The Golden Apple

Eleven - Jake

The leaves of the tree outside rustled in the breeze. I shivered. Ever since Magnolia walked out that door, I have had my nose deep in her book collection.

I read one story called A Fear to Destroy. It was about a jumpy fellow that wanted to conquer his fears in order to impress the lady of his dreams. He was scared of large birds and sharp objects. Everyone made fun of him until a furious dragon attacked the town. In the end, the fellow grabbed a sword and killed the dragon, conquering both of his fears all in one moment.

A dragon is not a bird, but it does fly, so maybe it counts as something that he would be scared of. In my opinion, the author should have said "large flying creatures." A dragon is definitely not a bird.

It was a good message to send to young people, but it had such a predictable conclusion. He had married the lady he loved and everything turned out perfectly happily ever after. I don't think it is possible for everyone to be perfectly content after their home town was torn to shreds. I know my life didn't pan out that way.

My thoughts were interrupted by the familiar thumping down the staircase above. I closed the book I was reading and set it down on the window seat. I dove behind the side of Magnolia's bed, inching my way underneath it. Another pair of footsteps followed after, and they sounded a lot heavier than the first set of steps. I tucked my chin as the door swung open. I tried taking a better look at the situation from underneath the bed. All I could see were two pairs of feet.

"Magnolia, listen to me!" a man's voice pleaded. "I did what I had to do!"

I slithered deeper underneath the bed frame. Maybe the King himself had followed Magnolia down into the room. Even though I could not see their facial expressions, I could tell the tension was high. This isn't going to end well.

"I can't believe you!" Magnolia shouted. "Telling Oriel he wasn't allowed to take me to the streets? He was actually going to do it! He was actually going to go out and explore with me as an apology, but of course you just had to intrude!"

"I did it for your own good," the King growled. "There are some dangerous people out on the streets. I lost your mother that way. I cannot afford to have something terrible happen to you."

"But Mother was alone making her way back to the castle when she was killed!" Magnolia snapped back. "Oriel would have been with me the entire time! It would have been fine!"

"I do not feel comfortable with you out on the streets at all!" the King scolded. "You are a sixteen year old girl and there are a lot of menacing citizens out there! I don't think you realize that you do not have the proper knowledge of self protection."

"Excuse me!?" Magnolia shrieked. I ears rang at the shrill of her voice. I shuffled a little deeper underneath the bed frame. I was thinking of ways to comfort her once her father leaves the room.

"You honestly don't think I can protect myself? Just because I am of royalty and sixteen years old doesn't mean I'm a helpless little kitten!" Magnolia spat. "I will know what to do if someone attacks me!"

"Oh?" her father tested her. "And what exactly would you do?"

"Well -" Magnolia started, but slowly trailed off. I squeezed my eyes shut and cringed from underneath the bed. Her father winning this argument is actually the worst possible outcome there is. She needs to stick up for herself!

Come on Magnolia, I thought. Say something clever!

"It's easy, really!" she insisted. "If they try to attack me, I'll fight back by hitting them! Then if they persist, I run away and scream to alert people of this attacker! I am quite sure this technique would work!"