There was once a kingdom that was ruled by a gorgeous queen and a humble king. In time, the queen became pregnant with her first child, a princess. The two were over the moon about their baby girl that would soon be born. However, during this time, the queen fell ill. The people of the kingdom feared that this illness would turn fatal, and the king was determined to find anything that would cure his wife. The king had heard whispers of a flower that was born from a drop of sunlight. It was said to heal any ailment that was plaguing the person who ingested it. 

The king sent out his finest of men to search for this flower throughout the lands that surrounded the kingdom. Unbeknownst to him, the flower was being hidden by a woman who had been using its power to stay youthful for many years. She caught onto the people searching for it and began to hide it under a fake bush, which concealed its glow from the world. However, one day she went to go use the power of the flower to revert to her youthful look, and as she was finishing, she heard the sound of palace guards coming toward her. In a panic, she attempted to cover it back up with its disguise, but knocked it over as she was walking away. To her dismay, the guards found it and plucked it from the Earth where it had resided for its entire life. 

The guards brought it back to the palace and had it soaked in pure spring water, which was then given to the queen. As the whispers from the people had stated, the flower began to heal the queen. The remainder of her pregnancy treated her well, and after a few months, the king and queen welcomed their daughter into the kingdom, and named her Rapunzel. She had pale green eyes and was born with long, blonde hair which reached her shoulders. It was something that was never seen before by any who came to visit her. The whole kingdom became infatuated with their newly born princess and how she brought joy to the whole of the land. 

On a night when the kingdom was still, and the wind was howling through the trees, the old woman set out to find the power that had been stolen from her. She crept through the shadows until she came across the room of the baby girl. Her plan was never to kidnap the princess, but when she tried to steal a loc of hair to keep for herself, she discovered that the hair would immediately lose its power if taken off the baby’s head. This caused her to do the only thing that she could think of, to take the girl for herself. Frantically, she ran from the kingdom with the agitated baby in her arms and fled to a tower hidden in the woods miles outside of the palace’s walls. This is where she and Rapunzel would reside for the eighteen years to come. As she grew older her hair grew longer and Mother Gothel stayed more or less the same. The old woman became known as Mother Gothel. Rapunzel would spend her days cleaning, cooking, reading, and her most favorite, painting. She would paint things that she saw from the small window of the tower. She enjoyed painting the water and the grass and imagining what it felt like. She studied the stars and became infatuated with them. Did they span out for an eternity, or did they only exist where she lived? She wanted to know all the mysteries of the world that she couldn’t figure out from living in the same place for her entire life.  

Although you have just read the story of her life, her life didn’t really begin until the day of her eighteenth birthday. She was hoping that this day would be a step into her adulthood and, in relation, a step into being able to explore the world. 

A new chapter of my life was about to begin just as Rapunzel’s was, unbeknownst to me. Freya Ryder was what everyone called me, whether it was my real name or not was irrelevant. My life hadn’t been the most magical, but this story isn’t about me. On the day of Rapunzel’s eighteenth birthday, I was in the palace with the Thief Brothers who had recruited me to join their group of thieves. They had told me I was small and could fit into places that they wouldn’t be able to. Our goal today was to, coincidentally, steal the crown that would belong to Rapunzel if she hadn’t been kidnapped. It was worth more than any of us could even conceptualize, and we planned to sell it for the money. I had dreams of going far away and living a lavish life, unlike the one I was living right now. 

We stood on the top of the castle’s middle point, and I began to fashion a rope around my waist while the brothers went over the plan for stealing the crown. 

“Are you clear, Ryder?” one of them asked. Their voices were deep and harsh. It terrified me, but I would never let them know. 

“Yes, I got it,” I replied confidently. The other began to lower me down through a hatch in the ceiling. 

