When all else Fails

               Once upon a time there lived a man named Joseph. Joseph was a short, kind-hearted man that had eyes the colour of the sky on a stormy day and hair as red as glowing ambers. He lived in the town of Willsden, which was not exactly your ideal place to be. It was always bitterly cold and littered with all the sickness and disease that you can imagine - not to mention the horrendous amount of poverty that you saw along the streets. People with old dirty rags for clothing, and some had nothing but cardboard boxes to shelter themselves from winter's immensely cold, strong and bitter winds.
              Fortunately Joseph was one of the luckier ones in this poor, pathetic, neglected town. He spent hours a day working away in his workshop to make anything from small toys and accessories, to some small wooden boxes for others to use as a home. With every penny he earned, and owned, he was able to afford a tiny cottage big enough for him and his daughter, Meredith. Meredith very much resembled her father, other than the fact that she had eyes like sparkling emeralds that distinguished her from her father. She had a small round nose that looked as though it had been sprinkled with cookie crumbs and hair as soft as silk. Lastly, she was as some would call a "perfect child", because she not only did as she was told but also went out of her way to give up her time to spend time with her fellow neighbours. If only Joseph knew what was being planned out in his future...
            One ordinary morning Joseph scrambled out of his mud splattered sheets reluctantly ready to start the awful laborious day ahead of him. Careful not to wake the sleeping angel, known as Meredith, beside him, he grabbed a slice of slightly moulded bread, and left his hard-earned abode.
"Good Morning Petro, good morning Helga, good morning Noaty!" He shouted, as he made his way down the muddy path to his workshop. A pang of guilt shot through his soul as he remembered how he was always spending time at work and never with his daughter. But just as he stopped thinking about Meredith, that guilt was replaced with a dreadful fear. Right in front of him was his workshop, or what seemed to be the place where his workshop had been. It looked as though an angry fire had feasted on his workshop until there was nothing left... but ashes."Oh my, oh my, oh my what has happened!" Joseph screeched as he fell to his knees too weak to move. Neighbours from around the town had heard his cries and they all rushed to help him. When the neighbours got there, their faces looked as though they'd seen a ghost.

