Never Too Old for a Happy Ending

Many children grow up with fairy tales as their first introduction to literature. Especially little girls. Oh what fun it was to pretend with your next door neighbor, sister, or friends from school that you were the beautiful heroine of a classic tale! How many hours you spent watching the Disney movies over and over again until you memorized every lyric to every song! How you wished you could be them!

So what happened?

Somehow, the fairy tales lost their magic. The little, ballet dancing girl grew up and gained new interests and new hobbies. Suddenly, the predictably happy endings no longer held any weight. Yet, those stories still hold something in the hearts of teenagers and even adults. On rare occasion, you may even find yourself searching for those old movies and praying you still have the VHS player lying around somewhere. Or maybe you kept the little collection of Grimm’s Fairy Tales in the attic or closet instead of just giving or throwing it away. Maybe you even have a copy of a collection of Hans Christian Andersen’s work sitting on your book shelf right this moment. No matter how you were introduced to them or how long it has been since you even thought about them, those fairy tales never truly left your memory.

Eira, Kaida, Ashlyn, Hina, Quinn, and Faylinn were no different.

Growing up with the dark and rather disturbing Grimm’s Fairy Tales as her introduction, Eira actually took a liking to the macabre as she grew older. Her walls were eventually filled with drawings made with eerie pen and ink of equally eerie castle settings and old ruins. The ideals and images of fantasy in all of its dark glory never escaped Eira, and she embraced them the more she grew up. That combined with some less than favorable situations at home made Eira a quiet girl who longed for the easily earned happy endings in the fairy tales she used to love so much. Her much worn childhood copy of Grimm still sits on her book shelf and never has to wait very long before the dust can be wiped away from the cover.

Kaida had a much different experience. Always being hyperactive and athletic, the girl seldom read anything even as a child. Her fairy tales were mostly restricted to the Disney films. It did not take her long to grow out of those, or so she thought. Her attention was mostly focused on sports, friends, and simply having a good time. And yet, once in a while she found herself willingly sitting on the couch with her little sisters watching the DVDs (having actually upgraded for her siblings’ sakes). Of course, if anyone asked, she would blame it on her sisters, and given her loyalty to her family, no one would question it. After all, Kaida was not the kind of girl to wish for excitement, but to create it for herself.

Faylinn always loved a good story. Her extensive book collection still holds her beloved copy of Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales, and over the years she procured even more books of the same kind. Nothing could beat the sincere happy endings of the stories from her childhood. However, because of this, she was always daydreaming. She never took her life seriously because she always had the influence of her stories and books telling her everything will work out in the end. Whenever it did not, she simply ignored it. While she may not have suspected it herself, others definitely knew that kind of blind confidence would get her into trouble. But just maybe not the kind anyone expected.

Having a very average and dull childhood, Hina grew up with fairy tales and loved them accordingly, then promptly dropped them at the appropriate age. She mostly recognized the movies, but was occasionally read the odd folk tale or myth that never adapted to a film. Truthfully though, she never held much value in them. On her way down the straight path of the class valedictorian and perfect role model for her fellow students, Hina just never had time to daydream or think about a happy ending she would not have earned herself through hard work. Her schedule was always filled with classes, extracurricular activities, work, and occasionally time to relax with her friends. So when she did think of the films and music and characters she used to love and cherish, it was only out of fond nostalgia, until she became too overworked. Crashing and burning almost never happened to Hina despite her crazy, self inflicted schedule, but when it did, she submitted to the escapism of her childhood.

Prince Charming never managed to turn Quinn’s head even as a child. She enjoyed the stories well enough at the time, but she never loved them. Instead, she moved on to more substantial and easily understood things, at least to her. Machines were always Quinn’s first love, because she always had to know why anything worked. Uniformity, simplicity, and logic were the highest values Quinn ever held. So when confronted with human beings, who do not make sense and hardly ever act on sheer logic, she would panic and shut down. However, occasionally she would venture out of her comfort zone and into the vast, unknown realms of fantasy, due to the nudging of her own curiosity. She would quickly recoil, but something in her kept her coming back, even if only for a moment.

Going from a deep set obsession as a child to an eye-rolling hatred as she grew older, Fayette changed the most drastically in her reaction to fairy tales. Her love for everything fantastic and whimsical as a little girl quickly dissipated when she entered junior high. Her life at home became difficult, and she quickly stopped believing in truly happy endings altogether. Fayette figured that the best thing for her to do was to grow up and learn how to take care of herself as quickly as possible. She learned to expect bittersweet circumstances throughout her life and nothing else. She decided to no longer be a child, and even went so far as to look down on those who did. After all, everyone has to grow up some day.

All six of these young girls have yet to begin their journeys. They have much to learn and discover, and maybe they can grow up just a little bit more. But all of that begins on an odd, spring morning with the simplest of beginnings: dreams.