The Princess’s Gold

Suzie looked dreamily out a window of the third story of her father’s mansion, her golden hair fluttering as the wind blew into her room. She looked at the fiery red leaves adorning the woods on the opposite side of the quiet street below. Then she noticed something unusual, a ragged man walking the street. Her eyes were drawn to the man’s opened golden pocket watch. It glittered in the morning sun. Suzie smiled slightly, then frowned as he kept walking away. She slammed the shutters and window closed as her breathing grew heavy. She looked into her golden mirror, and by the firelight of the golden candlestick on the adjacent table she saw herself incomplete without the golden watch in her collection.

****** ****** ******

The ragged man walked down the street, staring down at the road. He noticed a long shadow on the ground and looked up. In the middle of the street there stood a small figure silhouetted by the setting sun. The man stopped. A girlish giggle that normally would have made him smile left his body tense. The shadowy figure circled him, and as it was illuminated, he saw a young girl with golden hair and a white sundress.

     “Hello. I’m Suzie Slasher. I saw your golden pocket watch this morning, and I really like it. Can I have it?” The smooth voice was not a young girl’s, but a full-grown woman’s.

     “No, you can’t. It was my fathers. And that’s a rather rude question.”

     Suzie clenched her fists. “My daddy will pay you for it. How much will it cost? Thousands? Tens of thousands? Just name your price.”

     “I’m not selling it to you. Now why don’t you leave me alone?”

     Suzie pointed at the ragged man, “There’s something you need to understand: I get what I want. You know, when my little sisters and brothers went to live on their own, I thought it was funny. Those fools had to work for themselves. But I’m especially youthful, so I’m my crippled old father’s favorite. When I make a demand, I get what I want.” She walked towards the man. “Now give me the watch.”

     As Suzie’s walk turned into a run, the man turned and sprinted into the woods. He did not look back. As he dodged branches, fallen trees, and rocks, his feet started to burn. He stumbled and fell, slipped off his inexplicably flaming shoes, and stood and ran through the pain. Suddenly the path was cut off by a wall of fire, as was any escape to either side. He turned around, and Suzie was standing, staring intently. He grabbed a knife out of his jacket but was abruptly unable to move. The small smiling figure now held the open stopwatch. She took the knife from his still hands and examined it. “Blades are so boring,” she said as she tossed it aside. She walked away, everything frozen in time, except the flame now melting the ragged man into eternity.

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