Part 1:
I found myself lost, wondering aimlessly through this unknown forest. No trace of how to get out, and I left no crumbs to lead me back. But I could care less about where I came from, for what I have just left was unbearable to remember.
I bunched up of what was left of my dresses silk train, it was torn and dirty from my escape in to this dark place. I had already lost my shoes a few miles back, yet even if I did have them, they weren’t suitable footwear for a nightly stroll in the woods. Twigs and old branches poked and grabbed at my feet as I continued to walk.
No destination. No options. I couldn’t go back. I wouldn’t go back. Maybe if I walk far enough, I could end up at a road and catch a ride to train station. But at this rate, there was no sign of any road. Or even life for that matter.
I seemed to have stumbled into a part of the forest that has never seen the sun before. Every tree was old and withered. Most of their branches hung off them deflated balloons. Even the roots had shriveled up into sticks. Yet, the space was stuffy. I felt trapped. Of branches that were still able to hold their own, they spiked out straight, like protection to keep people out. As if people actually come here.
With one gust of the wind, I heard a faint voice, a song perhaps. It came from straight ahead. Common sense tells you not to go any further, and turn around. But with no sense of direction and nothing to lose, I continued to walk straight. With every step I took, the song became clearer and louder.
“Today I brew, tomorrow I bake. With one small price, I’ll take your troubles away.”
I began to see flickers of light and I smelled burning wood. I began to walk a little faster, for my curiosity got the best of me. I ducked the spiking tree branches and endured the deep mud the now covered my feet and up to my ankles. The Song continued:
“If you play my game, I always come through. For I deliver what you have been bound to.
With just one world, and your name on my X, You’ll find that it’s not too complex.”
I suddenly came into the sight of open area with a roaring bon fire, placed outside of a small house that was built around a very large, and healthy looking tree. A small man danced around the fire, jumping and singing his little song.
“For my name is not secrete, I wear it proudly.
My name is Rumpelstiltskin, and I scream it loudly.”
If I heard him correctly, then I must have been dreaming. Did I fall back in the forest and bump my head? Or have I really walked into a fairy tale?
