The Land of the Twice Born

Chapter Three: Shelter

"RAPUNZEL!" Ron shouted as he gripped me tighter than usual. I had just come back from the farm house to the furnace, where Ron was freaking out. His eyes were wider too.

"Ron! What is it?" I said, pushing him away slightly.

"I-I though you were taken!" He breathed. I opened my eyes wider.

"Why would you think that?"

"Because...a girl...with blonde hair, shorter than yours, about to the waist, turned to stone right outside the door of the farm house!" He said.

"Who was she?" I asked, panicking.
"I don't know! I'm just - I'm just so happy you're alive!" He cried.

A thought struck me. Yesterday if this happened I would have found it normal, he was my friend and he thought I was taken, it's only normal that he would hug me when he found out I wasn't taken. But now...
Ugh Rhubarb! Why did she have to put that thought in my head? What if he liked me? No...he doesn't!

"Punzie, you ok? You've been staring into space for a few minutes...we should get working on the shelter. Shouldn't we?" Ron asked.

"Yeah...what should we build it out of?" I questioned. He looked thoughtful for a minute.

"Clay," he said softly.
"Oh yeah! There's tons of it in the lake! But the lakes pretty far away?" I realized. Ron shrugged.

"Oh will you stop that?" I said, slapping his shoulder. He laughed at my frustration and I couldn't help laughing too. Then we got to work.
Armload after armload, we brought in the clay from the lake, then set it out to dry. The hot noon sun soaked up all the water, and left us with materials to build a hut.

"Should we dig into the earth? That way we don't need as much clay!" I excitedly felt the ground to see if it was soft enough to dig up. It was.

"Let's go then!" He shouted. We got on our hands and knees and dug for almost an hour. Then Adam, Alice, and Mark came up to us.

"Would you like some help, Rapunzel?" Adam asked. I gratefully accepted the help, and before long, a new safety area was complete. We even put in wooden boards to make the beds. Beds weren't easy to come by.

"I should get going back to the tower. Why don't you sleep at the tower tonight?" I asked Ron.
He shrugged.

"Stop doing that! Ok fine! Don't sleep in the tower!" I snapped.

"Ok it's just...I don't like heights!" He said angrily, turning around to face me.
We were right next to the tower.

"You're always telling me to sleep in there when I don't want to because I've been trying to hide from you the fact that I'm NOT as strong as people think I am!" He shouts. Suddenly the blood drains from my face.

"INSIDE NOW!" I grabbed his shirt and hauled him inside, slamming the door behind us. Seconds later I heard the jingle of a single bell, sounded the laser beams turning on.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know! You never told me!" I said lamely.

"WELL THATS NOT MY FAULT! I've always told you I don't want to sleep here, and you ask me every night! Now I'm stuck! Thanks a lot, Rapunzel!" He snaps. I frown, trying to think of the most hurtful thing I could say.

"I thought you happy I lived," I said coldly. He frowned also.

"I was,"
Doesn't matter now I suppose?"

"What?" He asked.

"So you're saying you wouldn't miss me if I stopped being your friend, hung out with Adam, Alice, and Mark?"

"I wouldn't miss you if you got turned to stone!" He yelled.

"WE'LL SEE!" I yelled and grabbed the door handle.

"WAIT! RAPUNZEL! DONT!" I grabbed my hand and pulled me away.

"Ah ha!" I said.
He stared at my coldly.

"I hate you, Punzie. You know good and well I don't like when people turn to stone. You know that I didn't mean that!" He hissed.

"How can I tell with you? You never say anything!" I yelled. Tears threatened to spill down my checks, but I forced them back. No one makes Rapunzle cry.

"I say enough!" Ron said angrily.
"I'm leaving! You can stay here! On the bottom!" I screeched. Then I rushed up the stairs to my room.