The crown was sitting on a pillow that resided on a display which was surrounded by guards. They stood motionless, as if they were statues. As I neared the crown, I reached my hands out to grab it. Once it was in my hands, I gave a thumbs up to the boys. As I was being pulled up, I felt my nose start to itch. Oh no, I thought to myself. I tried to stop my nose from sneezing by scratching it but the urge to sneeze felt stronger and stronger until…

“ACHOO!” I covered my mouth immediately. Oh no.  

Just a second later I was pulled back through the hatch and was faced with the angry faces of the brothers. Without a second thought, I sprinted. I sprinted and jumped from rooftop to rooftop, jumping down onto the streets and making my way to the edge of the palace. By the time I made it to the forest, I could hear the curses that were being yelled at me by the brothers and the sound of horses hooves in the distance.

I ran for a few minutes more, but I was getting tired. I frantically tried to look for a place to hide from the angry mob that was trying to find me, and as I did so, I found a thick wall of shrubbery which looked deep enough for me to hide in. I knew that there could be anything hiding inside of its depth, however I figured it was either hiding in the depth or dying a painful death. As I push through the edge of the wall, I notice that it actually isn’t vast in depth, but just a small covering for an enclosure hidden in the midst of the mountains. There was a large tower which stood just below the top of the mountains. There was a waterfall adjacent to it that poured into a small moat that bordered the tower with a loud roar. I didn’t allow myself to take the time to stop and admire, and I made my way to the tower as a place to hide. 

There was no door at the base of the tower, and the tower was incredibly tall. I was desperate to get to the top of the tower, so I grabbed a dagger from my pocket and dug it into the stones that lined the tower. I began to climb, and internally thanked all the exercise I had gotten over the years from my thievery. After an agonizing few minutes, I made it to the top of the tower. There was a small window that was lined with wood and held a few flowers. I climbed inside and observed my surroundings. There seemed to be paintings on every square inch of the walls, and it was pristinely clean. I was fairly certain that there had to be at least one person living here, but there was no one to be seen in the room that I was in. 

Just as I had that thought, I heard rustling behind me. I turned around swiftly to see who was there. I was on high alert from my circumstances, and my hand was hovering over the dagger in my pocket. 

“Who’s there?” a voice called from the shadows. I squinted my eyes to see who was there, but I couldn’t see anything. “I asked you a question,” the person said again, more sternly. “Who is there?”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude. You see, I’m running from-” I stopped as I saw a girl with long blonde hair walk out from the dark. When I say long, I mean long. It was long enough that it piled around her in a circle and dragged behind her still. I stared at it in awe. 

“Why are you here? Are you here to steal my hair?” 

“What?” I asked in shock. “Why would I want your hair? N-no offense, of course! I mean, it’s so gorgeous.” I took a moment to observe her. I hadn’t gotten a good look before because I was so distracted by her hair. She had big green eyes and freckles that scattered about her face. She was beautiful. 

“Wait, you don’t want my hair?” She looked at me with pure confusion. 

“Um… no?” 

“Then why are you here? Who are you?” 

“Well, as I was going to say, I came here because I was running from these people that I wronged and they definitely wanted to kill me. That’s when I found this tower,” I explained. “And my name is Freya Ryder.” 

“Wronged them how?” she asked. There was a mix of hesitation and genuine curiosity. 

“This is going to sound really bad, but I kind of stole the lost princess’s crown to sell for money.” I looked down at the floor as I explained. 

“You WHAT?” she shouted. 

“Okay, okay! I know it sounds bad. But I don’t have a lot of money. I wanted to make some easy money,” I said defensively. “But honestly, now that I think about it, this is turning into a hard endeavor.” 

“You have to return it! Are you insane?” she asked. 

“But then I’ll end up in jail!” I shouted. 

“Didn’t your mother ever teach you that your actions have consequences?” 

At the mention of a mother, I felt a ping in my heart. That was something that I never really had. I cleared my throat and tried to change the subject. 

“Okay, fine,” I sighed. “This crown is causing me a lot of trouble anyway. It really isn’t worth it. But you have to come with me,” I told her. 

