On My Way Home - Part #1
Ariana Merrill
Issue #1 (March 2008)
Chapter One: The Well
It was a beautiful autumn day, the kind that begged you to go outside. Eleanor gazed out the window of her classroom, then back at the clock on the wall. With every tick of the clock’s hand, she was one second closer to freedom. She glanced over at her friend Sadie in the adjacent desk who was biting her nails impatiently. School had barely started again, but already Eleanor missed the freedom of summer.
When the final bell of the day did ring, both girls breathed a sigh of relief and retreated from the bounds of school as quickly as possible, not unlike the other students.
“It seems like the summers just keep getting shorter and shorter,” stated Sadie on the way home. The girls were making their way back to their family’s farms through the shady forest.
“I know what you mean. The whole time we were in Math I kept wishing we could leave and go back to my house. I have such a craving for pizookie,” answered Eleanor.
“That sounds so good right now!”
“Race you to my house!” Eleanor challenged excitedly.
“Don’t you think we’re a little too old for that?” asked Sadie.
“You only say that because you know you’d lose.”
“Oh, really?” Sadie took off through the trees laughing. Eleanor ran after in pursuit of her friend.
Sadie yelled out, “come on, you can do better than that!” when she heard the crash. She stopped dead in her tracks and looked back, but Eleanor was nowhere to be seen. “Elle!” she screamed frantically. Sadie began to retrace her steps. “Eleanor where are you?!” She heard her friend groan somewhere off to her right. Sadie rushed to the spot of the accident. She looked down an old mining shaft at the unmoving form of her best friend. Eleanor hadn’t noticed the rotting boards covering the hole. “Don’t worry Elle! I’ll go get help!” Sadie dashed off back towards the school.
*~*
Eleanor gently tried to lift herself off of the cold dirt. Holding her head tenderly, she looked up towards where she had fallen through. “Sadie?” she called, but there was no answer. Sadie had already run to get help. Looking around, Eleanor realized that she must have fallen down one of the old mining shafts in the area. Usually there were warning signs around the old holes, but this one must have gone unfound. “Ouch,” she said to herself.
Off to her left, Eleanor saw her grandmother’s watch. The gold timepiece had fallen out of her sweater pocket during the fall. Before school that morning, she had picked it up at the repair shop to save her grandmother the trouble of going into town to get it herself. Eleanor reached for it, but jerked her hand back at the sudden movement in the shadows. For a few brief seconds, her heart pounded uncontrollably in her chest as she wondered what dangerous creature might be hiding down there with her. Then, much to Eleanor’s relief out jumped a little white rabbit.
“Oh thank God!” Eleanor sighed in relief. “You sure did give me a scare little fella.”
“M
y s
Eleanor stared at the cute fuzzy animal speaking to her. “I must have hit my head harder than I thought. I probably have a concussion or something.”
“No madam, I assure you, you are in your right mind.” The rabbit hopped forward a bit and then proceeded to pick up the watch with his two furry front paws. He then put it in a small leather pouch and slipped it over his large pointy ears and head so that it hung around his neck.
“You can’t take that! Give it back; it’s my Grandma’s,” Eleanor demanded. “My Grandfather gave it to her before he died.”
“Then I shall be honored to hold it in safe keeping for you.” The white rabbit hopped off further into what seemed to be a cave.
Eleanor scratched her head in confusion. “A talking bunny just stole from me.” She stared in the direction he had gone. “Cute and fluffy or not, he’s not getting away with that watch.” Eleanor began to feel her way along the cave wall as she went further into the darkness. “Here psycho little bunny,” she called. “Here psycho little bunny.” She saw a light up ahead and made her way closer and closer. Stepping out into the sunshine, Eleanor surveyed her surroundings. “I don’t remember this part of Canyon Glade.” Tall pine trees surrounded the entrance of the cave and as far as she could see.
She then caught sight of the little thief. “Excuse me, umm…sir!” She hurried off after the little critter. “Come back!” Eleanor chased the little rabbit through the trees as fast as she could, but could not keep up.
She stopped to catch her breath and noticed music for the first time. Somewhere nearby, someone was whistling. Since she was quite lost, Eleanor followed the music. It didn’t take her long to find the source. Surprised, she halted in her tracks and gazed at those she had found. Crossing a ways in front of her was a line of midgets with axes and picks. They whistled and sang to themselves ‘hi ho, hi ho, hi ho.’ Eleanor starred open mouthed at this unusual sight.
