I am nothing. Darkness. It’s all I know. All I see. All I am. I think I might be dead, but I’m not sure. How can you tell whether you’re alive or not? Maybe I’m dreaming. No. How could I be dreaming for an eternity? Impossible. I simply do not exist. I’m in limbo.

Then it all changed. There was this – this pull. It was magnetic. I felt it draw me out of this state of darkness and into a world where I knew I would find flowers and rainbows and… Love. All of a sudden I gasped for air. My eyes shot open and I struggled with all the sunlight seeping through the glass rooftop. I was baptised as I was bathed in its’ glow. I was reborn. Rapidly blinking and desperate for answers, I controlled my breathing. God, breathing wasn’t this hard the last time around, was it?

As my lost mind gathered its scattered thoughts, I looked around. It was a challenge to do anything, after doing nothing for almost forever. What had happened anyway? My memories were all mixed up and I could barely remember my name let alone how I got here.

Then, I noticed something move. Someone. My eyes focused and I realised that this figure had impressive blonde hair and a strikingly alluring face. Perfection. A magnanimous emerald eyed glare that stood just inches from my face made me flutter. I stirred and the figure stepped back revealing plants of all sorts. It was painful to look away, but I did. Glass. Plants. Sunlight. I was in a greenhouse.

Immediately another figure caught my attention with the word, “Princess?” There were two of them. The other was blonde as well and shared the same eye colour. Siblings, I concluded.

The first thing that shot to my head was to ask who they were. But something else poked at my mind that I just had to know.
“Who am I?”

“You don’t remember?” the boy asked.

I wanted to say ‘obviously not’ but something in me told me this was not an appropriate thing to say. The girl spoke next.

“You are Princess Snow White.” Her voice was smooth and enchanting. Snow White. Princess, yes. It was coming back to me now.

“The Evil Queen poisoned you,” she continued.

‘The apple. The apple was poisoned,’ a voice in my head said.

“The Evil Queen. Is she…”

“She’s still alive,” the boy said. “In the dungeons. I swear to you, when I get my hands on her, she’s as good as dead.”

“No!” I screamed. “You can’t hurt her!”

What else could I do? They couldn’t know the truth. It wasn’t even that vivid to me either.

“Why not?” he asked.

“Violence isn’t the answer.” They seemed to believe me. That was easier than I thought.

The girl spoke again. “We understand that you’re in shock. We need to get you back to the castle.”

“The castle. I used to live there. My parents – ”

“Are fine,” she assured me. “We need to get going. Soon.”

“Who are you?” I asked.

“I,” she said, “am Princess Cinderella.”

She smiled. “But you can call me Ella. I actually prefer it. And this,” she pointed to the guy by her side, confirming my suspicions, “is my twin brother, Prince Eric. Eric Charming.”

This was oddly familiar. “Do I know you?”

“Well I should hope so,” he said. “I’m your future husband.”

The wheels in my head began spinning and it all made sense now. Connecting the dots and finally putting the pieces of my minds jigsaw together, I remembered everything.

I was going to wed Prince Charming. The wedding would’ve been in 3 days’ time. Then this happened.

“How long have I been – like this?”

“You’ve been ‘asleep’ for 10 days,” Ella said.

“Felt like an eternity,” I said.

“Tell me about it.” Charming took my hand and helped me of the bed I was lying on. I would have laughed at a bed in a greenhouse, surrounded by plants but in all my 19 years I was taught never to slip. Self control. Especially in front of my Prince. Restraint was half of what made a Princess a Princess and what made me a Princess.

We headed out of the greenhouse. They began to tell me more about what had happened after I was poisoned.

“Queen Ariel found a note saying that you were poisoned by the Evil Queen and that she had put you in a place where your true love could find you and awaken you,” Eric explained. It was obvious what he had done to ‘awaken’ me. It was the only cure for a curse such as this. True love’s kiss. Prince Charming was certainly my true love if he had awoken me.

“Then what are you doing here?” I asked Ella. To be honest I preferred her there. I wasn’t quite ready to be completely alone with Charming yet. I wasn’t very good with all that feelings stuff and I had a hunch he was.

“Not that I mind,” I added quickly.

She gave an enchanting look and said, “I’m the best tracker in the entire land. Baby bro here needed my help or else he would’ve ended up God knows where.”

“You’re only older by a minute!” he said jokingly.

She play punched him. It was endearing to watch. Slowly, all my memories were retrieved. It was then a nightmare.

***

Would you believe and trust people if you could hardly remember, even if they claim they saved you?