My Life as a Fairytale

Here’s another one of my short stories from my Writing Fiction class.  Enjoy!

Here I stand alone again. The battle is finally over and the only thing that remains is the thin fine foggy mist that hides the ugliness beneath. Each soldier fought brave and hard as each one drew his sword in valiant effort. The hopes and dreams of a thousand men were all too soon drawn to a close and the blood stained hills are now all that remain. I am deeply saddened and wish that I could have done something to stop the fight.

It feels as if centuries have passed and yet I still remain in a statue like state. I’m always watching, waiting, and listening; never speaking, never moving, and never really living. Planted with roots so deep, that it almost feels like I have always been like this. The life I once knew seems like a dream now; a past distant memory that is almost forgotten. It’s in times like these that I begin to realize how truly lonely I am. I have always hoped that one day I would be discovered; that one day my own thoughts and dreams would become a reality and that this evil curse would be broken and I would be free to live again.

Looking out at the devastation before me, I am reminded of just how cruel this world really is. I was hopeful in the beginning. The world around me was absolutely beautiful. Lush green rolling hills surrounded me and felt cool against my rough exterior.  Flowers of every color of the rainbow dotted the landscape for as far as I could see.  Birds sang their cheerful little songs and animals frolicked and played from sunrise to sunset. The glory of the earth was immensely apparent and the splendor of it all would have taken my breath away; if I still had breath that is. Now looking around, the scene has dramatically changed. The hills are black with smoke and scattered bodies’ litter my once scenic view. The flowers that once graced this land with their fragrant beauty have all but vanished and the animals and birds have fled without a trace. I am mortified at the thought of having to spend eternity looking upon a scene such as this. All hope in my mind has been replaced with grief and sadness and deep longing for the life I once knew. What exactly was that life? I can barely remember… and yet I do see a faint distant memory, one that I must hold onto or I fear that I shall lose myself completely. I must hold on…. I must, I must, I must! I try to envision what my life would have been like if I had survived that fateful day. My only memory is a very sad one…

The day started out quite uneventful. I was keeping myself busy with mundane everyday chores. My mother and father left the cottage early that morning. It was harvest time and work started at the brink of dawn and ended just after dusk. So it was quite unusual to look through the tiny kitchen window and see my mother running toward the cottage at mid-day. I remember the look of horror on her face as she ran in desperation towards the shelter of our cozy little home. Her hair had fallen from its tightly formed bun and was flowing loosely down around her shoulders.  I noticed that her face was covered in dirt stained tears. I was about to open the door and run to meet her, when suddenly a flash of light stopped me dead in my tracks. In an instant, my mother lay lifeless before me as if turned to stone. I remember thinking that I should hide or try to get out of the cottage through one of the windows in the back of the house. I knew I didn’t have long and yet I seemed to be frozen to the floor.   And then, it came upon me. The bright light hit me with such force that I was knocked backward and my breath was instantly taken from my body. Suddenly, I was in complete and utter blackness, I heard not a sound, I felt nothing, and I seemed to be in oblivion. When I finally awakened, I was here in my statue like state. The earth held me in a firm tight grip and I could no longer move or breathe. I can still see, hear and feel, but nobody sees me for who I really am.

I dream of a day when I will be normal again, a day when I can laugh and play as I once used to. If that day does come, I know I will never take for granted how precious life is and I will cherish every moment as if it were my last. I think about my parents as I stand here day after day and wonder what became of them. Were they transformed like me? My heart aches to know how their story ended. But that was once upon a time, and now… because I have no other choice, I must live this new life that I have been given. It may seem a sad state to live in, but it’s the life that I have been condemned to live and fate dealt me an evil hand with which I cannot escape.

Did you figure out what I am?