THRICE Upon a Time...

Goldilocks ~1~

Aurora felt rough, haggard bark against her head.

Slowly, she yawned, stretching like a cat, and fluttered open her eyes.

The previous night, she and her two friends had ran like hell through the forest, ignoring the branches that scratched at their faces. When they had finally stopped to catch their breath, it was dark, the night covering the woods like a purple velvet blanket. There had been a huge, hollow tree towering beside them, with thick branches, and they had crawled into it for shelter.

Aurora looked around, swatting away mosquitoes. Snow White and Rapunzel were curled up near her, breathing peacefully. Mellow sunlight floated through the entrance to the tree, dusts dancing in it. 

She stood up and walked to her friends, leaves and twigs crunching beneath her feet. "Up you get, both of you." Aurora shook Snow White gently, and then delivered a kick to Rapunzel.

"Ow...." Rapunzel groaned drowsily. Aurora grabbed her ears and yanked them, hard.

"OW!!" Rapunzel jumped up and aimed her fist at Aurora's stomach. Aurora dodged skillfully.

"We have a long day before us, my friends. We have found the golden orb, and now we must journey its directions. Onwards!" Aurora ducked through the entrance of the tree and squinted through the brightness. The forest looked reasonably more welcoming with sunlight. Rapunzel followed, and then Snow White with her basket. Rapunzel eyed the basket and shook out her hair.

"I'm hungry." she announced, picking out her golden apple from the cluttered hamper.

"Um...Rapunzel...speaking of which...." Snow White swallowed. "I think the North Witch...failed."

"What do you MEAN?" Rapunzel scowled, and took a great bite.

CLANG!

Silence.

"Ow. Ow. Ow ow. OW." Rapunzel slowly pulled her mouth away from the fruit. On the apple were two dents where her teeth once were. Otherwise, the smooth, shining surface was fine. "OW." Rapunzel touched her numb teeth and winced to herself. "GOD...is this...SOLID GOLD??"

"My goodness! It appears so!" Aurora grabbed Rapunzel's apple and stared at it, rolling it around in her palm. She threw it on the ground as hard as she could. It bounced away, unscathed. She jumped on it, bashed it with a stick, bashed it with a rock, jumped on it with Snow White.

The gold apple was still gold and round and solid. And hard. It was very hard.

"WHAT THE HELL." Rapunzel snapped. "Is the North Witch, like, a cheap RIP-OFF of a witch??" she scrabbled in the basket and found her cell-phone, smooth and silver and sleek. She flipped it up and began to search for the North Witch's number. Rapunzel swore. "No bloody signal."

She raised it to the sky, but the bold words still remained on the screen. "So, like, basically everything in the basket is useless." Rapunzel threw out the apples and stuck the cell in her jean pocket. She took out the bottle of clear pristine water and twisted the lid, taking a swig. "Blargh...tastes warm." Rapunzel spat the water onto the earth.

"We're so screwed." Snow White moaned.

"We still have the scrolls. And the orb." Aurora offered. Gingerly, she picked up the golden ball and wiped the grime off it with her sleeves. The ball was gorgeous. It had delicate, swirling patterns, feathers and birds, petals and fountains and roses, every drop, every crease, all carved beautifully out of gold. "Now." Aurora mused. "How must we open this...?"

"Look, here," there was a tiny gold butterfly in the center of the ball, and it was to this that Snow White pointed. "I think that's a clasp." Snow White reached over Aurora's shoulder and carefully pried at the butterfly.