No Magic Required

Chapter One: "Fairytales Aren't Real"

"Mom! I'm way too old for these fairytales," said Claire. "They aren't even real stories anyways so what's the point, if I'm going to take time to read something it better be real and interesting for that matter."

Claire's mom picked up the tattered storybook and once again pushed it into Claire's hands, "Come on, Claire you used to love them. You could at least read them with Blake." Claire sighed and snatched the storybook.

"Fine, but only this one time." She stalked into her little sister's room and slumped down, Blake shooting up in her bed in response.

"Are you reading the story tonight?"

"Yep but only tonight, this is not going to turn into a permanent thing," Claire snapped harshly. Blake slumped down, waiting for the story to begin as Claire opened the book, flipping through the pages, each page awakening another childhood memory. She stopped at a page and began to read.

"Once upon a time there was a girl named Rapunzel. Rapunzel had beautiful golden hair that was so long it could reach all the way to the ground from the top of the tower she lived in. Rapunzel hadn't left her tower since the day she was born- she lived alone in the tower with only her mother. They never had anyone over and her mother only left to get food or clothes."

"That sounds lonely" remarked Blake.

"It's not even real," Claire rudely replied. "Now just listen to the story.

"Rapunzel spent day and night wondering what it would be like to go outside and see the world, dreaming of forests filled with animals and towns filled with people, but never did she dare to even try to leave the tower. Her mother would always tell her to never go outside, and made sure Rapunzel never got down. One day while her mother was in town Rapunzel heard a voice outside the tower. Instead of the usual voice of her mother it was a voice of a man. She looked out the window to find a man staring up at her.

'Come down so I can see your beautiful face' he shouted. Rapunzel was astonished and wondered what she should do. She then responded 'I can't, why don't you come up here'.

The man looked around for a ladder or a vine to climb but there was none in sight. 'How do I get up there?' he shouted up to Rapunzel. Rapunzel went and tossed her long golden hair out the window, 'Use my hair to climb up' she said. The man proceeded to grab onto her hair and Rapunzel pulled him up. 'You are the most beautiful girl I've ever seen' he said."

Blake's face lit up and she was smiling uncontrollably. "I hope they get married," she said.

Claire rolled her eyes and continued to read, " 'I'm Flynn, what's your name?' he asked. 'Rapunzel' she replied. They sat there gazing at each other for what seemed like forever. 'Rapunzel you are beau-' they heard a rustling noise and heard her mother yell 'RAPUNZEL, RAPUNZEL LET DOWN YOUR HAIR'.

Rapunzel froze in a panic wondering what to do. She frantically hid Flynn in a closet and she tossed her hair down for her mother and slowly pulled her mother up. 'Rapunzel this place is a mess, I thought I told you to clean it before I left,' said her mother angrily."

"How rude," Blake said. "First of all she's trapping her in a tower, and now she's getting angry if she doesn't clean!"

"Blake come on, your supposed to be falling asleep to this" Claire said.

"Ok, ok, I will," Blake said quickly as she laid down once again and hugged her teddy bear. Claire put another blanket on top of Blake and began to read again, "Rapunzel worried, wondering how to get her mother out of the way so she could deal with Flynn. She quickly torn a hole in her dress and said 'Mom, there seems to be a hole in my dress, so would you mind going out to the market to get me another one?'

'Sure, but you must clean while I'm gone,' said her mother. Rapunzel lowered her mother down and then quickly let Flynn out of the closet.

'Who was that?" he asked.

'That's not important right now, you need to go,' Rapunzel said as she rushed to toss her hair out the window.

'Why don't you come with me, we could go to my village,' Flynn said.

'No, I can't- I'm not allowed to leave the tower,' she replied.

'Never? Like you've never gone swimming or rode a horse or climbed a tree?' he asked.

'Never, and I never will so you should go before my mother comes back,' she said. It pained Rapunzel to say, because she knew in her heart that she had longed to go outside everyday since she was born. As Flynn was stepping out the window she yelled 'Wait, actually I changed my mind. I am going to come'. They both descended down to the ground holding on to her long golden hair. Rapunzel never went back to the tower and she and Flynn lived happily ever after."

Blake was sound asleep and Claire slowly closed the book and tiptoed out of the room. She went into her room and placed the fairytale book on her shelf. Thoughts raced through her mind, wondering despite herself what Rapunzel did after she got out of the tower and what Rapunzel's mother would think when she came back and Rapunzel wasn't there, but those thoughts were quickly pushed out of her mind whenever she remembered that the stories aren't real. She climbed into her bed and fell asleep but even as she did part of her knew something was off. It was more like a trance than a sleep, and as her vision went black she felt as if she was totally removed from the world.