Happily Ever After.....Maybe

Chapter Four

     Tallulah gave me an encouraging smile, "Thank you for telling me. If you ever need someone to talk to I just want you to know that I'm here."
      "Thank you." I said meekly looking down at my hands.
       She patted my hands. "How long has it been? Since Hayden's death?"
       I sighed rubbing my forehead, "A week and a half now.... And I'm still having dreams of him." Tears brimmed my eyes again, "Night after night he haunts my dreams and they feel so real.... I'm scared to go to sleep at night and dream about him again because when I dream we're together and everything is perfect and all I want to do is stay there forever. But then I wake up and I'm forced back into reality and live yet another day without him." I sobbed my shoulders shaking, "When will it end Tallulah? The pain is always there! How can life move on from this!" I cried.
      Tallulah stroked my hair and patted my back as I cried. Finally she spoke. "Life is a mystery all its self. There's joy and there's sadness. We just have to find a way to balance both of them." She gave me a small smile, "Life throws sharp rocks, but the daisies still bloom. Just look for the daisies Amaya. They're there, they're just hidden underneath all that pile of rubble you have." She brushed my hair out of my tear stained face.
    I wondered and puzzled over what she meant by looking for the daisies. What did she mean? What daisies? I was too exhausted to think about it though and for the first time that night I wasn't alone when I cried myself to sleep. Tallulah stayed up with me patting my back and holding me close like I was a frail little child not a grown women.  I finally drifted off to sleep and once again found Hayden's presence in my dream.
     He grinned at me, "About time you showed up, Princess."  He sat beside a forest his burlap bag laying beside him.
     I ran to him and threw my arms around him, sighing in relief. He smelled of pine trees and campfire. I never wanted to let go of him. I brushed my fingers through his dark hair and gazed into his gorgeous eyes. "I miss you so much! I dream about you every night!"
      Hayden smiled, "Who knew you dreamed about me so much." He teased lightly.
     I laughed, "And I never want to stop dreaming about you Hayden!" My voice soften as I choked, "I'm scared."
    He wiped the tears from my eyes, "What are you scared of."
   I took his hand in mine and held in on my cheek, "I'm scared I'll forget the sound of your voice, and the way you look. I'm scared I'll forget what your face looks like. I'm scared of these dreams I keep having with you. Because I'll wake up and it'll all be just a dream and I'll have to face another day without you." I trembled.
     He hugged me his breath warm on my ear he whispered, "I'm sorry this is all my fault you're hurting. But you had to understand that I loved you, and I couldn't keep it to myself anymore."
     I buried my head into his shoulder, "I could have waited till we broke your curse." I whispered.
      He nodded, "Yeah, but you shouldn't have to. You should be told everyday how amazing you are and you should be told every day how much you are loved." He pulled away and dug around his in burlap bag, "Now listen we don't have much time and you need to see this." He pulled out his map that showed all the cities and Enchanted Forests. He smoothed out the wrinkles and torn edges.
    I looked over his shoulder at the map. There was the city of Agog and hey look there was Capricious on there too. Who knew that Capricious small town would even make a mark on a map.
     Hayden traced his finger along the road on the map. His finger stop at an Enchanted Forest.
     I leaned over and read the name. Hayden whispered softly in my ear, "You know what you have to do."
     I jerked awake sitting up in bed I gasped. Hayden was right, I did know what to do. I jumped out of bed and searched through my burlap bag. I groaned his map wasn't in my bag, it was in his. Which would be where ever his body was. I shuddered not wanting to think what was happening to his body right now. He was probably laying off in a ditch somewhere with bites from wolves in him and decaying. Like those dead bodies in the Enchanted Forest of Heartbreak.
       The sun had just barely started to rise. I quietly went downstairs to the pub being careful not to wake Tallulah. I left her a quick note to where I was going and disappeared out the door into the early morning. Dew from the night left tear drops on the ground and glass windows of shops. I hurried down the streets hoping that old librarian lady was awake and opening the library.
