Under the blankets,

From behind the pillow,

I stare at the screen.

Expectant.

Giddy.

I press a button on the remote-

Click-

the television flashes

and I am gone.

 

CLICK

The fleece blanket surrounding me has become

a raggedy brown dress

The pillow, a bucket and soap.

I hear the mice calling me with tiny voices 

Cinderelly Cinderelly.

Bubbles surround me;

I reach up with a dirt covered hand to pop one

 

CLICK

The prince takes my hand

I look up into his eyes.

They are dark and mysterious,

Handsome.

I run my hands along the violet and blue of the flying carpet

and we soar past the palace walls,

over the desert and above the world.

 

CLICK

The world is green;

I’m sitting on a tree branch

and I can feel the kiss

of rain across my cheeks.

My hand is against his,

the scary wild jungle man

who isn’t quite so scary.

“Me Tarzan.”

His hand is much bigger than mine.

 

CLICK

In fact, his hand engulfs mine,

It is furry and gentle

as he leads me around the ballroom of his long forgotten castle.

Books pale in comparison to

feeling like a princess

and dancing with a beast.

The music swells

With the snow falling

Just outside the window.

 

CLICK

There is a hag at the window.

She offers me and apple

Redder than the rubies and garnets

The dwarves bring home from the mines

I haven’t had fruit since I was at the castle with my step mother.

Surely one bite couldn’t hurt.

The witch sneers as I crunch through the thin skin.

Apple juice runs down my chin.

My eyes shut.

 

CLICK

My eyes are open.

A boy sits in front of me,

red cape flying behind him.

The feeling of his lips

Lingers on my own,

An effect of how

He woke me from my slumber.

I open my mouth to thank him,

To use my voice for the first time

In one hundred years

 

CLICK

I wish I still had my voice

I sacrificed it to get to the prince but

how can I tell him that I love him

if a sea witch took the one thing I needed in order to say it?

He puts his hand under my chin as if to

kiss me.

He leans in close

 

CLICK

He leans back away from me,

his hand under my chin in order to

stare into my eyes.

“Oh Anna, if only there was someone out there who loved you.”

My soul is cold, so cold.

If only I could get to the light of the fire.

 

CLICK

Fire sparks the fuse of the missile that

Is aimed for the mountains

China is under attack

And it is my duty to my family

And to my ancestors to defend it.

I may be a woman among men but

I will make sure that the Huns know me only as

the soldier from the mountains.

The missile explodes

and my world goes black.

 

Click

I resurface,

Oxygen coming back to my lungs.

The T.V. glimmers blue on the DVD eject screen.

I look at my bare feet,

not encased in glass like Cinderella’s.

I reach for the top of my head,

Where there is no crown like Aurora’s.

Deep within me, though,

I am still one of them,

a princess of the best kind.

My eyes flicker to the clock: 12:00 AM.

I shrug off my blanket and run to the DVD player.

There is always time for one more.