“NO!” she immediately shouted. She cleared her throat, then said, “I mean, no. I can’t leave this tower. That’s my mother’s one rule.” 

“Huh? How old are you?” I asked. 

“Well, it’s actually my eighteenth birthday today,” she explained, tucking hair behind her ear. 

“Well, then you’re an adult. You can leave,” I told her. She looked around and bit her lip. “Don’t you want to?” I asked her. 

“I really, really want to,” she admitted. 

“Then what are you waiting for, come on,” I said, pointing out the window. 

“Okay, but you have to promise that we’re going to return the crown,” she said. 

“Done.” 

“Then let’s go,” she said. I could tell from her tone and her facial expressions that she was nervous. I couldn’t believe that she had never left her tower. I didn’t want to think about it too much, because it wasn’t my living situation and it also wasn’t my right to speculate about her mother. 

She stood on the ledge of the window and looked out to the ground. She was hesitating. 

“It’s okay to leave,” I reassured. “You have that right.” 

She looked back at me and nodded. She looped her hair around a latch above the door and swung it down to where it almost touched the ground. Before I could ask questions, she grabbed a hold of her hair and jumped down. I ran over to the window and looked over the edge to see her clutched onto her hair, dangling just above the ground. I grabbed my dagger and began to climb down the tower just as I came up, and I soon reached her at the bottom. She watched in amazement as I effortlessly planted my feet onto the ground. 

“Go ahead,” I told her, pointing to the ground. “All you have to do is lower your feet.” 

She carefully lowered one foot onto the ground and hesitated just before it touched the grass, then finally lowered it further. She let out a slight gasp before letting go of her hair and dropping to her knees. 

“It’s soft,” she said, excitement in her voice. The corners of her mouth were pulled into a smile as she felt the grass and the dirt and the flowers that were budding on the ground. I made sure to give her a minute to enjoy herself, and I just admired her as she did. She soon stood up and looked at me with more joy than I had ever seen before. 

“Let’s go,” she said. “And also, I’m Rapunzel by the way.” 

…

As we walked towards the palace walls, Rapunzel was a mix of emotions. She would go from being amazed by the nature that surrounded her, to being in a panicked state over what would happen if her mother found out she left. I do my best to try to comfort her, but I’ve never been able to comfort people very well. It wasn’t in my nature. 

“She’s going to be so mad,” she said, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. 

“I’m sure she won’t,” I reassured. “You’re an adult. She can’t keep you there forever.”

“You don’t get it,” she said. “You just don’t get it.” 

I was going to try to say something in response, but we had made it to the edge of the palace and she abruptly stopped. I almost ran into her as she did so. 

“It’s so big,” she whispered. Her pointing this out to me made me observe the palace in more depth than I typically would. The palace was more or less my home, and I had never stopped to think about what it would be like to see it for the first time. It was all I had ever known. 

As we walked over the bridge into the palace, Rapunzel was running with excitement at the sight of all the people in the streets, shopping in markets, and dancing to music. She quickly ran into a problem when she realized that people were stepping and tripping on her hair. She frantically tried to pick it up into her hands, but there was too much of it. I searched around for a group of little girls who were always braiding each other’s hair by the fountain in the center of the town. I spotted them and motioned for them to come over to us. Their faces lit up the moment they saw Rapunzel, and they all let out squeals as they ran over to us. 

After a few minutes, her hair was in a thick braid that reached just above the ground. She got down to the level of the little girls and brought them all into a hug. I smiled at the scene. She was quite a girl. She stood back up and breathed in the air. I could tell her hair was something that was something that she had a love-hate relationship with. I had so many questions for her, she was a mystery that I was eager to solve. 

She began to walk further into town, and I followed her closely behind. As we continued to walk, I couldn’t help but feel like there was someone watching me. I tried to shake off the nerves but I couldn’t. As I looked behind me, I saw that there was a woman in all black. 

