Hey guys! Thanks for reading :)
-Hazel
~
Once upon a time? Nah. Once upon a time is for guys who start off small and end up big. It's for princesses who wear tiaras for the fun of it. For the boys and girls that normal citizens envy. The type of people that have millions of fans line up to simply meet them. Once upon a time is for stories of love, of romance. For people who have troubles, just like everyone else, but can overcome them.
Wait a minute.
Once upon a time, there lived a small brunette boy who was only six years old, sitting on a branch high up in the sky. It was high to him at the time, at least. In reality the thick bark only stood five feet in the air. He lived in Mullingar, Ireland with his dad and brother. Salty tears rolled down his flushed cheeks as the warm summer breeze blew his nerves away.
His older brother, Greg, just scolded him for eating his last cookie. I know, who cries over such a silly thing? Well this boy was particularly sensitive, and all he wanted was for Greg to know he loved him.
The little boy sobbed by himself for a while longer, until he heard the unfamiliar pitter patter of tiny footsteps beneath him. He knew for a fact that Greg and his dad were inside. The noise startled him so much, that his fear and clumsiness knocked him straight off of the small oak. Within seconds his tiny body lay on the soft, comforting grass. That wasn't the only thing under him, though. Under him also laid a little girl, age four, whimpering from surprise and pain. Tears smeared her rosy cheeks as her long brown hair fanned around her in the boy's yard.
She had just moved from Bradford to Ireland with her mum to get away from her abusive dad, and earlier her mum forced her to introduce herself to the neighbourhood. The little girl didn't much like socialising, but anything for her mum. Turns out she lived next door from the little boy.
"I'm sowwy! I'm sowwy, I'm sowwy!" the blue eyed boy repeatedly apologised. He took her petite hand in his and lifted her up. They both patted their clothes with their miniature palms. She wore a Minny Mouse outfit, and he wore overalls.
"It's otay. I'm Hazel. Hazel Quinn Pyper," she introduced, just like her mummy asked. She curtsied the best she could, taking what she knew from watching the Princess Diaries. The little boy smiled at her charm, finally wiping away his tears from before.
"Haz...Ha..Pyper! I'm Nall. Nall James Howan. Nice to meet woo Pyper," he mimicked. The boy's cheeks heated up from embarrassment that he couldn't say the stranger's name correctly. Soon his embarrassment disappeared, because she had the same problem. Plus, she was just stubborn enough that if he wasn't going to use her first name, then she wasn't going to use his.
"Hewwo, James. I live wight there now." She pointed to the direction of her flat.
"Oh! You're new. Want me to take woo awound the neighbourhood?" he offered. Before she could object, he grabbed a hold of her tiny wrist in his pale hand and led her through the flat next to his. "Now this is Mrs. Shaffer's house. Don't make her mad, or she'll trow her cats at woo," he explained, shivering at the memory.
"She acwually trew cats at woo?" the girl gasped in shock. James nodded slowly before leading her away, not wanting to get in trouble again.
"James," she stated after they walked down the safe neighbourhood sidewalk a little bit.
"Yeah?"
"We're gonna be best fwiends." He nodded, not thinking a thing of it, and continued the tour as if he'd known her for centuries.
*5 Years Later*
"Pyper! Pyper!" eleven years old James chanted while bursting out of his front door in the freezing snow with his favourite guitar in hand. He had just learned her most favourite song: The Reason by Hoobastank. She wouldn't stop singing it! Today wasn't just any regular day though, it was the day James worked up the courage to kiss her.
