Short Stories

Rapunzel (With A Twist Of Fate)

Rapunzel's small fingers were wrapped around her mother's hand.

Her innocent eyes sparkled as she looked into her mother's eyes-- eyes filled with love as they gazed down at her soft face. Eyes filled with sorrow as her warm hand slipped away from Rapunzel's. Eyes filled with a pain so strong that not even the oceans could match its depth.

Her mother's gentle movements became jerky as the bad men grabbed her by the shoulders. Their moonlit silhouettes were large, towering, terrifying; as they thrust the woman against the wall and held her. The bag she clutched in one hand was ripped from her grasp and the contents spilled onto the floor, clattering in all directions and sparkling magically as the moonlight caught them.

A small golden coin quietly rolled over to where Rapunzel was sitting and fell over onto its side. Fascinated by its shiny glow, she picked it up and held it in her tiny fingers.

But she could not admire it for more than a second before it was torn from her grasp by a huge rough hand. The man shoved her and she fell back, colliding with the floor as her mother cried out in fear.

Rapunzel began to weep. The bad men were scaring her terribly. "Mama, make them go away!" she sobbed, clutching her hands to her chest as she curled up on the floor.

Her mother spoke in quick, hushed words to the man holding her against the pale green wall, but all he gave in response was a grunt and the quiet shhing of a knife being unsheathed.

Then suddenly the green wall was red.

After that, Rapunzel didn't remember much. She remembered the stampede of feet trampling past her and the slam of the house's door, and she remembered feeling horribly dizzy after she was finished weeping. She remembered the night slowly fading into day. She remembered people suddenly flooding into her home. She remembered her mother lying on the floor, enfolded in a deep sleep and unwilling to awake.

All the moments in between were fuzzy and clouded.

But somehow, after that, she was enveloped in a stained blanket and carried by a meandering stranger to a lonely-looking cottage in the woods. Unbeknownst to her at the time, this was where her fate would be sealed into a dark and sorrowful package for the rest of her life.

* * *

All men are vile creatures. All men are not to be trusted. All men are evil.

This is the mantra the witch preached to young Rapunzel every day of her life. Every morning, when she sat down at the breakfast table with a bowl of porridge in front of her, she was required to repeat this mantra before she would be allowed to eat. Rapunzel would not be allowed to meet strangers. Rapunzel would not be allowed to see any man. Rapunzel would not be allowed to step outside the safe home the witch had provided for her.

To enforce these rules strictly, the witch took Rapunzel to a place no one must ever find her-- A tall brick tower, stationed in a clearing in the middle of the woods, the only entrance being a window high up on the tower wall.

While she lived with the elderly woman, Rapunzel's hair was never cut. It grew very long; flowing past her ankles and across the ground and snaking around furniture. It could be a nuisance at times, but the witch found a use for it: A lever with which Rapunzel could lift her in and out of the high tower window.

Now, living with the witch was not a pleasant experience for the young and growing Rapunzel. When she was not criticizing the girl, she beat her, neglected her, refused to feed her if she made even the smallest mistake. Scars drew themselves over her back and her arms were painted in purple splotches from her painful bruises. 'Witch' was the name Rapunzel gave to her, but when speaking to her caretaker she was required to address her as 'ma'am' and nothing else.