Aislin Asleep- A Sleeping Beauty Retelling

Ten

Ten

Olivia and Richard gasped and dropped the lid, which landed next to Aislin. “Mom? Dad?” Aislin asked, confused. She stood up. Crystal pushed to the front of the crowd. “Aislin?” she asked, confused. “Aren’t you supposed to be dead?” Aislin stared at her like she had just grown three more sets of ears. “What?” She asked, confused. “I’m not dead, I’m right here!” Aislin stepped out of the coffin. She opened her mouth, but having nothing more to say, closed it and stood still. There was an awkward silence. Aislin opened her mouth to speak but all of a sudden a car came, full speed ahead, and stopped right before the coffin. Out jumped Aris Gray, the last person Olivia, Richard, and Dr. Edmonds needed to see.

“Hey, that’s the substitute lady!” cried Aislin. Aris stared at her, her mouth open. “How are you not dead?” she said, awestruck. Aislin opened her mouth to say something, for the second time, but she was interrupted by another car coming. It stopped right after Aris’s car, and out jumped Devon Harris. “Assistant!” Aris cried. “Tell me why this girl is not dead!” she pointed at Aislin. Devon must not have heard, or at least pretended not to. “Some people are on their way that I’d like you to meet,” he said to Aris. “They should be here right about-” A police car pulled up next to Aris’s. “Now.” Devon finished. Aris opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Then she said, “You can’t do that!”
“I just did.” Devon confided as the police car doors opened. Two policemen stepped out from either side, one carrying handcuffs. One was tall and the other was short. The tall one said in a deep voice, “Aris Gray, you’re going to have to come with us.” He held out the handcuffs. Aris said, “Not if you’ll never catch me!”, and began to run. Olivia and Richard, who had been staring in wonder the whole time, glanced at each other and came to a silent agreement. Together, they started after Aris. Maybe it was out of love for Aislin, or some miraculous sporting ability, but Olivia and Richard ran to Aris and grabbed her hands. “Take her.” Richard said. The tall policeman thanked Olivia and Richard, locked up Aris, and sped away. The crowd all turned to look at Devon, who was engrossed in something on his phone. Devon looked up and became red. “What?” He demanded. Olivia and Richard didn’t respond, just continued to stare at him. Devon sighed. “Fine!” He exclaimed, at put his phone in his jean pocket. He cleared his throat and sat on the hood of his car. “I started working for Aris two years ago. At first, I-” Devon began. Richard held up his hand. “We don’t need your autobiography. We need to know what’s going on.” Richard said stonily. Devon glared at him. “Fine. At first, I thought Aris was just a regular doctor in need of an assistant. I quickly found that I was wrong. Dr. Aris creates dangerous formulas to do things that- well, aren’t exactly law-abiding. They’re also very complicated. Like what’s been used on your daughter,” he gestured toward Aislin, “not very straight-forward. They always have faults. Fortunately, Aris can’t always find them. When she does, she tries to eliminate it. I guess this one was true love? We may never know.” He glanced at Jake, who had taken Aislin’s hand. “Anyway, Aris was preparing many potions to kill everyone who got in her way. It’s lucky I called the police before she had the chance to make anymore.” Devon leaned back. Aislin piped up quietly. “If you’re done working for - for Aris, what are you going to do now?” Devon’s mouth dropped, as if he wasn’t expecting the question. He cleared his throat. “I’m not sure. Maybe… I used to play piano…” he trailed off, and looked away. Jake squeezed Aislin’s hand. Aislin flashed him a thankful smile. Devon cleared his throat. “Well, it was real nice meeting you folks. I gotta run.” he hopped into his car. The crowd watched as he drove off. There was a deadly silence. Then all of a sudden, somebody in the crowd began to clap madly. Everybody joined in. Aislin turned to face the crowd. Jake let go of her hand and began to clap harder. Tears ran down Aislin’s face. She smiled. There wasn’t a dry eye in the place. The funeral turned into a celebration. Somebody brought matches, for whatever reason, but it turned out to be handy. They lit the coffin on fire, and somebody went and bought some marshmallows and sausages. Everybody roasted at least five of each, and everyone danced long into the night. At about 1:00, when Jake was twirling Aislin around, he pulled her close and whispered in her ear, “Will you go to Spring Formal with me?”

You’ll never guess what Aislin said to him.