Clocks have always frightened me, and I hate teachers and love sweets. My best friends are like cats (which I hate) who like to hiss like they're rattle snakes. Sometimes I purposefully confuse apparitions with reality to make life more exotic, but I'm a real Princess at heart, so do mind your worst manners. My parents are gypsies and my grandfather was a mermaid when he was very young, and he could kill you with only one fin intact.

"Is that so?" cried Mrs. Lemmons. Mrs. Lemmons is my teacher and I giggled secretively. Her brown locks hung about her melon-head like Medusa, and when she had a seizure (like she was doing now), they seemed to glare down at me so much more than her beautiful features ever could. Her desk toppled over but none of the other children seemed to notice or care. Marissa Chambers took notes and looked at me through her nostrils. I had the sudden urge to kill her but bit her hard instead.

"MRS. LEMMONS!"

Mrs. Lemmons took one look and led me away, out the back door of our classroom across the football fields and into the woods. I waved to my friends, and everyone except Marissa Chambers waved back. We understood that everything was going to be as it should be, and I never truly belonged stuffed up in a classroom.

We walked for a long time before Mrs. Lemmons stopped, panting, leaning on a weeping willow to support her bloated physique. We had reached the barrier and she could go no further. I was gently pushed forward and given two golden coins.

"Goodbye, my Princess."

I nodded, and disappeared.


(image from rags and tatters)