      Turning the door nob my heart sank. It was lock. Stepping back I leaned in looking threw the broken window avoiding the shards of glass from the window.  I could see the librarian moving around her back towards me.
      She turned around holding a book in her hands. She looked up to see me peering in the window and screamed dropping the book to the dusty floor.
     I stepped back, "Sorry." I mumbled.
    Recovering from being scared she marched to the door and unlocked it. She glared at me, "The library isn't open yet, you better have a good reason for scaring a poor old lady."
       My cheeks flushed, "I really am sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I just..... I need a book."
      The old lady's wrinkled aged face brightened into a smile at the word 'book' "Well in that case come in come in!" She hurried me into he library and I smiled at her gratefully, "Now I don't usually open this early, but I can tell this is urgent. Besides not many young pretty girls such as yourself is interested in books. Now what book do you need."
        "I love books, I used to read all the time in.... In my parents cottage." I mumbled. remembering  I wasn't suppose to tell people that I was a princess. "Do you have a book of maps?"
      The old lady bent down searching  the ten books that she had, "Well I'll be darn we do have a book of maps! I didn't think we did." She pulled a dark blue leather worn book out and blew on it sending dust everywhere.
     I coughed waving my hand to clear the dust. "Thank you." I said as she handed me the book. I looked around for a chair to sit in while I looked at the book,finding no chair I made myself comfortable as I could on the hard dusty floor. I began my search flipping through map after map searching for one that resembled the map Hayden had. I fretted with myself for leaving Hayden's burlap bag behind with his map and mermaid oil and the other things that he had. Those could have came in handy.
    My hand froze over a map that showed towns and Enchanted Forests. It had Agog on the map and Rollick. But Capricious wasn't on the map. This was as close as I was going to get though to a map like Hayden's though because I had reached the back of the book. I looked around nervously for the librarian, but she had gone somewhere in the back and wasn't anywhere to be seen. In one swift move I ripped the map out of the book of maps, then leaving the book behind I darted out the front door with the page in hand.
    I walked up the street back to the pub. Pausing outside the doors I looked down at the map in my hand. Where was I going to put it? I looked down at my red floor length dress, it didn't have any pockets like my red leather pants did. I looked down at my breast that could be seen from the low cut of the dress. Looking around to make sure nobody was watching I folded the map up and stuck it between my breasts. Taking a deep breathed I pushed the doors open and stepped inside.
     Tallulah was already up wiping out glasses with a white rag. She smiled brightly at me, "You're up early." She remarked as I came over and started helping her wipe glasses out.
     I nodded, "I have a question to ask."
      "Name it."
      "Do..... Do you believe in curses? And Enchanted Forests?" I held my breath waiting for her answer.
      "Sure do, I've been in a few Enchanted Forests, but they aren't something that gives me a thrill to be in." She looked over at me, "Why?"
      I sighed getting ready for what I was going to tell her, "I'm cursed."
     She chuckled, "What's your curse? Do you turn into a mermaid when water drops on your skin?"
      "No, that would be a nice one to have compare to mine. Do you believe curses and be broken?"
      "Of course, my brother was cursed and he broke his."
       I gasped, "He was cursed! With what?"
     Tallulah laid her white rag on the bar counter and turned to me, "After our parents died I admit money was tight for awhile. We both worked and tried to get jobs but it was tough. And my older brother. He ...... He had a gambling problem. One night he gambled all of our money away and still owed money to this evil guy."
      "The Great Wizard?" I asked knowing he had been responsible for Hayden's and mine.
      "No, not him fortunately. He's known as the voodoo man. He experiences in voodoo and witch craft, but he's not as well known as the Great Wizard. Anyways, my brother still owed this guy money and we had nothing left. So the voodoo man cursed my brother into a slimy green frog. Boy was my brother mortified! He sure did learn his lesson." She chuckled.
      My eyes widened, "A frog! Oh no! He didn't get ate by humans did he? I've heard frog legs are good." I said remembering the frog legs I tried with Hayden. My stomach growled just thinking of the juicy frog legs.
