• Long Ago, in a far away land there was a king and his beloved queen. A celebration was to begin that night for the birth of the new child, they called Aurora. The small babe sighed in her sleep as the queen stared down in awe at her precious child. “She has your beauty, my sweet.” The king stated as he lovingly kissed her cheek.

    The villagers came from far and wide to see their new princess and brought rare and sweet gifts for the child. The queen smiled as she allowed the next selected group to enter and view the baby asleep in the cradle beside her.

    Both of the Majesties nodded when their countrymen bowed low clumsily to the floor and presented their gifts one by one before the cradle. “I am a toy maker, your majesties, and I bring the best of my trade.” One stammered.

    The queen smiled “Thank you, for your generosity. You must have spent a lot of your time in creating these marvelous toys for our child.”

    He grinned “Indeed so.” He bowed low again gracefully now and took his leave.

    The next was a pale faced woman and her two sisters who followed close behind. In the dim light their skin seemed to sparkle and glow of its own accord. The pale one wore a long simple pink gown that matched the color of her blushing cheeks. One sister was tall and pale as well with a dress of the same style, but as blue as her eyes. The other was just as beautiful with a dress like the others, except that it was as yellow as her long golden hair.

    The pink dressed one stepped forward “Your Excellencies, we bring our magic to the child.”

    “A thousand thank you’s, in advance, dear ladies.” The king answered welcoming them to step forward.

    One dressed in blue stepped closer before the rest “Your child is most beautiful by no chance, so I will give her patience.” She waved her hand and then stepped back for her yellow dressed sister to present hers.

    “With beauty and patience that no one sees caged, a princess will need cour…age!” She laughed at her awful rhyme and shrugged when she noticed her sisters’ odd stares.

    “What will a princess need courage for?! You remember the plot!” her blue dressed sister scolded. “Handsome prince, happily ever after, the end!”

    “It’s alright, a brave little girl is not a dreadful item to hold.” The eldest pink dressed one stated as she stepped forward to present her own.

    When suddenly the doors sprang open revealing another pale faced woman, but dressed in black. The queen lifted her baby quickly to curb her sudden stroke of wails.

    “Ahh...sisters, I see that you have already arrived to a party I have not been invited.” She sneered coming up to stand beside the older sister dressed in pink. Her crow flew in after her and landed upon her shoulder. “Your majesties,” she called contemptuously “I have a gift for the child as well.”

    “Ah-!” She held her finger up when the queen started to speak.

    “When the girl comes of age she will be beautiful, brave, all that,” she glared “She then will find a room and in it a small sewing wheel in which she will p***k her finger and die.” She ended simply and faded from the room as her laugh echoed off the cold walls.

    The king was outraged and the last sister of the three called everyone’s attention.

    “I still haven’t given my gift and under the circumstances, it has changed. Yet I can not change all of my sister’s words.” With her small voice she had their attention. She stood proudly and repeated the dark dressed one’s first words. “When the girl comes of age she will find the sewing wheel and p***k her finger, but,” she stated strongly at their angry reply. “She will not die. Instead she will fall into a deep sleep along with the entire kingdom, until her true love comes and his kiss will set all free.” At her last words the three disappeared and excitement filled the room.

    Soon after the king had ordered all the sewing wheels to be destroyed and all the villagers brought theirs out and burned them to save their young princess. All but one.

    The girl stirred curiously in a crate within the castle. No one ever set foot in “her tower” as they called it. Each year she found a new room and spent all of her time searching its strange and wondrous contents. Each year a new room was labeled her own. Parchment and old feathered pens surfaced and she tossed them aside.

    “Aurora!” a voice called from below. She stopped her stirring and grumbled to herself. “Aurora!” It called again and she heard the muffled footsteps of her nurse who was the exception to “no one”.

    “I’m coming!” She said throwing the contents back.

    The door opened and the breathless old nurse stood wearily. “Honestly, all these stairs! I know for certain that you’ll be the death of me!”

    “Aww! Nannen, I’m only looking!”

    “Curiosity killed the cat, child!” She warned jokingly, grinning from ear to ear.

    Aurora pushed the crate out of the way and discovered another door. Nannen shook her head. “Come on, girl you must be ready and not keep your parents waiting.”

    The girl sighed, maybe later, she thought following the chattering nurse out as she took one last glimpse of the thick wooden door.

    She stood outside in her father’s favorite dress. It was green and matched her eyes. She stood beside her mother waiting for her father’s return. He called to them from far off, accompanied by his men.

    Suddenly Aurora took off running to greet him with the mock protests of her mother saying that her dress would get dirty. Her father climbed off of his horse to greet her smiling and helped her climb up into his saddle as he guided along beside. He grinned “You still run out to greet your old father, do you?”

    She smiled “Of course.”

    “I have someone I would like you to meet, Aurora.”

    She rolled her eyes “Not again, father, please you just got back.” He waved to someone from the back and a man astride a dark mare rode up beside her.

    She glared, not even trying to be pleasant. “I don’t want to marry. Ever!” She took the reins from her father and rode the horse faster until she reached her shelter where she climbed off and ran inside without even answering her mother’s calls.

    The tower greeted her for the second time that day. She moved the rest of the crates out of the way of the door and opened it to find a long spiral staircase. As she ascended a crow flew out of no where. She ducked expecting possibly a hole in the roof of the abandoned room that the bird had gotten in.

