History of Fictitious: Volume Three

Chapter 2

"Snow, I'm going out to the forest! Do you want to come?" Rose asked, putting on her snow boots and red cloak.

Snow sat at a desk writing. She mumbled the sentence she was writing down and then told her sister, "I'm coming."

She set the quill down and grabbed her boots and cloak. Rose was already heading out the door, ready to be outside again. Snow, holding an herb book, ran to check on her sister.

"What are we looking for today?" Snow asked.

Rose tied her long black hair with a red ribbon, "Just some things that can only grow in winter. How does it feel to be nineteen?"

"Hardly any different than eighteen," Snow replied.

Rose laughed, "I feel the same. I say we go check out the castle grounds tomorrow to celebrate. I have to deliver some herbs there anyway."

"So what you're saying is you want me to get out more?" Snow White asked.

"Yep!"

"I'll think about it."

Truthfully, Snow hated going into town. She was far more comfortable at home but knew Rose loved it. For her sister, she would at least consider going out. However, there was another reason Snow neglected to go down the mountain.

The girls continued on, searching for anything to take notes on. While finding a blooming plant, they heard someone yelling. They looked at each other and headed towards the crying sound.

Soon, they found the source of the noise. It was a centaur with a long, bushy beard stuck on a tree's rough bark. The girls had met the centaur beforehand. Two years ago, they found him tangled up in a fishing pole. They freed him then and advised him to cut his beard, but clearly, he ignored their advice as his facial hair held him captive again.

Seeing the girls, he groaned, "Not you bothersome girls!"

"Yes, us again, here to save you from your own beard," Rose said, pulling out the knife she used to cut plant stems.

As soon as she neared him, he screamed, "No, not my beard!"

She sighed, "It has to come off! If it doesn't, you'll be stuck there!" She reached forward and cut his beard, only about three inches shorter than before.

Once he was free, he turned to look at Rose. Anger was boiled inside him while Rose polished off her knife, paying him no heed. He stretched his arms out in her direction, wanting to crush her so severely that his veins popped. However, he took a breath and backed away.

"You're lucky I'm not fond of killing people without a good price on their head," he said to her, turning away from the girls, "Otherwise . . ." He made a slicing motion at his neck and galloped off.

"Ungrateful jerk," Rose muttered with gritted teeth, getting just as enraged as the centaur was before.

Snow patted her sister's shoulder. "It's alright, Rose. You know how some people are. They don't want to depend on others, especially for something as embarrassing as that."

Slowly, Rose put her knife back where it belonged, and then she said, "Let's go home and celebrate our birthday."

Back at their cottage, Snow baked them a cake and put candles on it. She put the cake on the table, and the two sisters sang themselves a birthday song. Together, they blew out the candles. It wasn't much of a party, and it only reminded the girls that their parents were gone.

Being the more social one, Rose asked Snow White, "So, do you want to go to the castle grounds tomorrow? I could really use some company."

Snow White sighed, wishing her sister had forgotten about that. She answered truthfully, "You know I don't like going, so maybe another time."