Ch.2: Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
Upon noticing the young woman rudely staring at them, the leader stopped abruptly, as did the others, except for the smallest one at the end. He kept walking and whistling until he bumped into he dwarf in front of him, who abruptly sneezed.
“Umm, hello. I’m a bit lost. I’m trying to find my way back to the Avery Farm. Could you gentleman point me in the right direction?” Her gaze rested on one of the little men in particular and he immediately blushed a crimson red.
“Who are you?” one of the little men asked gruffly.
“Oh, how rude of me not to introduce myself. My name is Eleanor Avery.”
“Well I’ve never heard of an Avery farm,” said the leader. “But if you are weary from traveling Miss Eleanor, follow that stream and you will find our home in the glade.”
“That would be wonderful.” Eleanor looked in the direction he pointed and could now pick out the sound of running water without the whistling. “Maybe I could use your teleph---.”
“But Doc,” cut in a grumpy dwarf. “How can we be sure she may be trusted? She could be working for the Queen.” The others mumbled their distrust.
“You’re right Grumpy,” Doc turned to Eleanor. “You may not go to our cottage after all.” He turned back to his six companions. “Now that that’s settled, it’s off to work we go!” The line of musical dwarves marched off.
By now, Eleanor was thoroughly confused. How long have singing dwarves been living in Canyon Glade? Eleanor quietly wondered. She looked back towards the stream. It must lead out of the forest and back to civilization. Eleanor made up her mind to follow it until she recognized her surroundings. After all, she had grown up on the edge of that forest and could recognize a good portion of it. She and her brothers had spent many afternoons of their childhoods playing beneath its trees. Eleanor sighed to herself and set off. “And all I wanted was pizookie. Was that so much to ask?”
*~*
Sure enough, Eleanor followed the stream and soon found a cute little cottage nestled against a hill. She hopped from rock to rock across the stream and noticed a thin line of smoke escaped through the chimney and the smell of freshly cooked pie on the air. Eleanor’s stomach rumbled its discontent. Through one of the cottage windows, Eleanor saw the outline of a woman. Like the dwarves, she too was singing. Though the little men had told her not to go to their home, Eleanor decided that it couldn’t hurt to ask the young woman if she could use her phone.
Coming up to one of the open windows, Eleanor said, “Excuse me miss?” The young woman with jet black hair jumped back with a start. Eleanor realized that she must not be used to visitors coming this deep into the woods. “I’m sorry to startle you, my name is Eleanor and I’m lost. Would it be alright if I used your telephone?” “I’m sorry Eleanor, but I’m not supposed to let anyone in, the dwarves told me not to.”
“I understand,” but Eleanor was cut off by her stomach grumbling loudly. “I’ll just keep following the stream I guess,” she turned to go.
“Wait!” protested the woman. “I could never live with myself if I sent away a hungry traveler. I too was a lonely wanderer not very long ago. But fate smiled upon me, as I shall smile upon you.”
“Thank you, thank you so much.” Eleanor entered the cottage and was struck by how small everything was. The chairs looked like they were made for children but Eleanor attempted to sit in one anyway. “What was your name?” she asked removing her backpack.
“Snow White,” the young woman answered while cutting a piece of boysenberry pie and setting it in front of her guest. Eleanor looked up at her in disbelief.
“Okay…well, would it be all right if I used your phone, umm…Snow White?” Eleanor began to hungrily eat the slice of pie.
“My what?”
“Your telephone. Do you not have one?” she asked between bites.
Snow White shook her head. “I know of no such device here. Is it a magical tool?”
“Umm, I guess for some people it is.” Eleanor got up from her seat. She’d much rather wander around the woods by herself than stay here with this obviously crazed woman. “Listen, I’m going to go. Thanks for the pie though.”
“It was nothing. Please take some apples for the road,” offered Snow White holding out a basket in front of her.
“Sure,” Eleanor complied. She thought it best to do as the insane woman asked. She took an apple from the top of the pile.
“A lovely old woman gave them to me just a few minutes ago, but she ran off just before you arrived. Don’t they look delicious?”
