Rapunzel [JunHao]

3

Minghao

"No. you are not allowed to leave the cottage", her words left no room for discussion. But this might be my only chance to see the outer world.

"But mom-".

"No!"

"Mom!"

"I said no!" I flinched. A sharp pain shot through my cheek, leaving an uncomfortable numbness behind. My mother's hand was suspiciously close to my face.

"Mom", I choked out, fighting back the tears that were threatening to fall.

"Rose, I told you a hundred times how dangerous and scary the world is. There are over a million ways to die. You could be split by an axe or mauled by hungry Wolfes. And the human", she sight, "the people out there are angry, egoistic and heartless creatures. They lie, steal, hurt and kill each other. Rose, I just don't want you to get hurt. The cottage is the safest place in the world, I can protect you here and no one will come and do bad".

My mother mustered me, obviously expecting some kind of answer. I nodded slightly, not rising my head from looking at the ground.

"Good", she smiled, "now, tell me how you came up with this horrible idea. You haven't talked about the world outside the cottage for years. Was it Mary?"

"No mom, it was not".

"Hhhm", she did not believe me.

Not wasting any more words on me, my mother turned her attention back to the loads of work on her desk.

I bowed lightly and left the room.

My mother was wrong when she toughed that I had ever stopped wanting to leave the cottage. I was raised up there. Not even once did I go farther than the borders of the garden. Not to get groceries or cloths or even to see a doctor. My mother or Mary were always the once to go run errands or to cure me. End every time I asked my mom about leaving, her words were the same. It is dangerous out there. It is not save for you. People are cruel and everything is deathly weapon.

But I knew better. The library was filled with history books and facts about different countries and regions. Some even had pictures. Filled with fascinating creatures and lively streets. People with all kinds of different clothing, skin colour and facial characteristics. It was fascinating. I was only used to seeing the same two people day in, day out. I could not stay still at the thought of how many things I could explore.

Oh, how I wished to see the streets of the cities, shining greater than the stars under all the lights. I wanted to climb mountains and swim in the sea.

I sighed and plopped down next to the rosebushes, "But I really wanted to go".

I slung my arms around my knees and placed my chin on them. She did not even listen to me. Instead ... I placed my hand on my burning cheek. Did I go too far? Small tears ran down from my eyes, falling on my dress just like the water drops before. I just wanted to go outside one time. Only - a sob shook my body - Only once. The tears streamed faster down my cheeks, not showing any sign of stopping soon.

Suddenly the bush next to me started to rustle. I nearly jumped half a meter to the side.

"Mary?"

The roses had grown nearly two meters high, building wall like rows along the small path. I remembered watching Mary prune them just yesterday, so what was she doing there right now?

The bushes rustled again.

"Mary? Is that you?" I tried looking over the hedges, since the roses grew so thick that not even the sun could find its way through the branches.

"Mary?" still no answer. I carefully pulled a few leaves away. But brown cloth blocked my way to see the meadow on the other side. I froze. Mary always wore white.

"Who- Who are you?"

The cloth shifted and in the next second a slander eye stared back at me. The colour of the eye was so dark brown, I could hardly say what was iris and what not. The eye blinked twice and then it was gone.

"Wait!"

I ran to the end of the trail and looked behind the bushes, but who ever had been there before was gone.

"Weird", I leaned my head to the side in confusion. Who was that? And how did he get here? The property was surrounded by thick stone walls and the only way inside was through the main door. And my mom was the only one who had a key.

For the remaining day I looked around the garden, hoping to find the intruder. After the sun sat and it started getting could outside, Mary called for me again to come inside and have dinner. My mother did not bother to show up and so only Mary and I ate.

I gulped down the plate of meat and carrots and hurried upstairs into my room. My pink, dirty dress hung still over the bed and I made a mental note to ask Mary to clean it, before I threw it over the next chair. With a swift motion I toed of the shoes and let out a small sight. No matter how beautiful they were, after a day my feet always hurt.

Next was my dress. It had a complex lacing in the back, which took years to learn how to open up. Inconveniently every single one of my dresses seemed to have the same kind of closing. A few tugs on the lace and the sting loosened up. "Ahh", I let out a second sigh and rolled my head back. I shrugged down the right strap and was about to strip the other, when a cough behind me made me turn around.

I let out a shriek. In front of me stood a tall handsome man. He was clothed in a white shirt and green pants with a thin brown coat hanging from his shoulders, down to his knees. The man had blond, parted hair, with a few strands hanging into his eyes. His eyes. I gasped. Slender, nightly curved eyes with dark, nearly black irises.

"You!"