Why Does it Always Have to be Midnight?

Hey, my name is Bradley Steven Humperdink, I am sort of the prince charming character of this story without being a prince. Weird, right? I was born and raised in the middle of a broken land, a divided kingdom. My job was to be a cook at the bakery, even though I was horrible at baking foods. In school I had to study biographies of princesses like Cinderella and Snow White. When I was in the middle of my studies, I noticed something, the climax was always at midnight. Then a quick question came across my mind, “Why does it always have to be midnight?” but then, I graduated from school, got a job, so I forgot that when I was in school, I asked the simple question. As I grew older, I became the hero of everything, and it was just because I was quarterback of the football team. I was also a girl magnet, so I had a girlfriend. Her name was Cindy Samantha Jensen. She was way too clingy to me. She was with me all the time! She also talked to me about marriage all the time as if she wanted me to propose, we were only in high school though! She constantly said things like, “When I get married I want it to be in a castle, and when I get rescued I want it to be at midnight.” Suddenly, while she said that, the thought returned to my head, ‘Why does it always have to be midnight?’ So I just said to her, “Why?” her eyes flashed up as she asked “Why what?” I almost didn’t ask her, but she might have the answer. “Why does it always have to be midnight?” after I asked the simple question, Cindy just shrugged her shoulders. I was so stupid for asking the question anyway, all she cared about was her and me getting married. “The next time we meet, I’ll surely break up with her.” That is what I thought every time I met her. I just couldn’t get up the guts, because she would constantly call me and cry if I broke up with her. So I just decided to torture myself one more day. When I did break up with her, when I was a senior. I made sure she wouldn’t talk to me, I deleted her number made sure she wasn’t my friend on Facebook anymore, and everything! My parents were constantly asking though, “What happened to you and Cindy?” They only liked her because she was the prettiest girl in my school though. So, after days of crying, Dad walked in with a big smile on his face, we were both incredibly surprised. Mom gulped out, “Honey ‘sob’ why are you ‘sob’ smiling ‘sob’” My Dad was still smiling he said “Look at this sign.” He handed her a sign. Her and I both looked at it. It looked like this, I quickly looked at my mom with a worried look, but of course, she was smiling. Oh no. I quickly but calmly said to them, “I would make a horrible knight , they always save the princesses at night and that’s when I sleep!” My parents still had a bright look in their eye, “Yes Brad, I think you should become a knight too.” My mom said. My eyebrows suddenly shot up, “Didn’t you listen to me!” I said in reply, “I don’t want to be one…” my dad suddenly interrupted my reasons, “Yes Brad we get my-I mean your great wish to be a knight. I couldn’t take it anymore I suddenly yelled, “I DON’T WANT TO BE ONE!” But mom and dad were having their own little conversation that ended with me leaving the next morning to be a knight. It was the perfect worst nightmare. As I arrived at the castle, I saw a ton of really strong dudes saying good-bye to their lovers. Who were girls like Cindy, every girl could seriously be her twin. And our trainer, just seriously was so serious about everything. So I needed a way out of here, and fast. So, I looked at my options, I could do something really bad (at midnight) or, run away (at midnight). After I thought these, I was wide-eyed, how did the midnight slip in there? So I put my mind on other things. Soon, the general started doing roll call, everyone’s voices scared me to death, they were just so deep. My voice sounded like a tiny squeek , compared to their’s. So now, I had to get out, these guys were just a ton of stupid, strong, and handsome men. I was so different! They proved to me how stupid they were at the first quiz. They were asked, ‘What kind of animal does a knight ride?’ and since they wanted to sound tough and strong, they said dragon. Though it was obvious it was a horse, so I became a teacher’s pet. They were strong because they only got their good grades in gym. I knew they had to be handsome because girls were always attracted to them. So, at knight lessons, I was the total geek of the squad. (even after being the quarterback of the football team!) One random day a quick quiz came up. Being their usual selves, everyone got an F-, and I got an A+. After the class, I just grabbed my books, when the teacher called me over. As soon as I reached his desk, I threw my book bag down, sat down, and looked at his face. Since his face looked like he was thinking hard, I asked, “Am I in trouble?” The teacher looked up, very surprised. “Of course not Brad, you are my best student!” I gave out a huge sigh of relief, but still confused why I was there and said quite puzzled, “So, why am I here?” the teacher replied with a solemn look in his eye, “Remember the last five tests that we took, you were the only one to get a good grade, and those weren’t just any tests.” My eyes were the size of bowling balls, I would get to rescue a princess! Before any of the eggheads would, that has to be it! Then the teacher went on sadly, but surely, “There’s this trapped princess, guarded by a dragon.” Suddenly the smile left my face. A DRAGON!!! I didn’t care about my grades in this knight school, I had to get out! Wait, maybe they don’t want me to rescue her, I had to listen. The teacher was bawling while he was mumbling, “Why do you have to be the only good student