Ricardiana

eleven

The forest is a lot darker than I had anticipated. By now, Liam and I were probably in a mile deep and it hadn't seemed like Mum and Dad had described it when I was younger. Both of us were surrounded by trees and lots of leaves on the ground beneath us. When we looked up, all we could see were branches. I had grabbed Liam's hand out of fear when I heard a noise. He chuckled and rubbed his thumb over my knuckles and then we kept on walking.

Neither of us knew where we were going, we just knew that we were going somewhere. Luckily, a lot of the trees grew fruit such as apples, oranges and bananas, so that's what Liam and I ate if we got hungry. We hadn't passed by anything interesting yet. No streams, rivers, lakes or swamps, not even a little cottage with seven dwarfs. (I knew there wasn't going to be one, I just liked to think there would)

"This damned forest doesn't seem to end!" I complain.

Liam stops and turns around to face me, his right hand holding an apple, his left one holding my hand. His brown eyes are squinted and he gives me an angry glare. I roll my eyes and sigh, this was my fault. If my curious butt hadn't ran here, neither of us would be in this mess. We continue to walk further into the forest, the branches letting in the light of the sun.

We find a small rock and a river, both of us running towards it and drinking the water. Although it was fresh, neither of us cared enough. We stood back up after taking a drink and faced one another, and then we kept walking. I didn't know what to say to him, and it was obvious he didn't know what to say to me, either, but I think we were both okay with that.

Before I know it, I can see a small hut and I begin to get excited. "Liam, look! A roof!" I exclaim.

He raises an eyebrow and looks in the direction I'm pointing in. I can see an expression of relief take form on his face and he smiles down at me. We continue walking towards the roof, keeping our silence with a relieved smile on our lips.

Liam and I arrive towards the hut and are shocked to find out that it's actually a gate keeper's home. Beyond the gate is a town and livable villages, and something inside of me gets excited. I begin to run towards it, while Liam takes his time as he walks towards the gate house. When I arrive to the small house, a man looks up - slightly disgruntled and squinted his eyes at me.

"Juliet? What are you doing outside of the gate?" He asks and I raise an eyebrow in curiosity.

"I do not know who Juliet is, sir. I am Diana." I say.

The man looks at me with wide eyes, as if he was shocked that he didn't realize it was me right off the bat. He gets out of the small hut and takes a better look at me. He scans me up and down and when Liam arrives, he does that too. The man looks at Liam, then has both of us turn around in a circle. After he finishes his inspection, he opens the gate.

"Welcome to the Forbidden Forest." He says, "But, the only forbidden part is that you are referred to as Princess. We do not have royals here, Diana. You shall simply be called Diana."

"She doesn't even like being referred to as Princess." Liam says with a laugh. The gate closes behind us and we are greeted by tens of children.

"Juliet, who is this boy you brought with you?"

"Juliet, is this your brother that you were talking about?"

"Juliet, does this man bring good to our village?"

I look at Liam with a confused look and he returns the look. I shrug my shoulders as another woman with a stature similar to mine makes her way towards the children. I take my eyes off of the many children crowded around Liam and I and look at her. Liam's jaw drops and his eyes widen. Her mouth is agape and my eyebrow raises.