#tbea

As they continued to make their way through the manky and dusty cobwebs, Rapunzel paid no heed to their environment. Eugene, however, finally felt a distinct unease for the first time, since, well….since just before Gothel had stabbed him.

He could not bide by it...and found himself readying the cast iron fry pan in a defensive posture as they wound their way down the indoor tower spiral. The skeevy feeling caused Eugene to whirl around behind him, since he certainly felt as if they were being watched. And he hadn’t remained a successful career thief as long as he had by ignoring his instincts.

“We’ll talk more in detail once we get outta here,” Eugene ushered Rapunzel to go faster. Rather than question him, she followed his lead until they were out of the spiral staircase chamber, out of the chamber door (closing it behind them) and finally on the opposite side of the base of the tower in the bright cheerful sunlight. He had begun feeling better immediately.

Now with the couple’s clothing shown in stark relief, they could both better see the remaining evidence they carried of the aftermath concerning what had taken place within the past hour. Eugene’s clothing -- and even Rapunzel’s -- were covered in patches and smears of dried blood. It was less noticeable on Rapunzel’s pink and purple dress….but patches of her partial handprints were left behind nonetheless. And neither Eugene nor Rapunzel had realized until then that Gothel had managed to run Eugene clean through….for there was evidence of an exit wound that neither Rapunzel nor Eugene had seen. On the back of Eugene’s doublet and his trousers was another smaller dried stream and more patches of blood...leading from another separate jagged crimson tear through the back of his shirt and doublet.

Before either Rapunzel, Eugene, or Pascal could say much of anything, Maximus, who had been drinking at the spring, turned around and cantered up to them.

Rapunzel’s jaw dropped as she demanded of Eugene, “Don’t tell me Maximus is the one who helped you escape!?” And Eugene self-consciously rubbed a hand over the back of his neck and grinned in spite of himself. “He’s the main one, yeah.”

And the closer Max got to them, the more alarmed the horse became. Before long, he was snuffling around the bloodstains on Rapunzel….and at last figuring she was all right, went over to Eugene. The couple tried to explain that even Eugene was okay now too. However, the adamant horse would not stop nudging and pestering Eugene until Rapunzel was compelled to take the frying pan from Eugene’s hands before he accidentally dropped it and Maximus had effectively made the young man strip to the waist for his personal equine inspection in spite of all the vehement protesting.

“Why Max, I never knew you cared,” Eugene jabbed at him playfully, a wan smirk on his face as he folded his arms over his toned bare chest. The horse gave him a withering death-glare and continued to circle Eugene, nonetheless scrutinizing him even more closely. Rapunzel quipped, “He’s just making sure he didn’t go to all the trouble of rescuing you for nothing.”

“You’re not ‘nothing’, though,” Eugene protested. “Oh….really?" Rapunzel replied pleasantly. "So what am I, then?” Rapunzel flirted, her eyelashes batting up at him. Eugene slowly drew in lungfuls of air before rapidly exhaling, “Only…. everything,” he finished with breathless sincerity. And the princess blushed in the sunlight as Eugene stood closer to her, lacing their fingers together. She felt a heady rush as the scent of Eugene’s sun-kissed bare skin tickled her everywhere from the inside out.

They are all going to the great parade, succumbing one after the next. Everyone but the four of us. You and I still stand in an antique shop, accompanied only by a little girl and a kindly old man as we watch the world end around us. Maybe they’ve joined, too. It’s hard to tell these days. Maybe you and I are all that’s left of the world before.

Info

Genres: Sci-Fi, fantasy, horror, magical realism.

Status: Sent out to betas!!

Warnings: Depictions of death, unreality, mind control, and fire.

Themes: Abandonment, isolation, starting over.

Stories

And Yet the Snow Still Falls - A piano, a storm, and a little boy named Chance. Magical Realism, 300 words.

Is It Finally Over? - A mission to save the knowledge kept in the Library of Alexandria. Sci-fi, 1k words.

Worlds Anew - Investigating something that should not be, finding more than you bargained for. Sci-fi, 1.3k words.

Veiled by Daylight - Inviting unholy power in the hopes of saving the world from something worse. Fantasy, 2k words.

We're all Mortal in the End - Loneliness and the end of the world. Horror, 300 words.

Links

main tag - aesthetic - edits - excerpts

Looking for more of my work? I'm also working on a fantasy plague novel and a sci-fi murder mystery!