The Fairy Tale Reality

It was a new day, a new chapter in Madeline's life. But she was still drooling on her study table. The half filled page got a little wet with her saliva.

Her alarm had been buzzing for a while now. She had been dreaming about whatever she had penned down in the book.

'Ohh my Prince charming…' she smiled, and soon saw him fading away. As he faded, the sound of the alarm became more prominent.

She jostled back and dropped to the floor.

Madeline got up and looked at the time. It was almost 10 am.

'Shit…shit…shit…' she panicked and rushed to the washroom to change.

'Shit…my first class…'she was getting late. Madeline had an assignment to submit that morning. But clearly, she had missed it.

She pulled her bag from the floor. The chair got displaced and hit the table. The book was kept open. The window was half ajar. The wind blew gently and flipped the pages.

Madeline was in such a hurry that she had completely forgotten about the book.

She grabbed her half eaten sandwich from last night and ran outside her apartment.

She kept running, with the flap of her bag dancing in the wind. She stopped at the bus stop only to realize that she had missed the bus for 3 seconds.

'Shit…shit…' she screamed and ran after the bus. But it was not helpful. She had missed the bus. Now she did not have time to wait for the next bus. She kept running to her college. If she could reach the college in 12 minutes, she could still submit her assignment.

The class had dispersed. The bell had just rung when Madeline was entering the college.

'Miss Luna…' she shouted and ran after her professor. The other students laughed at her and even recorded a video of her running in the hall. One student extended her foot forward, and Madeline tripped.

She hit her chin.

Her assignment dropped from her hand and flew down the corridor.

The students laughed. One of them ran to the corridor and emptied her water bottle so that her assignment could get washed away.

Madeline was still on the floor with welled-up eyes. The scratch on her chin was bleeding a little. She sniffed and got up.

She dusted off her knees and ran to the staff room to request Miss Luna for an extension.

The student who had recorded her video sent it to the class group. Madeline became a figure of public mockery. During recess, they turned her into memes.

Madeline muted her notifications and tried to ignore them.

A few hours later, she was in the library, setting up the books. That day, her duty was at the Children's Section. There were several Fairy Tales and Comics thrown around.

She was supposed to pick them up and keep them in the right places. Her eyes fell on the cover of one of the Fairy Tales. The animated picture of the Prince on a horse matched the one in her imagination last night. She paused, leaned on the shelves, and caressed his picture.

She chuckled. 'I was stupid to believe you would actually come out of the story I had written!'

She carefully placed the book on the shelf. But her thumb ring got stuck to its index. It seemed that the animated picture of the Prince did not want to let her go.

She bit her lips and thought, 'i shall buy this!'

After leaning on the shelves, she took the book to the counter. 'I want to buy this.'

The shopkeeper laughed. 'Are you a small girl?'

Madeline coughed and lied. 'It's…uhm…for my niece…'

The shopkeeper suppressed her laughter and started billing it.

Madeline added. 'Uhm…will I not get the employee offer?'

'You are just an intern,' the shopkeeper rudely remarked.

Madeline nodded and pulled out the crushed papers of notes from her pocket.

The shopkeeper rudely put one dollar on the counter and said, 'take it…'

Madeline stared at her with perplexity.

The shopkeeper arrogantly added, 'i'll give you a little discount.'

Madeline heaved angrily. She thought to herself, 'am I a beggar? What good is a one dollar discount…'

She rolled her eyes and left without taking the money she had offered.

It was 6 pm when she stepped out of the library. Her stomach growled with hunger. But she had another duty at a restaurant.

She was already so exhausted. Her chin still hurt. But she kept the book in her bag and walked to the restaurant a few blocks away to do the dishes.

She had not got time to grab something to eat.

When she went to the restaurant to clean the dishes, she found an untouched burger on one of the plates. She hopped on it hungrily.

The Manager, who was a rustic man, saw her eating the burger. He shouted. 'Are you eating the burger for free?'

Madeline shook her head, a little embarrassed. 'This was a leftover.'

But the rustic man lost his tranquility. He strode to Madeline and grabbed her hair. He looked around to see nobody was watching him. Then he pinned her against the wall and groped her.

'You can pay me back with your body!'

He pressed his thumb to her lips. She tried to resist his grip. But he held her so roughly. His hands slipped down her neck and pressed her breasts.

Madeline screamed. The Manager pressed his palm on her mouth so that she could not scream.

Madeline felt his perverted fingers slip down her waist. It went back and grabbed her hip.

She raised her knee so furiously and hit him in the groin area.

'Asshole!' She pushed him back.

Then, she quickly picked up her bag and started running toward the back door.

The Manager got up and ran after her. 'Come here, you thief! Pay me for the burger!'

The backdoor opened to a shady lane. Nobody was around. Madeline regretted her decision to come out of the restaurant from the back. She felt more scared now. The Manager kept following her like wild prey.

She cried and tried to get out of the shady place. The Manager was faster. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.

The heaviness of her bag ebbed her speed. She cried and shouted, 'HELP!'

But nobody was around to listen.

After running for a while, she became breathless. The Manager tripped her down. She dropped to the pavement.

The Manager looked around and saw the lane was still empty. He unzipped his pants and hopped on her. He tightly held her wrists and pinned her on the pavement. He put his legs in such a way that she could not move even a little. Poor Madeline kept writhing on the ground like an insect.

As he bent toward her, the street lamp shattered. Now it was much darker. The Manager smirked and thrust himself on her.

Soon, they could hear the sound of hooves. A horse neighed.

It was unusual for a horse to be around in town. They both raised their heads to see a horse not far away from them. A man with a hat rode the horse toward them.

Madeline was shocked. It was happening for real.

The Manager got up and tried to run away. His pants were loose and almost came down. The horse ran toward the man.

The Manager groaned when he felt a sharp blade hit his right thigh. He dropped to the ground.

Madeline got up and picked up her bag. The intruder's back faced Madeline. She was curious to look at his face.

The streetlamp was flickering. It became difficult to see him. The man dismounted his horse and swiftly turned back to Madeline.

As he turned back, a pleasant gush of wind gently kissed her face. Her loose ponytail altered into relaxed hair that dangled with the wind.

Madeline was awestruck when she saw the face of the man. He was the same man as on the cover of the fairy tale she had bought. He had long curly hair like a Disney prince. He wore a cloak and armor on his chest. The sword swung from his side.

He elegantly walked toward her. The man pulled his hat and stopped before Madeline.

His blue eyes stared into hers.

He cleared his throat and asked in a British accent, 'are you alright?'

Madeline's heartbeat intensified when she heard his husky voice.

He extended his hand to pull a strand of hair back her ear.

When she felt his touch, her entire body danced in a silent rhythm. He bent forward toward her lips.

She closed her eyes and waited for her dream moment. But nothing happened. She had expected to savor his pretty lips. But when she opened her eyes, he was not there. He had disappeared. The horse had gone too.

Only the Manager bled on the pavement.

'Ghost!' he shouted.

Madeline could not believe what had happened. Then she remembered that she had left the page blank after this.

Madeline could not believe it. She could write her own story. Her Prince Charming could be real. She ran back to her apartment to complete the chapter.

'Why did I have to fall asleep at the right moment?' She regretted it and ran straight to complete her story.