The Swan and The Pirate

Free Fall

The night before the Ball, I felt eyes on me as I slept. In fact, I had felt those exact eyes on me a for a couple of days. This yucky feeling might have been just me over-reacting, but I felt as if something was utterly wrong. 

That same night, I had an extremely morbid dream. I was on the Halfway Bridge, looking at the School for Good. It shone in its usual fairytale gleam and glow. At the entrance, Beatrix and Tedros were standing, embracing eachother dressed in what looked like wedding-attire paried with their own golder crown placed upon their heads. Beatrix was giving me the ugly eye, and Tedros looked down at me as if I was less worthy than them.

"Lost your prince, Judas?" she snarled. Her voice echoed through my head like a siren whisper. I heard someone clear their throat behind me and I turned around. Hort was standing at the middle of the bridge, wearing his usual black clothing. He wasn't looking at me, he looked past me with a determined look, but not long after, a smirk formed on his chapped lips. Beatrix shrieked and I turned around once more, just to see Beatrix slowly shrink down into an old hag, and Tedros slowly transform into a slimy, green frog. Hort laughed behind me as he turned his back to me and walked back down the bridge. "Hort!" I yelled as I ran after him.

He stopped walking and turned around, but this wasn't Hort anymore. The School Master now stood in front of me with an evil smile on his lips. He was dressed in a red cloak and on his head was Tedros' crown. He held Beatrix's shining crown in his hands and almost reached out to give it to me. "Join me Elizabeth," he whispered, aluringly. Only by the sound of his sinful voice, I knew that this wasn't the School Master. Yet, I stepped forward and closer to him with slow steps. My bare feet touched the bridge's stones as the wind gently grabbed my green silk nightgown. "I will make you the queen you want to be," he tempted as he reached out an empty hand for me to grab.

Intimidated, but yet intrigued, I took his hand carefully. He pulled me into him aggressively and moved his hand to hold me in a firm grip around my waist. He took the hand that was holding the crown and moved it upwards, ready to place it upon my soft locks. I finally uttered. His smile was that of the devil and his eyes promised no good. As the golden crown was inches away from my head, I ripped myself out of his grip. His eyes met mine, with a still foul look in them, but with a pinch of pity in them this time. "You poor thing," he pitied as I felt the bridge rumble underneath my feet.

I cast a look behind me and saw the Good side of the bridge falling apart. Stone by stone. Fear grew and spread through my whole body. The stones in between me and the School Master's brother started falling as well, but they only fell in my direction. The brother stood unharmed and not at all worried, looking at me with ungodly pity. "What a shame," he remarked in his vile tone as the stones on my side grew lesser and lesser.

"I know you will change your mind," he whispered. "This was nothing but a test," he revealed superiorly. "I will see you again before you know it," he went on as the stones grew dangerously few. "Remember my name." The last stone finally fell and I was dropped into a free fall towards the water and sludge beneath me. "Rafal." Everything went black.