This is Love

 

Once upon a time there lived a lovely young woman, her name was Abigail. When Abigail was born, her parents invited some fairy friends. Each fairy offered baby Abigail a gift. One fairy gave her the gift of beauty, another fairy gave her the gift of intelligence. Each fairy gave their gift and said their prayers then left, until there was one fairy left. Her name was Madeline. Madeline was a truly remarkable fairy, everyone knew her. But, she had made a terrible choice that day. She had cursed Abigail with obedience.

    16 Years Later

Abigail grew up in a small cottage that was hidden in the mighty forest. It may have been old and a little plain, but Abigail couldn’t have imagined to live anywhere else. The sound of birds chirping and crickets screaming just made Abigail feel at home. The smell of food cooking, soap from washing clothes was all too familiar too. Abigail loved where she grew up in, it became a part of her. Her mother had died when she was a baby so Abigail never really knew her. A few months after Abigail turned 16, James’s (Abigail’s Father) married another woman. Her name was Fiona. Fiona had two dreadful daughters, Sarah and Mia. They treated Abigail like garbage.

In a far far away kingdom, there lived a prince. His name was Prince Michael. Prince Michael is the heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Livonia. Prince Michael had a cousin, his name was Nathan. But, Nathan disliked Michael, he needed him to be gone so that Nathan himself could be King of Livonia.

At the castle Prince Michael and Nathan were discussing Michael’s first plans as king. As of right now, Michaels father is the King, but Michael will soon take the crown.  They had talked for a while but Prince Michael had started to get dizzy. So he went for a little walk outside for fresh air.

 

James had been gone for a business trip and Fiona, Sarah and Mia had been treating Abigail especially horrible.

They had her working all day long and Abigail longed for a walk in the woods. So she gathered up all the nerve she had left and asked Fiona for 15 minutes alone. Thankfully Fiona had been busy eating so she hastily said yes.

Abigail always wondered how her life would be without having to obey someone all the time.

“I wish I wasn’t blessed. But more like cursed. Everything someone tells me to do, I have to do.” Abigail sadly said to herself, “I wish I could be normal like other people.”

“What do you mean cursed?” Prince Michael said, he had been sitting behind a large oak tree for a rest and Abigail had happened to be passing that tree when he heard her.

“Oh! You scared me Prince!” Abigail stumbled saying as she curtseyed, she had admired the prince for quite a while.

“No need for that young lady,” Michael chuckled, “do you mind telling me what’s wrong?”

“Nothing for you to worry about your highness,” Abigail said, surprised to hear the prince talking to her, of all people, “if I may ask, what are you doing standing behind that tree?”

“Oh, you know the usual sitting behind a tree wondering what would happen if I wasn’t a prince.” laughed Michael.

“Oh! I’m pretty familiar with that feeling,” Abigail said, “ anyway, I better get going”.

“No wait,” Michael said determinedly, “ you haven’t told me your name yet.”

Abigail’s feet suddenly stopped moving. Prince Michael came up to her and looked at her like she was from another kingdom,“Oh! I’m sorry, I’m Abigail, it was nice to meet you but I really have to get going now good-bye!” Abigail felt like her heart was going to burst from all that beating.

“Good-bye!” Michael cried after she left.

Michael look around the beautiful lush green forest and laughed to himself as he walked back towards the castle.

Abigail was walking for a while until she realized she didn’t recognize this area of the forest. She started to panic. “Whew, it’s okay, you’ll find your way home. Somehow.” She thought to herself trying to calm down.

Back at the castle Prince Michael and his father were having a little chat.

“You know, people are going to look up to you as their leader. But you can’t always do it by yourself. Aren’t you at the age of getting married? Many girls in this kingdom are quite lovel-”

“I met this girl today father, her name was Abigail. She wasn’t like the other girls, she was special.” Michael said, in a daze.

“Oh!” the King said surprised he didn’t hear about this earlier.

                                                               ***

Abigail tried to retrace her steps, but it just seemed to get her further and further away from her destination. She ran back and forth for about seven times until she could not take another step. “I guess I better settle for the night because I’m not really getting anywhere with all this running around.” Abigail thought.

She settled in for the night with her cloak as her blanket.

“Get her legs!”

“NO! You get them! I’ll grab her arms.”

Abigail woke up to the sound of whispers.

“What are you doing?” Abigail screamed at one of the men dressed in all black.

“FREEZE! Don’t move. And cover up her mouth you cowards!” the kidnapper yelled at the group of men huddled behind him.

They tied her up and stuffed a handkerchief in her mouth so that if she yelled, no one would be able to hear her. They managed to get and good grip on her and walked for a few minutes when they heard shouting.

“Let her go! NOW!” the prince ordered while taking out his sword.

“Drop her and run!” the kidnapper yelled at his friends.

The prince ran up to Abigail and quickly removed the ropes and the handkerchief.  Abigail had been knocked unconscious while all the action was going on.

Abigail had been unconscious for three hours and it was now 7:00 am.

“Whoa! What happened?” Abigail said, just waken up from her sleep.

“You were being kidnapped by a group of mad people.” the prince said distressed, but having to have sat by Abigail’s bed while she was sleeping.

“Is everything and everyone okay?” Abigail asked, afraid of the answer.

