Rapunzel

His poor, broken, beautiful body gets thrown on the ground by that monstrous witch that once called me her son. I hear something crack like a bone (his leg I think) and he bites down on his lower lip hard, his whole face pinched in excruciating agony.

“Robin! No! D-Don’t hurt him, PLEASE!” I cried to her, but it is like there is an invisible barrier between us and she does not hear me. I can’t get to Robin as hard as I try to push through it. It is like there is a stone wall between us even though I can see and hear him. It’s worse than torture.

My deep sobs hurt my whole body as I see the love of my life on the ground convulsing in pain, and I let out a thunderous scream. I realize it is a scream I had been holding in my whole, entire life.

It feels unearthly inside of me, an old, strange, animal sound. Like a wolf.

Finally, the old bat looks at me, but only for a moment.

I had been keeping her young my whole life in this wretched tower. She made me believe I had to stay up her for my own protection. She lied to me.

It wasn’t until I met beautiful and sunny Robin, with his cheeky grin and sarcastic attitude, that I finally realized the truth.

She uses another curse to make him convulse again. I can’t allow Robin to die or get hurt another moment just because he had tried to rescue me from this hell-hole.

“Leslie! Please!” I panic and scream out in a desperate cry, “Mother!”

She seemed to snap out of her sadistic, murderous intent and gave me a soft look.

“H-Harry?” She cooed.

I nodded. “Mother, I need you. I need you to help me. I will help you too. Let me get rid of this man. I’ll take him out of our tower and we can go back to how things used to be. Okay?” I said softly.

She nodded, but eyed me in a strange way. “Fine. But be quick about it.”

I saw her chant an quick incantation and suddenly I felt myself running over to Robin, scooping him up in my arms, and nuzzling him close.

Robin, half delirious from the pain, half-smiled with droopy eyes and whispered, “You’re my hero,” which made me melt into a puddle inside as I held him tight.

“No, you saved me first. Remember?” I whispered back and he winked, making me chuckle sadly.

Those endless months of secret meetings, of nightly, deep talks and warm dawn embraces, all of those sweet, warm feelings he gave me and that we gave each other felt more real in that moment than anything else.

My “mother,” which was actually a witch who kidnapped me from my parents, the King and Queen, eyed us carefully as I brought him down the secret pathway down to the bottom of the tower. She was slinking behind us, like a stray cat, hissing methodically and giving me the evil eye from the side as I carried my beloved to safety.

“One last time? Rapunzel?” Robin whispered and I blushed, nodding as I brushed lips against his before I laid him gently on the grass.

He was mentioning my extremely long, red braided hair. Long wasn’t the right word. It was supernaturally long.

“You’re the son of a king. You know what that makes you?” Robin had asked me once. He would undo my braids and play with my hair, braiding them again, telling me he used to watch his mother braid her hair when he was little.

I shrugged. I didn’t know of kings or kingdoms. My “mother,” only taught me how to survive in a harsh and hateful world, and that was by staying with her.

“A monkey’s uncle?” I asked back and he laughed, hitting my arm playfully.

“No! Silly! A prince.” He said in a very important tone. “I am merely a knight. I protect the royal family.”

“Ohh, I thought that would make you a cute, old duck! You sure act like one! The way you waddle about and act so cranky!”

He growled, pointing to his sword next to him, and I laughed obnoxiously.

“You are pushing your luck, his Royal Highness!” He sarcastically quipped back.

“Know your place, you are my knight, after-all!” I teased and he leaned in, touching my cheek. I held in my breath and he closed the gap, pressing his mouth against mine.

I felt a million warm feelings gush inside of me, like a gooey sun and moon had collided and melted with the stars, and I was soaking it all up, frantic and warm and new and perfect.

“Ah, My Harry, you’re mine. You’ll be my secret Rapunzel,” he gushed and I kissed him again, deeper and sweeter and we toppled over each other and fell, laughing.

As I remembered all of our secrets and hopes and dreams, I nodded to him again, leaving him as I went back up in the tower with Leslie, the witch who pretended to be my mother.

I made her tea and we had a huge discussion over my “safety,” and her concern for me.

“Couldn’t you see the lust in his eyes? That knight had no honor. He was trying to swindle you. To make you believe in a fairy tale that doesn’t exist.”

Her words felt like thick molasses in his ears and I felt sick as I nodded, sipping my tea as she kept going on and on her manipulative tirade.

“Harry, Harry, Harry,” she grits her teeth as she speaks, gulping the tea with her eyes narrowed. “Did you actually fancy that salacious old man?”

I had my back turned a moment as I retrieved the tea kettle, and I closed my eyes. I pictured his soft brown hair and lovely green eyes, his rugged face and raspy, always sarcastic but serious voice. His beautiful smile. He told me truths about myself no one ever had before. He has made me feel things deeper and more intensely than I ever felt for anything or anyone before. He was my one true love, I knew it in my bones.

I turn to the old witch and shake my head, “No. I didn’t. He was just a passerby. I’m tired. I’ll turn in early tonight. Goodnight, mother.” I went over and kissed her forehead as I always had done, but this time, she grabbed on to both sides of my long, red dreads and pulled at them, hard.

