Rapunzel's Salvation

RAPUNZEL’S SALVATION

Mia Petrova

Imagine being locked up in a tower for about all the years of your life. Not good, right? Well, I guess my parents just wanted to protect me against the virus a comet unleashed upon our kingdom. A virus that had transformed almost everyone in flesh eating zombies. It is awful being locked up in a place with absolute no contact whatsoever. I have birds as friends and singing with them is one of my many hobbies. I know my parents are still alive because I keep getting food every day. Maybe they sealed the castle completely. I wonder why they didn’t want me there. Being a princess is hard, even in an apocalyptic world.

              One of the reasons I don’t even know about is that I can’t, in any circumstances, cut my hair. I’m a nineteen-year-old girl that’s never had a hair cut in her life. And the only contacts I have ever had with was with my parents a long time ago. Every day I sit in my only window, brush and braid my golden hair. I’m doing exactly that now, listening to the zombies trying to find a passage in my tower to eat my gorgeous self while I’m singing and taking care of my valued hair. My tower is big enough, so my braid doesn’t hit the bottom, otherwise I would have turned to a zombie by now.

But then, something weird happens as I begin being pushed out of the window, like someone was climbing my hair.

              “Oh, no!” I scream, imagining that a zombie is finally going to have me for dinner, or, ah, for lunch.

The pain in my head is tolerable as I try to find some kind of weapon to protect me. I find a long sword near the window and I thank God for helping me in this dreadful hour. The first thing that appears from the climber is his hands, my fear expends and I take in a fighting position. His head is next and seconds later his entire body lands in front of me.

I give him a swift of my sword, the boy jumps and scream. “Jesus Christ, what are you doing?”

I drop my sword, in which landed with a great sound. “Oh, my goodness. I’m so sorry, mister. I thought you were a zombie.”

He gives me an incredulous look and I tried to think of the whole situation. He had taken my hair to climb a hidden tower, hadn’t he?

“I’m the one who should be sorry, my lady.” His voice is sweet now, making me really evaluate him entirely.

As I’m desperately in need of contact, I go to him and touch his hair, which is black, long and really soft to my fingers. The boy doesn’t say a word or even complain. My fingers go to his face afterwards, making a trail of sweet excitement. I’m instantly in love with his eyes that are blue with a tint of golden flecks, purely magical. When I look at his clothes all I see is blood.

How could I have missed that?

I take a few steps back and the boy realizes my sudden change of attitude. He almost looks disappointed.

“Oh, no. Were you bitten? Or hurt?”

“No, I was not bitten. This blood is from the zombies I’ve killed, my lady.”

I really like the way he kept calling me
my lady
, but I only imagine how my name would sound in his lips.

“What’s your name, young lad?”

“Benjamin, my lady,” he answered without hesitation.

“Please, call me Rapunzel.”

His eyes looked for mine in a heartbeat, his expression now pure with surprise, like he knew who I was, but that was impossible… right? No one knew where I was… Or did my parents sent him to protect me?

We gazed at each other for a few moments, but soon my head went to something else. I couldn’t let him stay drenched with blood.

“Come.” I lead him to my one and only bathroom.

I leave Benjamin with his hygiene and as I’m going to my living room I hear the zombies moan and growl. I go to the window and I see that more zombies are gathering around my tower. I soon realize is Benjamin’s fault as he found my secret place and drag the ones that were following him.

I sigh loudly, grab my crossbow and I start shooting my arrows directly into the zombie’s heads. I have a lot of training, maybe four to five hours every single day. I guessed I had to be prepared for some misfortune day, and I guess the day has finally come. As my intruder is cleaning himself, I kill zombies from my window. Sometimes I miss the head because since Benjamin’s arrival the undead are restless.

I hear noises behind me.

“How did you find my tower?” I ask him without even looking back; I just keep on doing what I think I’m good at: Killing zombies from afar.

“I-I ran for hours, looking for somewhere to hide. I found your tower and climbed it.”

“And thank you so much for that.” The sarcasm is clear on the tone of my voice. I think Benjamin is indeed beautiful, but he had brought danger to my doorstep, so I am mad as hell right now.

He walks to the window, sees all the commotion the zombies are doing, then he sighs and closes his eyes. I stop shooting when I notice his shirt is completely wet, I can see his broad chest beneath it. He had cleaned his shirt when he took a shower.

Oh, crap, he is so hot.

Keep your head on the game, Rapunzel.

“I didn’t mean to cause you any trouble, my lady.” He apologizes, still using
my lady
instead of my name.

I stop staring at his manly biceps and find his eyes.

“Look, I know you didn’t mean to bring them to me, but…” I roll my eyes and suddenly decide not to be so good to him. “I was safe because there were a few zombies around here, now they are finding this place like it is Candyland. They will make a way to get inside. This is all
your
fault.”

I drop my crossbow harshly on the floor, and I start walking around my house to gather provisions when the time comes. In seconds, my satchel is entirely full with food and other necessities. I cut my blue dress above my knees for me to run better and I wear a long leather boot and equip my thighs with knives. I put the sword on my waist, grab my crossbow and arrows and equip them on my back. When I’m done I look at Benjamin, who looks at me strangely.

He scratches his chin. “Wow. I never thought a girl could…”

“What? Kill?”

“Pretty much. Yes.”

“Welcome to a new world.” I joke.

Although I am fascinated by his presence and that I finally have contact with someone other than myself, I have strong feelings of rage toward him. But maybe I should be grateful? I mean, I’m going to leave this tower for the first time in my life. I don’t know what to think anymore, seriously. But I pull myself together and I search for the secret door where there’s a long rope in case I needed to escape someday. And this is the day.

