Guardians and Angels

Chapter 13: Jack

North pretty much expressed his questioning and hesitance with just a simple raise of his eyebrows and slightly pursed lips when he saw I had brought home a girl, especially one that wasn't Elsa. He was currently leaning on the kitchen counter with his arms laid over his chest and just stared at me for a long time.

"I can see you got over Elsa pretty quickly. May I suggest slowing down or taking a break from girls?" North proposed after a minute or so of silence.

Already, this was off to a bad start. "North, this is really serious," I addressed sternly. How am I gonna tell him? Where do I even start?

"Serious? You've just barely broken up with Elsa and you're already in a serious relationship with her?"

"No, I-" I groaned under my breath and decided to not beat around the bush anymore and just say it. "Rapunzel's mom has been abusing her."

This piqued his interests even more but brought an unsettling frown on his face. He widened his eyes and stood fully upright. "What?"

"Rapunzel had confided in me that her mom abuses her so I tried to get her out of there as fast I could, but her mom showed up and started slapping her right in front of me, so I stopped her and took Rapunzel with me and told her she could stay here for the night," I got out in a jumbled rush.

My grandpa nodded with a distant expression on his face as he processed what exactly had been told to him. "I'm glad you brought her here, we'll make sure to make her feel safe and welcomed."

I released a breath I didn't know I was holding and felt a heavy weight lift off my shoulders knowing that she'd be safe. "Thank you so much North."

"Did you call the police?"

"No, I just wanted to her out of there as fast as possible."

He nodded his head once more with understanding and slapped his large hands onto my back."I'm going to call the police, you go make sure she's okay."

I didn't need to be told twice.

Before making my way to Emma's room to check on Rapunzel, I grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a shirt for her to wear to bed. I knew they might be a little big on her, but it was more comfortable than the jeans and t-shirt she was currently wearing.

When reaching Emma's room I saw that the door was partially opened and I stopped right in front of it. I peeked through the crack and saw Rapunzel with Emma, talking on Emma's bed. Emma wore her usual pink nightgown that matched her very pink room and Rapunzel sat on the ledge of her bed, listening intently to my sister. Instead of going in, I decided to listen to what they were talking about.

"So why exactly are you staying the night?" Emma asked.

She and I both flinched at the question.

"Umm... well my house was having some electrical problems and I was stuck in the dark." If I didn't know any better, I probably would've fallen for Rapunzel's lie like Emma did. "But Jack helped me, he got me out of there and brought me here so I wouldn't have to face the darkness alone. I'm kinda scared of the dark."

Her choice of words definitely caught my attention. I took notice of how her lie also held a truth to it and I began to wonder how often she had used this tactic before. Has she used it on me before?

The kind of darkness she was referring to wasn't black empty space you get when the lights are off, it was the darkness that tried to take away her spirit. The inhabitable darkness that tried to swallow her goodness and sought to destroy her hope piece by piece until it was barely even cognizant. Rapunzel has faced darkness in a way that I couldn't imagine, and the worst part was that she was all alone. No one knew about it, therefore, no one could have the chance to help her.