Aisha Urooj - Sleeping Beauty No More

DedicatedtoallthoseSleepingBeausandBeautieswhowanttowakeup.

Copyright Aisha Urooj, 2021

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review.

Chapter One

T he princess startled in her sleep.

Where am I?

Aurora woke up feeling like she slept for ages.

It was dark in her room, the only light coming from the small window.

The princess got off her bed and walked towards the window, her legs trembling with the effort. Aurora peeked outside and saw stars twinkling in the night sky. She smelled jasmine in the soft breeze and heard the peaceful chirping of crickets.

Just another beautiful night.

There was a sprawling village outside, the lantern lights flickering from the houses like fireflies. The village was an image of serenity, but her heart stopped at the sight.

How long had it been?

Because the last time she looked outside the castle, there was nothing there but an open field.

It must have been years. It could even have been decades.

The princess sunk back in her bed as she realized the truth.

She was alone.

They forgot her here.

Her prince never came.

Aurora had no one left.

A urora noticed the surrounding room. Her movements were slow, like she was walking in a dream. She lit the candle with the matches next to her bed.

The candle light flickered in the room, creating menacing shadows that werent there before; her only companions in the vast emptiness.

The room was the same as she remembered. Her canopied bed made of mahogany with curtains of gossamer. She was wearing the same dress she wore on her sixteenth birthday.

Aurora walked to the only door that opened outside; the door that connected the tower she was in to a stairwell which led to the rest of the castle.

She reached for the handle, but the door was fast shut. She tried to open it again, but it wouldnt budge. Aurora pushed it with all her strength, and it finally gave way. The door slowly creaked open.

Aurora couldnt even see past the door, as blocking the path ahead were huge black thorns and brambles. One dark branch snaked inside and twined around her arm like a serpent. The sharp thorns dug deep in her wrist, and Aurora winced in pain, twisting her arm to get it free.

Her wrist was bleeding badly.

There were more cursed branches creeping into her room, so she quickly shut the door.

Aurora sighed as she sat on the floor, her back leaning on the closed door.

What will I do now? She thought, hopelessly.

She couldnt get out of her room. She had no way out of the castle.

With nowhere else to go, Aurora went through her room. The clothes in her closet were moth eaten and ridden with holes. Some, the heirloom dresses belonging to her grandmother, crumbled to dust as soon as she touched them.

Has she changed too? Will she crumble to dust at any moment?

There was a small bath chamber in her room with a mirror above the basin. She could check herself there.

Aurora still looked as fresh as a rose. Her large blue eyes wide open, her cheeks flushed, and her full lips were quivering slightly.

She turned on the tap with a shaky hand. After a few minutes, a steady stream of water started pouring. She cleaned her bleeding wrist as best she could, even if the water was ice cold.

Aurora slowly took out the thorns, one by one, that had dug deep inside in her wrist. With nothing to bandage her wound, she tore into one corner of her dress.

Her birthday dress. The dress her fairy godmothers tried to make without magic, but failed to do so. They used magic for the first time in sixteen years, and that was when the witch discovered her. Her parents spread false rumors about Auroras death from an accident, and the witch finally found out it was all a lie.

Aurora sighed. Perhaps it was better when the witch thought she was dead?

They tried. Her godmothers tried so hard... trying to repress magic as innate to them as breathing.

In the end, it wasnt enough.

She looked at the room again. This was her parents castle. Her childhood home in Rivendale, a kingdom known for its lush greenery and pristine rivers and glens. She hadnt been there long enough to learn all of its secrets... to find hidden paths and secret corners as a child, or discover uncharted places to claim as her own.

Aurora had only been in her room once before she found the cursed spindle. She gravitated towards it, like a moth to a flame, until she couldnt resist anymore and she touched it. Aurora knew about the curse... perhaps she didnt want to fight her fate anymore? The spindle pricked her fingers, and she fell under the witchs spell. Just like the witch wanted.

She shouldnt have been there that day at all.

On the last day of the curse, her parents pleaded with her fairy godmothers to bring Aurora back to the castle. They couldnt wait a minute longer without their only child. They really should have waited until after midnight.

Now, I will never see them again, Aurora thought with despair.

Aurora thoughts drifted to the enchanted forest. She lived in her fairy godmothers cottage for many years and was to stay until she turned sixteen.

How was her life there? It was a peaceful, idyllic life.

She went through the same routine almost daily. Even after doing all of her chores, the days stretched on endlessly.

Her life might have been safe, but it was mind-numbingly mundane.

So it remained until, out of nowhere, the prince came into her life.

Aurora remembered how magical he seemed. Why it was so easy to fall in love with him. He was a break from the sameness of her daily life in the enchanted forest. He felt like warm sunshine in her dreary existence.

She had been dancing that day alone in the forest. When she opened her eyes, she was dancing with him.

He is beautiful, Aurora thought, but he was looking at her like she was his dream.

The prince promised to free Aurora from her curse, to protect her from the witch. He said he would fight for her until the end of time.

Was it the end of time already? Aurora thought with bitterness.