard Eugene's heavy footfalls and looked up from my spot on the sofa. He was dressed formally in a washed out button down with a tie and lose fitting dark wash jeans. He had a blazer slung over his soldier and turned to me. I glanced down at my peach skirt and white blouse happy to have changed. "You ready?" he asked. "Ya let me just grab my coat." I walked in and turned to grab my coat from my closet, but there was something wrong with my closet door. It would not budge. "Eugene!" I called he entered my room. "What's wrong?" he asked "I can't open my closet door." I said exasperated. He walked over and pulled with a massive amount of force and the door sprang from its hinges. I did not miss the small piece of plastic that fell and neither did Eugene.
He picked it up and as soon as he touched it held a finger to his lips. He set the plastic down, but was perfectly silent. He grabbed my coat and my hand, pulling me outside quickly. We walked quickly down the hall, every time I tried to speak he would "Shush" me. When we got to my car he had already dug the keys out of my giant purse and motioned for me to get in. I got in the passenger side and tried to speak, but was meant with another "shush."
He turned on the radio and turned the music up loud. "WHA-" I started to protest. "SHUSH" he said annoyed with me. He embraced me and whispered into my ear. "Your apartment has been bugged and your car might be, hug me back so this doesn't look weird. I am going to drive to Command so that we can let them know, but we won't be going back to your apartment until it has been swept for more bugs." I nodded and pulled away. This was going to be a long night.