87 Stories, Alyse Hartman [reading tree .TXT] 📗

he knew she couldn’t have died. She was stronger than that. At first Thomas wondered, “How will I know where the village is?” but as he looked up and checked his surroundings, he saw the tip of the castle in the distance. “Just follow the castle,” he thought.  Chapter 3

Eliza looked in the mirror. She had never seen such a beautiful dress. It was white and puffy with ruffles from the torso down. Her hair was done in an elegant braid, and though Eliza felt like the most beautiful girl in the world, she hated it. Her hair was being pulled uncomfortably and the dress was unbearably heavy. Eliza felt so torn apart, never had she thought that any of this would ever happen. She was being forced into marriage, and right after she had finally admitted to herself her true feelings for Thomas.

“Married at sixteen,” Eliza said to herself, practically in shock at the thought of such a preposterous idea.

A knock came from the door, “ Eliza, the celebration is about to begin,” a feminine voice said.

Eliza hesitated, but she slowly went to open the door. Taking a deep breath Eliza twisted the door knob with her nervous sweaty palms. “I guess I’m ready,” she assured the royal assistant, starting to follow her through the hallway and down the stairs. Although the walk was only a short number of minutes, Eliza felt like she was walking in slow motion. She looked at every painting and statue in the castle that they passed.

 Eliza stood in front of the French doors and stared at them. The last thing she ever wanted to do was enter that room. It felt like a nightmare that she would wake up from, and Eliza hoped that any second now she would wake up from this, but it was all too real. Eliza heard the traditional “Here Comes the Bride” song. She opened the doors and began walking down the aisle. Everyone stood from their seats, almost the entire village had to be there, except no Thomas. Eliza wanted more than anything to just run out the doors and find Thomas, wherever he may be. Together they could escape this catastrophe. The only thing that delayed her were the consequences of disobeying royalty, death.

 “You may kiss the bride,” the Justice of the Peace permitted. Eliza closed her eyes and hoped to get it over with. That was a memory that Eliza tried to block out. Her first kiss would forever be with the snotty prince. Eliza’s title was at that very moment “princess,” but Eliza knew she was the last thing from a princess, she as a warrior.

“Now, the traditional ceremonial parade begins!” Prince Scott declared. The village cheered and stood from their seats as the prince escorted Eliza by the arm, down the aisle, through the French doors, and out of the castle. They began circling the perimeter of the castle, outside of the moat. The village danced and sang as they proceded down the cobblestone road. Traditional medieval songs were being played throughout the village.

Eliza tried her best to pose as a happy girl, the kingdom needed to see Eliza as a positive figure. Although she really did try her best, the townspeople could tell she had something stuck in her mind. As the parade began to wind down and the villagers started to depart Scott pulled Eliza in private directly behind the castle. They went behind a large tree next to a steep cliff that led down to a rapid undulating river.

“What is wrong with you! ” Prince Scott snapped, then harshly slapped Eliza on the cheek.

Eliza winced and thrust her fist towards Scott’s face. He quickly grabbed her fist and blocked her before she could strike him. Eliza’s eyes widened and she took a step back.

“How dare you!” Scott hissed, “ What has gotten into you!”

Eliza hesitated, then looked at Scott. “This isn’t worth it,” Eliza thought, then stared at Scott directly in the eye. “I must go,” she spat, then jumped off the cliff and began falling towards the deep, wide river.

 Prince Scott became furious. “GUARDS!” he shrieked. A pair of knights came to him immediately, followed by some curious townspeople.

“FIND ME ELIZA,” Scott ordered, “dead or alive.”

The knights nodded and began on their way to search for Eliza.

“Bring me to the wizard,” Scott howled. A royal carriage was brought to him instantly with perfectly groomed white horses. Scott stomped to the carriage, climbed inside, and slammed the door. As the carriage began on its way Scott looked out the golden lined window. Many townspeople were crowding by him, staring worriedly.

Once Scott arrived at the wizard’s shack, he ran straight up to his door and busted it down. The wizard jumped and put his hands up in the air.                                                                     “I swear I am innocent!” he pleaded.

