Not Cliche Enough

Once upon a time, in a faraway land where fantastical, mythical creatures roamed, lived a kind and beautiful Princess; Princess Lola Lovette of Kingdom Astria.  

She had hair that was white as snow while her eyes were blue like ice yet soft instead of cold. 

Her home was a stone castle of grand magnitude, with a garden of roses that stretched throughout the entirety of the castle grounds. She lived a lavish, privileged life, and everyone in the land adored her. 

That was until she turned 18. 

When the princess was born, she was born of Queen Margaret and King Frederin, and was a perfect copy of both of them. She had black hair like her mother and beautiful green eyes like her father. Though, as the princess got older, her features began to change, and that was when a long-kept secret was discovered. 

The Princess was not of the King's blood, but of a bloodline of dragons; specifically, the Legendary Ice Dragon of Mythomari Island. 

The King, not wanting an illegitimate child to tarnish the Kingdom, banished Lola to Norflora Island, deep inside a cavern where she was hidden away in a castle of her own. 

For her betrayal, King Frederin had executed his Queen as well, despite her pleading that she had no choice but to accept the gift, but he did not falter.  

He quickly became known as the Murderous King of Astria..... 

And so, the story begins, with the daughter of the Legendary Ice Dragon locked away for reasons she could not control, hoping to one day be free of her prison..... 

"All I want to do is read a nice princess story again," Luna sighed, closing the book Princess Lola: Daughter of Ice. The cover of the book intrigued her, but the story wasn't the cliche she wanted. 

Luna chucked it to the side while collapsing backwards from a sitting position onto her back while on her burgundy, worn couch. "Like Cinderella or Snow White, you know?" 

Luna was a beautiful, young, 18-year-old woman with short orange hair that tickled her cheeks, resembling the bright shade of autumn leaves. She had marvelous brown eyes most people got lost in; all except her significant other apparently. 

"Not really," Thomas fake chuckled, listening to his girlfriend's inner turmoil from not finding anything nostalgic without actually resorting to nostalgic things. "Times are changing, it's not about true love anymore. Just lust." he tried cheering her up, though he was barely paying attention to her; he was hours into a game that he had said would be done in 15 minutes. 

She turned onto her side to face her boyfriend, who was opposite of the tiny, cramped living room with his back turned to her on his computer. "Is that why you don't pay attention to me unless I'm showing you my tits or something?" 

"Of course not, babe. I love your butt too." She rolled her eyes at his response. Apart from his odd ability to pull off mohawked green hair like he was born that way, and his dreamy hazel eyes, she was beginning to question what about him was actually attractive. 

 She watched him for a few moments to see if he would pay any type of real attention to her other than smart-ass, shitty responses, but to no avail. His sole priority in the given moment was to his virtual statistics. 

She wasn't necessarily wanting nostalgia, as her boyfriend always assumed, instead, she was looking for a story that could supplement her love life. She wanted to read about the perfect man; someone she wished her boyfriend could be. So, she thought, what would be better than reading about all the prince charming's and happily ever afters? Except, she wasn't finding it. 

Nowhere. 

"I'm going for a walk," she snapped, before springing herself from the couch and heading towards the 3 tiered, wooden shoe rack that stood next to the front door. 

"Cool," Thomas replied, though he didn't hear her to begin with. 

She threw on a pair of cream colored, cushioned slides that matched her floral summer dress perfectly, while not appearing too formal. Then, when she opened the door to leave, he finally noticed her. He quickly turned his swivel chair to face her, "where are you going?" 

Luna, while halfway out of the door, looked at him with a glare, shifted from one leg to the other while she waited for him to remember; considering she had just told him. But when he didn't say anything, she simply closed the door without a word and left. 

As she made her way down the cement stairs of her low-income apartments down to the sidewalk below, she could hear him shuffle about trying to figure out what's going on. He was clicking rapidly and loudly, most likely making sure to save his progress before trying to come after her. 