“Rapunzel, that?” I asked. She turned around and her face immediately dropped. 

“Mother?” she asked in a hushed tone. 

“What are you doing out of your tower?” she asked. Her voice was harsh and coarse. 

“Well- I’m- me and Freya-” 

“I know all about Freya,” she said, cutting Rapunzel off. “The rumors of her deviance.” My heart dropped. 

“What? About how she stole the crown?” Rapunzel asked. “That’s why we’re here. To return it.” 

“I’ve heard of that, but there is more,” her mother stated.

“What are you talking about?” Rapunzel asked. 

“Oh, it’s really nothi-”
“About her attraction towards women,” her mother spat. “She’s preying on you, Rapunzel.” 

“What?” Rapunzel said, looking back at me. I looked down at the floor to avoid her eye contact. “So what?” Rapunzel asked. My head shot up to look at her. 

“So what? So what?” the mother asked. “I’ll tell you what! It’s disgusting. You will come with me now, Rapunzel.” She grabbed Rapunzel by the wrist. 

“NO! I won’t go with you!” Rapunzel shouted. “Stop! Let go of me!” Rapunzel fought her mother’s grip and planted her feet onto the ground. 

“You will come with me, child. You will not go into that castle! You can’t!” her mother blurted. 

“Wait, what did you say?” I asked. I thought about what she said. Gears started to turn in my head. The tower that she could never leave. Her long blonde hair. The fact that her mother would never let her leave. 

She was the lost princess. 

“You’re…” I began. “You’re that lost princess,” I whispered. 

Rapunzel looked back at me with confusion, and then her eyes began to widen. 

“You aren’t my mother, are you?” There was hurt and confusion in Rapunzel’s voice

“I- I don’t know what you’re talking about! Don’t you see? She’s brainwashing you! Come with your mother.” 

“NO!” Rapunzel shouted, pushing her mother away before grabbing my hand and running. We ran as fast as we could towards the castle without looking back. We pushed through the front doors and were faced with guards. 

“Hey!” one of the guards shouted. “It’s Freya Ryder. Get her!” 

“Wait!” Rapunzel shouted. She grabbed the crown out from my satchel and put it on her head. The guards halted and stared at her with shock. 

“It’s…it’s her…” one of the guards said. “It’s really her.”

…

Rapunzel told her story to the guards and explained our situation. The palace guards set out to find Mother Gothel to charge her for her crimes. Rapunzel’s nerves were starting to grow high as she was growing closer to meeting her real parents. We stood on the balcony looking out onto a garden as we waited. She was running her fingers through her hair and pacing nervously. 

“Rapunzel, I promise you it will be okay,” I told her. 

“What if they don’t like me?” she asked. 

“How could they not? You’re their daughter.” 

“But, what if they have a picture of me in their head that isn’t what I actually am?” 

I walked over to her and took her head in my hands. She looked up at me with her bright green eyes. 

“You’re kind and careful, Rapunzel. And they are going to love you, because anyone would,” I told her. As she looked at me, I felt as if we began to be pulled together by a force neither of us could go against. I felt my lips pressed against hers. It was sort and soft, but a kiss that would make me feel something I had never felt before. Loved. 

The door swung open and the king and queen ran onto the balcony. Me and Rapunzel separated from each other's arms and she went to meet her parents. They all hesitated before hugging each other with more strength than I had ever seen before. I could hear their whispers and their tears. I didn’t interrupt, I just let them have their moment. After a few minutes, the queen raised her head and motioned for me to join them. 

“No, no. I’m good,” I told them. They all got up and walked over to me, wrapping me into a group hug. I sighed and hugged them back. 

…

Months went by and many changes had occurred in that palace. The people of the town grew to love Rapunzel as if she had always been there. She and I grew our relationship, and as such we had eradicate homophobia from the kingdom. Rapunzel had found her family, and I had found me. So I guess you could say we got our separate happy endings, and our happily ever after together. 

The end.