The Perfect Image

She was hoping that the photo would go viral.

She had never taken a selfie as brilliant as the one she had just posted on Instagram. It was the first time that she was completely and totally happy with an image that showed off her long golden tresses in all their full golden beauty. Now all she had to do was sit back and wait for the reaction. Maybe one day somebody would see one of her selfies and help her to escape from the dull boring life that she was stuck in.

Before posting the image she had taken time to edit the photo on her phone and make her teeth look even more white than they were in real life and her ears slightly smaller than they actually were. She hated her ears. They were so pointy. Or at least that’s what she thought.

She had considered carefully about whether to do the selfie nude with her long golden hair carefully arranged to cover her nipples but had changed her mind at the last minute and decided to wear her latest pink bikini, the one that had cost £5,000. After all what was the point of a fantastic pink bikini costing £5,000 if you couldn’t wear it on your social media accounts.

She had seen the bikini on one of her favourite TV shows a couple of weeks ago. There were so many reality TV shows that she loved to watch in the afternoons. She dreamt of being able to take part in one of them one day and become a star. But she knew that it could never happen.

She was wondering what to do next when the drone flew in through the window. At last her latest delivery from Amazon had arrived. It was the hair-straighteners that she had seen recommended by her favourite influencer on TikTok. This was the fifth pair of hair-straighteners she had ordered this month but they just seemed to wear out so quickly.

She ripped off the cardboard and examined her purchase. She was so excited that she treated herself to a strawberry-flavoured vape and then jumped into the jacuzzi. She was always careful to avoid getting her hair tangled up in the jets of water, one of the risks of having such long tresses of beautiful golden hair.

After two hours in the jacuzzi she felt it was time to do something more useful. So she prepared the next video for her Instagram account. She was going to lip-synch to the new track by Dua Lipa. She spent a whole hour rehearsing in the mirror. Then she started to think about what to do with her hair.

She was deep in thought when her mobile suddenly rang. She knew that it was her parents. They would call at this time every week.

“When are we going to see you, darling?” They asked.

“I’m just about to post a song on my Instagram account. You will be able to see me then.”

“We mean see you in person. We miss you so much. It is ages since we saw you in person.”

“But it is partly your fault that I am stuck here.”

“No darling. When we handed you over to the wicked sorceress all those years ago we thought we were doing it for the best.”

“Really?”

“We were so poor that we couldn’t give you a good start in life. And the wicked sorceress didn’t tell us that she was going to lock you up in a tower. We thought she was going to send you to Oxford University and then buy you a flat in London.”

“Instead of which I’m stuck here in the back of beyond. With nothing to do except take selfies, create other content for my social media accounts, order things from Amazon, spend time in my jacuzzi…..”

She realised that her parents had ended the call.

The phone rang again. It was the wicked sorceress.

“How are you today, my darling?”

“Bored.”

“How can you be bored? Young people today have got all sorts of things to keep them occupied. It is not like it was in my day. We only had 4 television channels, no mobile phones and the internet had not been invented. I used to get so bored trying to think of wicked things to do and…”

She terminated the call and was about to burst into tears when she heard a voice calling from outside the window. She looked out. It was the most handsome man she had ever seen. And she fell instantly in love.

“Hi there gorgeous,” he said. “My name is Prince Gary. You might have heard of me. I’m the second son of the King. I’ve just seen your photo on Instagram. It is going viral.”

“I can’t believe it. What did you think of it?”

“I really like the composition. The pink bikini and the long golden hair.”

“Oh thank you.”

“And I think you’re hot.”

She realised that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with this handsome young prince. They could settle down together, start a family and maybe even get a deal to film a documentary for Netflix.

“Young prince, I have waited so long for someone like you to discover me. Is there any way you could help me to escape from this terrible tower in which I have been imprisoned for years?”

“How can I get to you? Is there a lift? ”

“No. If there was a lift, then I would have already used it to escape.”

“I don’t mind climbing up lots of stairs. I used to be in the army.”

“No stairs either. I was going to offer to let down my long golden hair so that you could climb up.”

“I’m not keen on that. I reckon I can borrow my brother’s helicopter. Just wait there. I’ll be back. By the way, what’s your name?”

“Rapunzel.”

And they all lived happily ever after. Until they got divorced.