UnEnchanted
(An Unfortunate Fairy Tale Book 1)
Chanda Hahn
.
To Richlie Fikes
Because you always asked me what was going to happen next…
Not all Fairy Tales have happily ever afters.
Some just have afters.
Chapter 1
Today I saved Brody Carmichael’s life!
Mina penned the jubilant words into her blue spiral notebook with her favorite ballpoint pen. She faithfully used the same pen when writing all of her entries in the hope that it would change her luck and she could write something good in her notebook—like today. Mina stared at the words written before her in her sloppy script and felt a pang of guilt. She started to close the notebook but paused in thought. It didn’t feel right. It didn’t seem…truthful. With a heavy hand and a heavy heart, she added in parentheses next to her previous entry:
(Today was also the day I almost KILLED Brody Carmichael).
Feeling slightly better about telling the truth, she closed her notebook, titled “Unaccomplishments and Epic Disasters,” and tucked it in her dresser drawer with a sigh.
Nothing in the world ever went right for fifteen-year-old Mina. She was always late for class, her homework usually looked as if it had spent the evening being a chew toy for a pit bull when she didn’t even own a dog, her long-time crush didn’t know she existed, and she frequently spilled chocolate milk on herself whenever she became nervous. Mina was certain it was because she was the magnet for all the bad, terrible, and so-so luck that existed in the world. So she kept a notebook hidden in her unorganized sock drawer to prove it.
All of these events had turned her into a cynic, especially since yesterday morning had started out like any other event-filled, disastrous day.
***
She dreamed she was flying. She was much more graceful in the air than on the ground, where her feet always seemed to be tripping her up. But her peaceful dream was interrupted by the loud banging and crashing of thunder. She was no longer flying…but falling.
“Ouch! What the…?” Mina cried out as she landed painfully on the mismatched oak floor of her bedroom. She had fallen out of bed. Struggling to untangle herself from her sheets and comforter, Mina saw a pair of feet poking out of blue Toy Story pajamas next to her head.
“Charlie, what are you doing?” she mumbled, still wrestling with her sheets.
Charlie, a young and solemn boy of eight, pointed toward her clock, which was blinking 12:00 p.m. In his hands, he held a pot and wooden spoon. The power must have gone out again, which was a regular occurrence for their city block.
“What time is it?” she asked, feeling dread build, knowing that today she was going to be late…again.
Charlie held up one hand, pinching his ring finger and thumb together to sign the number seven.
“Charlie, how could you have let me sleep in so long? I’m going to be late!”
Charlie answered by shrugging his shoulders and banging on the pot with his wooden spoon. She knew that it wasn’t Charlie’s fault; she was a very deep sleeper. Her mother, Sara, said that she was harder to wake up than Sleeping Beauty. In Mina’s case, though, there was no Prince Charming to rescue her from her snoring, and with her horrible luck, there never would be.
Jumping up, Mina grabbed what she hoped was a clean pair of jeans from the pile of clothes that littered her floor and slid into them. Silently she thanked her mother for never giving in to her request for skinny jeans; otherwise, her dressing time would have doubled. Next, she shoved her feet into her favorite Converse All Stars, bending the backs in the process.
She picked up a blue zippered hoodie and gave it a cursory sniff before deeming it clean enough to wear. She ran her fingers through her long brown hair, attempting to tame the stray locks, which were the same boring color as her eyes. She tried to force a winning smile onto her face, but it slid into an awkward grimace.
Giving her brother a quick kiss on the head, she ran into the small and dated kitchen, and grabbed her backpack from the breakfast table. Turning, Mina heard a rip as the backpack clung stubbornly to the back of the chair. The chair won, and the shoulder strap ripped off the back of the bag, causing all of her books to crash to the floor in a heap.
Sighing, she threw each book back into the bag and did her best to hold it shut while she scoured the kitchen drawers for safety pins.
Sara Grime walked into the kitchen with a quizzical look on her face. She was dressed in her work clothes, tan pants and a blue polo with a stitched outline of a feather duster and smiling mop. Sara worked for Happy Maids, cleaning homes so she could afford the tuition to send Charlie to a private school. Their mother worked long hours without ever complaining, which was why Mina never allowed her to enter Mina’s pigsty of a room.