    Tallulah let out a laugh holding her stomach, "No he didn't get ate, I took care of him and kept a watchful eye on him in his frog days."
      "But he eventually broke his curse?"
       She nodded, "Yes, one day he was hopping along beside the Kingdom of Yugen  when the beautiful Princess of Yugen was leaning over a wishing well and her necklace came unclasped and fell down in the water. My brother being the kind frog he had became offered to jump in and save it for her and he did. Then the Princess asked how she could repay him, and she gave my slimy frog brother a big kiss right on the lips!"
      "Ewwww! What happened next?"
      "The curse was lifted and my brother turned back into a man." She smiled a far away look in her brown eyes, "It was love at first sight, the Princess fell in love with my brother and he fell for her. Unfortunately her father wasn't too fond of my brother."
       "Why ever not?"
     Tallulah held up her arms letting me see her coco dark skin. "He thought his daughter should marry a guy with well.... Lighter skin, not some coco bean."
       My eyes widened, "He said that?!"
      She nodded, "Yes, but eventually he saw how in love my brother and his daughter was and he had a change of heart and they were married. Now they rule the Kingdom of Yugen."
      I sighed, "That's a wonderful story." I said a little envious of her brother who got to break his curse and fall in love. "If your brother is so rich though why doesn't he help you or you live there with him?"
  Tallulah shook her head, "He did try to help, and every birthday and Christmas he gives me plenty of things, but the rich life isn't for me. I like to work for my living. So I live here working the Pub."  She looked over at me realizing we got so busy talking about her brother that we didn't talk about my curse, "Now what about your curse?"
      I took a deep breath, "I'm cursed with the Curse of Unhappiness. I can't be happy, no matter how hard I try things are always going wrong messing it up. Like getting kidnapped, finding out I'm adopted, having my birth mother not want me, and Hayden dying." I stopped feeling like I told her enough.
      "But being kidnapped turned out to be a good thing, you got to meet Hayden and fall in love."
     I stopped wiping out glasses, I had never thought of it that way. I smiled, "Yeah that is one good thing out of my many bad things." I pulled out the map I stoled, "I need to break my curse more than anything." I said unfolding the map I slid it over to her, "I need to get to this Enchanted Forest."
      Tallulah looked down at the Enchanted Forest I pointed to, she raised an eyebrow at me, "Why do you have to go there?"
      "There's someone I have to see one last time."
      "That forest is about a day and a half walk away from Capricious, but lucky for you I have a horse in the stable in town. You can borrow him and be there and back in time to help with the evening crowd." She turned and quickly grabbed two apples and handed them to me.
     I took the apples from her, "You sure?" I asked I hated to leave her here by herself.
     "Totally, if it means you find a way to break your curse. No one should be unhappy. Don't worry about me, the lunch crowd is usually slow anyway."
      I threw my arms around her and gave her a hug, "Thank you so much, you're the best friend I ever had!" I darted out the door and towards Capricious stables.
    A stable boy stood outside the stables brushing a beautiful white mare. He paused his work when I walked up.
     "Hi my name is Amaya, and I'm a friend of Tallulah. She gave me permission to use Tobias today."
      The stable boy nodded and walked into the stables. Minutes later he brought out Tobias a gorgeous brown stallion. His brown hair was sleek and shiny in the morning sunlight. I took the reins from the stable boy and thanked him. Then I rubbed the stallion's back,  I didn't realize how much I missed the smooth coat of a horse against my skin. Getting excited I climbed up into the saddle and clicking the reins softly I started Tobias at a short trot.
      Once we reached the outskirts of Capricious I could feel Tobias getting excited. He pranced inching for me to give him the signal to run.
       Looking at the map I pointed Tobias in the right direction and laughed, "Okay Tobias let's see how fast you can go! Clicking the reins Tobias didn't need to be asked twice he took off running dirt flying past us.
      I kept glancing down at the map to make sure we were going in the right direction. The last thing I needed was not to find the Enchanted Forest. I just hoped she was even there. And that my hunch about this forest was correct.