Suddenly remembering her fairy tales, Eleanor immediately removed her fingers from the apple and it landed with an unusually loud thud on the floor. The apple probably wasn’t poisonous, Eleanor decided, but she wasn’t going to take any chances. Snow White looked at her confused. “I just remembered I’m allergic to apples,” Eleanor explained.
“How very unfortunate?” said Snow White with genuine sincerity.
“Ya, hu.” Eleanor looked at her naked wrist. “Wow, look at the time. I have to get going.” She hurried out the door and back in the direction of the stream.
“Fare thee well!” Snow White called out after her waving with one hand.
“Uh hu, okay. Thanks, bye!” Eleanor responded quickly. Then she whispered under her breath, “Crazy freak.”
*~*
Eleanor was rather far along before she stopped and groaned. “Oh no. My backpack. I must have forgotten it at the cottage. Maybe I can sneak it back without that wanna-be Snow White seeing me.”
Eleanor turned away from the setting sun and journeyed back the way she had come. Upon reaching the picturesque scene, she tiptoed up to one of the side windows, taking care not to step on any dead branches or leaves that might unexpectedly crack and expose her in the gathering dusk. Peering in through one of the windows, Eleanor realized that Snow White again, had a guest. An old woman in a dark traveling cape offered her an apple, out of which she took a large bite.
To Eleanor’s horror, she watched as the pale young woman fell to the floor almost instantly. Eleanor’s eyes locked onto Snow White’s before the poisoned apple rolled away from her grasp and the poor girl closed her eyes to the world. Though completely horrified at the murder she had just witnessed, Eleanor stood rooted to the place she was until she heard the cackle. This old woman, undoubtedly the wicked Queen in disguise, triumphantly laughed over her dead prey and hopped gleefully from foot to foot with the vitality of a much younger woman.
Without a second though for her abandoned backpack, Eleanor turned and ran as fast as she could towards the setting sun. “The woods are full of psychos!” she muttered to herself. Talking white rabbits, singing dwarves, and a murderous evil Queen were not exactly what Eleanor had planned on encountering that evening.
Soon she realized that in the midst of her flight, she had come to a dirt road and must have been fleeing down it for some time. Up ahead was a large willow tree whose bows draped over a somewhat large garden full of vegetables. Drawn to any hope of civilization, Eleanor jumped over the small gate and saw a primitive cottage in the distance. She ran towards it but tripped over a pumpkin in the garden. Gazing up at the now starry sky, Eleanor called out “I just want to go home!” and buried her head in her hands under the large willow.
Ch.3: Cinderella
Amidst her despair, Eleanor heard the sounds of chimes tinkling through the air. Looking up, she saw a short, rather plump woman with a wand and wings floating down towards her. She was about two feet tall and was wearing a light blue ball gown with added lace in every possible place. Eleanor thought the tiny woman looked all together utterly ridiculous. Sitting up and crossing her arms in front of her, Eleanor cocked one eyebrow at the intruder in a look of defiance. “And who are you suppose to be? My freaking fairy god mother?” Eleanor had had quite enough of her fairy tale adventure for one night.
“Well yes child. I’ve come to grant you your wish.”
“Really?” asked Eleanor, suddenly very interested.
“Of course. I heard you in distress and came to your aid. I’m here to help you my dear.”
“Thank you. I’m sorry I was short with you,” Eleanor apologized. “It’s been a long day.”
“Think nothing of it.” The woman tapped her wand twice to her nose. “Now let’s see. We’ll need a carriage.”
“That would be much better than having to walk home,” Eleanor agreed, but the fairy was not listening. She was hunched over inspecting one rather large pumpkin in particular. She pushed back her lacy blue sleeves and said confidently into the night air, “Bibbidy, bobbidy, boo!” And with a wave of her magic wand, the pumpkin rose into the air and spectacularly morphed into a golden carriage.
“Wow, that’s impressive.”
“Thank you my child. And now for your clothes.”
“What’s wrong with my clothes?” Eleanor asked looking down at her jeans, white tank top, and green sweater that only went half way down her torso. Her jeans had a tear in the knee from when she tripped in the garden earlier, but that was fashionable these days.”
“Well you weren’t planning on going in that strange apparel, were you?”
“I don’t think it really matters, I’m just going ho---,”
“Nonsense! Now spin.”
