Fairy-Tale Therapy~ Trouble In Neverland (Book #1) **ON HOLD**

Prologue

     "And they all lived happily ever after."

     She looked at me with a motherly gleam in her eyes. That's why I loved her. That's why everybody loved her. She seemed to possess that nurturing charm that can easily be seen when you look into her eyes. She leaned over and kissed me good night before she got up to leave me for the evening. Just like any other kid my age, I always had questions that ate away at me at the most inappropriate times. A question was eating away at me and I wanted to know the answer to it before she left me to my dreams.

     "Mom?"

     "Yes, Esmeralda?"

     "How do you know that they really lived happily ever after?"

     A look crossed her features, like she wasn't expecting that out of her 6 year old daughter. I wasn't too surprised, I wouldn't have expected it either. She probably expected me to be content with the happily ever after just like any other normal 6 year old girl. The problem was, I wasn't like any other 6 year old girl.

     "Well, that's what's written down." Way to state the obvious mom.

     "No I mean what if after their happily ever after, everything went terribly wrong?"

     Mom looked curious in what I had to say.

     "Give me an example of what you mean."

     I didn't have to think very long before I blurted out something random and completely outrageous.

     "Remember when Snow White and the prince got married and the evil queen was allowed to come to the wedding? Remember when they forced her to wear red-hot iron shoes so she danced until she dropped down dead from exhaustion? What if her thirst for revenge was so powerful that she was willing to do ANYTHING to be able to see Snow White dead in that glass casket? Maybe she was so consumed in her own petty world of vengeance that her decision making skills were clouded by the evil motives in her heart. Maybe she was willing to cut off her own feet so she could continue plotting against the newly-weds, and what if she ends up succeeding? She'll probably start crawling back to her castle with an evil plan more sinister than the last. But then she'll probably collapse from blood loss and then die because her dark heart won't have anything to pump through her vengeful veins. But it wouldn't just stop there though, her soul will probably be heavy with the need to fulfill its evil deed. So she'll probably end up haunting Snow White and her prince for the rest of their natural lives."

     Mom looked at me like I was talking out of my butt. She looked beyond bewildered. I mean who wouldn't be? Would you expect your 'sweet innocent' 6 year old daughter to be able to recite something that could very well be from a horror movie? But no, that wasn't what my mom commented on. She was very pleased that her kindergartener was capable or using such 'advanced vocabulary.'

     "Esmeralda, if I had known you were capable of using words like 'vengence' and 'sinister,' I would've placed you in 2nd grade, no questions asked."

     I rolled my eyes. I couldn't tell if she was serious or not. My mother never hesitated to make a joke but at the same time she really was the type to push me to do my best.

     "Seriously mom, how do you know that they lived happily ever after?"

     "Honestly Esmeralda, it's never too early to think about college..."

     "MOM!"

     "Alright, calm down. Don't have a cow. So you want to know how I know if they lived happily ever after or not?"

     "Yes mom. I mean, it WAS my original question."

     She sighed and looked down at her hands. A silly grin was plastered on her face and there was a dreamy haziness in her eyes. She looked back up and turned to me.