Once Upon A Time in 2016

The Beast: Chapter 2

Raef bonded over the next few days very well with Lucas, much to the chagrin of Ana, who attempted to steal the boy away from him any chance she got. Luckily for him Lucas wanted to play as much football as he could, so she was hardly successful. He wondered why on earth Ana did not attempt to play with them, and he found his answer on a rather rainy day. He had been lost in thought whilst walking around the house when he heard a door bang open. "Lucas! Come back here! I swear, if I get my hands on you-" 

"You'll never get your hands on me though, will you Ana?" the boy laughed as he sped past Raef. 

"Wait-you know-I can't run!" Ana wheezed out, before coming to a halt at the bottom of the stairs, keeling over.

So, Raef thought, Fatty's too fat to run. At that exact moment Ana looked up, and saw him staring at her with thinly veiled disgust. Embarrassed she straightened herself, and just as she opened her mouth to give him snarky remark, he said, "I honestly thought there was an earthquake coming on", before casually turning to walk away.

 He did not get away fast enough not to hear her reply though. "Then you must be bloody stupid, everyone knows it's blooming impossible for earthquakes to happen up here, we're not in-between two tectonic plates like fricking Japan."

What Raef did notice was that Ana was a really good story teller. Her tactic to make Lucas come back to her was always the promise of a story. Sometimes she would read, sometimes she would make a story up from scratch, but her favourite technique was giving well known stories endings of her own. Raef hated listening to her voice, and it was by chance he stumbled into the library when she was giving Cinderella's well-loved tale a twist. 

"As the first step-sister failed to fit her foot into the shoe, the second one came forward. She was just as ugly as her sister, some might say more so, with a humungous body, and spotty skin. She could see the Prince's stewards smirking at her, and she could almost read their minds, how on earth could this fatty even dream of fitting into the shoe. Putting on a brave face, she sat down, and allowed the footman to try glass slipper, knowing that not in a million years her foot would ever fit. 

Then, the most miraculous thing happened. The shoe slipped on! The prince looked at the plump girl in awe and love, whilst Cinderella, her step sister and the others in the room were gobsmacked. "This is the girl!" the Prince exclaimed, and as Cinderella protested, the guards dragged her away. The Prince led his new Princess by the hand, and took her away to his magnificent palace. They married soon after, and lived happily ever after."

"Poor Cinderella," Lucas said sadly, shaking his head, "Her prince was stolen by another woman." 

"I think it's more 'aww look at the fat step-sister who no one likes' good luck!' sort of thing" Ana told him. "You know I'm sure the fat step sister's fat foot didn't fit into the glass slipper, and Cinderella did actually get to marry her Prince," Raef interrupted, only to be glared at by Ana.

"It's my story, so I decide who gets the happy ending," she said, acid dripping from her voice, "If you don't like it, don't listen."

"You know, I don't know what the Grimm Brothers would say when they hear that you stole their story, and plagiarised it as your own," he replied, slouching over an armchair.

"Well, seeing as they're dead, I'd have to kill you to find out, in which case, I'd be happy to help."

"I'd have to take you up with me though if I'm going to be able to tell you, so I'm going nowhere without taking you with me," he replied with a smirk, knowing he had won this round.

"Trust me, I'd go nowhere with you without putting up a fight", she said looking at him in disdain.

"And trust me, I'd use something to knock you out, like a crane, since there's no way I'm fighting you; all you have to do is sit on me and I'm finished," he snapped back coldly, earning a gasp from Lucas, who had been watching the match of words with interest.