RAPUNZEL’S SALVATION
Mia Petrova
Imagine being locked up in a tower for about all the years of your life. Not good, right? Well, I guess my parents just wanted to protect me against the virus a comet unleashed upon our kingdom. A virus that had transformed almost everyone in flesh eating zombies. It is awful being locked up in a place with absolute no contact whatsoever. I have birds as friends and singing with them is one of my many hobbies. I know my parents are still alive because I keep getting food every day. Maybe they sealed the castle completely. I wonder why they didn’t want me there. Being a princess is hard, even in an apocalyptic world.
One of the reasons I don’t even know about is that I can’t, in any circumstances, cut my hair. I’m a nineteen-year-old girl that’s never had a hair cut in her life. And the only contacts I have ever had with was with my parents a long time ago. Every day I sit in my only window, brush and braid my golden hair. I’m doing exactly that now, listening to the zombies trying to find a passage in my tower to eat my gorgeous self while I’m singing and taking care of my valued hair. My tower is big enough, so my braid doesn’t hit the bottom, otherwise I would have turned to a zombie by now.
But then, something weird happens as I begin being pushed out of the window, like someone was climbing my hair.
“Oh, no!” I scream, imagining that a zombie is finally going to have me for dinner, or, ah, for lunch.
The pain in my head is tolerable as I try to find some kind of weapon to protect me. I find a long sword near the window and I thank God for helping me in this dreadful hour. The first thing that appears from the climber is his hands, my fear expends and I take in a fighting position. His head is next and seconds later his entire body lands in front of me.
I give him a swift of my sword, the boy jumps and scream. “Jesus Christ, what are you doing?”
I drop my sword, in which landed with a great sound. “Oh, my goodness. I’m so sorry, mister. I thought you were a zombie.”
He gives me an incredulous look and I tried to think of the whole situation. He had taken my hair to climb a hidden tower, hadn’t he?
“I’m the one who should be sorry, my lady.” His voice is sweet now, making me really evaluate him entirely.
As I’m desperately in need of contact, I go to him and touch his hair, which is black, long and really soft to my fingers. The boy doesn’t say a word or even complain. My fingers go to his face afterwards, making a trail of sweet excitement. I’m instantly in love with his eyes that are blue with a tint of golden flecks, purely magical. When I look at his clothes all I see is blood.
How could I have missed that?
I take a few steps back and the boy realizes my sudden change of attitude. He almost looks disappointed.
“Oh, no. Were you bitten? Or hurt?”
“No, I was not bitten. This blood is from the zombies I’ve killed, my lady.”
I really like the way he kept calling me my lady , but I only imagine how my name would sound in his lips.
“What’s your name, young lad?”
“Benjamin, my lady,” he answered without hesitation.
“Please, call me Rapunzel.”
His eyes looked for mine in a heartbeat, his expression now pure with surprise, like he knew who I was, but that was impossible… right? No one knew where I was… Or did my parents sent him to protect me?
We gazed at each other for a few moments, but soon my head went to something else. I couldn’t let him stay drenched with blood.
“Come.” I lead him to my one and only bathroom.
I leave Benjamin with his hygiene and as I’m going to my living room I hear the zombies moan and growl. I go to the window and I see that more zombies are gathering around my tower. I soon realize is Benjamin’s fault