SHORT STORY - FICTION Everybody knows the stories of Rapunzel, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and the rest. But what about the stories that aren't told? What about the princesses who find that their happily ever after is a lie dressed in silk? That their once upon a time is really an agonising spread of years that does not end in love? This is a short story of a woman who was not locked in a tower but has never been free.

SHORT STORY - FICTION The lines between reality and fantasy are blurred in this short extract that depicts the horrors of living at the mercy of somebody else. Castles suddenly become too claustrophobic, soft beauty seems to hold a wicked sharpness, and the masks that people wear soon melts under the light. Imagination is seen as an escape, but is it enough to save this lady in waiting?