“But---,”
“Spin!” interrupted the fairy.
“If you say so,” said Eleanor as she began to spin in a circle, though she felt rather silly. She sighed and when she finished she shrugged her shoulders at the fairy. The older woman smiled. Eleanor looked down and realized that she was wearing the most beautiful white ball gown she had ever seen, complete with white satin gloves that went all the way passed her elbows. “Wow!” Eleanor was shocked. “That’s amazing! How did you do that? I’m definitely wearing this to Prom.”
“But you’ll need a driver and attendants of course,” said the Fairy Godmother with her hands on her hips, looking around the garden.
“You know what? I’m not even going to argue.”
“And why would you my dear? You might as well show up in style.”
“That works for me. As long as I get to go ---.” “Perfect!” exclaimed the fairy as she saw two mice run in front of her. With a wave of her magic wand, the mice were transformed into white horses.
“I think that’s some kind of animal cruelty,” commented Eleanor unsurely. The Fairy Godmother wasted no time in cornering the cat that had been stalking the mice, and with a wave of her wand, Eleanor had a driver.
“No one at home is ever going to believe me,” she thought.
“What are you waiting for? It’s time you got going,” said the Fairy Godmother as she prodded Eleanor into the carriage with the tip of her wand. With a crack of the whip, the former tabby cat drove the carriage off into the night. The fairy flew along next to the window as the carriage picked up speed.
“Listen carefully, for this is very important. At the stroke of
“Back?” asked Eleanor, confused.
“Yes. The spell will wear off at
“Ball? No, no! Fairy Godmother come back! I want to go home!” But the fairy was long out of sight and could not hear her pleas. Eleanor was trapped in a golden carriage rushing up a winding dirt toad towards a castle lit brightly against the night sky.
*~*
When the carriage finally halted in front of the palace, a royal guard opened the front door to the carriage and held out his hand to Eleanor. She hurried down and went directly to the driver. “You need to drive me home, now.” But the driver merely looked at her and meowed. “Come on! The rabbit could speak, and with a very good vocabulary I might add. And yet you can’t do anything but purr?” The former feline looked directly at Eleanor and hissed. “Point taken,” she said. “Carry on.”
The carriage pulled away into the night, leaving Eleanor on her own once again. “Well maybe this place has a phone, though I doubt it. They must have food in there somewhere though.” Eleanor walked up the steps toward the sound of ballrooms music. Upon entering, she gazed down from the balcony at about a dozen couples all dancing in unison. She smiled to herself, it was the grandest event she had ever been to.
Then she spotted tables laid out with every kind of food imaginable. A pyramid of éclairs sat in the middle of a long table, surrounded by many types of berries and chocolates. “I can definitely make time for that!” Eleanor said and lost no time devouring the food she heaped upon her plate. She felt more adventurous on a full stomach and decided to explore her surroundings a bit. After all, it wasn’t every day a young woman got to experience a fairy tale ball. Eleanor walked to the grand staircase and began to survey her surroundings. She would have loved to dance, but since she knew none of the steps, decided against it. She thought it best to draw as little attention to herself as possible in this new and unfamiliar place. She began to descend the staircase when the horn players on either side of her trumpeted as loudly as possible to announce Eleanor’s arrival to the dance floor. So much for not drawing attention to myself, she thought while grimacing.
The dance music had stopped and Eleanor felt as though every pair of eyes in the room was looking directly at her. She smiled sheepishly at the crowd and headed out onto the terrace in an escape attempt. From the terrace balcony, Eleanor could see the entire grounds. The exquisite gardens spanned out in front of her. In the middle stood a white gazebo partially covered by climbing rose bushes. Without a cloud in the sky, the moon illumined the vast garden, yet cast shadows all around. “Beautiful,” murmured Eleanor to herself.
“That’s what I thought as well,” said a voice from behind her, “when I saw you walk down the grand staircase.”
Eleanor began to turn. “That is quite possibly the worst pickup line I have ever heard…” She trailed off at the sight of the young man standing in front of her. He was by far the handsomest man she had ever seen in person. His deep caramel-colored eyes alone caused Eleanor to reach out for the balcony to support her weakened knees.
“Allow me to introduce myself,” he said taking her right hand and kissing it. “I am Prince Charming.”
