Imagination's Saving Grace

Saving Grace

Once upon a time there was a girl consumed by Fog, who lived in a dusty attic surrounded by stinging creatures and hoarders of food. These creatures understood the girl wasn't as invisible as she thought she was. Nevertheless, her version of a Cinderella story which was playing in her mind told her differently. That was enough for those creatures to allow her too just be. This girl dressed not in rags but in crumpled clothes never knowing she was destined to live her own happily-ever-after. The day came when a Prince showed up to her attic room and held out his hand offering her a life outside those cobwebbed, unfinished four walls. With a quick look back at the room she would be walking away from, she took the prince's hand and walked away forever.

The days were filled with adventures, most nights filled with a little love. Where gunslingers and street rats were a common fare. What surrounded us outside our four faded walls were a mix of colors, some planted among the ground others sprayed over clay bricks which hid the dealers from those who drove by. Hidden messages exposed to the elements with codes mixed between marked territory for those who wandered in trying to claim new ground in which to spy. These moments were filled with stories to be told, between lessons taught and others soon learned.

You may be saying to yourself this doesn't sound like a fairy-tale. But trust me it truly was. Not one where the Prince takes a poor maiden and makes her see how the powerful live. This story is of a Prince from a lower class, rescuing a maiden from her own Fogged over world and bringing her to the forefront of a life unlike the one she has ever seen. One she was meant to learn from.

The people intermingling within our lives saw the Prince, who for once in the years they had known him, finally claimed himself a Princess. One that saw what was, yet she didn't run. What they were thinking behind their questioning eyes I will never know, for this Prince was not one they wanted to throw fists. To answer your question, No. This wasn't a situation in which they feared him, it was more of a choice of keeping the peace among those others who would soon claim the crown for their own piece of this fair East or if invoked would turn around and steal the title from another by starting a war. Nevertheless, not everyone was familiar with the peacekeeping prince, nor did they agree that the territory in which he stayed wasn't up for grabs. With the moon half hidden by shadow and the stars shining bright, there were shouts of cover as a long-ringing sound echoed between the buildings and parked cars just a block down.

But this isn't a story of red tears running free, this is a story of what was never believed.

Those who gathered once the light hit, inventoried the damage left behind, preparing for a secret war that would soar under the radar from those in blue without sacrificing the safety of innocent minds, by seeing with their eyes how the world could truly be, as they moved on with their day to day lives acting like it never happened. If your thoughts were, "Did she run?" My answer to you would have to be, No. It could have been because of the Fog, or it could have been because unlike those who passed believing we all deserved what we got, was me standing in the crossfire of both worlds, allowing them to see some of us still realize what truly was hidden beneath as we stood strong. A community that lived and loved as a family. The days that followed were erred on the side of caution with covered weapons of defense, dimmed lights and low volume noises waiting to see when the next round would begin. While trying to believe the strike was not a call to war, but a game for others that were just bored. Hey, we even had a jester who lived through the next door.

Flags flew in the wind as they came in the night creeping through the street looking for someone to give fair warning to those who slept, for when morning came the streets would be painted in greed and their fair prince would no longer be crowned. Let's just say when the sun came up, we saw their message clear as day, but we weren't giving in that easily. Unbeknownst to those who thought our kingdom was fair game had another thing coming, we as a family already had plans in place for just an occasion as this and none of them included giving up the crown.