Simple Fantasies

Chapter 1- Reality Strangles

© no copyright please. This is my original work so.

Author's note:

I don't really know what I'm doing. I mean sure, I like writing and I'm probably doing this for my own enjoyment. However, I hope this will turn out well since this isn't the first time I'm attempting to write a book. Also, since my brother alao piblished his first chapter already, I should probably catch up too. So uh get ready for irregular updates perhaps? And crappy storywriting. Thanks I guess.

Chapter 1

Since I was a kid, my mom has always been blunt towards me. That's probably because she's a single mom.

"Don't watch Barney okay? It's obviously fake. A big purple- I swear purple? - dinosaur would've eaten all of those children with no imagination at all. Dinosaurs are also clearly extinct. So-," I shall cut off her boring speech. Yes, this is the kind of dialogue I dealt with as a toddler. Well, at least it was something like that because obviously, I was too young to remember the exact details.

But what I DO remember most of my childhood memories was when Grandpapa passed away just a few days after I turned 6. The night after his cremation, Mom slipped into my bed. My back was facing her.

"Hey Riri. Grandpapa is out today. He couldn't finish his bedtime story about Cinderella with you, could he? I'll finish it for you," she whispered into my hair. She had her face snuggled deep into my neck.

"The prince held the slipper in his hands and thought: What kind of shoe is this? What terrible design, GLASS slippers? Ridiculous. And thinking that the fact that the girl ran away from him at midnight most likely meant rejection, he didn't think much of her any further and his father, the king, had him have an arranged marriage while Cinderella returned to her household chores after that night. The end." I gulped and turned to look at Mom.

"Really? That's how the ending is?" I asked her as my brows furrowed, eyes searching her face for a sign that she was joking. Mom nodded. "Listen Riri, reality bites. Either you wake up or ship out. In fact, reality strangles you, then kicks you to the curb, leaving you limp. Understand?" I nodded, staring into her eyes.

She's right, I remember thinking, that's why Grandpapa died. There is no perfect happy ending. Ah, such mature thoughts and broken childhood.

Then, there's the opposite of Mom. Kurt Drakley, my childhood friend. He was in my kindergarten.

There would be one hour of free playtime everyday, where we were given options of dress up, mini soccer, dance and songs, cooking and reading in the library. During that hour, no one ever picked cooking, dance and songs and reading. Especially reading, thankfully, though, because I absolutely enjoyed the silence there.

One day, just like any other, I went back to my refuge from reality. "Oh, look who's here again! Rianne, what would you like to read today?" Wick, the old librarian, would always greet me. I was probably the only kid who ever went there and he could really use some company, even if the companion usually just snucked in a corner engrossed in a book.

"The Tale of Despereaux, please sir," I said. Obviously, the library was filled with just kindergarten standard books. The Tale of Despereaux would clearly not be available. However, Wick knew my level of reading well and would introduced me to some titles every month, and bring them to the library for me.

"One 'Despereaux', coming right up!" Wick handed me the white book with a drawing of a tiny mouse with ridiculously large ears on the cover. Suddenly, as I was about to receive the book into my tiny palms, someone burst through the door.

"Aye! The map must be here somewhere, matey!" a familiar voice announced. Well, I think it was meant to be a growl but since the voice was high-pitched, it sounded more like a whine actually. Wick and I stared at the tiny pirate standing before us, bewildered by his unexpected entrance. Drakley.

"Aye, if it isn't Ria?" he turned towards me and
bowed, taking his pirate hat off. Such manners.

"Wait, Ria? Really?" I raised an eyebrow. He nodded. "You're Rianne Green, no? I have decided that I shall name you Ria. Now wield your sword and fight me like a man!"

Wick laughed,"She's a fair maiden, matey." He winked at me and I pursed my lips back at him.

"Look, I don't dig into this whole pirate thing, so please leave so I may commence my reading," I requested.

He made a sick face. "Yuck reading. What does commence mean anyway, destroy? Destroying reading would be cool cos I hate-" "GET OUT!" I hollered. Despite my raise in tone, he seemed the least bit affected and went on to proclaim, "And leave you to die of boredom here? I think not! I shall be your knight in shining armour!"

It was hilarious imagining him in shining armour, however. He was way shorter than me and his squeaky voice amused me to no end. I started snorting in laughter and watched his face crumple in confusion.

"What's so funny?" he demanded to know. "Other than you as a knight? Nothing!" It took him awhile before he finally fully understood what I was saying and when he did, his cheeks blushed beetroot.

"That's not funny, Ria! I'll show you, I will be your knight in shining armour!" he protested before leaving the library. "Is he a pirate or a knight?" Wick asked me before I smiled at him and received the book.

That day, the boy with chocolate brown hair, dark hazel eyes, fair skin, small skinny physique and handsomely shaped ears (yes, I have a fetish for nice ears) swore to become my knight in shining armour.

For the first time in so many years, someone made me laugh till my heart's content. But deep in my heart, I knew that like the prince in 'Cinderella', he would never be that, for there is no happy perfect ending. I recall thinking that the reality would be that he wouldn't ever play with a realist like me, much less become my knight. After all, that's what happened to Cinderella's supposed ending right? It wasn't love at first sight.

Love is an illusion, and failing to see that caused reality to strangle her and fling her to the curb.