The Key to Freedom

a twist on Rapunzel.

     "You know I love you, my dear."
     "I know." I said. "Mother." I hastily added.
     She looked at me calculatingly. I quickly smiled to cover up my blunder, then handed her the sewing basket she brought everyday, Hoping...
     "Are you okay?" she asked, reaching to put her hand on my forehead. I flinched away, then cursed myself. Careless...
     "I'm fine mom. Really! I am. are you ready to go yet?"
     "I cursed again, impatience could give it all away...
     "Sorry, I um... Had a bad night last night." I tried to hide my mistakes. Honestly, three mistakes in less than a minute...
     She kept looking at me, and I knew she wasn't falling for it. if I don't distract her soon, it could all be lost...
     then came my brilliant Idea.
     "Mom, last night, I heard a voice below my window." her gaze hardened, and I knew she was hooked. "A boy's voice, calling my name."
     She rushed forward and grabbed me by the shoulders, looking me straight in the eyes. "Did you answer him?" she whispered urgently. I just sat there with my mouth open, shocked by her reaction. I had hoped that this would work, but maybe this would work too well.

"DID YOU ANSWER HIM!?" she yelled in my face. I saw a flash of red deep in her eyes.

"NO!" I yelled back, shaken out of my fright. "No." I repeated, softer this time. "You told me never to answer unless it was you."

"Good." the fire died in her eyes, and we both relaxed. she let go and I rubbed my shoulders where her nails had dug into them.

"I must go now." she said as she turned to the window and looked out. I almost breathed a sigh of relief, but it caught in my throat. I'm not out of this yet...

"You know I must keep you safe."

"Yes mother." I answered obediently.

"You know what I must do to achieve that."

I shuddered involuntarily, suddenly very glad that the boy I heard last night was fictional. No one deserved an end like that.

"Yes mother." I answered again.

"Good, I'm off." She scooped up the basket and looked at me questioningly. "Are you going to help me down?"

"Oh." I realized that my mind had been wandering. "Of course mother, sorry." I moved to the window, thinking stupid, don't let down your guard...

I looped my hair over a hook in the ceiling, then pushed it out, where it fell the long, long way to the ground. She climbed onto the sill, grasped my hair, and slid to the ground.

I watched as she walked into the mist, then disappeared in the distance.

Is it possible? Is she really...

"She's gone!" I said out loud. I laughed hysterically and spun around in an impromptu dance. 

This was a bad Idea. my stupid hair, the endless nightmare I had been living for nineteen years, wound around my legs. I fell to the ground with a thump, and laughed even harder.

Never again. NEVER AGAIN!

I wriggled free of the tresses that kept me enslaved in more ways than one. I stood and practically flew to the fireplace. I reached into the still warm ashes and pulled out the key to my freedom, which I had stolen and hidden earlier.

My mother's sewing scissors.

Reviews

[bookworm]

i love Rapunzel she is my favorite Disney princess, I LUV TANGLED

[Fancie]

A nice little flash ficton. Reminds me of another damsel in a similar situation. ;)

[Rieja Thorn]

I like how this ends cliff hanger boom done ta da gives the reader a chance to use their imagination and not just the writers.