Once Upon a Rewrite (Book 1)

Ch.4 Into Storybrooke

A couple of days have passed since Elena's encounter with Brooke Page. Ever since she agreed to go to Storybrooke with her, it's been on her mind since that night. A piece of her still felt that bit of concern. She looked up Storybrooke on her GPS, and to her surprise, there it was. She felt a bit better seeing that Storybrooke was on the map, but how was it like?

In order to get ready to move, Elena had to let Mr. and Mrs. Miller know that she would be moving out. But just in case anything happens and she would have to come back, they agreed to leave her apartment room empty until further notice. Elena was going to miss those two, ever since the death of her parents, at least that's what she remembers, Mr. and Mrs. Miller have been like second parents to her, even helping her with her homework.

And speaking of homework, Elena had to admit that she was glad to be leaving her old high school. Even with everyone around, she's always felt lonely. For as long as she can remember, she's been a bit of an outcast her whole life. But that changed when she met her now ex-boyfriend. She still couldn't believe that he had broken up with her over the phone because he found someone else. Hopefully, this Storybrooke will give her a fresh start, and maybe she'll make some good friends for once.

With everything taken care of for her to leave early that morning, Brooke helped Elena pack her car with all of her things. And after everything was set, Elena said goodbye to the Millers as she stepped into her car with Brooke at the wheel. Brooke had told her that she knew a shortcut to Storybrooke and that they should make it by nightfall. Elena has never heard of a shortcut on the road. But if it works...

"Thank you again for doing this Elena," Brooke said as they drove down the busy New York streets.

"No problem," Elena smiled "It feels good to get out of the city, especially with all the traffic."

"I feel you. But once again, you're going to like Storybrooke, there's barely any traffic. Oh, and just so you know, because it's Sunday today if you would like to attend Storybrooke High tomorrow, you can. Otherwise, you can wait another day when you're ready."

"Well, I guess that depends on how late we arrive. And speaking of Storybrooke High, what's it like?"

"Like any other high school," Brooke smiled, "Our mascot is the Dragon. How perfect is that?"

"Wow," Elena laughed, "That's already a cooler mascot than my old high school. Do you guys have school sports?"

"Well, actually, we only have one school sport, football. Which is pretty strange considering that no one can enter Storybrooke unless they're a fairy tale character and no one can leave it as well."

"Wait," Elena's eyes widen, "What? No one can leave Storybrooke?"

"Not at the moment."

"Then how did you get there?"

"I'm the only one who can leave Storybrooke because I'm the only one who isn't cursed. If someone needs to leave Storybrooke, they can't go without me. Yet no one has ever tried to leave Storybrooke."

"What happens if they try?"

"I don't know, I've never seen it happen before. Here's the thing, Elena, the curse happened about 3 months ago which was when my parents decided to send me down to become a character. And during those 3 months, my parents and I have tried to find a way to break the curse in order to send everyone back to Ever After High, which by the way, is the main location where everyone is from and it's where the curse was cast."

"Ever After High?"

"It's a boarding school for the children of fairy tale characters. It was such a beautiful place."

"Was the mascot a dragon as well?" Elena smirked.

"Yep," Brooke giggled, "The mascot was a real dragon named Legend. Man, she was so gorgeous."

"A real dragon huh? If only we had dragons in this world, that would be so awesome."

"I would be," Brooke agreed, "But anyway, as I was saying, during those 3 months, my parents and I have tried to search for a way to break the curse. We also tried looking for you because the curse didn't put you in Storybrooke. And let me just say, looking for you was not easy. But we eventually located you here in New York and my parents told me where to go and I was able to find you. And during that time, I knew that we needed your help to break this curse. You may not believe any of this now, but you will soon, trust me."

"Hm," Elena smirked again, "I'll be the judge of that."

"And another thing, since the Evil Queen, your mother, is the mayor of Storybrooke, I wouldn't go anywhere near her. She may have been brought into the curse as well, but I have a feeling that she's not entirely cursed."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Because she was the one who cast the curse, I believe that the curse didn't make her forget her memories. She may go by her cursed name, but I just don't believe she's really cursed. I have a feeling that she's secretly awake if you know what I mean."

"Uh... I don't, actually."

"Oh, right," Brooke snickered, "That's okay. The main thing is, try to stay away from her, she's been bad news before the curse, and she's certainly bad news now."

"How bad, exactly?" Elena wondered.

During the long drive, the girls took turns driving. Whenever it was Elena's turn, she would listen to Brooke's navigation while also keeping her eye on the GPS. It was a long drive, it took the whole day for them to reach the state of Maine. And by the time it was almost 10 at night, with Brooke back at the wheel, the girls drove down the road in the woods until they came upon a town sign that read Welcome to Storybrooke. Elena felt surprised when she saw the sign, which meant that Storybrooke really was a real town.

"Here we go," Brooke said as she pushed on the gas and drove past the sign.

After crossing the sign, Elena felt a little shock run through her body.

"That was weird," she thought, "What the hell was that?"

"Elena" Brooke grinned, "Welcome to Storybrooke."