Once Upon a Time Flash Fiction Entry Possibility #2

Welcome to Day Two of my journey into flash fiction! For those of you just joining, I am participating in the “Once Upon a Time (OUAT) Flash Fiction Writing Contest” in honor of National Flash Fiction Day. The contest theme is “Unexpected Fairy Tales” and there is exactly one rule: the entry must be no more than 350 words.

Since I had so much fun with the challenge, I ended up writing three pieces. I’ll be posting them daily through Wednesday—but I can only enter one piece, so I am leaving the decision up to YOU!

On Thursday, please be sure to vote for your pick; the story with the most votes will be my entry to the OUAT contest. Yesterday’s blog entry contained Henrietta’s Love Song. Today’s story is…

Rapunzel Had a Bad Hair Day

They say Rapunzel had the longest hair. What was she in? A tower of some 73 feet?

Well naturally, I found my way to that tower, chest puffed and neck straining, and stared on up that ungodly height to the little face peering out at me. I slayed the witch yesterday, so it seemed I had a fair chance of making it up to my Princess.

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your—”

“Got it,” she screamed, and down came the tangled mess of hair.

I suppose I should understand that a gal trapped in a tower with a mane almost 73 feet long is worth waiting for, but that’s a pretty long climb on a lot of split ends. I didn’t really believe it until I started climbing, Rapunzel bitching almost the entire time.

“Ow. Ow. That really hurts.”

“I’m the Prince, Rapunzel!” I said, but she kept on whining.

When I approached the top, the tension grew ever tighter, and her bemoaning of the situation ever louder. I had to ask myself, what kind of Princess gets herself trapped in a tower?

And did she bathe?

So it was as I tossed myself over the window ledge that I slowly peeled open my eyes, Rapunzel cranking her hair back onto her head with some sort of pulley system and fussing as if she had a head big enough to house this dreadlocked mess. But really she had a pinhead. A pretty little pinhead, but not one befitting that length of hair. She smoothed her hands along her dress and smiled—you know a girl trapped in a tower hasn’t seen a dentist, right?—and I just scoped it all out with a sigh.

“I’ve come to rescue you, Rapunzel.”

“Oh Prince!” she squealed. She looked a tad on the old side, really, but I guess she’d have to be to have that hair. She wrapped her gnarled hands around my neck, and when she planted her kisses over my face I resolved first thing we’d get her teeth cleaned.

“You saved me!”

Oh yeah, I sure did.

***

Thanks so much for being part of the vote on Thursday, and please feel free to share your thoughts and comments at the bottom of this post.

There are many great authors entering this contest, and you can check them out by scrolling to the bottom of the page at Yearning for Wonderland’s OUAT Contest. Happy reading everyone, and thanks for participating!