in this school!” But very quickly, just fast as lightening I asked, “What do I have to do!” he replied (while crying) , “Isn’t it obvious, you must save the princess!” Then I yelled, “WHAT!!” every student in the school turned their heads, I tried to muster out, “What about the experienced knights, one of them can do it!” the teacher looked up and said with sorrow, “They already tried, but they died.” I was so wide-eyed as I screamed, “NOOOO!!!” There was nothing I could do now, I would die for two reasons, the dragon, and I would rescue her at midnight, so I would be tired! The process would go something like this- tired, try to rescue, death. Anyways, the princess would probably be hideous by the time I came. The princess’s attitude I couldn’t imagine, it was probably a million times worse than Cindy’s. That night, I had the worst of all my bad dreams. I was trying to run away from all the dragons, but then everything turned into a dragon (at midnight) and ate me (at midnight). That time, I didn’t even wonder how the “at midnight” appeared, if I lived in fairy-tale world, I may as well get used to it and I was too terrified to wonder. The next morning, my parents were there to say good-bye. They didn’t even seem to show the tiniest bit of concern, my mom just said, “We have always dreamed of this happening to you, Brad isn’t it exiting?” I quickly rolled my eyes and replied, “I’m a little scared, and what if the princess us, you know, ugly?” mom and dad were just smiling as they said, “Farewell, Brad, love you!” I just stood there thinking, ‘Whenever I talk to them, it’s like I’m not even there!’ I mounted my stallion and whispered to him, “We are in for a long ride, aren’t we Six?” I quickly mustered out to him, “I know I used to be exited, but now I’m just feeling sorry for myself, why do I have to be the only smart guy in school, don’t you agree, Six?” I then thought to myself, ‘You’re going crazy, Brad, talking to a horse.” Another part of my journey I didn’t like was the weather, it was sunny, then rainy, then snowy, then sunny again. I couldn’t keep up with anything! Even Six disliked me because what horse likes going on that type of journey! I didn’t like all of my journey, yes, but if I had to choose a part I liked least, it would have been when I went through the forbidden forest. It was so dark and quiet, I could even feel Six’s fear. “Well Six, I think it’s about time we rested, this is the perfect place to, right?” I asked him. But Six gave me a look that said, ‘Are you serious?” Since he was just a horse, and I didn’t care what his opinion was, I decided to stop. I thought about all those stories about ogres and dwarves and such were make believe. Boy, I was wrong. When I tried to fall asleep, voices kept me up. The voices were in hushed tones, but they kept me up. Even Six was shivering with fright. I whispered to him, “It is alright, Six. Nothing is going to happen to us.” I told myself and Six that till I fell asleep at midnight. By the time I woke up, I was slung over someone or something’s back , being carried. I tried to pretend to be dead (like I wanted to be). But I heard the thing’s voice, “He’s awake.” The voice terrified me, making my body jump, it had to be an ogre. The one that was carrying me slung me down and said trying to sound nice, “Hello, Humperdink.” I stuttered out, “How do you know that?” “I know everything about you. Your horse gave you away. By now, I was too frightened to say, ‘Horses don’t talk.” I just looked him up and down, he was definitely an ogre. My body shivered with fright. He just looked like he was very, very mad every time he looked at me. After looking at me for a few moments, he turned to the other ogre and yelled, “When do we get to eat him he smells really good!” my eyebrows quickly lifted as I muttered, “You can smell me?” The ogre looked at me with fury in his eyes, he almost screamed, “OF COURSE YOU STUPID BAKER! Since you were a baker we figured you tasted even better than most humans!” There was an explosion of fear in my eyes, these ogres knew everything! So I quickly forced out, “You know-uh- you don’t eat bakers-uh- they cook for you.” Suddenly one of the ogres eyebrows lifted, he replied, “Then let’s taste some of your work and see your talent.” I quickly smirked in the shadows, because my food tasted horrible so ogres had to hate it too, right? When I was baking, I tried to mix up the worst things. I forgot that everything we found bad, ogres found delicious. So I spent hours looking for the main meal, which had to taste horrendous. After hours and hours of looking, I found a tree stuffed to the top with crickets. I almost threw up when I saw the cricket colony, I just whispered to no one in particular, “Perfect.” On my final cooking day, I just sprinkled mouse dung over everything. When I finished baking, I looked over it all with pride. It looked like the worst meal ever in the history of the world. Then I set up a table for the ogres and a meal for each. I was just so proud! I called them over to try it. They looked over it for what seemed like a few hours. One them pointed to the mouse dung and asked, “What is that?” I just smiled and said, “Mo-my secret ingredient.” I sighed with relief in between my stutterings, I was getting way too proud of my creation. The ogre smiled and said brightly, “You think you can hide mouse dung that easily, this looks like the best meal ever!” My face twisted itself into a weird expression as I realized ogres found the best in the worst and the worst in the best. Then I stuttered out nervously, “You like that type of thing, are you going to eat me now?” The ogres found a grin. Oh no I thought, They are going to eat me now. Quickly I prayed to the heavens above. Then, a