Zelle--Fractured Fairy Tale Novel Preview

It’s been fourteen years, three months, and 6 days since I was locked up here in this steel confinement. Occasionally, I’ll listen to the distant rattling of chains. Some other unfortunate soul is locked up here too, I just know it. Or so I hope. It makes the dark nights less lonely, to imagine that there is another just like me. Sometimes, when the demons in my head are so unyieldingly head-splitting, I cry out to the person who is also chained. I beg for some relief, anything that can guide me to peace. But the only answer I receive is the deafening silence, echoing back at me off the shockingly cold metal walls. I wrap my golden hair around my bruised skin like a protective blanket, shielding me from the horrors of the world inside and outside this steely cage. I shut my eyes momentarily, seeking rest.

“Is anyone there?” A cautious whisper bounces off the walls. Startled, my eyes fly open, as big as moons. A person. A voice that isn’t just my own, or Dr. Gothel coming in to start the next round of treatments. I’m almost terrified to answer. I’ve never truly had human interaction, and if I scare the person away… I’ll be all alone in this Dome without companionship, just like I always have been. Voice raw and stuttering, I timidly peep out, “W-who is this?”

A long silence stretches out between us. I slam my knee against the wall, and a loud metal clang resounds. I wince as burning pain sears up my leg. The bruises, blue and angry, are still raw from yesterday’s round of experiments. Was it yesterday? Time seems to slip right out of my hands in this place. Stupid, I think to myself. You let your one chance at companionship slip right past you. Or, maybe it was Gothel, coming to provide me with a meal. She does that a lot, and I could never thank her enough for her kindness. But something had always felt off about it. The action was kind and loving, but always seemed to lack that warm kind of love that I crave. These experiments are so that you can get better. Dr. Gothel’s voice murmurs in my mind faintly. A memory. But I don’t feel sick, I had whispered. Her facial features had grown as hard as stone for a second before warmth returned to her expression. But never quite her eyes. We will fix you. And then you’ll see… you’ll feel so much better. It must’ve been her I had heard a second ago. There was simply no other explanation for it.

Footsteps, different from the timidness of before, slam against the floor, the sound gradually becoming more and more piercing before coming to an abrupt halt.

“Rapunzel, dear, I’ve brought you some food,” a soft voice calls, shattering the ever-encroaching quiet. My legs cry out in protest as I stumble to my feet. Food. Stomach rumbling, I gingerly press a hand on the wall, and the person on the other side does the same. It’s the only way anyone gets in or out… and while opening the door could mean more hurt, it also means nourishment. I shiver as the thick metal door creeps open, a gust of chilled wind tossing my hair over my shoulder, leaving my bare bruises out in the open. Someone stands rigidly in the doorway. Raven black curls sharpen the person’s countenance. A strangely acute gaze stares down at me, unreadable and calculating. It’s Gothel, and she’s come with food. Cold food, but food nonetheless. Mouth watering, I thank her avidly as she already turns her back to me, black curls bouncing over her shoulder. She didn’t even acknowledge me this time. The door shuts, and I am alone once again.

A few minutes pass by slowly. The distinct noise of clothing rustling tears me from my food. I drop the bread, watching it thud against the ground. The bread is hard and stale, and makes an impressively loud thud. “Rapunzel, dear, I’ve come back,” a higher-pitched voice calls. It’s soft like Gothel’s, but is ever so slightly off. There is a warmth to it, and hope fills me up like a balloon at the thought of being finally loved by the hand that feeds me. I press a shaking hand to the wall again. The door opens, a glare of light making me shield my eyes as Gothel enters the cell. “Dr. Gothel,” I whisper, “why are you back so soon?”

I blink hard once and look up from the ground once my eyes adjust. A small yelp escapes my lips, and I jump back, hitting my head clumsily against the steel. A loud clang just adds to the chaos as I stare up at a young man, no older than me. There is a lopsided grin on his face as he brushes his chocolate-brown locks out of his hazel eyes. “I may not be this Gothel person,” he declares with grandeur, “but something tells me that’s a good thing. That was the lady with the black curls, right? A real unpleasant face, that one.” His booming voice ricochets off steel. I’ve not heard noise this loud in my entire life, and a small smile creeps onto my face despite my ever-pounding heart. It’s a welcome reprieve from the crushing silence.

