Angel

Chapter Three

Sometimes I break the rules. Mommy and Matteo fight them when they hurt me and I should do the same.

"I need to go poop," I said.

"Can you hold it?" He asked. Both of them always hold it until the sun comes up and they come to take away the bucket. If we don't hold it up, it'll be stinky. Sometimes I struggle to hold it. I shook my head and he sighed.

"Okay, hurry up." He said lowly, standing up from the bed and taking me up by underneath my underarms. I instantly wrapped my arms and legs around him, resting my cheek on his shoulder.

He went to the curtain where it hides the toilet bucket. I did my business quickly and he helped me wash my hands with a hose. Then he brought me back to the bed and tucked me in.

"Can you tell me a story?"

He flicked my nose. "Which one, angel?"

My nose wrinkled as I thought it over and fiddled with my fingers out of boredom. I peered up at him and said, "I want the King with a stone heart story." I decided.

"Again?" He rolled his eyes and lifted his gaze to the ceiling. I nodded in excitement. I grabbed his cheeks with my two hands and made him look at me.

"Please with an extra scoop of ice cream on the top?" I pouted, squashing my brother's cheeks together until he looked like a fish.

"Fine." His word came out a bit muffled and I let him go with a giggle. He lay on his side in front of me and pulled me into his chest like I was his Teddy.

"But don't ruin the story! Tell it as Mommy does." I told him. Sometimes he would add green aliens from space or zombies into the story. But it ruins the entire story. It's wrong. There are no aliens in the story of the King with a stone heart.

"But zombies make it more fun." He whined and I shook my head firmly, sending him a stern glance.

"No ruining the story." I scolded and he lifted his hands in surrender.

"Okay, okay. Come here." He pressed his lips to my hair and rested his head on mine as he began the story.

"Once upon a time, a grumpy king was lonely in his big, empty castle. His heart was stone and he didn't love anyone. People were scared of him and ran away from him. People called the king the monster. But one day it changed when a girl is sent off to marry a stranger, s dragon that lives in an abandoned tower. She cried each night and begged her parents to not do it but they refused her. So in the dead of the night, she went out of a window and ran away to be happy. There, she ran into the king. When the king saw his love for the first time, his stone heart melted and glowed with light through his chest. They kissed and lived happily after ever.  The girl became a queen.

But that's not the end. They had four princes running around the castle and a stork was carrying a new princess to them as a surprise. Then suddenly, the big, bad dragon she was supposed to marry came and took her and one of the princes away from her fairytale. When the king found out, he became so angry and with their princes, they rode on horses with armor to find them. In the tower where the dragon bought the queen and the prince, the beautiful new princess arrived and the queen and prince made a promise to protect her. To this day, the king with his stone heart is searching for his love and his prince and little princess to make his heart glow once again.