shower of blessings sprinkled over me! A unicorn just randomly charged into the ogres and stabbed them with her horn. She yelled in a smooth voice, “Run, kid, run!” I didn’t even wonder how she could talk, I just said while very worried, “What about my horse!” She rolled her beautiful eyes and replied, “I’ll take care of Six, just run!” I quickly scampered away wondering how the creatures in the forest knew so much about me. When all my running settled down, I looked at my watch. It read midnight. I smiled as I thought, What the Chance! I then ran away with a happier tune, I knew everything was going to be good now. I knew this because all the good stuff happen at midnight in fairy-tale world. I skipped along for a while before I noticed Six. “Oh no, Six.” I muttered. I thought that maybe if I sat on a rock, and waited for a while, he would come. So, I just walked over to one of the rocks, brushed of the muck, and sat down. The longer I sat, the more I noticed that I was moving. I looked down, apparently I was on Six. A beaming smile lit up my face, as I said joyfully to Six, “I knew you wouldn’t leave me, boy!” Soon we saw a very tall tower, Six looked at me with a glance that said, “We should stop.” I just said to him in reply to the look, “She is already saved." Since I had read every fairy tale there ever was in my studies, when we found out were the princess lived, we were incredibly shocked. She lived were any princess in the world would hate living! She lived in what looked like a haunted mansion. There was fog close to the ground, I could hear bats screeching, and everything scary. But, I still told Six to keep going. I tried to tell him using a happy voice, “Maybe it won’t be so bad… maybe.” Six still refused to go in the front gate, I still tried to convince him with, “Maybe they have-uh- horse grains-uh- just for you Six!” Six looked at me with a ‘Are you kidding me?’ Suddenly, I saw fire in the distance, “Oh no, the dragon.” I whispered. When Six saw it, he almost ran away, but the first muscle movement I felt, I yelled decreasing sound at every word, “Stay, Sixy boy stay still or else the dragon is going to kill us!” Six just rolled his eyes and froze. I suddenly tried to smile at him while I said, “How about you stay here because you’re a good horsie, as I go in and save her?” as I got off him, I whispered to myself, “You are asking for death, Brad.” I grabbed my sword for protection, even though it would not protect from the ghosts, I feared were in there. I quietly told Six while using a sad type of voice, “I probably won’t come back because, well… you know why, and it was nice working with you.” Right then and there hugged him because he looked pretty sad too.As I gave him a few final pats, I noticed the dragon, and he started noticing us. That’s when I yelled at Six, “Run off, as fast as you can and don’t let anything stop you!” And with that, Six was off like lightning. I started walking to the house, slowly, surely, and silently. Halfway to the front door, I decided to give up, but my feet continued forcing me forward. I could barely breathe when I turned the doorknob. I started crying when I saw the first shadows and heard the first whispers. After looking at them for a while, I noticed they were someone’s hands that were being shaped into those creatures. I just laughed aloud and said sarcastically, “Oh no! You dragged me into your lair, you might as well kill me!” my voice then turned very serious, “I know you’re there.” I then heard a very loud, and exited voice, “Oh yes! I finally found a smart guy, he’ll be my husband!” Suddenly, a princess arose from the shadows. She had to be the princess I was looking for! I was very nervous, and she was kind of scaring me, “Uh…hi. What’s your name?” “Annabel, but just Annie for short, what’s yours?” This is when I smiled, I finally met someone who would listen to me. “Bradley, Brad for short.” I replied. Her face was beaming. She yelled out again, “We must be made for each other!” I smiled and nodded. Right after, we heard the roar of a dragon. Suddenly the Annie was very quiet, “Hush, Brad we don’t want him to know you’re here.” I was shocked and muttered angrily, “So now you chose to be quiet!” She just had a very pleading look in her eye. “Just, shut up!” She begged. I just rolled my eyes and looked around her room. She had a bow and arrows. I looked at her, then at the bow, then at her again. “You know, you had the ability to kill the dragon this whole time!” I told her eagerly, “Really?” She questioned with a puzzled look. I just grabbed it and shot him in the heart, “Yes, bulls eye!” I yelled. Annie just smiled at me, “You’re my hero!” she said. I just flashed her a quick smile that said, “I know.” We just rushed out of the castle she suddenly, stopped and fainted. “COME ON!!” I yelled, “Do I have to do everything!” I picked up her body very carefully. I set her down on the ground, (to give my arms a rest) before I noticed what I had to do. “Of course.” I mumbled to no one in particular, “Kiss her!” but since the kissing scene had to be appropriate, I laid her down on a bed of moss, spread out her hair, and said quietly, “Just do it!” after all, she was the most beautiful girl I ever saw. I slowly leaned down, and when the clock struck midnight, I let our lips meet. I was kissing for ten seconds or more before we separated. Her eyes fluttered open. Annie quickly got up and said, “What just happened? Oh my gosh, you must be my prince! YAY!” One of my eyebrows raised as I asked, “Really?” “YES!” She yelled, “We have to get married right away!” I smiled, “One second,” I said as I kissed her again. Right when she got home to her parents, we got married and we all lived happily ever after. (at midnight)

THE END