But, by the time he managed to get a pair of shoes on himself and head out the door after her, she was already long gone. She wasn't going to wait, nor did she have plans to let him catch up. She wanted to be alone. 

Luna didn't have a destination in mind, she just wanted to finally get away. 3 years with Thomas and he already can't give her the time of day to treat her like his love. She huffed thinking about it. 

"I don't want to see his face again...ever!" She began talking to herself, making her way down the sidewalk, following the road leading away from her home. 

She knew better, no matter the day, than to walk alone in the neighborhood, but she couldn't stand being near him any longer. She just hoped, with it being mid-afternoon, that no one would be brazen enough to try anything. 

Though, perhaps she hoped to soon? She was soon met by a man, pulling his silver, luxury car over to the curb before rolling down his window to speak to her. 

"Excuse me? Miss?" He shouted from his seat, his voice sweet and welcoming. Luna looked over at him, nervously. 

"Hel-Hello? What's Wrong?" she asked, stopping her steady stride to look at him; she was too kind to simply ignore him, but she made sure to keep her distance. 

"Oh, nothing is wrong," he reassured her with a smile, his teeth almost shining they were so clean. "But, honestly, my phone is dead, my car's GPS is broken and I just need to find the closes gas station, please?" 

Reluctantly, she approached his car slowly, bringing her phone out to try and guide him towards one. When she reached the passenger window of his car, it suddenly turned off. She stepped back quickly, nervous, "why did you turn the car off?" 

"Just ran out of gas," he laughed, "I figured it would happen. I tried to drive around looking for someone to ask, and you were the first approachable person I found." He began to roll up his windows, showing her an index finger to tell her to wait just a moment before getting out and shutting his door. He placed both arms on top of his car, and joined his hands together as he leaned forward to continue talking to her. 

As Luna was able to look at him a little better, she realized his eyes were a magnificent blue, almost hypnotizing in the sunlight, and his brown hair was professionally slicked back. He was obviously some type of businessman, as he was dressed in a dark blue suit with a black tie and white undershirt, but she still couldn't be too cautious. 

"At this point, may I use your phone to call my insurance company? Maybe they can bring me some gas," he paused slightly, "or at least can you tell me the closes gas station so I can just push it there at this point?"

Just as he finished his sentence Luna got the results of her search, and she read that the closes gas station was about 3 miles away. She couldn't let him push his car that far alone, and he seemed like a nice man. "Alright, you can use it, just don't, um, try anything weird," she warned, though, without much intimidation. 

"Thank you," he said softly, while making his way around the front of his car. 

As Luna got a better look at him, she realized just how handsome the man was. He towered over her 5'3 frame, and his suit hugged his muscles, nearly outlining him perfectly. His pants were just the same, and she couldn't help but notice the bulge in the front of his pants as her eyes wondered; immediately blushing. He saw her look, but remained silent, only smirking as he approached; he knew he was attractive. 

"Here, this one is just up the road a bit," she began, showing him the map on her phone. "Go to the light up there," she pointed, her manicured nails making her hands seem small and dainty, "then take a left and follow it until you seen one. Should be on your left." He peeked over at her phone, silent for a moment, almost as if he were thinking. 

"My name is James, thank you for your help Ms-?" 

"Luna," she smiled at him, looking up into his eyes. 

"If you don't mind me saying this, but you are so beautiful," he said to her, looking down. "Are you available for lunch? It's the least I can do." 

"Aren't you out of gas? How are you supposed to take me there?" She giggled, her cheeks turning a soft pink like a cherry blossom. 

He gently grabbed her wrist, before squeezing it, "make a sound, and you will die here." 

Luna's heart stopped, but she didn't listen and let out a blood curdling scream, hoping someone would hear. 

Furious, he quickly punched her in the temple, knocking her out instantly before catching her from hitting the ground too hard. He then hastily dragged her to his trunk and stuffed her inside while hoping no one cared enough to check what the scream was. 

Luckily for James, she didn't live in a neighborhood where others cared about their neighbors. She was alone.