Fairytales and the Real World

Chapter 2

"Ok, Taylor, just don't flip out when I tell you this." "Ok?" He looks at me earnestly, practically begging me to understand what I haven't yet heard.

"Ok." I sigh. " I won't flip out when I finally get to hear what you wanted to tell me in the first place." I look at him with my head tilted as to say 'go on with it'.

He chuckles slightly and exhales deeply. I stare into his ice blue eyes that quickly show nervousness, but that is suddenly placed with a hard look of determination.

"Look Taylor, the reason why my father was murdered is because of you."

"Wait what!?!" I scream at the accusation.

"Just let me finish!" Aaron shouts over my horrified scream.

"Taylor, this world is not exactly what everyone believes it to be. There's another world, the so called fairytales, but they, all of them, to some extent are real."

I look him straight in the eye, confused at what he is getting to.

"My father is part of the living fairytales. He's what we know him as a protector."

"We?" I question still not understanding any of this. "Protector?" "Living fairytales?"

"Living Fairytales are the actual people from the fairytales, they aren't make-believe. We, meaning the people from this other world, yes I'm from it too. And a protector is a person who guides a certain person to find their fairytale."

Now it was finally my turn to say something, because Aaron looked at me expectantly. "What does this have to do with me? I didn't do anything right?"

He laughs at this, which frustrates me. "How is this funny?" I snap at him.

"I know you were adopted Taylor." He looks at me with a sad expression on his face.

"Yeah, thanks for stating the obvious. Why does that matter?" For a lot of reasons, the whole adopted subject was very touchy for me, it bothered me. I love my parents I do, I just wonder what my real parents were like.

"Well it matters because I know your real parents. "

"Wait what??? How??" I don't know whether to be excited or angry at this point.

" Your parents are the rulers of Falestia which is the Fairytale world I was talking about."

"Falesti-what now!?!" "What the heck are you talking about?! This has to be some kind of joke!" I may or may not just snapped this at him. I kinda wish I hadn't when I see that concerned look in his eyes.

"Taylor, please just listen. I know this is really hard to understand and plus I'm not good at explaining things." he mumbles the last part while looking down at his hands.

I sigh and take a deep breath to try and clear my head. I look at the boy who just told me the most frightening news of my life, besides the time my parents told me I was adopted. Anyway I close my eyes, take another deep breath and look up at Aaron who has been watching me intently this whole time.

"Ok. I'm ok, just go on." I try to look at him reassuringly, but I guess it comes across as pretty horrified instead..Why can't I be good at hiding my emotions??

"Taylor I promise everything's gonna be ok." Aaron replies while embracing me with a comforting hug. "Just trust me, ok?" He looks at me with an intense gaze. I look up at him and suddenly notice how close we are... geez I really don't need to get worked up about this now. I stare into his eyes and suddenly I'm filled with a little bit of courage, just a little bit of courage. But I guess that's all I need right now.

"Ok, I trust you Aaron." I barley manage to whisper.

"Good", Aaron says strongly while tightening his grip on my shoulder. Then he looks down at me and says something that I was definitely not expecting.

"Since I obviously can't explain this, you will have to come with me to Falestia. Only if you trust me of course." He looks down at me and smirks as the last sentence leaves his lips.

My eyes widen in shock, and I can feel my mouth hanging open, but I have no control now. This is just too unbelievable.

In seeing this extremely odd reaction, I notice his eyes soften with concern.

"It'll be ok. I promise" he whispers while gripping my hand with a strong but comforting feeling. "Are you ok with this Taylor?"

I look into his eyes and tighten my grip on his hand. And while looking into his eyes I realize something, something that I really knew from the beginning. I am willing to trust Aaron Hart with anything.

"Alright I'll go." I smile because of my newfound courage.

His ice blue eyes light up immediately, and he gives me a huge hug.

"Thank you so much Taylor, I was so worried you would say no!" He tries to hide his excitement, but it turns out that even Aaron can't hide his emotions sometimes.

To add to this moment of joy, I hear one sentence that springs me to my feet-sorry Aaron, but your hug is not as important as-

"Kids, cookies are ready!!" Ms. Hart- I mean Kelly yells from the kitchen.

Aaron and I give each other giddy looks and race downstairs, just like we used to.

As soon as we reach the kitchen, both Aaron and I run over to the plate of cookies.

"You two are worse than little kids!" Kelly exclaims with a glimpse of humor in her eyes.

Both Aaron and I look up and at the same time reply with smirks:

"We know."

But of course cookies can never last, as well as the easiness of the room fills with a slight bit of tension...

"Did my son explain to you what's going on?" Kelly asks knowingly

"Yes he did, and I'm going with him." I reply with a strong voice.

"You should get ready though, your leaving in a week. I'll tell your parents that it's a vacation, so there should be no complications with that." Kelly explains with a seriousness I have rarely seen.

"Let's go Taylor, it's getting late." Aaron says while leading me to the door.

As we drive home, questions race through my mind, but one that sticks out is: "How am I going to tell my friends?"