Broken Ever Afters

Chapter Thirteen

The sun's streaks pour inside the tower. Morning has broken and the night passed away like a dream – a dream someone blew over and scattered like dust to the wind. Twice I have thought to have found my happy ending and both times it has been stolen away from me. Why is this happening? I was starting to believe fairy tales can come true but now I'm back to a place worse than I stood before.

I rise from the corner I'm huddled in and walk over to the window. The view is as breath-taking as Jacob had once described. The castles and the forests stand out prominently from every realm I can set my sight on. Hills and mountains shadow the villages as the sun peeks from behind them - beautiful yellow and bright.

Jacob. My heart beats a little faster when I think of him and aches with grief at the same time. Little, did I know, I could grow to love someone more than Ames in such a short period of time. Like two pieces of puzzle fitting in perfectly together as they are meant to. I imagine him sitting on the bunk of his cell, staring at the brick walls confining him, thinking of a way to escape, a way to come and rescue me. I would find a way to escape and save him had I not been chained to this dim, grey wall.

A figure with a ruby coloured cape approaches from the forest. A woman, apparently, carrying a woven basket. She walks all the way to the tower and raises her head to look at the window. Dame Gothel. Unfortunately for her, my hair barely reaches the middle of my back. I can't throw it down to her and nor would I want to.

Leaning on the window sill and bending over to look down, I look for her crimson shape but she's gone. Where is she? Clinking and sounds of whistling come from behind the door. I thought the tower was closed off. The door unlocks and Gothel waltzes in with a pleased look on her face. I stare at her narrow eyed.

"Hasn't anyone taught you it is rude to stare?" she says. "My dear, at my age do you think I'm fit to climb towers dangling on hair? I barely make it up the stairs! I brought you something to eat."

"I'm not hungry."

"I know you're confused right now," Gothel says with a falsely caring tone. She tries to put her arms around me but I shove her off. "I'm sure you have many questions. All you need to do is ask me. We have years of catching up to do and you have all the time in the world here."

"Ask you? You would trick me once more into doing something you need. I'd rather not."

"Rapunzel, dear, why are you being stub-"

"Don't call me Rapunzel. I may have lost everything and everyone I hold dear but I'm still Quinn. Nothing you ever do or say is going to change it."

"It's who you are. You can keep denying me but deep down you know who you are. Why do you think the longer you stay here, the more you don't wish to leave? You're only half human after all. I always knew you would turn out to be more like me."

She speaks as though it is a privilege for me to be like her. What does she mean by only half human? Last night, she insinuated she was my mother – it must be what drove her to say that statement. If she is my mother, is my father, Robert Hartley, my biological father or is it someone else? My head is swimming in ridiculous thoughts because I'm letting her get to me. I'd prefer not to hear it from her, but I must ask. Gothel must know I wouldn't resist - that's why she taunts me with these little half mysteries.

"I want to know everything but it doesn't imply I will believe anything you say."

"Very well," she says, grabbing a stool and sitting opposite to me. "You must hear this tale then. Once upon a time, a young married man was blinded by the beauty of a girl his age who wasn't his wife. He promised her the world but at the end of the day, the wife had the biggest share of his heart. Until one day, the girl disguised herself as the wife, sending her into the book where she'd come from. Shortly after having their child, a girl, the true wife returned with the help of someone from inside the book. The girl had to leave, vowing to return for her daughter and to exact vengeance on who destroyed her happily ever after."

If I am to believe what she's saying, the reason she's been hunting down Jacob and William is they've helped, Marsha, the woman whom I believed was my biological mother until recently, escape from the Enchanted Kingdom and back to her husband. She blames them for having to leave me behind to be raised by my wonderful parents. I doubt I would have had the same upbringing with Gothel. Still, why didn't Jacob tell me this story earlier? Was he afraid I would somehow blame him for something?

"Your darling didn't know any of this," she says as if reading my mind. "I had told him I had a daughter but he only got the full details last night. He suspected it might be you but he was only certain of it when I appeared on the bridge."

I think back to times when Jacob started to tell me something but got interrupted by me or by imminent life threats – like last night on the bridge before everything started. He wanted to tell me something but I was too self-absorbed in the moment then everything came crashing.

"Why doesn't he finish you off? Send you to Timbuctoo or something. Do you think that after all you've put me through I'd want to play house with you?"

"Well, first, the original manuscript of all fairy tales is now in my possession and stored somewhere safe where neither of you will ever find it. Secondly, if it gets destroyed, everything and everyone you see around you ends, vanishes, crumbles to ash like dust in the wind. This might include you, yet again it might not. Even if the Grimm manages to acquire it, I don't think he'd be bold enough to do it - he's got too much to lose."

A crash comes echoing from downstairs and shortly after a horse neighs. Gothel runs to the window and looks down. Her face contorts and her fist closes around the wooden sill, almost breaking off part of it.

"No!" she screams desperately.

Gothel speeds to the wooden door, the same door which leads to the stairwell and bolts it quickly. Seeing her in this confused state I run to the window and look down. A magnificent white stallion is clopping next to the tower but its rider is nowhere to be found.

I climb onto the wooden sill. Even if I manage to get out of this handcuff, the drop is too high for me to survive the fall. I have to do something to peel Gothel away from the door but it would still be bolted. I have to find another way just enough for me to unlock it while she's distracted. What can I do?

The sound of footsteps scurrying up the stairs thunders in the stairwell. The door shakes but remains firm in place. Forcible blows rattle the door until the wooden bolt breaks and the door gives leaving the way clear for Jacob to walk inside. My eyes quickly dart in his direction, blinking.

"You! How - how did you e-escape?" Gothel stammers.

"Let's say I have friends which are more loyal than yours," he answers, wielding the sword in his hands.

I move away from the window as Gothel raises her hands, pleading, and walks backwards until her back touches the windowsill. There's fear in her eyes, something I've never seen before in her. Usually she is the one who instils a sense of foreboding and inflicting fear in others. Why is she suddenly frightened?

"Please, you must understand why I did all this," she says as she climbs on the windowsill. "I wanted to protect my daughter. Hadn't you brought back the woman who raised her, he would never have found us!"

"Who are you talking about? Who found you?"

With that, as if an invisible force has pulled her out of the tower, she flies out of the window. I run over there to try and reach her but by the time I get to the window, she's too far down. She might be evil and caused pain and heartbreak, it's true but she is still my mother and I'm sorry it had to end like this.