Grunting, the Beast stomped through the forest, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake. He reached out, grasped branches as thick around as a man, tore them down and dropped them in his pursuer’s path. He glanced over his shoulder and slammed against an enormous tree trunk, crying with pain. The tree, which had been growing for over a hundred years, was nearly snapped in two. The Beast roared at the tree as if it had purposefully blocked his path.
His prized trophy, held tightly in a clenched fist, let out a high-pitched scream. The Beast’s frenzied eyes shot down to the girl held in his gigantic right hand. He scowled at her as if it were her fault that he had snatched her from the castle walls. He screamed at her with a noise that was a hundred times that of a squealing pig. He snapped his teeth at her, showing how easily he could break her like a porcelain doll. She went silent, but she could feel the Beast’s fear. The only way he could expect mercy was by keeping her alive.
Sir Trevor weaved through the tangle of clawing branches like an agile cat. His razor-sharp blade gleamed in his hand, and his armor glistened in the light of the full moon overhead. A fire burned in his eyes; the fire of his undying love for the Lady Ashley. No creature had ever dared touch the Rose of the Known Kingdoms—daughter of the Mage King—until this Beast had crawled out of the Infernal Pit to terrorize the land. If that monster so much as damaged a single hair on her perfect head, Sir Trevor was determined to make him wish that he could sulk back to the Black Lands to suffer out his wretched life in agony. He would do it, even if it cost him every ounce of strength he possessed. The fire grew brighter as he closed in.
The Beast squealed and stumbled as a sharp, stabbing pain shot through his hamstring. He looked back, limping and grabbing at his bleeding leg with his free hand, to see Sir Trevor, standing on the trunk of a felled tree, notching another arrow. In panic, the Beast reached up and set the Lady Ashley on a high tree branch. Another arrow hit its mark. The Beast jerked back, and nearly pulled Ashley off the branch. “Help me!” she screamed as her fingers dug into the bark.
The Beast reeled in pain as he clutched at the arrow imbedded in his chest.
Sir Trevor sprang under her. “Let go and I’ll catch you,” he called up to his one and only love.
“Okay,” she said, placing all her trust in him. “I’m letting go.”
The Beast’s fist sent Sir Trevor flying into a nearby tree. “No, wait!” he called.
The Lady Ashley, who was just about to let go of the limb, screamed as she heard the Beast roar below her. She clutched the limb even more tightly, her court dress dangling in the air, along with her flawless legs.
Sir Trevor looked up just in time to see the Beast barreling down on him again. He jumped out of the way as his giant fist made kindling out of the tree behind him. His blade sang as he drew it from its sheath and struck out at the Beast. With driving force, he sunk the sword deep in the thick, calloused and dirty skin of the Beast’s arm. The Beast recoiled and stumbled, still limping.
Above them both, the Lady Ashley’s grip was starting to give. “I’m slipping!” she yelled into the night sky.
Sir Trevor did not hesitate to jump to her rescue, but he was snatched out of midair and spiked to the ground like a football. Before he could even come to his senses, he was pinned under the Beast’s huge, elephant-like foot. What breath was left in him quickly escaped his lungs. He fought to stay conscious as the pressure steadily increased. His bones creaked. Blue blotches danced in his vision. The Beast loomed over him, and roared in triumph.
Out of the corner of his eye, Sir Trevor caught sight of his sword, and mustered enough strength to reach for his only hope, but came up short. He reached again, straining, and almost had it, when the Beast flicked it away with a horrid chuckle. Sir Trevor almost despaired as he saw his blade fall hopelessly out of reach.
“I’m going to fall!”
The dying fire reignited. His eyes gleamed with a roaring flame.
Then he saw it. A broken stick, lying within reach. It just might be…it could be…it’s possible that it’s sharp enough. With hardly even a thought, Sir Trevor grasped the stick and stabbed it deep into the Beast’s foot. The Beast reeled in pain, and Sir Trevor was free. He sprang into action. In one fluid motion recovered his sword and jumped at the Beast. A warrior’s yell escaped from his lungs as he soared at the giant monster and sunk his blade into his abominable, black heart.
