Forbidden (A Short Story)

Found

Rapunzel gasped and grabbed the something that lay on her vanity. A pan from her previous cooking sessions with Ms. Amanda.

"Who are you?" Rapunzel whispered with clear annoyance and attitude.

The boy looked up at her, his blue eyes piercing into her green ones.

"I am Jack Overland. You princesses are always so uptight..." the boy responded, glaring up at the girl in front of him.

"Why are you here? Are you here for my hair?" Rapunzel sneered at him as she continued to point the pan at his face and protectively wrapped her arms around all seventy feet of her hair.

Jack's face changed from one of annoyance to shock as he looked at the golden bundle in Rapunzel's arm.

"You have a lot of hair!" Jack breathed as his eyes followed the trail of hair that wound itself around the room.

"Hey, eyes up here," Rapunzel said, snapping her fingers, "Why are you here? Are you dangerous?"

Jack rolled his eyes and held up his hand which had a chain wrapped around it, "I'm here to hide. I didn't realize that the princess would be here. I stole bread for my family but obviously you wouldn't know our pain. You're a princess. You have everything."

Rapunzel sighed in defeat. She could see that Jack was a good person at heart. She felt ridiculous and ashamed to think that he would come here just for her hair.

"I'm sorry. I just haven't had much human interaction. I haven't even been outside in a while. I hope we can still try to become friends," Rapunzel apologized and hugged Jack.

Jack was surprised at the sudden movement of affection, but he wrapped his arms around her too.

Rapunzel and Jack became best friends as they were the only friends they had. Rapunzel told him all about her suitors and her magical hair. She trusted him that much. He meant a lot to her, and Jack appreciated her respect and trust in him. He gave her respect and trust back. He poured all his emotions to her. Family problems, money difficulty, thievery. They looked forward to and loved every moment they had with each other.

Rapunzel thought it best if Jack changed his appearance to conceal his identity. She asked her maids to prepare a can of white, non-removable hair spray made from the finest clay on the moon. An hour later, she grasped the metal can in her hands, trying to hold her best friend to the chair.

"No! Not my hair! Not my beautiful, beautiful hair!" Jack yelled as he unsuccessfully tried to cover his hair hair with his hands and run away.

But in the end, Rapunzel has been able to dye his hair a papery white and have him wear a blue shirt of sorts that she had made herself, and tan pants.

"You should have a new name too," Rapunzel said.

"I must keep Jack! It is my awesome name that I must keep," Jack replied in a snotty manner.

Rapunzel smirked at his rude tone, "Fine then, how about, Jack Frost," she said, pointing at the tiny snow flakes she had sewn onto his jacket.

Jack smiled as he gladly accepted his name.

But then came the day Rapunzel's fifth suitor came. As usual, Rapunzel had told Jack not to come that day. But we all know, due to Jack's great feeling of curiosity and jealousy, for he liked Rapunzel, got the better of him.

Jack dressed up at a palace guard. While he strolled through the palace's hallways, Rapunzel was being pampered by her maids, or as Rapunzel called them, her fellow sisters.

Rapunzel was woken up at 7:30 AM. She was immediately stripped of her nightgown and placed in the bathtub. The smell of cherry blossoms filled her nostrils. She bathed in the warmth and enjoyed her sisters giving her a manicure.

After, she was ushered to her wardrobe where a maid took out a dress that had a note on it. It read, "For my flower, Rapunzel. This dress will make you shine. ~ Mother"

Rapunzel was squeezed into her corset, and slid into her dress before putting on slight high heels with a look of dismay, not used to wearing shoes.

She sat at a desk, where one sister worked on her nails, the other did her hair, and the last was on makeup duty.

At the end, Rapunzel stared at herself in the mirror, back straight, head held high, hands folded neatly, and a grim look on her face.

Her hair was pulled up into a braid running on the upper portion of her head. The rest of hair was braided and then braided into on larger braid that was decorated with black and red jewels. She wore a silver tiara that had small black and purple jewels make small stars on her crown. Her makeup consisted of a cat eye and red lipstick. Her dress was made of black and purple satin. The top portion was black with silver diamonds making firework patters. The neck line was box shaped and showed much cleavage. Her sleeves were off the shoulder made with red lace. The bottom poofed out into ruffles, and the black blended to purple. Her shoes were two inches tall and were black with silver flowers decorating the perimeter of the shoe.

As Rapunzel took this all in, she felt disgusted how this is the way men wanted her to be. Just a thing. Just a toy. They didn't like her for who she really was.

She had lunch with her suitor, or Flynn. The entire time, he was staring at her, winking, and giving her the occasional strange face he called, "the smoulder." They had a stroll in the garden, and Rapunzel went through a whole process to get ready for dinner. Again, she had to endure Flynn's ridiculous and sexual comments. She was relieved when he left, and she changed into a comfortable, covered white dress.

As she sat on her bed, she felt a pair of hands on her shoulders.

"Hi, Jack..." she whispered, a small smile playing on her lips.

The lanky boy dropped down in front of her. His hand sneaked under her chin and brought it up, close to his face.

"You look lovely, Ms. Rapunzel," he grinned, his cold breath tickling her nose.

Rapunzel smiled but got lost in Jack's bright blue eyes. Jack looked at Rapunzel, loving the way her eyes twinkled in the moonlight. Both of their eyes dancing with love and happiness. As this happened, both leaned in slowly, eyes closing while doing so. And finally, they kissed. It was perfect to them, but Rapunzel knew that if her mother found her like this, it would be the death of Jack and the worst punishment for her. She just knew it.

She never wanted the kiss to end, but she stopped it for air and for caution. Jack and Rapunzel spent the rest of the evening together, sharing small pecks on the cheek, kisses, hugs, jokes, stories, and laughter. But most of all, love.