I didn’t cry or react but it hurt. She gave me a self-satisfied smirk and said, “Don’t ever think about him again. Don’t ever forget why you’re here. I saved you from being called a freak. I saved you from being called a monster. I am your mother. A good son…” she leaned in close, tugging at my hair tighter as she wrapped more length around her knuckles, “never leaves his mother.”

I feel tears stinging my eyes and I gasp out a barely discernible agreeable answer.

She lets go of my hair finally and I let out a shaky breath.

All I can think of as I walk away is, “Tonight. Tonight. Tonight, I’ll be with my love. My knight. My Robin.”

I wait until I know Leslie is asleep and I check for signs of Robin. I had been able to whisper the beginning of the healing incantation for Robin before I left, giving him strength enough to meet me tonight.

Yes, my supernaturally long red dreads are magic, too. It can heal physical trauma wounds, broken bones and can give people the appearance of youth.

I had shown this power to Robin when he had accidentally hurt his wrist in a duel with another knight the day before, and he was beyond astonished.

“And you were born this way? Wow!” Robin jumped up and down, obviously in awe.

“I think so. Mother told me I was born this way,” I explained how I gave her youth with my long hair and a song.

Robin crinkled his nose and looked at me funny.

“What’s wrong, Robin?” I asked.

He frowned and said, “Harry… you can’t be serious. You don’t know?”

I shrugged. “About what?”

“What happened… to our Queen and King? The terrible tragedy. When she was pregnant… she was very sick. The royal alchemist created a special medicine with this incredibly rare and magical plant. The plant healed her,” he sighed, taking my hand and squeezing it, our eyes locking and I felt my heart racing. “But gave her… son magical healing powers, too.”

“Her son?” I asked in a quivering reply, and he nodded.

“That son mysteriously vanished one night. Never seen again. There was a country wide search. No one found him,” Robin’s green eyes widened and he gasped. “Until… until now. Harry! It’s.. you! You are the missing prince!”

I felt numb all over and shocked beyond all recognition. I couldn’t even move, much less talk.

Robin realized this and came over and embraced me tight.

“Let me take you home, my Prince.”

I almost fainted, but he caught me, and I looked at him, as I couldn’t help but smile.

“I’ve caught many swooning maidens in my arms before, but never a swooning prince,” Robin grinned, winking and I laughed, making him laugh.

I let all of these memories replay in my head and heart, giving me the strength and inspiration to continue my escape.

It’s not until I start climbing down the tower that I feel a heavy blow to my head and fall down back into my prison.

I catch a glimpse of Robin. I don’t want him to get hurt again. I don’t want him to save me because it might mean his death.

I wake up in a dizzy and disoriented state with a pounding headache.

Leslie, looking more frazzled than ever, eyed me to see if I was awake and slapped my face.

“You liar! Deceiver! You are a bad son!” She screeched.

I gather my thoughts and emotions and anger and yell, “You stole me from my home! My real mother and father, the king and queen! I am a prince! I am not your son, you monster! I was never needing your protection…” I spat out, feeling good to let out the truth finally, “You needed me so you wouldn’t turn to dust and die!”

She gave me a perturbed look, looking confused and shocked only for a moment then it turned to anger again.

“You don’t know what they were going to do, do you? They were going to kill you!” She started hysterically yelling. “The King and Queen didn’t want you. Your kind wasn’t what they wanted for their royal lineage.”

I started to cry, but I swapped the sadness for anger again. “Robin was right. Witches do twist the truth to weave their wicked ways into your life.”

She slammed her fat fists into the table and bellowed, “Do you really think your little perverted sense of love will be allowed at court?! No! Never!”

“I don’t care what you have to say. I love him,” I say back in a crackled voice as my throat is dry and I coughed.

“Oh, dearie, are you thirsty?” She mockingly asked, grabbing a cup and pouring a steaming cup of tea in it.

“Want it?”

I shake my head.

I sense she is about to pour it on my face, and I grimace.

“It’s time to punish you. Bad sons need to be punished.”

I squirm to get up but I see she locked me in chains to the floor.

“Let’s see how pretty that knight thinks you look after I deform your features a bit.”

Suddenly, behind Leslie, I see a crouching figure and hidden steel.

I hide my surprise and apologize and beg for forgiveness to my once decoy mother.

She steps back, distracted a moment.

Suddenly, I hear a yelp and a squeal, and a splatter of blood is near my feet.

“I would think my Prince is pretty no matter what you do or say, you horrible bitch,” Robin growled out and I looked up at him in adoration.

Her lifeless body tumbled over and she makes a rattling, bustling set of whimpers and groans, the light leaving her eyes. Robin, standing above her, allows the gleaming red sword to breathe and continue its journey through her innards and out to the other side. In another breath, he takes back his sword. His methodology was brilliant.

Robin frantically looks for the key and finds it in front pocket, grabbing it and unlocking my bonds. The silent dedication of his rescue was bold and precise and just perfectly done. It showed how much devotion and care he had for me.

I let down my long red hair for him as I sing my healing song, giving him a gentle nudge of healing and youth, as he slides down the tower and I follow. He sings back, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down that beautiful long, red hair!” And I laugh happily at his funny nickname for me.

The silent love we had for each other only made it more sweet when we kissed along the new dawn’s bright daylight glow, going back home together to find our new destiny in my father and mother’s Kingdom.