The Beautiful Insomniac

I leaned a bit closer into the mirror staring at the black circles under my eyes, I hadn’t slept for days and I never would again…I refused to sleep, not since I had been under that spell, no one understands…it’s like being underwater not being able to get out…not being able to wake up. Prince Philip keeps saying it’s just a phase that will pass, that I don’t need sleep right now anyways because of all the sleep I had before, yet somehow I felt like it wouldn’t pass.
A few weeks past and still no sleep, I began to grow weaker and no matter how much I ate I wouldn’t gain anything, in fact I was losing weight. That’s when I began seeing things…it started out small yet they got worse and worse, the delusions…Maleficent was always there…hovering over me with a smirk. Sometimes the hallucinations were so real I thought I had actually begun to fall asleep…but they weren’t dreams. Prince Philip seemed to grow more and more pale each day, he would hold my hand and say everything would be okay, I wished he wouldn’t worry…I loved him so much…I hated to see him like this, so sad and worried. Millions of fairies and healers came to try to help me, but I knew something bad was going to happen when the last healer had come in confident and left with a worried expression. I used what was left of my strength to pull myself out of the bed and inch towards the door weakly, not knowing if I would fall over or not I peeked through the crack in the door and saw the healer talking to Philip,
“I’m really very sorry your majesty, but there is nothing I can do.” She said reaching her hand out to comfort my husband but he just brushed her off.
“There has to be something! Some more powerful healer! Someone who can help…you can’t just tell me that my wife is going to-” He cut of when he heard me. I had lost my balance in my frail body and went crashing into the floor. He ran to my aid and yelled for the guards to take the healer away, he carried me to the bed, laying with me, stroking my head,
“It will be okay…we’re going to fix this…you will live.” He gave me a kiss on my forehead, yet I could feel him shaking.
“No, I’m not stupid, I know I’m going to die. I am so sorry Philip…I wish it could be another way, but we must stop searching for a cure when there is none…we just need to cherish the time we have left together.” With that Philip and I spent the rest of that day wrapped in each other’s arms afraid to move, in fear that the moment we let go, I would be gone.
It was around three in the morning when I saw a strange light…just like the one that had led me to the spindle that had forced me into an eternal sleep that Philip had rescued me from so many years ago. Yet I was weak and could usually not move very far, I felt like I was just but a feather and walked smoothly towards the light, as it led me through the door, it seemed like a million miles away, Philip’s voice shouted out to me as I followed the light up a spiral staircase and into a small room in which sat a single spindle. I knew I should be afraid, and the sound of Philip’s voice distant but near told me I shouldn’t be here, yet the spindle seemed to be inviting me in as I walked nearer, once I was right next to it I leaned in over it, that’s when all of my strength left me and I was left with my old frail body that gave way right on top of the spindle itself and a shooting pain went through my chest, I used a bit of my lasting strength to attempt to get up only to discover I was stuck right on the spindle, blood was spurting out as I felt Philip’s arms enclose around me, pulling me off the spindle and leaving a gaping hole in my chest. His sobs sounded like they were far away, yet he was right next to me, all my feeling left me as I muttered the words “I love you” coughing up blood in between words. Once more my prince leaned down and kissed me, I could only imagine how the iron taste of my blood must have been repulsive, but he kept the kiss lasting, however unlike the last time, this kiss didn’t save me, and as soon as he pulled back, I slipped into darkness, like a candle that had been blown out.
“Aurora and Prince Philip’s bodies were found in their very own castle. The only object in the room was a spindle with major blood traces all over it, Aurora was found in the king’s arms with a whole through her chest where we assume the spindle went. Philip’s cause of death however seemed to be a suicide, for he still had one hand on the sword in his stomach, while his other hand remained tightly around his wife. We assume from the evidence collected that Aurora was on her way out as it was for she had a rare disorder called, ‘Fatal familial insomnia’ and only had a few months to live, her morbid death probably brought on by delusions. Philip however, finding his beloved wife dead, must have killed himself out of grief to join his lover in the afterlife. A true yet sad love story.”
-Grimm’s News