“Yes, luckily those kidnappers were cowards so right after we showed up, they ran away. You’d better get some rest, the ball is tomorrow.” the prince said.

Soon enough, the ball had arrived. Abigail was wandering in the halls admiring the art when Nathan walked up to her.

“What are you doing young lady?” Nathan asked Abigail.

“I’m just examining these beautiful art works pieces.” Abigail replied.

“Oh, I see. Are you going to the ball tonight young lady?” Nathan asked.

“Yes of course your highness.” said Abigail.

“Well why don’t we have a little chat.” Nathan said, Prince Michael had told him how when he told Abigail to stop she did, and wouldn’t move.

Nathan was walking by a table when he “accidentally” knocked a goblet down.

“Oops, pick that up for me would you?” Nathan greedily said.

Abigails body did as it was told without her brain telling it too. She picked it up and quickly handed it to Nathan.

“Do ten jumping jacks.” Nathan told Abigail.

She did.

“Pat your head while rubbing your stomach.” Nathan said, enjoying this.

“Touch your nose.”

“Clap.”

“This is getting way too fun!” Nathan thought to himself.

“Now,” Nathan said getting serious,” I want you to take this dagger and follow Michael into the forest.

“Bring it with you and I want you to stab him right in the heart with it. And you cannot tell anyone.” Nathan cruely said.

“NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!” Abigail screamed.

“Don’t do this! Why would you want to kill your own cousin!?” Abigail screamed in tears. She knew nothing could stop her because she had to obey.

“Because he is the only thing in my way of owning that crown.” Nathan cried.

 

When Abigail walked into the ballroom she started to panic. The dagger was tucked behind her waistline of her dress. She stood and watched for a while, but didn’t see Prince Michael.

When it was 11:59 pm, Prince Michael appeared and asked to Abigail to follow him.

“Nooooooo!!!! I won’t go!” she screamed, determined not to kill the prince.

But her body walked her with the prince into the forest. She kept crying and Michael kept asking her what was wrong, but she couldn’t say. He brought her to a beautiful clearing in the forest and knelt down on one knee.

“Oh my lord! What are you doing?” Abigail whispered.

“Abigail from the moment I met you, I knew you were the one for me. You’re beautiful, kind, and smart. You’re not like other girls you’re special,” Michael loving said,”Abigail, will you marry me?”

“What,” Abigail cried,”of course I’ll marry you!”

“Oh thank the lord! I thought for a minute you were going to say no!” Prince Michael laughed, very happy.

As Michael hugged her, Abigail took out the dagger while sobbing quietly. She raised it two inches above where Michael’s heart would be and was ready to plunge it into him when all the memories came flooding to her.

When she had first met him and he was hiding behind the tree.

When they had joked about his having felt the same feelings.

When he had saved her from those horrible kidnappers.

When he had stayed by her side while she was unconscious.

And when he had asked her to marry him. The look on his face was true love.

As Abigail sobbed quietly, all those memories came crashing down. They were the beginnings of true love. She was trying so hard to not to hurt him but the dagger smashed into Prince Michael’s heart. He dropped to the ground like a rock falling from the sky.

“NOOOOOO! NO! NO! NO!” Abigail continuously sobbed.

She dropped to the ground and and hugged Michael as hard as she could.

“I’m so so so sorry. I wish I was dead instead of you. Please come back to me! I never got the chance to say that I love you.” she whispered to him. She had angled him so that when her first tear dropped, it would land in his eye. It did. He started to stir and blink. The wound on his chest was starting to heal.

“What? How?” Abigail stammered. But Michael just smiled and leaned in and kissed Abigail.

“Wow, you just killed me, then saved me.” Prince Michael chuckled.

“Are you okay?” Abigail asked shyly.

“Yes, I’m fine. Hey, it’s not your fault, and I’m okay. See? I’m still in one piece.” Michael said, trying to make Abigail feel better. He knew she had been forced to do it by someone because he knew Abigail would never hurt him. Would she?

“Why did you do it anyway, I mean stab me.” asked Michael.

“This might sound weird but, when I was a baby, I was well blessed but more like cursed. Meaning I had to obey whatever someone told me to do. Even if I don’t want to. So, your cousin asked me to kill you when nobody was watching. I can’t not obey someone. So I had to do it, I’m so sorry.” Abigail explained.

“Now that I know you had no choice, and the fact that Nathan forced you to do it, it all makes sense now.” Michael explained.

“Soooo about that proposal, it didn’t turn out the way I was expecting it to, but you said yes. So that’s all that matters right now ” Michael happily said while standing up, “Come on, we have a wedding to plan.”

 

After a few days at the castle, no one had said anything about what happened in the woods. Nathan had been truly surprised when they had walked back into the castle like nothing extraordinary happened.

Michael and Abigail came up with a plan to get Nathan to learn his lesson. They brought him into an empty room, and Michael had given Nathan a fake poisoned crown. When he put it on, he had gone still and fallen to the floor. After Nathan was treated, he left the kingdom for good and was never heard about again.

Michael and Abigail discovered that when she brought Michael back to life, it had also lifted the curse. Michael and Abigail lived in peace for the rest of their lives. They had known all along that their love had saved their lives.

The End