He had chased me through the garden with the clipped, orderly hedges, the prim and pretty flowers, the flagstone path, the fountain with the cherubic boy spitting water through his tiny mouth upwards and toward heaven. I ran into the castle. It was cool, lovely and full of cushions, knitted drapery, tapestries, and gold. It was designed to bring you comfort and I had always been comfortable and safe there. But with the pursuing prince in the castle, I no longer felt safe. I was out of breath. Shaking. He caught my arm, bent it, twisted it. He pulled me against him. His sour breath grew moisture on my neck. There was a rising panic inside me. He ran his hand through my hair, gripped, and then forced my head back so that our lips touched. His fat, wet tongue spread saliva over my clamped mouth. This was not enough for him. His roving hand pinched, horribly hard, my nipple. I began withering then. Fainting from disgust. Shock. Shame. The prince was a hunter. An invader of my body. I collapsed onto the clean gray stones. He kicked my stomach. I was already in a deep sleep and registered no pain. He carried me to my room and laid me on my bed with the pink satin sheets. His hands roamed and grasped my body before he disappeared.
Reader, this is what you need to know about women put into a deep sleep. We wake up when we are ready. A hundred years passed. A bluebird alighted on my hand and I awoke.
“Oh, little bird,” I said. The bluebird flashed hard, monstrous eyes. I screamed and it extended its wings, across my bed, and then took flight with its talon claws tucked under. That was no ordinary bluebird.
The castle was dusty, cobwebby, and crumbling. It was uninhabited. My footsteps echoed down the halls. Where were the servants, the knights, my family? I felt lonely and unsafe. Outside it was hot, steamy, with wild vines growing, strangely twisted trees, gargantuan flowers blooming with a stink, ruins and more ruins, piles of stone, brittle wood. My soul was still shivering in disgust from the kiss of the prince. I was angry. I threw rocks into the dense foliage. The mess of the garden. I was soaked with sweat. I walked north. Perhaps on the mountain, I would be cooler. Brambles scratched me. Hedges narrowed my path and my dress got stuck. I cried. The prince had altered my world with his touch. His sleep inducing kiss. I cried harder. As I cried, my tears fell and the hedges began to recede. With even more tears the flowers shrunk and became softly fragrant. Ahhhh. I had the power to alter my world. I cried until there was a river and I felt better. Sweeter. Kinder. Soon the kingdom was lovely again and people appeared. I didn’t feel as safe as I did in my youth but I knew that if I rested now I wouldn’t sleep for a hundred years.
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