Trapped In Her Own Mind (A Fractured Fairytale One-shot)

Her mind was in tangles. She could barely string together a sentence, but she knew she had to escape this trap that everyone seemed to lay out for her.

Her hair was a mess and her eyes were wild. The alarm screeched as she sprinted through the spotless hallways.

The tiles perplexed her. She cringed in pain as the shouting resumed. She knew she had to leave before the shadows consumed her once again.

The flickering lights, the dancing shadows. Her mind racing as her little feet took her down the hall.She glanced all around her as she rushed down the stairs. The patter of her feet echoed as she reached the exit. Cracking the doors open, she trembled as the winter wind hit her with full force.

She sprinted through the courtyard as the search lights rotated systematically around her. The doors were thrown open as she heard her captors yelling behind her.

The lights were blinding. She finally reached the forest that surrounded the off white building that had held her captive for so many years. She ran as fast as she could, stumbling over rocks and roots.  

Until she reached it, the clearing of the woods. It was a meadow which normally would have been calm and serene, but on a stormy night like this, her mind kept her on edge.She was about to leave when the horizon suddenly became sunny. She grinned from ear to ear as three adorable teddy bears waved to her from their small gingerbread house.

“Can i come play with you?” She asked happily  “Of course” replied the biggest bear as he walked into the gingerbread house.

“YAY!” She exclaimed as she ran into the house. She realized how hungry she was and took a bite out of the gingerbread wall. “Ouch!” She cried. The wall was as hard as rock. The smells were so tantalizing. Everywhere she looked was something that smelled so sweet. Then, snapping her out of her trance, the medium sized teddy bear said “Why don’t you come over here and try some of this delicious porridge my little cookie. I made it just for you”

It was like a dream, she always knew fairy tales were true. Her mama and papa lied when they said nothing like this existed. She just needed a prince charming. With a dazed ghost of a smile, she nodded timidly.

She was hungry anyways. She had forgotten why, but she felt oddly tired and hungry. She felt like it must have been forever since she had last eaten.

She looked at all the food on the table and did agreed that the porridge did look very tasty. there on the table was three bowls of porridge “can i eat that big bowl of porridge i am very hungry” she asked the medium sized bear. “sure” said the medium sized bear i’ll go get more in case it’s not enough.

She sat down and ate the bowl of porridge, but it was much too hot. In surprise, the bowl of porridge slipped out of her hands and spilled all over her. She felt the porridge dripping off her arms and onto the ground. The pain was almost unbearable. She cried in pain as she placed the bowl back on the table. “Sorry” She said quietly to the bears, embarrassed. “It’s alright, we’ll clean it up” reassured the largest bear. “Why don’t you sit down?”

The smallest bear asked timidly “We have some chairs over there” he continued pointing into what looked like a large room with 3 chairs. She walked towards them nearly blacking out from the excruciating burn she received from the porridge. “Ouch!” she winced after sitting on the largest chair, as it felt as if someone was jabbing her in the back with a large rock.

She winced, rubbing her back with the palm of her hand. She was observing the living room around her. She felt another shock of pain and the gingerbread house flickered for a brief moment. What she saw surprised her, she wasn’t in a gingerbread house, she was in a cave! It was only moments before the image flickered back. She snorted, the gingerbread house was obviously real, she had felt it herself.