"Joseph are you ok?"
"Joseph what happened?"
"Is there anything we can do?"
That was all that could be heard as the town of Willsden had seen their fate, the workshop that had supplied them with their houses, was gone. was gone
"Surely we could just repair it!" Suggested a small thin boy, who seemed to be thinking too hopefully.
"We can't afford it!" cried a middle age woman, her eyes clearly in distress.
"We have to!" cried the majority of the citizens. This seemed to go on for hours until Joseph recovered from shock.
"It's alright..." murmured Joseph as he slowly let out quivering sobs, "I just-I just need to-to get home..." At that moment Joseph felt as if he was going to burst out crying so he cowardly ran away from the crowd. How could things get any worse?
As soon as Joseph got home he knew something wasn't right. Ordinarily Meredith would have been up by now attending to the wilted flowers or making some of the poor people laugh at her corny jokes. But this time it didn't even look as though a fly had moved since Joseph had been gone.
"Mere I'm home, I have some terrible news!" Joseph murmured sadly as he made his way into the tightly packed home. When there was no response Joseph called louder,
" MERE I'M HOME!"
"Hi Pop..." croaked a frail voice, almost unrecognizable to Joseph.
" Mere what's wrong?" Joseph cried now spotting her under a pile of thin blankets.
" Please don't tell me you're sick, I've had enough bad news for one day!"
"I can't..." Meredith heaved. Joseph rushed over to Meredith and what he saw was enough to worry a lion. All over her face was a rash that looked as though she's been scorched with fire. Not only that but her vibrant emerald eyes were now dulled down into a vomit green and every time she breathed it sounded like a stampede of rhinos.
"Help someone help me... There's something terribly wrong with Meredith!" He screeched - overwhelmed with emotions and shock. With no one coming and Meredith being in the state she was Joseph wasted no time, he started his journey to the witch's castle. He had heard many times before about a Witch whom nobody trusted or wanted to go near, but he'd do anything for Meredith.The only setback was that this witch was not someone to bargain with.
It took Joseph about five hours by foot to reach the door of this humongous structure. The castle looked like a huge haunted castle covered with overgrown vines and other mosses. Surrounding the huge building was a moat filled with murky water but, not only that, if you looked close enough you were able to see several sets of red beady crocodile eyes poking out of the unknown waters.
"How am I supposed to get in?" he whispered to himself while he stared at the half broken bridge that lay across the moat. The job seemed almost impossible but he was not going to turn back, so without a moment of hesitation Joseph ran across the bridge. "Creak, crack, splash!" were the sounds of the bridge as Joseph made his way across.
"I've been expecting you" cackled the voice of what seemed to be an older women. Stunned by this response Joseph let out a nervous quiver.
"Show yourself!" he shouted, trying to cover up his nervousness. Moments later a middle age women appeared in one of the windows in the castle, she looked nothing like what the people had described her as, she was maybe even beautiful. She wore a tight purple dress that reminded him of the night sky and had long black hair that looked like satin. Her eyes, from what Joseph could see, twinkled in the sunlight like diamonds, almost more beautiful than Meredith's. Joseph was overwhelmed by her beautiful appearance and completely blanked out.
"Why don't you come in my dear?" she declared from the window. Joseph hesitantly opened the steel door and walked into the palace. It looked nothing like the outside, it had old wooden furniture that was rotting and had the smell of must. Suddenly before Joseph could move another inch the witch appeared in front of him.
"W-w-what's your name?" he dizzily questioned, while he silently stared at the mysterious beauty.
"Ahhhh Kack Kack Kack, my name is Annabelle!!" she cackled, her eyes starting to tear.
"What's the problem?" Joseph snapped,
"Oh nothing, so what do you want my dear?" she sweetly replied.
"I've come to get an antidote for my sick daughter Meredith, can you help me?"
"Oh is that so... well I'm sure I can find something to cure your daughter but... it'll have to come at a price!" she declared.
"Uhm... what do you mean?" he stammered.
"Well," the witch said studying her bony finger, "you'll have to live forever a heartless man that everyone's scared of." she finished - seeming to be proud of her idea. Joseph just stood there debating his ideas, until he came to the conclusion to do it for Meredith.
"It can't be that bad" Joseph stated as he shook the witch's bony hand.
"Then it's a deal, here is your antidote. Before you go there is something I should tell you... beware of the time at hand and don't stop once on your way home or your daughter will be no more." she seemed to disappear into thin air.
"W-w-wait!" he cried, but it was too late - she was gone.
As the sun began to set into the dawning night sky Joseph began his journey to Willsden. During this night's journey Joseph heard blood curdling screams that were enough to set even the toughest of men running. With the antidote in his hand Joseph began to sprint as fast as he could to get to Meredith. Along the way Joseph started to slow down from exhaustion and at one point he had stopped.
"HUuuuuuuhhhh." he panted almost passing out.
"OOHHH NO!" he cried coming to the realization of what he'd just done.
"I've stopped, oh Meredith!" he cried hysterically. Just thinking of the thought that he had murdered his daughter made him sick.
Joseph still unbelieving what he'd done continued to jog to Willsden.
"Maybe the witch had been lying, maybe it was all a joke." Joseph thought to himself. Wishful thinking certainly would not change anything.
As soon as Joseph arrived in Willsden he forced himself into the house. Just as the witch had said, there was Meredith positioned on her side, as lifeless and motionless as the white bed sheet beside her.
"NO Mere it can't be please!" Joseph cried. He opened her pale mouth and poured the antidote down her throat. Of course it didn't work, Meredith was dead. Just as soon as he poured the liquid out of the bottle Joseph began to get heartless just as the witch had said, and could feel himself building up with envy. He no longer blamed himself for the death of his daughter, he blamed the witch.
"Oh I'm going to get that witch back!" he shrieked his face turning red and his skin turning a dark purple.
Joseph spent years planning a way to get back at the witch. He changed his name to Rumplestiltskin and even started to learn dark magic. There was a darkness brewing in him, his heartless body getting more powerful than the witch had imagined.
When it got to the day Rumplestiltskin's plan was complete he traveled down the same road to the witch's castle, his anger building up every step of the way. When he got there he took a deep breath and shouted viciously at the castle's door.
"Be ready my Witch for you have never seen a more vicious man than I. You have made a big mistake and now you shall pay!" he hollered more viciously than the scariest demon of all time would have. Minutes passed by and nothing moved an inch, so Rumplestiltskin grew angrier, his face literally as red as an apple.
"Open this door or I'll do it myself!" He shrieked, and when nothing happened he kicked down the door with a hard thump.
"Where are you?" He angrily questioned as he strolled around the rooms of the castle.
"You have no idea how long I've been waiting to get back at you for what you've done to me!" He smirked, but just as soon as he'd finished talking his face turned into a grimace. Right there in front of him was the dead body of the witch, her bloated body being hugged by her tight purple dress, and her long black hair all matted and tangly. Even Rumplestiltskin's heartless body got an uneasy feeling when he saw the dead rotted body of the witch.
"I guess I'll have to find a relative of the witch to get revenge on." He stated as he stood over the person he had hated and despised for all these years. The person he spent so many years planning to kill, when she was here rotting away in the room of her castle.
If only Rumplestiltskin knew she had a family in the town of Willsden that was soon to become royal... he had spent years plotting to get back at. But it turns out that all along the witch had been already dead rotting away in her stinky old castle.
" What a shame you managed to escape this time, but believe me your descendants will pay for what you've done to my daughter!" Rumpelstiltskin exclaimed with finality as he strutted out of the dark, musty castle.Years of searching for someone related to the witch began, and finally Rumplestiltskin had found his victim... The daughter of a poor merchant who needed someone to spin straw into gold for her.
"Perfect" whispered Rumplestiltskin to himself as he appeared in the room right behind the girl.

The End