    Unfortunately to her chilled amazement she found none where the light could shine through. She was ready for something of this sort as well and pulled a candle from her pocket and lit it carefully to reveal a small room filled with forgotten sewing supplies covered in years of dust.

    She brushed the dust off of several before she pulled her hand back quickly after almost pulling the sheet off of one. A drop of blood fell to the floor and she began to feel fatigue washing over her. Aurora’s other hand grasped the sheet, as she collapsed to the floor revealing a malevolent sewing wheel beneath.

    The castle was suddenly taken under the same drowsiness and all collapsed where they stood. The king and queen collapsed in their private quarters as they were discussing their daughter’s unwillingness to marry.

    A fairy woman dressed in blue clucked her tongue disapprovingly as she helped her sisters lay the girl down better on a blanket instead of the cold stone floor. “Courage! Ha! More like curiosity you gave her, Marie!”

    “Sorry, if I make mistakes, Agnes!” The other said grudgingly as she brushed the soot from her bright yellow skirt. “It was her time anyways! No matter what she would have found it some other way!”

    The other fairy cleaned the room, piling the fallen objects back on their empty shelves. When the dark fairy appeared glaring at them “It’s your entire fault I never have any fun!” She kicked a spindle on the floor and it spun around until she kicked it again angrily.

    “Watch your temper, Lyre. You’ll hurt someone if you don’t.” Bella stated placing the kicked spindle neatly upon the shelf after it appeared in her hand.

    Lyre sat down on the sewing wheel seat and rubbed her eyes with her finger tips. “It gets old you know? Happily ever after, that’s your motto.” She said sarcastically throwing her hand at the wind for blowing her hair in her face.

    “If we don’t give them to the humans then who will? I mean the last time we went on a vacation, you caused the French Riots…”

    “Louis got on my nerves.” She answered

    Marie rolled her eyes “Mongol invaders?”

    “They actually did me a favor.”

    “Black Plague?” Agnes stared furiously down at her.

    “Somebody wished it.” She answered nonchalantly.
    “He did not!” Agnes fumed “He wished that dirty lying rats would die!”

    “Kill two birds with one stone.”

    The three glared at her shaking their heads.

    “What?!” She asked flabbergasted. “What’s wrong with a little fun once and awhile? I help people. I did that one time… in…Lisbon. Oh no, that one went swell, too. Do you remember the looks on their faces when their homes went up in flames?!” She laughed and then stifled it quickly.

    “Just once.”

    “What?” Lyre sat up intent again.

    “This once we leave it up to you.” Belle stated.

    “What?!” Lyre and the other two stood surprised.

    “This fairy tale must come true, happily or… and I make myself clear…I’ll tell mother.” Belle said simply.

    “You wouldn’t! Mother was angry the last time I flooded Atlantis when someone wished problems to wash away!”

    Belle smiled wickedly this time. “You better do well this time, then.”

    The three disappeared leaving Lyre standing beside the sleeping girl. “You’re lucky I’m in a ‘nice’ mood this century.” She said annoyed to the oblivious girl.

    She let roses grow up over the castle for many years before she decided on actually doing as she was told. The thorns were sharp and the vines entangled anyone who came too close. She shrugged as she walked along the path that used to lead to the castle, but now led to someplace else she didn’t care when a boy riding his bike into town stopped beside her.

    “Are you lost?” he asked.

    “No…No…I’m just remembering something horrible I did three hundred years ago.” She touched one of the thorns and pulled back angrily.
    He looked at her strangely “Are you okay?”

    “Actually,” She glared at him. “No. Actually I was wondering if you could help me out with something, since you’re such a sweet little boy.” She finished with contempt.

    “What?”

    “Oh… What?” She asked herself remembering the time period she was in. “I forgot my purse.”

    “You forgot your purse?” He looked at her suspiciously.

    “Yes, I forgot my purse in the tower up there.” She answered.

    He shrugged “Isn’t there a door?”

    “Umm…yes. I did.”

    “Where is it?”

    “I can’t remember.” She added joyously with his added suspicion as he began to look around for a door.

    “Is this it?” He asked pointing to a door covered in vines.

    “Yes.” She said simply and she used her magic to force it open when he looked away. “Oh look its open.”

    The boy eyed her again and followed her up the stairs. The boy looked around the first room.

    “It must be in the other room.” She stated happily with the situation.

    “Other room?”

    “Yeah it’s behind all those crates.” She added.

    He found the door and they followed the stairway up to the next room.

    “Oh look a girl I wonder how she got up here. Maybe you should kiss her to wake her up.” She said in monotone obviously bored.

    The boy bent over her to see if she was alive. “You don’t kiss someone to get them conscious. You do CPR.”

    “Well if that’s what you call it these days…and then the prince gave the princess CPR and she woke up and they lived happily ever after.” She added sarcastically.

    He glared at her.

    “I triple dog dare you” she added thinking of the times and when he didn’t respond she added “I’ll give you ten bucks.”

    He shrugged.

    “Twenty.”

    He kissed the girl and she didn’t wake. Nothing happened.

    “That’s cheap!” She said angrily, and then thought a second and smiled wickedly as she walked towards him. “Well, I guess you’re not her true love then.” She added ruefully. "Better luck next century."