Sleeping Handsome

Prompt: Write a story which puts a new twist on an old legend.

Source: writing.com, prompted by Mara Jade

Response: Sleeping Handsome

Prince Dathan stood over the lovely sleeping girl - her golden hair spread like feathers over the embroidered pillowslip. She was as lovely as he had been told she would be - the girl who was supposed to become his wife, the girl frozen in time high in a tower. All he had to do was kiss her still lips and she could be his.

Dathan sat down in a dusty chair. He looked at the girl - Rosaline, the beauty in the tower. He had been told since he was a little boy that he would find her in the tower, that he would hack his way through the brambles around her castle, that he would free her from her endless sleep and they would be married.

Rosaline lay still - disconcerting in her breathless stillness - and Dathan did not want to touch her. She was so perfect - like a woven tapestry of flesh - and so lifeless - frighteningly so - that the thought of laying his mouth on hers made him cringe.

But he had to, he knew. He was betrothed to Rosaline - she had waited for longer than he had ever lived. So Dathan stood and walked closer to the bed. He looked down at Rosaline. She was indeed beautiful - perfect and beautiful.

Dathan put his hand gently on the bed. All he had to do was kiss her - that was all.

He hovered above her for what seemed like an eternity, lips lightly pursed. He pulled back.

"I can not do it," he muttered.

Dathan kept seeing his best friend's smiling face. Elinor - with her wild black curls and freckled button nose - had never spoken to him about Rosaline, but he knew that as soon as he brought her back Elinor would fade slowly into the background of his life.

"I can notdo it." Dathan walked toward the door, only to stop at the last instant.

"I have to." He returned to the bed, leaning so close he could feel his own breath reflected. He hung above her. Beautiful Rosaline - perfect Rosaline. Just one kiss. "I have to," he reminded himself.

Dathan straightened, rubbing his eyes. "I have to, I have to . . . No they will not know - she was not here. I can tell them she was not here."

He looked back at the beautiful statue of a girl. "No, I can not do that."

Suddenly Rosaline sat up. Dathan let out a squeak of surprise. He stepped away as she rose from the bed like a specter.

"Oh my stars, Dathan! Do not do it if it is such trouble then."

The lovely girl pointed a finger at Dathan. Her voice was steely, "Lie down, Prince."

Dathan did as he was told, cold with shock. Rosaline put her long finger right in front of his nose. "You were given simple instructions, Prince Dathan. Because you failed to complete them, I sentence you to a hundred years of sleep." She smirked and Dathan felt himself recoil in fear. "We will see how anxious some unsuspecting girl is to kiss you awake when I am through with you."

And with that, Prince Dathan fell asleep. Rosaline mussed his hair and clothes and drew a mustache on him. Then, primly, she left the room with a swirl of her dusty skirts.

Notes: I posted the weather forecast for the rest of July - remember there are no surprise prompts anymore.

Also it's my mom's birthday today so I guess this is dedicated to her (though it is not an adequate present). Happy birthday, Mom!