Once Upon A Time

I’ve been told that Queen White’s screams could be heard all the way in the valley where Wolf was regrouping forces. A neighboring kingdom claimed the sound broke every window in their city. It’s even been said that the witch’s dying screams were what finally did off the last Loch Ness monster. But he was old and susceptible to heart attacks anyway. Regardless, her screams were just as ghastly as everyone claimed, whether they really heard them or not. When it was all done, and the witch was gone, I climbed up on the shore beneath the Poisoned Apple Tree. The witch had truly melted. I’d watched that with my own two eyes. But what happened next is hard to explain. The puddle that was formerly Queen White had absorbed into the ground almost immediately. I was worried at first. Was that what was meant to happen? Maybe I was supposed to bottle her up or something. But I was too exhausted to care. If the witch was able to reform after that, then I was undoubtedly doomed. I lay beneath the tree for awhile, staring at the apples as they swayed. From below, they almost looked like Christmas ornaments. I yawned. What now? Maybe I would fall asleep for twenty years like Rip Van Winkle until my world needed me again. My thoughts were interrupted by a plopping sound. Something nudged my arm. I looked over to see an apple. I pushed it away. Then another one fell, followed by a third. I sat up and curled my knees against my chest, protected by a large bare limb directly above me. A fourth and fifth apple fell and rolled into the moat. I looked up just as the first shower of leaves was beginning to fall. Was the tree dying or merely shedding? After awhile the fall of apples stopped and the leaves began to slow. I lay back on the ground and closed my eyes. So much had happened. I was tired, tired enough not to worry anymore about my future. Buried in leaves, I drifted off to sleep, not knowing when I would wake again, or to what. The “what” was a noisy bird. That was the first thing I heard when I woke again. “Shut up!” I yelled at it, blindly searching for an apple to throw. My hand couldn’t find one. I opened my eyes and quickly shut them again. It was so bright! The enchanted night had ended. I opened them again, slowly. The moat I had laid next to was gone, as well as the fallen apples. In their place was a grove of full grown trees. I gasped and stood up shakily. So I HAD fallen asleep for twenty years! Or was it longer? “Oh no!” I wailed miserably. Wolf. Snow. Sweets-O. They would all have moved on by now. Did they think I was dead? We’re they still alive? A lot could change in twenty years. Time moved a lot quicker here than it did in Evie’s world. Would there be another witch? Who would have ruled since the death of the last one? I leaned against the branch that had protected me in the night. Bobbing from one of its slender offshoots was a shiny, green apple. “Huh.” I mumbled, inspecting its perfect flesh. “Green.” I wondered if these new apples would tell a prophesy too. If they did, it wouldn’t be to me. I decided I’d had enough adventure for the time-being. Besides, without Wolf, my heart wasn’t in it anymore. In fact, it felt as if my heart wasn’t even in my body anymore. Suddenly, a face appeared in the back of the grove. I wasn’t alone. “Hello!” I called out to it. It looked to be a male Centaur. I was glad to know the species hadn’t been killed off in the battle with the witch. “She’s over here!” The centaur called out. Who was over there, the witch? The face disappeared. “Wait!” I called out, running after him. I was almost to the spot where he had been when a furry something burst through the bushes and knocked me over. I gasped for air and flailed to protect my tender neck. But instead of teeth, I felt a raspy tongue licking me. “Wolf?” He lifted his head and gave me a toothy grin. “You were expecting someone else?” “Wolf!” Then I did the unthinkable. I kissed that overgrown dog right on the muzzle. I was just so excited to see him. Wolf stiffened for a moment and then rolled to the side. I tried to reach for him, but he was frantically scratching at his skin. “Ohhhh!” He howled. Then, in front of my eyes and the growing crowd emerging from the trees, Wolf grew. First, his legs elongated. Then, his fur fell out. His ears shortened, one mangled and one not, and the stub of his tale disappeared. All in all, the transformation took no more than a few blinks. Someone had the mind to rush in afterward and drape him with a robe. Like me, Wolf had been reborn into this world naked. I stared at him for a moment, stunned. I don’t know what I had expected; but I’d never imagined he’d be so ugly! Beyond a doubt, Wolf was the most unsightly creature I’d ever seen. His skin was covered in warts. Some of his warts had warts. Protruding from his mouth was a set of jagged, decaying teeth. I had to look away for fear I might get sick. To think I’d actually kissed him! You’re not buying this, are you? You are! Ha! Silly readers. When I set eyes on Wolf that day, I knew I would never see anything more beautiful in my entire life. I haven’t either. I don’t think I ever will. Wolf stared at me with those big brown eyes beneath a shaggy mop of dark hair and said, “What do you think, Fae?” “At the moment, I’m not sure I can think at all!” I managed to stutter. His face lit up in a big perfect grin and the crowd cheered uproariously. We might have kissed then. I’m not sure. It’s all lost now in a big fuzzy glow. We married soon after. Then we tore down Casino City and rebuilt it as our kingdom in the clouds. Other kingdoms turned to us for guidance, until eventually, we were known as the rulers of the world. That was the prophesy, after all. Maybe you guessed as much. I’d like to say that life was always peaceful after that. But as Evie’s life changed, so did our world. There was always some new challenge or villain to face. If it wasn’t a witch, it was a vampire, a mutant, an evil alien, or the threat of something called “teen pregnancy”. We always got through it though, and nothing was ever as bad as Queen White had been. Snow White was released from her spell. Wolf and his family were happily reunited. Sweets-O found true love in the form of a Centaur, possibly the one she rode into battle. Rapunzel agreed to let Melchoir be her servant, which pleased him to no end. The ogre was put into service as one of our guards. Kanchana was overjoyed to see us alive and has remained one of my best friends to this day. I never regained the powers the fairies gave me, which is just as well. The twins, the woodcutter, and Rumplestiltskin were never seen or heard from again. We can all assume they met their ends in equally horrible ways. Well, we can hope. So, that's the story. I know you probably have a lot of questions for me, but I’ve run out of time to answer them. I have a kingdom to rule after all. You’re probably expecting me to say, “The End” now, aren’t you? But it’s not the end, so I can’t. It’s just the beginning. So instead, I’ll leave you with the words of someone I admire. “Once upon a time…”