“You can say that again. I mean, it’s lovely to meet you.”
“May I escort you through the gardens?”
“Yes!” Eleanor blurted out a bit too excitedly. “I mean, I’d be delighted,” she said as she took the arm the Prince offered her. The two began to walk towards the gazebo.
“All that you now see will one day be mine, as well as the palace.
“That’s very nice.”
“I shall own the land upon which we stand and the hundreds of servants who work on it,” the Prince continued as he and Eleanor entered the gazebo. “And soon my darling, you too shall be mine.”
“Excuse me? What was that last part again?”
The Prince took both of Eleanor’s hands in his own. “It is true my love. The moment I first saw you tonight I knew I had to have you as my wife.”
“Have me?” Eleanor asked taking her hands back and placing them on her hips.
“You are the most beautiful girl in the kingdom. It’s only right that you should be my wife.”
“Listen Prince,” said Eleanor, no longer rendered speechless by his charming good looks. “I’m very flattered, but I just don’t think it’s going to work out.”
“Of course it will. I have the fastest horse in the entire kingdom and the finest art in the land; it only stands to reason that I must have the most beautiful wife as well.” Eleanor gazed at the Prince in disgust. How could someone so handsome and charming be so vain and self-centered all at the same time? “Now then my darling, what was your name?”
Suddenly the large clock tower connected to the palace began to chime
“Pumpkin? Well that just won’t do, we’ll have to change your name.”
“No, no, no. My name isn’t pumpkin. I--- oh never mind.” Eleanor hoisted the bottom of her gown with difficulty and rushed out of the gazebo as fast as she could, back into the ballroom, up the stairs, around the balcony, down the front stairs, and almost to the front of the castle before she lost one of her glass slippers. She began to go back for it, but caught sight of the Prince in mad pursuit and decided that she didn’t really need it.
Coming to the place where she had entered she stomped her once shoed foot and said, “Blast! The valet parking guy is never around when you need him!” as she looked left and right for her golden carriage that was soon to be a pumpkin. “Oh screw it!” Eleanor yelled angrily while jumping on the back of one of the guard’s horses, which was no easy task in a poofy ball gown. “There’s no way I’m staying here to be that pig’s princess!”
“Halt! Guards, stop that girl!” But by that time Eleanor had successfully mounted the horse and she quickly spurred him off down the road.
*~*
Eleanor alighted to the ground from the horse when she reached the garden. She walked the horse into the barn and began to take off the steed’s bridle as she had done so many times at home on her family’s farm. Except for the glass slipper, her clothing had morphed into its former self during the ride back. Out of a pile of hay in one corner of the barn jumped the little white rabbit that had begun Eleanor’s chase that afternoon. “And what do you think you are doing?”
“Unbridling the horse. Where did you hop off to earlier? You left me stranded in the woods by myself,” she complained while walking out of the barn. Her furry friend hopped after her. “Whoa. What’s wrong with that willow tree?” Half of the formerly grand willow had disappeared completely. It looked as though someone had taken an eraser and simply erased it from the garden.
“I was afraid of this. Just look at what you’ve done now.” “What I’ve done?”
“Yes. You’ve gone and meddled with the story and now there’s a tear.”
“I didn’t do that,” Eleanor insisted.
“I see this may take some explaining. As you may have noticed, you have stumbled into a world that is not your own.”
“Ya, the talking rabbit was my first clue and the flying Fairy Godmother was kind of suspicious too.”
“You have somehow entered our world. Thanks to Brothers Grimm who stumbled here many years ago, our way of life was forever changed. Those two foolish men visited us for a time, but when they returned to the world you call home, they wrote down all that they saw. The power of the written word is immense, stronger than any form of magic. When our stories became chained to paper, they also became chained to the laws that govern your world. Time suddenly became a very big problem for us. Previously, our lives had not been constrained by the bounds of time; that was a curse found only in your world. But now, when our stories are finished and bound to a book, we cease to exist. When we discovered this, our Queen, Glinda the Witch, cast a spell to alleviate some of the damage. No amount of magic could free us from the constraints of time, but she was able to bend it. Now, the inhabitants of this world live in a kind of circle. When the story ends, it starts over from the beginning and the characters are reborn, cursed to relive the same moments for all eternity.”
