A fairytale

Once upon a time there lived a boy and a girl. They grew up together as the best of friends. Through the years everyone would exclaim "What a beautiful child!" whenever they saw the little girl. But she was not just beautiful. She was gentle, kind, and fair. Everyone wanted to be near her. When she became overwhelmed by all the attention the little boy would chase them all away. He told her "I am your knight. I will always be loyal to you."

The girl smiled at him and he felt brave. To the boy she was the most precious thing in his world. When the yelling would start at his house he would run over to hers. She would rub his back and tell him stories of brave princes. He so wanted to be one of the princes in her stories.

And so they grew up, side by side, until one year when the girl went away to college. The boy wasn't able to go with her so he stayed. The day before she left they met under the tree between their houses. The boy was filled with sadness. He didn't want her to leave. She told him "You've always been my protector. I'm scared to go but I know I have to. You are more precious to me than anyone else."

She gave him a picture. It was of them as children. He had a cape and a sword and she, a tiara. "Goodbye my brave knight. Don't forget me."

He held her tightly to him until she had to leave.

Without the girl, the boy was lost. It was as if the light in his life was gone. He started doing things to make himself forget the girl. He drank, he smoked, he used women's bodies. Nothing helped. He used and was used. He disappointed and was disappointed. He turned into someone he couldn't recognize. He covered the mirrors in his apartment with black sheets. Nothing mattered anymore. She wasn't there.

When the girl came back from school she went to the boy's house. She saw the bottles and the empty cartons. She tried to put her arms around him but he pushed her away.

"You left." Is all we would say to her. She tried to talk to him. To find the boy in the man who stood in front of her with sunken eyes.

"I'm not that boy anymore," the man said. "Get out."

The girl left. She walked down many streets wondering if it was all her fault. When she went back to school everyone remarked on how she had changed. Her hair was dull, her skin spotty. She had once walked the halls smiling and laughing. Now she walked with her head down and would not make eye contact. She started spending all her time at the library. She read fairy tales and children's stories, trying to figure out how to save someone. But there aren't any dragons or evil witches to fight in real life.

One day a call came. It was the boy's mother. He had been out late and crashed his car. "It's bad. Please come." The mother whispered.

The girl drove all night to the hospital. There were tubes everywhere. They had to shave his head for the surgery. He looked like the boy she remembered.

"It's a coma. They don't know when he will wake up."

The girl laid down next to the man, who looked like the little boy, and told him a story. She told him how everyone had always thought she was beautiful but she wasn't. She really was an ordinary girl. He was the one who was beautiful. She wasn't the light in his life. She was only a reflection of his. She told him she loved him. She told him she was sorry. She told him she would do anything. She would fight his dragons. She would kiss him until he awoke. She would break the spell.

When she was finished the girl went to sleep beside the boy. She held him tightly and waited for him to wake up.


*This is a very rough draft. I apologize for any erros.