I don’t know whether I should gape, be thankful, or be terrified. It’s a person. A real one, one that isn’t wearing that dehumanizing mask and lab coat. He definitely isn’t supposed to be in here. But… what if he’s my only chance at ever leaving this place? I giggle nervously. It’s an unusual noise, something between a titter and a genuine laugh. “So, um… who are you?”

He blinks. “You don’t know who I am?” Embarrassed, I flush and shift my body away from him slightly.

“No… am I supposed to know? I’m not kept very up to date in this horrid place.”

There’s a lengthy silence between the two of us as my words echo off the walls. I watch his brow crease in thought. I shift uncomfortably. Maybe I should’ve stayed quiet. He snaps to reality all of a sudden, light animating the man’s gaze. “You are Rapunzel, correct? How long have you been locked up here?”

Shock filters through my features. A shiver of excitement goes down my spine. Maybe he is my savior. He knows my name, after all. “Yeah, that’s right, although I prefer to go by Zelle. How did you know?”

He shrugs, hazel eyes alight with emotion. “I heard that black curls lady say it. I heard her coming earlier and hid. But you didn’t quite answer my second question. How long have you been here?”

“I honestly don’t know.”

“Give it your best guess.”

“Fine.” I take a tiny breath in. I wrap my hair around myself again, slightly insecure. “Fourteen and a half years.” The silence now is almost louder than actual sound. I lift my gaze from the ground and meet his eyes. He is entirely speechless, jaw dropped so far down I’m afraid it’ll fall to the ground if it goes much farther. He begins to speak a few times, opening his mouth and then closing it again. The words seem to have been ripped from him, and he’s fumbling for anything to express his thoughts.

“F-fourteen and a half years?”

“Sorry- I-I didn’t mean to upset you so much-”

“No. We are getting you out of here.” I can still see the shock evident in his clenched fists. I smile uncertainly. Hope begins to trickle in, insignificant at first, then begins to swell like an ocean’s magnificent storms. I nod, my smile growing by the second.

“Zelle,” he murmurs. He’s calmer now. “I like the sound of that.” His eyes reveal a foreign softness I have not ever seen before.

“And what should I call you? You never told me your name.”

“Prince Eugene. But you can call me Gen.” Gen. I like the sound of that, too. Determination firmly settles into Gen’s demeanor. “Now, let’s-” The large metal door behind us screeches open in fury. Time goes rigidly still as seconds creep by excruciatingly slowly. The crash and ear-bleeding grind of metal against metal overtakes my senses as the blood drains from my face. A gaunt figure with wild darkened curls hovers menacingly in the doorway. Oh, please no, not her. My pulse roars in my ears as a sickening terror seeps into my bones. There’s only one other person who ever comes to visit me.

Her whisper is wrath incarnate. “And where exactly,” Gothel hisses, “do you think you’re going?” I shrink back against the wall, stunned and in disbelief. This isn’t happening. It can’t be. Gothel raises her hands up high and begins conjuring up incantations in her unstoppable whirlwind of fury.

Before I can even blink, the world around me is spiraling. I hear the faint and muffled cries and pleas of Gen, my first and only friend. Through the haze, I see him begging on the floor at Gothel’s feet. …What’s happening? Thoughts begin to muddle together, but two outside voices pierce the swirling haze for only a second. “ZELLE!” Gen screams, helplessly searching for something to do. Anything he could do. The world around me fades, leaving just one whisper before both Gen and this terrifying prison melt into each other. My head is too scrambled to feel true fear, but grief pierces me like a gunshot, my heart aching so terribly I think it will shatter into millions of tiny shards. Wherever I’m headed, I will most likely never see him again. “Where she’s going, you’ll never find her,” Gothel snarls.

A thud. Heart-wrenching pain. I see stars and searing white, and then nothing.