A Tangled Life

Chapter 6: The Seashell Journey

[Gothel had already begun her journey across the forest and needed to go to the same place where she had first found those white shells, which were by the seaside in France. More specifically in between two kingdoms, Windhaven and Sunhaven. During her trips, Gothel would always bring back enough food, water, and other non-alcoholic beverages for the month. She would also bring back fabrics and different types of clothes, but that wasn't the only thing she did during her trips. Gothel also kept up with the latest news of Corona and other kingdoms in Germany and scoured other possible places where she could take Rapunzel just in case there was an emergency or if she tried to escape. Gothel didn't think that Rapunzel would escape because she had made sure to poison her mind about the outside world. Some things that she told her were true and some were outrageous but if it meant keeping the key source of her survival locked away from the world then ridiculous and exaggerated dangers would have to be. Sometimes when Rapunzel was growing up she would get curious about the outside world but Gothel made sure to shut down those curiosities by telling her about how extremely dangerous the outside world was. Not only that but she would always bring down Rapunzel's self-esteem but would play it off as teasing. She realized that Rapunzel had grown up into a very gorgeous young woman and without a doubt gave her a humongous run for her money, which was another reason why she would always bring Rapunzel's self-esteem down. She had exaggerated about the evil nature of men because Gothel knew for a fact that not all men were evil but she had to keep Rapunzel away from human contact. Another reason why Gothel did these daily trips was to have her fun. She would always end up going to inns to drink and to have fun with different men. She would end up sleeping with different men in all the different villages that she visited. Although she had removed Rapunzel from the outside world, it didn't mean that Gothel had to cut herself off from human contact and Gothel never told Rapunzel about the fun that a woman and a man could have together. There was one time when Gothel thought back of that child that she had abandoned the day she had kidnapped Rapunzel. Not because she loved or even cared for the child but it was only because of her curiosity. Had the child been taken by guards? Had the child run away? Or had the child been dropped off in an orphanage? These were questions that Gothel had made to herself a while back but had decided to just ignore them since she never wanted Cassandra in the first place and it was a relief to have that child or in Gothel's words, "that lousy pest" away from her. Gothel sincerely hoped that after she brought back the white seashells and turned them into the paint that her precious flower was waiting for with a man she knew, Rapunzel would stop asking her to go see the lanterns. She would make Rapunzel feel guilty about the long trip that Gothel had to take to go find the white seashells that Rapunzel would stop asking her to leave the tower. Gothel had thought of the future and knew that one day Rapunzel would want to leave the tower forever to make her own life but, of course, she would never permit this, and had heavy chains hidden inside the tower for when that moment arrived. Again, she hoped that she wouldn't need to use those chains to keep her locked away like an actual prisoner because everyone knew that it was always easier to keep a compliant prisoner rather than a defiant prisoner. Gothel believed that her precious flower was still locked inside her tower waiting for her to return with her new paint, but was she sorely mistaken. She had no idea that Rapunzel was nowhere inside the tall tower and was on her way to see the lanterns, accompanied by a man who would soon be Rapunzel's one and true love]