Rapunzel [JunHao]

2

Minghao

I let my finger dance over the water. Disturbing the clear surface and braking it into waves. A small blue and white striped paper ship rocked back and forth next to me.

The sun shone on the small lake, reflecting on the glittering liquid. A few rays warmed my face and tingled my nose. I scratched it to get rid of the annoying feeling but grimaced at my cold and wet hands. Some drops fell onto my dress, darkening the pink, soft cloth.

"Oh no", I rubbed the thin material in the hope to try it faster. But in the end the strains became even bigger and I decided to ignore it. Instead I ruffled through my hair and tried to find a more comfortable way to place the hairband between my locks.

"Rose!", a shout in a foreign accent echoed through the garden.

"Here Mary!" I waved at the small, plumb woman that stumbled towards me. Her legs were so short that she had trouble getting through the high grass around the lake.

"Miss Rose! Miss Rose! Madam is looking for you. She wants to see you in the study".

"Oh, I will be right there", I stood up, dusting off my dress and dirt covered legs. Even the petite samt covered shoes had little green and brown spots.

My mom would scold me if she would see my dirty cloths. The dress was expensive. Soft layers of tulle under a pink dress with a wide skirt and delicate frame of lace. And now everything was speckled in brown and green. I would have to change before meeting her.

"I am just going to get into knew cloths first".

"No miss Rose! Madam requested you right away!", Mary called after me, but I was already running towards the house.

It was a small cute cottage. Made out of old white stones and covered with wild flowers, ivy and moss. The house was not practically huge, but big enough for three bedrooms, a kitchen, a library and den and a few more small rooms for storage or rather useless things. Like the music room that only housed a single piano, or the art room that was stuffed with various unfinished paintings and sculptures. Those rooms that were only provided for me to learn what well raised young ladies were supposed to learn my age.

My room was at the second floor, right next to my mothers camber and Marie's territory. Two parts of the house I was strictly forbidden to enter without permission.

Right beneath my room was the kitchen. Thanks to that, I would wake up with the mouthwatering scent of freshly backed cake and bread in summer, and would be nicely warmed up even through winter.

My room itself was small, just big enough to fit my bed, a table and a wardrobe inside. And just the way my mother preferred it, it was all covered in creme and light colors and decorated with thin lace and flounce. Basically the room looked like a unicorn had thrown up all over it. The dream of every little girl.

I dashed through the room, opening and discharging the dress I wore hectically and slipping into the next best cloths I found. It was a yellow dress adorned with silk flowers in different colors. I checked myself in the mirror - I looked more than acceptable, even for the scrutinizing eyes of my mother - and stumbled back town the stairs to the study room.

I stoped right in front the door, smoothed my dress and over knee socks out one last time and knocked at the door.

"Come in".

My mother sat at an old, heavy and long bureau. Compared to the item of furniture she seemed unhealthily thin and white. She was once a beautiful woman and even now, after all those years, you could see traces of her once blooming looks. But time had taken its toll on her. She was small and thin, her face traversed by wrinkles. And her hair, once full and deep black, was now mixed with gray and white.

"Mother, you asked to speak me?"

"Yes my child. We have important matters to discuss", she stopped for a moment, taking the time to motion me to sit down.

In the short period of silence my head started to overwork. Had I done something wrong? Did I forget to do one of the tasks she had given me on her last visit? No, I at least couldn't think of any thing.

I sat down, just like she requested and waited for my mother to continue, while biting my lip in worry about what she would tell me next.

"In a few days, you will turn eighteen. An important age, after all you are about to become a grown up. Now, is there anything you would want for your birthday? It's a very special day in your life, so don't hold back with your wishes. I will get you whatever you want, my dear", she expectingly smiled at me waiting for an answer.

But I was so shocked and relieved at first, that she was not angry at me, that I was not able to process her words right away.

It took a bit for me to decide on a present. "Mother, as my birthday present I only have one wish".

"What is it my love?".

"My I go out and see the world? Please mother. I want to see other people, I want to visit the kingdom close by. I always wished to go to the marked and try the different foods there. Watch the children play around on the streets and see all the different people that float through the city. Please, let me go outside the gardens and explore the world for once", I looked at her pleadingly.

Not once in my life, was I allowed to step outside the piece of land I called my home. Apart from Mary and mother I had never met any other people. Not once was I able to go and get groceries, to see fields or the see.

All my life I had been locked up in the cottage, away from civilization. And every time I had asked my mother wether I could go beneath the bonders, she forbade it.

The word was cruel and cold, she kept telling me. People were dangerous and hurtful. I was save where I were and if I would ever leave this place, horrible things would happen.

But I grew older and wiser, I read books about all the different contrives and regions. About other cultures and all the beauty out there. I had come to the decision that I wanted to see all that with my own eyes, no matter the dangers.

And now, on my eighteenth birthday, the day I would become an adult, the day that was so important that I was allowed to wish for anything I wanted, I couldn't resist to fulfill that dream.

"No". The answer was short and quiet. But it cut through the room like a knife. And took all my hopes and dreams with it.