The Castle

The wound that had been made in Mary's heart seemed to callous over. Instead of the doe eyed dreamer she was the bitter and pessimistic hater of love.

As her life became bleak, and the problems of being an adult began to settle in, Mary just threw herself into her work. There was joy in that, she read, she watched, she spent time with her friends. Life was about friends and food and good times. There was no room for that childhood belief.

But she snorted when the guy ended up with the girl. And she railed when he seemed to magically solve all of her problems. When their was love woven into every action, every fantasy, Mary sneered. Love was like magic: it didn't exist.

No one was coming to save you, you had to save yourself. No one was offering you a happily ever after, you had to do that for yourself too.

Relationship's weren't the solution she had been led to believe. They were a trade, a simple fact of I give and I get. And when I'm not happy with that I walk away.

That fact took months to settle into the cold existence that Mary now claimed as her own. She had less compassion for Julia's idiotic choices in men, and had almost vomited when her mom had brought home a frisky younger man as her new "play thing." There was no one out there for the Shuman women, there was no one out there for anyone.

Mary got home late from work, the winters weren't cold in Anaheim California, but when it rained it made it feel rather unpleasant. And-a-raining it was. It had been one year since her break up. She was tired and had skipped dinner to finish her workload for the day. And she stumbled into the house.

Her mother and Julia sat curled under a blanket, their eyes fixated on the flat screen T.V.

The ending scene of the animated version of Disney's Cinderella played out, as the carriage was pulled away into happily ever after, and the prince and Cinderella kissed.

"We're having a Disney Princess marathon." Julia explained.

"You should join us." Her mother offered, opening her arms to reveal another spot under the blanket.

Mary bristled. "Why so we can watch them fall in love, and then miss the part where the prince decides that she's not good enough for him and so he dumps her."

Both Julia and her mom stared wide eyed at Mary, the bitterness in the girls voice shocking them. But Mary was just getting started.

"Or miss the part where the prince finds a better princess and cheats on Cinderella. Or god-forbid miss the part where they decide that their happily ever after isn't that happily after all and they decide after thirty years of marriage they should get a divorce."

Mary fumed. She let the days irritation run over her and poor onto her unsuspecting family. The hurt and defensive looks were all that Mary needed to turn on her heels and leave her angered family behind.

She headed to the nearest bar, her intentions to drown her worries out, and succumbed to the worry free bliss that a good bottle offered.

She pulled up to a bar, the lights shimmering against the Disney Land Princess castle, taunted her in the distance. Mary glared and slammed her car door, before storming into the building.

Several shots, and a half drunk bottle of tequila later Mary was even more angry than before. She stumbled out of the building and raised her middle finger to the glowing castle in the distance.

She cursed the very existence of such a thing. This is what had ruined her, THIS is what had set her up for failure. Mary hated Disney. Mary hated love. Mary hated happily ever afters.

I'm Mary's drunken stupor a very malicious plot began to form. A wicked smile cut across the ruined make up of one who was absolutely plastered.

Mary somehow made her way towards the castle, she scaled a wall in a pencil skirt and blouse, and drunk our of her mind. By some divine miracle she had chosen a time when the cameras seemed to magically blip, and the alarms and security seemed to falter.

She inched her way to the top, and from there less than gracefully dove from the top. Her drunken state the only thing keeping her bones still intact. Mary popped up from the dirt, and her, and her bottle of tequila, and her lighter, made their way through the darkness of the park at 3:00 am.

In Mary's mind the greatest revenge she could take on this thing that had set her up to fail so badly, was to burn it to the ground. She was going to Guy Fawkes this shit.

Mary stood on the far side of the castle. Her clothes were torn and muddy. Her face held a maniacal grin. "How about a toast to you Disney." Mary sneered as she ripped a piece of fabric off of her skirt, and tucked it into the mouth of the open tequila bottle.

She lit the peace of fabric, and wound back, aiming for a ground floor window.

"I hope you like cocktails!" Mary screamed.

Just before she could release the bottle an Ice cold hand wrapped around her wrist, stopping the bottle from launching.

Mary's adrenaline and blood alcohol levels seemed to converge, and she blacked out. Her mind shutting down into a painless nothingness.