After Henry (Once Upon a Time)

Chapter Two: The scary thing

Ivy: They say dreams are memories. Memories of another life.

As I lied in bed, and my eyes were shut to the sunlight that screamed the beginning of day, the hot Californian wind that raged on without any notice, invited by the opened window that didn't seem to be closed very often, my mind evoked the most intriguing and magical of dreams.

Filled with fantasy and the breath of magic, they clouded my mind's eye, as I slept, and realized that they were more than just dreams. They were so real, tangible, just like memories, pictures in an old dusty album, with golden frames around them because they were so important.

I saw myself wearing dresses I'd never wear in my life.

In one scene, I had a big purple cloak over a forest green dress. My hair was long, it formed little black curls, as the rest of it was held in a low braid.

"Isn't it pretty? And so soft?" I asked, holding what it appeared to be a mushroom from Wonderland. What an odd thing to possess! But I wasn't ordinary in that dream, I could swear I was a princess, powerful, magical, intoxicatingly beautiful. I held the fungus and placed it on the prince's face, as he looked at me, static. He couldn't move, I kept him that way, and he obeyed the command of my magic. Forest green eyes, sizzled chin, nerdy look on his face, but hot strong arms that could lift you up until you touched the clouds. Soft marble skin...so innocent just as that mushroom. "Who would have guessed this mushroom can cause so much pain?" I asked, staring at the familiar boy in front of me.

"Why are you going to poison my heart?" He asked, concerned. His breath was fast passed and my heart teared apart with his pain, but an undeniable dark part of me relished in the breath drowned in fear, it excited me to see him so vulnerable, so innocent, so close at hand.

The rest of my speech was cloudy, I couldn't catch the details. My attention was caught by the touch of marble, as I placed my fingers on his flesh, little did I know I wanted to hurt him, almost as more as I wanted to kiss him. I held a knife and placed it above his heart, my eyes glittered with the sensation of feeling his skin against the cold blade. My lips soaked in honey, craved for the little attention they could capture from the prince whose heart belonged to someone else. And here I was, hurting him, relishing in the burst of joy that darkness gave me. It was as seductive as him.

Thinking, now, rationally, how could I fall so short? How could I be so messed up, mixing passion, desire, with darkness. But then again, they did say everything begins with absence and desire. It begins with a discovery...a craving for something shining and new just like Henry Mills: a prince.

"It makes me wonder, what could happen once my step-sister is out of the picture." I said, as my eyes widened to the prince's concerned look.

Lips were ready to kiss, imbibed both in honey and poison. And just like that, it all disappeared, the dream I so bittersweetly conjured vanished in a cloud of dark fiery smoke, taken away by the stroke of eight-fifteen, the hour the clock beside me screamed in an angry tone.

My eyes opened, the dream flew away from the window. I was far from being a princess, and right now, my new-found home, far from being a castle. More like a dump filled with pages of unwanted manuscripts, clothing and boxes with old dusty albums.

The alarm screamed eight-fifteen, time to wake up, no matter how much I wanted to stay asleep. Guess the best I could do was obey the wishes of that demon box that kept screaming at me.

I held high, my nose even higher, taking after my mother. Guess she taught me something useful, after all, she taught me how to hide from the world in my button up look.

I only had a t-shirt that didn't even belong to me...it was big, so big that my body just seemed to disappear inside of it. A male shirt, that served me more as a dress. It could only belong to Henry. But how did I end up with it in the first place?! Oh my...it took me to wonder. What the hell happened last night?