Scott disregarded the wizard’s reaction. “ I need to find Eliza Henley,” the prince demanded.

“Perhaps I may be able to locate her with my crystal ball,” the wizard mumbled, feeling interrogated and small. The wizard shuffled through his shelf and pulled the ball from the very back of it.

“It is very unlikely to work though, it is five hundred years old, handed down to me from my father, handed down to him from his father, and so on,” the wizard babbled. He placed the dusty crystal ball on the table, a crack in the dead center of it. The wizard placed his hands directly above the crystal ball and began mumbling a spell under his breath. The crystal ball sparked for a split second, but fizzed out.

“I- I- I apologize sir,” the wizard begged for mercy.

“You are no use to me,” the prince stated, then out of anger punched the shelf. All of the potions fell onto the floor, and the prince took a step back. The puddle was glowing bright purple.

“What have you done!” the wizard shouted, trembling with fear. He pointed at the prince with his scrawny hand. “You have just created a mutant potion, “ the wizard began. “Every potion corresponds to the person who uses it and the problems they want solved. Your problem began when a beast was released into the village, which is how you met Eliza. You have just released hundreds of unpredictable monsters into our world!” the wizard warned, “It can’t be stopped.”

Chapter 4

 Thomas had been walking for hours. He was so close to the castle, but it was too hard to tell in the dark exactly where it was. Night seemed like it took forever to come, even though Thomas wasn’t tired. He wouldn’t allow himself to become tired, not until he knew for sure that Eliza was okay.

As Thomas continued traveling through the forest he noticed that the thickness of it was thinning and the dirt seemed to have been traveled by before. Thomas eventually met a cliff that went down to wide, rapidly running river. As he looked down he noticed that a body was washed up on the side of the river. Eliza.

Immediately Thomas started making his way down the cliff, clinging to any indent in the sides of it. He slipped on a rock that crumbled to the touch and a rush of adrenaline came through to him. He had almost fell, he had almost died, again. Once Thomas was near enough to the bottom, he jumped onto a patch of sand on the side of the ricer. He began running towards Eliza, who was unconscious on another patch of sand. Thomas shook her, but she wouldn’t wake up. Thomas checked her neck for a pulse, she was alive and breathing. Silently, Thomas knelt down next to her and drifted off to sleep.

 Thomas woke up the next morning to the sound of growling. On the top of the cliff, on the forest side of the cliff a group of wild monsters were screeching, they spotted Thomas and Eliza, who were about to become a meal.

“Hey!” Thomas cried, “Get up! C’mon Eliza! Wake up!” Thomas ran to the river and cupped his hands, he filled them with water and splashed Eliza. 

Eliza began shifting, then opened her eyes. “ We’re alive!” she yelped.

“Eliza, we’ve got to get out of here,” Thomas warned. He pointed at the group of monsters.

Eliza gasped, “ That’s not our only problem.”

“There she is!” A knight called out, on the opposite cliffside than the monsters.

Prince Scott ran up to the edge of the cliff, “ Seize her! He demanded.        

“How do we get out of here?” Thomas asked, his eyes shifting between Eliza, the monsters, and the army.

“This might be the end,” Eliza replied.

“But, wait, this isn’t how fairytales end. Where’s the happy ending?” Thomas wondered, panicking.

“I love you,” Eliza admitted.

“I love you too,” Thomas whispered, “I always have.” He leaned in and kissed her. Sparks began flying from Thomas and Eliza, which were evolving into fireworks. The entire world around them started dissolving into black nothingness.

Eliza and Thomas released, opened their eyes, and smiled.  They were back in Eliza’s house. All of the books were arranged neatly in the shelf, as always. Eliza and Thomas looked out the window, through it was their poor town, which they had now learned to love.

“True love’s kiss.” Eliza whispered. They both giggled and looked each other in the eye, but Eliza grew a worried look on her face and her eyes tracked off to the side. “Grandpa?” Eliza said, running to his side. He still had the same smile on his face that he had on the moment they were transported into his story.

“Eliza,” Thomas said softly, holding her hand. “You grandpa is eighty-seven. He just finished his eighty-seventh book. He’s… dead…”

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