Cursed Hearts

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Goldilocks

"Where could they be?" I ask Cameron as we're exploring the Enchanted Forest.

   We're moving in the opposite direction of where I came from, maybe once we finally find the kids I can hit the road and continue my journey.

   "Usually they explore close to home, they couldn't have gone too far," he says trying to stay calm but I know he's worried.

   I would be too if Alice had run away, but I don't allow myself to think about her. I lost the title of "Mom" when I ditched her.

   I think about my daughter all the time and I scold myself for ever leaving her.

"Mom!" Alice says as she pulls me in for a hug.

   "How was work?" my daughter asks me.

   I work for the queen as a castle maid. It's the only job I could get but it pays for our house and Max's mushroom addiction.

   I see my boyfriend in the corner, getting his daily buzz. I give him my usual stern look. "Not in front of Alice," I say to him,

   "Sorry babe, it won't happen again," Max says and comes over for a quick kiss.

The memory of Alice and Max makes me shake my head and start focusing.

   We need to find Cameron's children, I shouldn't be worrying about my own daughter.

   "Look! There's a tower over there," Cameron says, pointing toward the tallest tower I've ever seen.

   We hide behind a bush and wait it out to see if anyone approaches.

   "Why would the kids be so interested in some tower?" I whisper.

   It's a plain tower built with gray bricks and it's covered in vines. The tower seems to have been abandoned.

   Except my suspicions were wrong.

   An older woman approaches the tower and yells out. "Rapunzel, Rapunzel. Let down your hair."

   About twenty feet of long ginger hair falls from the tower and a young girl looks down at the woman.

   "Hello, Esme! I've missed you," the girl, Rapunzel, I assume, says with a smile.

   Cameron and I share a look. "A beautiful girl with long hair, Hansel would surely want to explore this," he whispers at me and laughs.

   I think Cameron would want to explore her too.

   I watch the woman as she climbs up the reddish-gold hair. She must be so strong to be able to do so.

   "I think we should wait this out and follow the woman, she seems like she's up to no good," I say to Cameron.

   He nods.

   I mean, a girl locked in a tower, and the only way of getting up and down is by her hair. Come on, that's extremely suspicious.

♡♡♡♡

We wait about thirty minutes behind the bushes and Rapunzel's hair flies back down the tower and the woman climbs out. It's time for our mission now. The woman looks around and thankfully doesn't spot us. We wait about a minute to finally get up and start following her.