Frozen Sleeping Beauty

Slam! The ruler pounded on the table. "What did I tell you about all of this noise?" the stern librarian scolded, "next time you are banned from this library."

"Sorry Mrs. Chesler," Henry and I chime. We continued trailing down the endless hallways of the library, quieter this time.

"Aha!" Henry whispered, "folktales." We walked down the aisles of the folklore section.

"Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Hansel and Grettle, Jack and the Beanstalk, we are getting close," I whispered to Henry. Henry lays his hand on the dusty book in the middle of the room and dusts it off.

"Sleeping Beauty," Henry whispers in relief. "It's our town's proudest possession," I read off of the inside cover, "the oldest copy. Legend says she's real."

Henry looked at me and tried to pry it off the table. "It's superglued," he yell-whispers. I grabbed a screwdriver I had packed before we came. The book popped right from the table.

"Grab it and go," I demanded. He stuffed it in his heavy winter coat and ran out of the emergency exit. Shoot. I forgot about the alarms.

I step outside with my thin fleece jacket. "TO THE TREEHOUSE QUICK!" I yelled. I tried my best to turn off the sounding alarms. I would rather be cold and chased than in the police station, meeting my fate of an orphan.

I ran through the brush of the forest just outside. I pulled up the camo blankets to shield our treehouse. I set the book in the metal bucket. Henry caught his breath while slowly climbing the ladder. I followed close behind him. Once we got to the top, we pulled the heavy book up the pulley that Henry installed a few years ago. Once it reached the top, we slammed the book on the rotting wood, and we flew our backs to the floor.

"Why is this book so heavy?" he joked. I took the book out of the bucket and gave it to Henry. I threw the bucked down until the rope snagged at the length we cut it, just before the grass. A shiver shot down my spine.

I walked inside our little house. Henry was advanced in engineering and mathematics. He was able to get us electricity and water. I turn on our battery-powered lamp and sit on our couch that has a spring loose.

My parents died when I was 7 years old. My dad, from cancer. Then my mom had a stroke. I was abandoned on the playground for years. The police came around many times, so I had to change parks. The last thing I wanted was a new family. I decided I was going to build myself a place where no one was going to find me. I had quite the struggle, for I was only 10 years old. I learned how to steal things very quickly. I got caught many times, but I learned how to escape.

Then, one day, my whole life turned. A boy, around my age, runs up to me. "I've seen you sleep at this park," the boy says, "do you have parents?" I said no. "Do you have a place I can hide?" he asked. My face lit up with joy. From that moment on I knew this kid was going to live with me.

I learned quickly how smart he was. "My name is Henry," the boy said. I learned that Henry was in and out of foster care, and he was sick of it.

"Long ago in France," I read, "there lived a King and Queen. More than anything, they longed for a child. At last, to their great happiness, the Queen gave birth to a little girl. All the bells in the land were rung with joy." I kept reading the story while Henry juggled rocks in the hammock.

"Aurora held out her finger to the tip of the spindle," I read with suspense, "she pricked her finger on that spindle. One tiny droplet of blood dripped from her finger. At once, Aurora felt dizzy. She fell onto an old dusty velvet blanket that lay on the attic floor, and fell into a deep sleep." I stopped reading.

"And?" Henry asked.

"It's gone!" I yelled, "the pages, they were ripped out!" The silence was the only thing between us.

"Maybe it's true," he says grabbing the book, "when was it made?" He flipped to the back cover. "1932," he said with amazement.

I grab the book back and fiddle with the missing page rips. I felt something weird. I reached for the inside cover and pulled the seal off. Someone wanted to cover this up.

"Henry looks," I began reading, "Ye who finds Aurora, ends the story."

"Huh?" Henry looks at me.

"I'm not sure," I answered, "but we found her, so does that mean we end the story."

"We gotta get her though," he says.

Last week Henry and I tried to go ice fishing in an old pond that no one has been in what looks like a hundred years. Under the ice, we found a girl. Long golden locks of hair, with blue sparkling eyes, and a slight dimple. She had a poofy pink and gold dress.

No one in a million years would go out in public and where that. That fit the description of what I once remembered Sleeping Beauty, but I had to make sure.

Henry grabbed the saw and started running toward the lake. I ran over to where I found Aurora. It was a small still lake with no movement underneath. Henry began sawing around the area. I took a step back so I wouldn't fall in.

Little did we know that water can make things look closer than they appear. I stripped my clothes and jumped in. The water was pinching my skin with the bitter temperature. I was destined to bring Aurora to the surface. It was at least 8 feet deep. What worries me more is that at this low temperature my muscles will simply give up.