“I’m sorry, that’s horrible. But what does that have to do with the disappearing tree?”
“If the story does not end as it was written, the very fiber of our world will unravel and the characters vanish forever. Just ask Lorna and her juggling monkeys.”
“Who?”
“Exactly. This is why Glinda added a certain precautionary measure to her spell. The memory of each of the characters is wiped clean as the story re-starts. This way, no one will try to change their fate. You however, have wrecked the delicate balance of Cinderella’s story. By going to the Ball tonight in place of Cinderella, you took her place in the tale, and it shall not end as it should. The effects you created will cause a chain reaction, and soon everything incorporated with Cinderella’s story will come crashing down, possibly destroying our entire world!”
“There must be something I can do to fix it.”
“Not unless you have the power to reverse time so that Cinderella goes to the Ball and ends up living happily ever after with her prince.” “Maybe she can still get her happy ending. If I give her the glass shoe and tell her what to do, she could still live out her fairy tale.”
“Well, theoretically perhaps…”
“Then that’s what I’ll do! Just sit tight for a minute bunny-boy while I fix everything.” She bent down and patted him on the head before running off towards the cottage.
When she got closer, Eleanor noticed an open window that led into the kitchen. Peeking in over the sink, she noticed that no one was in the kitchen. Putting one foot on the sill, she lifted herself gently into a squatting position on the windowsill. Eleanor peered around the kitchen at the stacks of unwashed dishes and dirty pots and pans. “Wow, for staying home all night and cleaning, Cinderella sure didn’t do a very good job,” Eleanor said while placing the slipper to the right of the sink and hoisting herself up through the window onto the countertop, which had quite a bit of sudsy water covering it. Unfortunately she slipped, crashing into most of the dishes, yet somehow missing the fragile shoe.
A girl in a dirty brown dress with her blond hair held back by a dish rag ran into the kitchen upon hearing the loud noise. When she saw Eleanor she picked up a skillet and brandishing it like a sword yelled, “Robber!”
“No, no! I’m not a robber! I’m, I’m…your Fairy Godmother.” Cinderella looked at Eleanor disbelievingly, but lowered her culinary weapon slightly. Eleanor took that moment to hop down from the countertop avoiding the broken dishes.
“If you’re really my Fairy Godmother, then where are your wings? And what about your magic wand?” “Those are both very good questions…my child,” Eleanor tried to stall so she’d have more time to think. “And the answer is…I haven’t earned them yet!” Eleanor finally thought of a viable answer to Cinderella’s questions. “I don’t have my Fairy Godmothering license yet, but I saw how unhappy you are and I came anyway.”
“I see,” Cinderella nodded understandingly.
“But I brought you a gift.” Eleanor held out the glass slipper.
“One shoe?”
“I know it seem silly, but believe me, it’s going to change your life. Tomorrow, a prince will come looking for the owner of this shoe. Be sure to show it to him and you’ll live happily ever after,” Eleanor finished with a flourish of her hand in a feeble attempt to seem more like a real fairy.
“Oh thank you!” Cinderella threw her arms around Eleanor.
“Watch the shoe! It’s made of glass you know.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Cinderella said reverently taking the shoe from Eleanor with both hands.
“Think nothing of it my darling,” said Eleanor getting into her character. “But now I must be on my way,” she began to leave. “Oh, and make sure your stepmother and stepsisters don’t find out about that slipper. They’d want to use it for themselves.” Cinderella nodded vigorously.
Eleanor ran all the way from the house down to the garden. “Did I fix it? Did I fix it?” She ran up to the rabbit and looked up at the willow. There was no evidence that it had ever been only half a tree.
“I suppose you did. Well done.”
“That’s it? Well done? I just saved your entire world; I think I deserve more than a well done.”
“You were also the one to put it in jeopardy. But I’m sorry Eleanor, I have nothing more to award you with than a sincere thank you.”
“How about my Grandmother’s watch?” “Oh I’m afraid I can’t possibly part with that just yet.”
“That’s what you think!” Eleanor dove for the white rabbit in vain. He was much too quick for her though, and ran off into the woods with Eleanor in hot pursuit. “Come back here you thieving rodent!” She was determined not to let a bunny steal her Grandmother’s most prized possession.
To be continued in the next issue of Fantasy Gazetteer (April 2008)