I turn to Benjamin. “You go first.”

“But ladies are always the first to go.” He said to me seriously.

I roll my eyes. “Well, not anymore. Go.” As he’s taking the rope and getting ready to jump down I remember something. “Wait.” I yell.

This was going to be my first time outside and I had forgotten all about my hair. I run to my jewelry box; pick up lots and lots of pins and I start to make a braid inside a braid, then I roll them into a really big bun on top of my head. God only knows how much I want to cut my hair because this hairdo feels like it weights a ton.

“Okay, go.”

Benjamin jumps to the rope and then I’m right there with him, together we slowly roll down. Meanwhile I can hear the zombies scratching the rocks of my tower, trying desperately to get in. I’d have a huge surprise for them though. I’m scared to death of the real world, and not even counting with the undead. I don’t want to be a scared delicate flower, so I suck it up.

“Almost there,” Benjamin announces.

When we he hit the bottom, I grab my sword, Benjamin grab his two knives and then I kick a hidden wooden door. I’m the first to get out, the wind hits my face and I smell fresh air. I do have the time to appreciate my first seconds of earth beneath my feet though, as zombies try to take a bite out of me. I have thousands of hours of sword practice, but I never had killed anyone with it. The initial swift of my sword takes a head out of a zombie’s body, splattering some droplets of blood onto my face. My heart races and I smile because I’d actually done it.

As Benjamin and I run, we kill all the undead that get in our way. I don’t know where we are running to, but Benjamin seems to have a plan so I just follow him. We are reaching the forest when I hear the loudest noise I have ever heard. I look back and see my tower collapse to the ground, leaving only dust for the wind to carry.

Tears fall from my eyes; I don’t even have time to dry them because a horde of zombies are behind my companion and I. In the forest, we run into more zombies seeking for flesh and I begin to kill one after the other. There’s so much blood and guts and gore that my head starts to go haywire. I’m almost drooping to the ground when Benjamin takes me with his arms.

My sweet dress is ruined with blood and there are rips on the fabric everywhere. I want to hide in a hole and cry forever. It’s too much, way too much for me to handle. Benjamin is attacked from behind and when I hear him screaming I take control of my body again. I grab one of his knives that had fallen to the ground and I stab the zombie in the eye that took a bite off Ben’s neck.

“Run, princess,” he says when his hands go to stop the bleeding of the bite.

I stare at him, perplex that he knows who I am. “What? No, I’m not going to leave you.”

“You must.”

I stab the next zombie in the head.

“I won’t leave you.” I yell completely out of breath.

Benjamin punches the air, take my hand and soon we begin to run again. We run for hours, maybe more, I’m so tired that I’m might simply drop dead. He’s still holding my hand and his face looks horrible, white as a ghost. I know his going to turn into one of the undead, but I can’t help but stay with him; he saved my life. Benjamin is taking me to my parent’s castle, I realize, and I’m glad he knows the way because I don’t. Shame on me.

“We need to stop, Ben, you don’t look so good.” I warn him.

He nods, seconds later we are hiding from some loner zombies. Trying to not make any noise, Ben leads us to a dark cave. It’s humid and smells bad, but it’s the only place we found that seems a bit safe. As Ben drops into the cold ground, I kneel beside him, touch his burning skin and try to make him feel a little better. We gaze at each other for a while, and then his fingers are gently touching my lips.

“I knew you would be the most beautiful girl I laid eyes on,” he whispers.

I close my eyes, and I think of his words and how they make me feel. I smile because I’ve never heard something so nice before.

“Why didn’t you tell me you knew who I was?”

“I didn’t want to scare you away.” He begins to show difficulty to breathe, leaving him all sweaty.

He was breaking my heart.

My chin begins to shudder; I want to cry but I hold it in. “Why would you scare me away?”

“You are a princess, I am a prince.” He coughs and I see blood. “We were meant to…”

“Get married,” I finish for him. I could see how awful it was for him to speak.

“Yes,” he confirms so softly that makes me gasp.

“I’ve never kissed anyone. D-do you want to be my first?” I flush slightly.

“Of c-course, m-my lady.”

Slowly, oh so very slowly I touch his lips with mine. I get shivers all over my body; the softness of his kisses are beyond sweet and addictive. I want to kiss him forever, but I can’t, can I?

A coughing fit interrupts our first kiss as he begins to breathe roughly, and meanwhile his eyes never leave mine. Blackness begins to take over his gorgeous and unique blue eyes.

“R-rapunzel,” he manages to say before he takes his last breath.

And there it is, my name in his lips, a simple word that marks my entire soul. I look at his pale face and I think of all my moments with him. He was supposed to be my husband, my goddamn husband. How could I… How was I… A sob escapes my mouth, a trigger that leads to an incredibly loud weeping. I never cried as much as I cried today, at this moment. My tears soon takes over Benjamin’s face, my crying vibrates in the cave’s walls, showing the desperation of a free woman. But what is the point of being free if I don’t have the person I want most in my life, huh?

I hear noises coming from the entry; I leave Ben’s body and grab my sword. I’m so miserable that I can’t even stand straight, but when two zombies take my line of vision I fight them off, splitting one in half while taking the head of the other. A movement behind me grabs my attention, leading me to believe that Ben had transformed into one of them. I take steps back to the spot that has more light, I switch my sword to my crossbow and wait for him. I didn’t want to cut his head off or do something awful with his limbs, so a crossbow sounded like a better idea.