I could hardly see the lake floor as I neared it, but I felt it. I groped around until I felt a hand. I put her arm over my shoulder and tried to swim up. An unconscious body is heavier than a live one. I reached her hand up for Henry to grab. I felt her weight relieve my tired muscles. Not only were my muscles getting tired, but so were my lungs. I saw Henry finish getting Aurora out of the water. I rose up and gasped for air.

"I almost died down there," I yelled, pulling myself on the thick pieces of ice.

"I brought you a towel," he says, trying to make me feel better. We slowly trudged back with Aurora over our shoulders.

"Can't we just carry her up the bucket?" I asked, exhausted.

"You wish," Henry replied between breaths. We slowly trudged up the wobbly ladder. I pushed her feet while Henry pulled her arms. Once we made it to the top we fell on the wood.

"Do you think she will be alive?" Henry asked me.

"Not sure," I asked, dragging her into the house. I turn up the heat to 85 degrees.

"Will that be enough to thaw her?" Henry asked me.

"I don't know," I answer, "but it's worth a shot." Henry and I climbed up in our hammocks and fell asleep.

"AHHH," I heard a scream, "where am I?"

I saw Henry run over to her, "It's okay."

I turn down the heat so we aren't sweating.

"I-," she stutters, "who are you?"

"I'm Jack," I say, "this is Henry." She pauses before freaking out again.

"Is your name Aurora?" Henry asked her.

"Yes," Aurora says, "how did you know?"

"Oh," Henry says, "and what year is it again?"

"1933 of course," she says proudly. "So why were you in the river?" I ask her. "Well," she says, "my town was very angry." "At you?" I ask. "No," she answers, "they kept shouting 'the prophecy, the prophecy or something like that.

"Ok," Henry says, "and-"

"Wait," she interrupts, "I want answers. I want to know why I am here. Where is mom?"

"When they threw you in the lake," I say, "you froze and fell into a coma for a hundred years. Your mother is gone."

"The prophecy," Henry says, "look, this is the prophecy."

He hands me the book, "this was written before she fell into a deep sleep."

"So," she said with worry in her eyes, "my town, my mom, my prince charming, they are all gone?"

She laid back on the pillows we sat her on. We could hear her crying. If I fell asleep and realized that everyone was gone I would be terrified. Honestly, the only people I know and love are in this room. Aurora was around our age too. Before I knew it she was asleep.

Early in the morning, Henry had left to steal us some donuts from the local store and Aurora was just waking up.

"It feels like I haven't slept for ages," she said.

"Technically, you haven't," I laughed, but she laughed with me.

"I'm sorry I was so stingy yesterday," she apologized, "I was in shock."

"It's okay," I say, "it's not every day when you wake up and find a girl under a frozen lake."

"Haha," she laughs, "so, what about your life? What has changed?"

"Well my parents died when I was young," I say looking down, "and I would have been alone if I didn't find Henry."

"I couldn't imagine living with no parents," she says, "how do you get food."

"We steal," I admit.

"That is no good," she says.

"We aren't 'old enough' to get jobs," I pout.

"Good point," she says, "you aren't allowed to have a job unless you are wealthy or have stuff to sell."

"Where'd you get a silly idea like that?" I laugh.

"Is that not what your town does?" she asks.

"No," I answered giggling, "ok I will go in town and get you clothes, you stay here."

"Ok," she says, playing with the air conditioner knob.

I run into town and go to the nearest dollar tree. Even though we steal stuff, we try to keep our bounty at a low, so cops won't try to look for us. I grab a pair of black leggings and a sage green top with a daisy on it. I grab the clothes, put them on underneath my normal clothes, and maybe grab another set of clothes for me and Henry. As my temperature rises, I run out of the store and run back into the woods.

"Did you know you can change the temperature with the button thingy?" Aurora yells to me.

"Haha yeah," I laughed.

"I saw a lot of rich people have them," she said as I climbed up the ladder.

"Were you poor?" I asked.

She looked down, "yeah."

Henry walked into the camo shield.

"DONUTS!" Aurora yelled.

Henry climbed up the ladder and Arora took the donuts and set them on the table.

"I'm as hungry as a hog," she said, chocolate dripping down her face.

Henry turned toward me, "how do we fix 'the prophecy,"

"Here Aurora put on these clothes," I said, closing the curtain.

"Why?" Henry whisper-yelled.

"I promised her to take her into town," I said with sympathy, creasing the edge of my words.

"You are wasting time!" he whisper-yells again.

"I'm done!" she says, opening the curtain, "they feel like PJ's."

