Lies of a Fairy Tale

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

            Willow woke up the next morning to the smell of burnt bacon and pancakes. Sunlight shone through the blinds of her window, illuminating her room.

            River had fallen asleep at the end of her bed last night, while they were planning on what to do the following day.

            Willow shot up in bed as she remembered what they had arranged for that day. She felt excitement bubbling up in her. She looked over at her brother, and seeing that he hadn’t woken up yet, kicked him on the shoulder. He fell right off the bed and landed on his face.

            “Get up you lazy bum,” Willow ordered as she got up and went to stand next to his prone body. He shifted a little bit, but then just mumbled something unintelligible into the floor. Not that anything he ever said was intelligible.

            His sister sighed. “Oh, come on. We’ve got much to do today, remember? Though,” she said as her stomach grumbled grumpily to her. “I guess we’ll eat breakfast before we go out.”

            Her brother shot up from the floor. “Breakfast? I smell bacon. Beat you down there,” he yelled and raced towards the door, only to have Willow stick out her foot, tripping him in mid-sprint.

            “See you down there, big brother,” Willow said, as she stepped over his fallen form.

            River lifted his face to see his sister opening the door. He lifted up a hand. “No-” His dramatic cry was cut off as the door made hard contact with his features.

            Willow felt her stomach growl again as she bounded down the stairs in her pajamas. Her uncle smiled at her as she entered the kitchen.

            “Good morning,” he greeted. “I made bacon and pancakes. The syrup is on the counter.”

            His niece looked at the blackened strips on one plate and the dark brown pancakes stacked on the other. It seemed that Uncle Rufus was a bit better at cooking than his wife. The bacon was almost burnt beyond recognition, but at least there hadn’t been a fire. At least not that Willow knew of so far.

            “Well, this looks… edible,” she heard her brother say as he stumbled through the doorway. “At least it smells good.”

            Rufus stared at him. “What happened to your face?”

            River put his hands up to his head. “What do you mean? What’s wrong with it?” he asked nervously.

            Willow winced as she looked at him. His forehead had turned a purple color and the top his nose was swelling a little. The face-plantings and door smacking had not done any good to him.

            “Oh, nothing,” she smiled at him. “It’s as beautiful as ever. In fact, I think it’s improved. Anyways, let’s eat!”

            Her brother looked warily at her for a few seconds before shrugging and grabbing a plate to put his breakfast on. She did the same and followed him to the stools by the counter.

            The bacon was a bit too crunchy and hard, but the pancakes were actually delicious. It would have been an almost perfect breakfast if the world’s biggest pig hadn’t been sitting next to her and literally stuffing his face. River practically inhaled his food, resembling a human vacuum cleaner.

            Willow stared in wide-eyed horror. For some odd reason, her brother was always hungrier at breakfast than any other time of the day.