Once Upon A Time
Rating: PG
Summary: You waited in your lovely tower for a thousand years until your prince came, riding on a horse darker than the night and even blacker than his heart.
***
You watch her lips purse into a frown, almost in slow motion, as the lines on her face that haven't quite developed yet become apparent. It's ironic, you think, because you've seen that face, that expression, so many times before.
"Don't do this," you said. You said that three years ago but the memory is still fresh in your mind and you don't know how to make it go away. "You said you wouldn't."
You begged. You pleaded.
He left.
It's almost a complete role reversal. That little girl you see standing in front of you is almost exactly who were you. Maybe you weren't as young, at least not in numerical age, but there are so many other qualities she has, and you had, that you wish were nothing but a distant dream.
She takes after her father. The same chin, always set but ready to smile, and those eyes that pin you and make you want to run away and never be out of sight.
You hate those eyes.
The streetlights shine in from the window and illuminate her form. Her eyes glitter and glow in the dark. When you squint you can almost see him standing there, you are transported back into the past when everything was different, but still so much the same. It scares you sometimes that you can remember more about then than what you did the night before.
She's so clingy, you think. Somehow while you were thinking she's appeared beside you, holding onto the bottom of your skirt because she can't quite reach your hand.
"Mommy," she says. "Please? Mommy..."
"Don't," you say. "No."
There's a storm brewing outside the window and you can see the city that used to hold such hope and dreams for you. The city of lights. It's surrounded by a mist, translucent waterfalls showering down on it, and you think that's strangely appropriate.
Once upon a time, you were told, there was a beautiful princess in her tower, waiting for her prince on a white horse to come visit her.
"Am I that princess?" You asked. "Am I?
Silence.
Of course not. You waited in your lovely tower for a thousand years until your prince came, riding on a horse darker than the night and even blacker than his heart.
She tugs on your skirt again, and you fall back against the earth until the impact on the ground almost kills you.
"No," you say again, but softer this time. It's almost inaudible, intangible, like a single thought within a dream.
"It's just not fair!" She cries. "Why? Why?"
Life's not fair, darling, you want to say. But of course you don't. She has to learn that on her own. And until then, while she sleeps, you'll stroke her forehead and speak to her in faint whispers until you're almost gone.
"Once upon a time..."
***
END
Summary: You waited in your lovely tower for a thousand years until your prince came, riding on a horse darker than the night and even blacker than his heart.
***
You watch her lips purse into a frown, almost in slow motion, as the lines on her face that haven't quite developed yet become apparent. It's ironic, you think, because you've seen that face, that expression, so many times before.
"Don't do this," you said. You said that three years ago but the memory is still fresh in your mind and you don't know how to make it go away. "You said you wouldn't."
You begged. You pleaded.
He left.
It's almost a complete role reversal. That little girl you see standing in front of you is almost exactly who were you. Maybe you weren't as young, at least not in numerical age, but there are so many other qualities she has, and you had, that you wish were nothing but a distant dream.
She takes after her father. The same chin, always set but ready to smile, and those eyes that pin you and make you want to run away and never be out of sight.
You hate those eyes.
The streetlights shine in from the window and illuminate her form. Her eyes glitter and glow in the dark. When you squint you can almost see him standing there, you are transported back into the past when everything was different, but still so much the same. It scares you sometimes that you can remember more about then than what you did the night before.
She's so clingy, you think. Somehow while you were thinking she's appeared beside you, holding onto the bottom of your skirt because she can't quite reach your hand.
"Mommy," she says. "Please? Mommy..."
"Don't," you say. "No."
There's a storm brewing outside the window and you can see the city that used to hold such hope and dreams for you. The city of lights. It's surrounded by a mist, translucent waterfalls showering down on it, and you think that's strangely appropriate.
Once upon a time, you were told, there was a beautiful princess in her tower, waiting for her prince on a white horse to come visit her.
"Am I that princess?" You asked. "Am I?
Silence.
Of course not. You waited in your lovely tower for a thousand years until your prince came, riding on a horse darker than the night and even blacker than his heart.
She tugs on your skirt again, and you fall back against the earth until the impact on the ground almost kills you.
"No," you say again, but softer this time. It's almost inaudible, intangible, like a single thought within a dream.
"It's just not fair!" She cries. "Why? Why?"
Life's not fair, darling, you want to say. But of course you don't. She has to learn that on her own. And until then, while she sleeps, you'll stroke her forehead and speak to her in faint whispers until you're almost gone.
"Once upon a time..."
***
END