Stay Strong

The Story

Tori knocked on the bathroom door. She didn't like how long the water was running and she was worried.

Jade had been staying with her family for a week now and she seemed much better, but Tori knew she wasn't yet.

"Jade? You okay?" She called out. "You've been in there for an hour and I'm getting kinda worried. Jade?" Tori pushed her ear to the door to try to hear anything besides the water.

The water shut off. "I'm fine."

"Okay, um, are you coming out?"

She heard Jade sniff. "No."

Tori frowned. "Are you- Did you-"

"No."

Tori sighed. "Good." She didn't know what else to say so she sat down on the floor with her back leaning up against her bed. She stared at the door, but she knew it wouldn't open.

She didn't know that in her bathroom Jade was sitting on the floor with her back leaning against the bathtub, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Tori sighed. "Jade, I don't know how you feel and I don't know how to help, but I wish you would let me try."

"I feel like part of me died and you can't help me." Jade responsed.

Tori didn't expect any response, she was thrown off guard a little bit. "Well, do you want to tell me about him?" She asked cautiously.

She waited in silence with baited breath as the clock in her room ticked by the seconds,  then the minutes.

"He was the best kid ever." Jade started. "He could make me smile even when I was really upset."

Tori smiled a little.

"He liked to play dress up when we were younger. He would wear my dresses and skirts that I didn't want to wear because they were too girly, but he loved them. He thought they were so pretty and he told me that he felt like magic when he wore them. Not like he was magical. He felt like he was magic. So I wrote him a story once. The magic boy. I was young so it was a crappy title, but he always wanted me to read it to him."

Tori waited patiently for Jade to feel like she wanted to continue.

"When he was first sent away, he um, he wanted me to tell him the story over the phone. So, even though I was on a date with Beck, I told it to him."

"Must be a really nice story."

Jade shook her head, but she realized Tori couldn't see her. "No, It's not. It's about a little boy who has power that no one else has and the kingdom hates him because of it. Um.." Jade cleared her throat. "Once there was a little boy who wore his sister's pretty dresses. She was a princess, but she didn't want to be, so she gave the dresses to the little prince. They were bigger than him because he was so small, but when he wore them it was like he was a giant. He had that power. He could grow as big as he wanted to be and stand as tall as a moutain, but only when he wore his dresses. His sister thought maybe the magic was in the dresses, the robes made of the finest material, so even though she didn't like them she tried one on, but she didn't feel different."

Tori waited again for Jade to continue.

"She didn't feel better, or taller, or happier. Only he did. The dresses weren't magic on their own. Only the boy had the power when he wore them. Only the little prince could tap into the power of those magic cloaks. The king wanted the dresses burned, if the princess refused to wear them the prince could not. They had no use. They little bpy screamed for the princess to help him save his magic." Jade took a deep breath. "So the princess snatched the dresses from the firey pit, burning her arm in the process, but she didn't mind. She liked how the flames licked her skin. She handed the dresses back to her brother going agaisnt the King's order. The King was not kind. The princess faced punishment for her disobedience, but again she didn't mind. The prince faced punishment for his disobedience, but the princess stood before the King with her arms cast out to her sides to shield the prince from any harm. "Punish me twice, father. I shall take his." She called out protecting the boy. She was punished twice and they were both sent to their chambers without food."

Tori frowned. The story wasn't as nice as she thought it was going to be.

"By late nightfall the young prince had left his chambers and crept down the hall to his sister's chambers. His sister wasn't sleeping, she slept less than the princess that felt the pea."

Tori chuckled a little.

"She was staring out her window waiting for a knight to save her. Rescue her from the awful castle. Her brother rushed into her bed and she soon joined him knowing he needed the comfort. She climbed into the bed beside him and he looked up at her. "Where is our prince?" He asked. She gave him a look. "What do you mean? I am waiting for my prince. You do not have a prince. You are a prince." She replied. "But I want a prince." He said back. "I want a prince to ride up on a white horse and take me away from this dreadful place. I want a prince I can share my magic with." The princess gave him a smile. "Then you will get one. Someday, your prince will ride up on a white horse and take you away from all this hurt. Now go to sleep." The next morning the princess woke up and went to the market without a dress or crown or any sense of who she was on her. She met a prince there. He didn't have a white horse, but he did give her a smile that made her feel like she was magic. She rushed back to the castle to tell the prince, but he was gone."

Tori waited, but instead of Jade continuing this time she cried. Tori stood and quickly moved to grab the screwdriver she keeps near the door when it gets jammed. After a few minutes she took off the hinges and moved the door to the side. Then she walked right into the bathroom and held Jade as she sobbed on the floor.