A Writer's Fairytale

Prince James: Menial Tasks

“220.” Her voice sounded far off and I could tell that though her body was in my arms her mind was far from everything. I looked around and quickly found the door to her apartment. I began to knock on the door “I don’t know if my roommate is back from her date. I can handle it from here.” I heard her voice squeak. She must have just awoken from the dream state that she had been in. Before I could try to tell her anything, I saw a girl about the same age as the girl in my arms swing open the door. The girl standing in the doorway had the color that would make a ghost think they were flushed. “Hey Rebecca aren’t you back early from your date?” I looked down to see the girl in my arms. I had hoped that she had not looked up to see my face; if she would have, she would have seen pure surprise. This was the first time that I heard her not be the ridged person that had pride and dignity leaking from her ears. Her voice was the voice of a girl; a girl who had lost her way, a girl who was scared and afraid, a girl who wanted the world to stop treating her the way that she always felt it had.

“Come in. You can put her on the couch.” Rebecca said pointing toward the couch in the main room. Rebecca was a thin blond. Her light blond hair went to her shoulders and was messy and out of place. Her blue eyes were like looking into the sky on the perfect day, but they also showed great worry and caring. Just below her eyes there was stains of tears. Her outfit was a purple blouse with silver lining that coated the edges and a simple black pencil skirt to match, it was ruffled and wrinkled.  “Are you alright? What happened?” Her voice was filled with worry.

The girl that I had escorted home answered her. Her voice was less innocent as it was when she first saw her friend, but I could still tell that there was more innocence than she had been with me. “I am fine, Rebecca. I just fell.”

I could see in her eyes that she did not know how to explain my presences. “That was my fault.” I pushed out. I looked at her friend and tried to be as respectful as I could. I knew that a strange man in an apartment that is only occupied by girls could be looked as strange and almost scary, though they had nothing to fear when it came to me. I had no plans on hurting the girls. “I startled her and she took off. She must have hit a crack on the sidewalk.” I looked down at her knee. It was worse than I first thought. “Where is your lavatory?”

It was not until I looked into Rebecca’s eyes that I realized she did not understand what I was asking. I was about to explain it to her when I heard the girl from the couch talk. It was more than I could take. Her voice sounded so perfect to me. “Down the little hall it will be the door on the left.”

I wanted to pick her back up then and there, but I restrained myself. “Thank you,” I said I was about to go when I thought that I should ask. “Do you keep your antiseptic there?”

“We do. Top shelf in the cabinet over the sink.” This was the first time that she was addressing me that her words did not have any sting to them. They were soft and gentle and almost playful.

My heart was beating so fast that getting the antiseptic for her was also an excuse for me to leave the room and get the drum in my chest back to normal. “Thank you, again,” I said, leaving the room. I was more than happy to be out of that room.

My mind was rushing and it was trying to get me to do impulsive things. I have never wanted to do anything impulsive when I was with a woman unless you count the time that I threw a snowball at my nanny, but I was ten at the time that obviously cannot count.

I have had several girlfriends and several more that wanted me to court them, but they never stood my heart on end. They were beautiful, but there was always something that did not feel right. I had bowed politely and we would go to dinner, but there was no true spark.

This was different. She was different. When I saw her in the light of the building, I was sure that my heart stopped beating. She was beautiful. She was more than beautiful she was perfect. Her red curls were strands of perfect rubies. Maybe not rubies her hair was a darker red, but they shined like rubies. Her brown eyes were swimming pools filled to the brim with love, then I saw her eyelashes they were so long and so perfect I knew that she would start windstorms if she batted them too much. Her full red lips made my heart beat a little faster just thinking about them and the smile that they could produce was more than I could have imagined. I also imagined kissing those lips, feeling the soft tenderness on my lips. Her cheeks would puff into these perfect clouds on both sides of her face. Then there were her freckles. Some people would think that they were tons of flaws and on some people, they might have been, but not on her. They were shining stars all over her body, making her look lovelier than the cosmos. Then there was her button nose. It fit like a missing piece to a perfect puzzle. She was perfect. I did not know how, but I knew that someday someway she would be mine. After just meeting someone it sounded crazy, but that is exactly how I felt. I felt no reason to try to deny and fight the feelings that I knew would win out in the end any way.

I wanted a menial task to get my mind off of her. She was running every inch of my mind and I did not even know her name. That would be the first thing that I would do when I got a chance. I walked into the bathroom it was well lit, but there was not much to it. There was a sink and a loo. The bathtub sat in the corner covered by a floral curtain. I quickly found the cupboard that she had said about. I looked inside and found that it was almost bare. There was barely any makeup in it, not that she needed any makeup. I was sure that she was flawless the way that she looked. I found the antiseptic and closed the cupboard door.

I had just walked down the hall when I heard Rebecca speak “I think he is pretty good inspiration.” I had to laugh at myself at least her friend could see that I was cute. My foot on a floorboard must have been heard by one of the girls in the other room because it went eerily silent and I decided that it was best to make my entrance.

I walked in and I saw that the fight in the girl’s eyes was far from diminished. She looked at the clock and made an overly dramatic sigh “Oh my,” she said in a high-pitched girl voice. I could see her turn back to me. “It’s getting quite late. I thank you for everything that you have done, but I must insist that you be on your way and get back to where you belong.” I knew how strongly she wanted me to leave, but it still stung. It also sounded forced, like deep down somewhere which she was trying to suppress with all of her might; she might be interested in me too.

I stood there watching her for a moment then I turned to her friend. I could not tell if she could see the pleas in my eyes but it was there. I was pleading for her to find a way to let me stay. When I decided that her friend had not gotten my pleas, I turned to the girl that my heart wanted. “I can see you are in good hands, so I will take my leave.” After I said that I placed the antiseptic on the table and turned toward the door in my own despair.

I had not realized that Rebecca had followed me to the door until I went to open it and I saw her. She whispered to me “Her name is Mary and her favorite flowers are roses.” The first thought that made its way into my mind was roses not what I was expecting as her favorite flower.

I quickly thanked her and told her not to tell Mary that she had told me any of this. She quickly agreed and then shut the door behind me. I smiled as I walked down the staircase into the lobby and back out onto the street. I had found my reason to make the journey to North Wood and her name was Mary.

The cold air brought a jolt to my system one that I desperately needed to get her off of my mind. I had already had a plan in my mind. After a minute or two I was back in the lobby of the hotel that I was staying at. By the desk where I had left her was the overly happy girl that I was sure was overly happy because of me. That may sound egotistical, but when you see someone angry one minute and then happy the next the moment they see you, there are only two options. The first is that they are trying to make you think that they are happy and cheerful when they are really moody and mean. The other was that they have a bipolar disorder and since I did not want to think of her as bipolar I went with my first thought. I smiled meeting Mary had given me the strength to face her.  I smiled at her and she ran over to me.