The Last Time (#Wattys2016)

Chapter 19

As I left Ella's room, I walked to the library. Ella didn't have any internet, so the best I could do to entertain myself was to read.

With the help of some of the castle's employees, I made my way there and was soon comfortable in the soft, yet firm, cushions with a book in hand.

While I was walking around the massive library, a collection of books stood out to me.

There were hundreds of these large, black books. Each one had a number on it and they were placed on the shelf in numerical orders.

I leaned into the cushions and opened the new, black book that was labeled with the number one.

The first page had a picture of Ella and Charming on their wedding day. Beside the picture was a text that read,

On this day, August 23, 2012, Prince Charming and I were wed. After the wedding, Charming took me to a fortune teller and she told us that we would be happily married for many years to come. I knew it. True love can never be broken.

I snickered at the last comment, "No, but Snow can."

I turned to the next page and all that was there was Ella's loose, scribbly handwriting.

On this day, August 23, 2013, Prince Charming and I got a divorce. He has told me that he thinks that it is unfair to still be married to me when his heart belongs to another. I cried as he told me that he would take everything with him, including his love

I turned the page expecting to see something else, but the page was blank.

I walked back over to the shelf and replaced number one while grabbing number two. I opened the book, but there was nothing there.

I figured that after that, she just didn't know what to put in the book. Maybe, she didn't want a constant reminder of why Charming had left her.

Closing the book, I replaced it and walked away. As I was leaving the library, I ran into Esteban.

"Sorry," I said as I stepped around him.

"I was looking for you, Madam. Miss Ella would like you in the dining room so that you may have supper together."

I nodded and thanked him.

The hours went by and I was still sitting at the table with Ella. According to her, I would be called down to dinner everyday a five and socialize with her for and hour before dinner was served at six.

It wasn't until about eight before she finally released me to wander the castle some more.

I had to admit, it looked very pretty at night. After getting lost for a few hours, I finally made my way back to my room.

I had just lay my head down on the pillow and closed my eyes before I had a faint,"Pssst" coming from above me

I opened my eyes and saw that Puck was sitting in a medium sized square that led to the upper floor.

"Bri, come on. We don't have much time."

He leaned down and extended his arms as far as they could. I smiled and stood on the bed and reached up. He grabbed my hands and  pulled me up.

As soon as we were on the same level, I wrapped my arms around him.

"You're awake."

He kissed the side of my head and squeezed me even tighter, "And I'm glad. Granny said that a police man came to the house and said that Ella had taken you hostage."

I nodded, "Well, we cant talk about this now. We need to get to Granny and Daph before she figures out that I'm gone." He nodded and led me to a really high, open window.

"This is how I got in," he said

I nodded and lowered myself to the ground. As soon as Puck hit the ground, we took off running and made it to Granny's car and sped off down the road.