"Come on Aurora," I grab her arm and look back at Henry, sticking out my tongue.

I brush the camo blankets from Aurora's head. We slowly walk out of the thick brush.

"I have one rule," I whisper, "act like you know the whole city."

"Ok!" she cheers.

I start walking her across the crosswalk. Aurora looks amazed at the cars, they definitely weren't this modernized back then. She looks around at the tall brick buildings. 

“It’s beautiful,” she whispers under her breath.

I walk into an ice cream shop and buy her a strawberry ice cream. She sits down on the bench and starts licking the ice cream. 

“Can I trust you?” she asks me.

“Yeah,” I said, “why not?”

She pulls out a few papers. They were yellow and moldy. I picked them up and began reading.

“But the princess wasn’t dead nor fast asleep. She was in a coma and could hear everything. The villagers were aware of the book a psychic had written about her. “The prophecy, the prophecy,” they yelled. They threw her in the river to be discovered 100 years later. Two boys will find her and bring her back to her time. A true love's kiss.”

“A what?” I stuttered.

“A true love's kiss,” she cheered, “I will wake up and they will bring me to the castle.”

“What if no one will fall in love?” I asked.

“I guess I’m stuck here then,” she sighed.

“We have to take this to Henry,” I yelled.

“No,” she said, “I don’t trust him.” 

“Fine,” I agreed, “I won’t tell him.”

“Ok,” she said then began coughing really hard. I began to pat her back. Once she stopped, she got up and started walking toward the woods. I didn’t get why she was coughing in the first place.

We walked back into the treehouse, and Henry was asleep. 

“I feel like-,” she started coughing again, harder this time. A choke-like sound began alarmingly.

“ARE YOU OKAY?” I yelled, rushing over to her.

Henry, who has now been awoken, also runs over to Aurora.

Aurora’s choking comes to a stop, “I- I think I’m okay.”

“It didn’t look like it,” Henry scoffed, “I’m going to get her some cough medicine.”

Henry slowly climbed down the ladder as I assisted Aurora into the hammock. I lay on the floor and looked at the slowly setting sun.

“Midnight,” Aurora coughed.

I scrambled to her hammock, “what?”

“By midnight,” she said as silent as she could, “you know what to do.”

But what? I think about what she told me when we were at the ice cream shop. I need to kiss her. But what if it doesn’t work? What if I don’t love her. Will it work either way? I closed my eyes and imagined myself kissing her. 

Water splashes on my face, “ayo,” Henry laughs, “wake up.”

“I was awake,” I said wiping the water from my face, “I just couldn’t hear you.”

“Whatever,” he says, then turns to Aurora, “chew this.”

Aurora takes the gummy and chomps it around in her mouth.

“It tastes like watermelon,” she says licking her lips.

She sets herself back down in the hammock. Henry and

I settle on the floor.

“So,” he whispers, “what’s been going on?” 

“Nothing,” I answered swiftly.

“It doesn’t seem like it,” he lectures, “you aren’t yourself.”

“I’m just worried,” I whisper, “this is the first exciting thing that has happened in my life. Besides meeting you.”

“Yeah I guess,” he looks down, “are you sure?”

“Huh?” I question.

“Are you sure you don’t just like her instead?” he laughs.

“No,” I answer a bit too fast, “well, maybe.”

“Aha!” he says louder.

“Shh,” I whisper, “she’s literally over there.”

I looked over at her and she immediately started choking again. Henry and I rushed over to help her. He coughed hard enough to blackout. Henry And I laid her on the floor. Henry tried to do CPR on her with no success. 

“I know what I have to do,” I said with pride.

“What?” he said, rushing.

I leaned down to her lips. I hesitated for a moment, then leaned in more. Henry stared at me and then looked at the book.

“A true love’s kiss!” he yelled, “That’s exactly what it is.” 

I looked at him as he rubbed his fingers along the missing pages. I pulled them out of my pocket and put them before him. Something from behind me grabs my chin and kisses me. Aurora.

Happily Ever After:

“How long have you had this?” Henry asked me.

“Not long,” I answered.

“Thank you for your kindness,” Aurora says, “but I must go.”

I reach for her wrist.

“I do not belong here,” she says, “I love you too.”

She walks off into the moonlight. I hugged Henry as I watched her leave. 

“It’s okay,” he says, then the book starts glowing. 

“What?” I say pointing to the book. I grab it and I can see Aurora’s face. I touch the pages of the book, but my hand falls in. I reach my head in. I see Aurora waiting for me.

“Come on Henry,” I say, “It’s time for a happily ever after!”

Henry jumps in along with me.

THE END.