#24 "The REAL Sleeping Beauty"
Prompt: Aurora woke up not after 100 years, but 1000 years. The first thing she saw was...
.... A thin shaft of light shining through the collapsed rafters. The sturdy metal bed frame, complete with posts at all four corners that once held up the canopy around her bed, was the only thing that had prevented the collapsed roof from smothering her completely.
Aurora rubbed her face and sat up carefully. Not another living thing stirred in the space around her. What had happened after her birthday? The last thing she remembered was withdrawing to her royal bedchamber when the festivities of the night before her sixteenth birthday had ended. She shifted carefully, trying to see past the dilapidated barricade. The blankets beneath her felt gritty and gossamer-thin. Snatches of a melody ran through her head… Another memory! Just before everything went blank, she did recall hearing a strange sound! What did it mean?
“Hello!”
“Shh! Quiet, you dork!”
“Why do I need to be quiet? It’s not like there’s anybody who can hear me in this abandoned castle! ECHOO!”
“SSHHH! Remember how Mrs. Tooley said it could be haunted?”
“Cut it out, Jessica! It’s not like any ghosts are going to attack us just for making noise! Come on, let’s climb up here and see if we can make it into the tower!”
“Shh! Quiet, you dork!”
“Why do I need to be quiet? It’s not like there’s anybody who can hear me in this abandoned castle! ECHOO!”
“SSHHH! Remember how Mrs. Tooley said it could be haunted?”
“Cut it out, Jessica! It’s not like any ghosts are going to attack us just for making noise! Come on, let’s climb up here and see if we can make it into the tower!”
Aurora’s heart beat rapidly. People! Two girls, it sounded like. Were they here to rescue her?
Desperate, she found her voice and called out, “Help!”
Desperate, she found her voice and called out, “Help!”
Dead silence followed. Then one of the girls said, “What animal was that?”
“Come again? I didn’t hear anything.”
“SHH! Quiet—listen!”
“Come again? I didn’t hear anything.”
“SHH! Quiet—listen!”
Aurora, emboldened by the voices getting closer, yelled again, “Help me!”
“Jess! It’s coming from the tower!”
“But we can’t get there! The wall collapsed and took out most of the stairs! Besides… How could anybody get up there if nobody’s been here for a decade?”
“That we know of…”
“Hello!” the girl named Jessica called. “I hear you!”
“But we can’t get there! The wall collapsed and took out most of the stairs! Besides… How could anybody get up there if nobody’s been here for a decade?”
“That we know of…”
“Hello!” the girl named Jessica called. “I hear you!”
“Please!” Aurora begged. “I’m trapped and I can’t get out!”
“How long have you been in there?”
“Pardon?”
“When did you find this castle?”
Aurora frowned. “Find? I live here! This is my home!” She pressed against a board, feeling it give slightly at her touch. “I seem to be buried under a mountain of wood! The ceiling of my bedroom must have collapsed.”
“Ugh—oof!” Aurora could hear boots scraping against stone, the sounds of struggle. She decided it was worth struggling too.
The young princess searched around the perimeter of her wooden shell for the weakest point, and began shoving as hard as she could until the board snapped off, letting in even more light. Aurora could stick her whole arm through the hole, but she still couldn’t escape.
“Dude!” she heard Jessica gasp. “I think something just busted a hole in that pile of wood there!”
Hastily, Aurora thrust her arm through it and waved. “It’s me! I’ve been trapped in here since… I think since my birthday, and now I’m trying to get out!”
Jessica’s friend snorted. “That’s ridiculous! Who brings a girl out to some castle ruins for her birthday?”
Aurora withdrew her arm and looked around her bed, wishing she could see more than just her immediate area. “What do you mean ruins? When I came into this room, the castle was still standing. Surely it’s only the roof that has collapsed.”
The two girls were so silent, Aurora panicked that they might have departed.
“Umm,” came the voice of Jessica’s friend, “This castle hasn’t stood for… at least a few centuries! When did you say you got here?”
“Umm,” came the voice of Jessica’s friend, “This castle hasn’t stood for… at least a few centuries! When did you say you got here?”
Aurora sighed. “There you go again, talking as if I wasn’t born here and lived here with my father and mother, the King and Queen, my entire life!”
“Whoa! King and—you’re a princess?” Jessica squealed.
“Wait a minute!” her friend interrupted. “Who are you?” Her shadow brushed over the hole Aurora had made, but she was still too far away to see her face.
“Wait a minute!” her friend interrupted. “Who are you?” Her shadow brushed over the hole Aurora had made, but she was still too far away to see her face.
“My name is Aurora,” stammered the princess.
More scuffling sounds, and Aurora could hear the girls whispering to each other. “Hello?” she queried. “I would really like to get out of here if I can. I think I’ve been asleep, but I have no idea for how long—“
“A thousand years,” Jessica answered, nearly stopping the very breath in Aurora’s lungs.
“A thousand years,” Jessica answered, nearly stopping the very breath in Aurora’s lungs.
“W-wh-what did you say?” choked the princess.
“Your name is Aurora and you’re a princess who’s been sleeping in a castle for several centuries… I’m pretty sure this means—“
“Holy crap, Jess!” her friend yelped. “We’ve just discovered the REAL SLEEPING BEAUTY!”
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