Breaking a tale

Luna - Seriously? She's just left?

The forest felt even darker and scarier than it had felt the night I had escaped the tower. I lit the lamp with shaking hands and looked at the map, if I followed the path I was on then I would get to the village by morning, I stirred the horse forward, pulling my cloak closer around me. I was soaked to the bone and even though I passed several warm and inviting cottages I didn't stop, I didn't want another event like the one that had happened with Theodore.

I shivered, I still hadn't come to terms with what had happened. I was now cursed and had no idea what was going to happen to me. I wanted to get as far away from Theodore as possible, as far away from this cursed forest as I could. By morning I came across an old woman standing at the side of the road collecting some kind of plant. I recognised her from somewhere and realised that she was actually the old woman who delivered food to the tower. I looked around for the girl who was usually with her, but she was nowhere to be seen. The woman looked up at me as I passed, and I stopped.

"Excuse me, darling," she said sweetly, a twinkle in her eye "Could you help me carry these baskets back to the village?"

Of course, I agreed to help, even though I was exhausted I would have never forgiven myself if I had been rude to her. I dismounted my horse and stood next to the woman and took two of her baskets full of plants. I attached the two baskets the saddle of my horse. It gave the horse a break from carrying me as I assumed the baskets were much lighter than I was. I walked with the woman out of the forest and into the village. It was Hemlock, the village I had passed through on my way to the tower, I just hoped nobody would recognise me. I led the horse to the lady's house where I tied him up outside before untying the baskets of plants. The woman went in first and I went hesitantly after, not wanting anything bad to happen. I placed the baskets gently on the floor and was about to make a quick exit when the old woman spoke.

"Surely you can't leave this quickly?" she said "Let me get you breakfast to repay you for helping me."

I hesitated, breakfast sounded good. "You don't have a place to stay do you?" she said "I haven't seen you before and you certainly don't look cut out for travelling. You can always stay with me for a while, if you want."

I looked down at my dress, the edges, which I had cut to make the dress more suitable for travelling in were now ripped and frayed and I realised my hair, which had once been sleek and soft, was now rough and knotted. It was an incredibly tempting offer, which I wanted to agree to but the last time I had agreed to stay with someone I ended up getting cursed, so I was slightly cautious. Eventually, I took up the woman's offer and we agreed that I would stay for two nights until I had enough supplies to set off again. My reasoning was that an evil monster wouldn't live in the centre of a village so I would hopefully be safe, she was also right, I didn't have a place to stay and I was exhausted.

The lady introduced herself as Guinevere, and cooked me a delicious breakfast, everyone in this world seemed to be amazing at cooking. I was incredibly grateful for her letting me stay and her cottage felt warm and cosy. It really was the opposite of Theodore's house. Small and compact but it was the perfect size. Guinevere showed me to the spare room and then left me on my own. I sat on the bed and looked around, the room was small and simple and reminded me of my room at home. It looked as if somebody had recently left and there were still dresses in the wardrobe.

I took off my cloak and hung it up next to the wardrobe leaving the bracelet uncovered. I looked down at my arm, it was the first time I had looked at my arm since the incident and it made me feel sick. The bracelet had become part of my wrist, embedded into the skin and there was no chance of me removing it now. The skin around the bracelet had started to go black and I remembered the picture of the girl in Theodore's basement, how the darkness had run up her arm, I wondered if that was what was going to happen to me. I sighed and pulled Elizabeth's diary out of my bag, maybe as this was the same bracelet she had been cursed by her diary would tell me what to expect. How long it would take for the curse to consume me. During the ride through the forest, I had come to terms with the fact that most curses were not curable and that I was probably going to die. I had realised that I was probably never going to see Cinderheath again, that I was probably going to die in the tale so my only goal was to find Dawn and make sure she was safe because even though it was too late for me to get a happy ending, it might not be too late for her.