The Ice Prince

Chappy 4

Once I stuffed the crown into my backpack, I ran through the bushes and trees after Bonnie. Branches whipped at my flesh and I stepped hard on jagged rocks, but I didn't care. I had to catch up with her. She couldn't be alone out here.

I screamed her name, desperate. She couldn't leave. She couldn't be gone. I had to find her.

I flashed by something pink and I immediately stopped. There was a pink wad of something stuck in the poky branches of a bush. I grabbed hold of it and tugged it off. It was squishy and the scent of bubblegum whisked across my nose. I was on the right trail.

I picked up speed once more, until I finally stopped at the sound of quiet sobbing.

"Bonnie?" it stopped. "Bonnie, please. We need to talk."

"Talk about how I get everything I want and how perfect my life is?" came the wounded response.

"Bonnie, I didn't mean that. I can explain. I really can."

There was silence, and then, "I'm behind the boulder."

I turned and spotted it. I peered behind the boulder and there she was. I can't believe I didn't notice before, but her hair was beginning to blob together like gum. She was looking at me with watery eyes, still leaking with tears. I leaned against the side of the smooth rock and sighed.

"Bonnie, first of all, you're right. It is the crown making me do those things, but before you tell me to get rid of it, hear me out."

"....Okay."

I was a little surprised she didn't argue, but I jumped at my opportunity. "This crown gives me power, gives me strength, and it even protects me against radiation. Without it, my chance of surviving this decreases. A lot. Plus, just imagine if I was a powerless human and that mutated wolf attacked. We'd probably both be dead by now. The power of ice and snow is protecting me, and I'm trying, REALLY trying, to protect you as well."

"Why does it make you act so insane?" Bonnie asked, sniffing.

"Well, I... I think this crown is a curse or something. It takes over my mind when I put it on. That wasn't me saying those things, it was the crown making me. Please understand..." I didn't say out loud that I couldn't part with the crown even if I wanted to. It was a part of me now, whether I liked it or not. That was part of the curse.

She was silent for a while, pondering it I guessed. Then she spoke. "Promise to put it on only when absolutely necessary?"

"....I promise."

She gave a small smile. She patted the ground next to her, gesturing for me to sit by her. I didn't refuse. I felt utterly relieved. She forgave me and we were fixed. I couldn't believe how understanding she was.

"I should probably tell you how that acidic bubblegum even got me in the first place, huh?" she fingered the grass beside her, sighing.

"If it's too painful to talk about--" I started.

"No, no. You deserve to know. Just like you told me about how you lost your arm and the secret of your crown," she smiled.

"Well alright..."

She took a deep breath and began. "My dad owns a business. It's a candy business, you know licorice, lollipops, chewing gum, and all that stuff. Well, I was near the factory that makes all the candy after the bomb went off. I think the gum got infected somehow with that green acid. It was growing bigger and oozing... It caught me off guard and I got stuck in it. It took what felt like long, horrifying hours to get out of that mess. But apparently it infected me with it... I'm so worried that I'm gonna turn into a huge blob of chewing gum!" the tears began again. "Everything's getting stuck in my hair and it's getting stickier and stickier! What if my whole body turns into a gooey mess like my hair is!?"