The Beast let out a choking sound, and his eyed rolled into the back of his head. He fell back, dead as a doornail, with Sir Trevor on top of him, still clutching the hilt of his sword. Sir Trevor let out a sigh of relief, but didn’t rest long when he heard the sound of struggling from above.
He sprang under his lady love and called to her, “Let go, my love. I am here to catch you.”
“Will you really catch me?” she pleaded.
“You must trust me, My Lady,” said the brave knight. “I will not let you fall.”
“Okay,” said the Lady Ashley, “here goes.” She closed her eyes and let go of the high tree branch.
Like a delicate flower she floated down through the air and landed lightly in the arms of her rescuer. “You have saved my life, Sir Knight,” she said, clasping her arms around his neck. “Whatever you ask as repayment for your noble deeds, my father, the Mage-King, will give it you.”
“Would you keep anything from me that I ask?”
“Nothing, Sir.”
“For I would ask for a single kiss from you fair lips, but I fear that the value of such a gift would be far too high.”
“Nay, Lord. ‘Tis a fitting gift,” she said with a smile. “But first let me ask the name of my rescuer.”
“I,” replied Sir Trevor, “am your
humble servant, Sir Trevor of
“And I—”
“You need not say, My Lady, for your name is already engraved upon the fleshy tables of my heart.”
“Then,” said the Lady Ashley with a twinkle in her eye, “I will bestow upon you my gift.” As their lips inched closer and closer, their eyelids shut more and more.
Sir Trevor’s heart raced as he anticipated what his heart had longed for for ever so long. He knew it would be any moment when her lips would meet his. Just as the final millimeters between them were disappearing, Meatloaf’s “I Would Do Anything for Love” blared in Sir Trevor’s head.
Trevor’s eyes shot open to see the painted white cinderblock wall of his college apartment. He turned over and glanced at his clock, groaned, turned back over and stuck his head under his pillow, covered in a “Star Wars” pillowcase. After agonizing over how early it was for a few minutes, and after realizing that Meatloaf wasn’t going to stop ranting about how he “won’t do that,” he decided to spill out of bed. He hadn’t missed a single class this semester, and he wasn’t about to today.
He ate some cold cereal, showered, dressed, gathered his books and started to class in relative silence, being careful not to disturb his roommates who were still snoring.
That day was as normal as any. He fought to stay awake in his early morning
classes—no wonder those were the classes he struggled with the most—and took
some notes, although nothing really jumped out at him as being incredibly
significant. In his
A few of his roommates were home
when he came in the door. He said “hi”
and got to fixing his food. He grabbed a
baked potato from the fridge, put it on a plate and stuck it in the
microwave. While the potato was getting
warm, he took some grapes out of the fridge, rinsed them off in the kitchen
sink, and put them in a bowl. Some of
the grapes were already getting moldy and he threw a few of those out. The microwave dinged, so he took out his
plate, placed four slices of lunch meat and a few slices of cheese next to the
potato and squeezed some ketchup on the side.
Looking for something to drink, he found that his grape juice was all
gone, and he didn’t have time to make any more.
Water was faster, and would have to do.
He liked to get to his
If he’s the first to enter the classroom and the first to take a seat, there is no way that where he sat could have anything to do with sitting closer or farther away from anyone else, since when he sat down, there was no one else in the room. Today, he slipped in—with a little effort—even before the previous class had totally exited. He found a desk, closer to the door than the middle row, but not too close to the door, and a few desks back. He firmly planted himself there by taking out his book and binder and placing them neatly on the desk. Now, all he had to do was wait.
The class slowly started to fill up. The seats around Trevor were among the first to go, although he didn’t bring his eyes up out of his binder, nor did anyone expect him to. The professor came in and started to prepare the lesson for the day. Some of the students engaged in casual conversation, some complaining about their classes, some about the football team, some about their boyfriends. The clock slowly inched to twelve and the teacher started to warm up the class for the lesson. Trevor looked at the clock as if to plead with it to slow down. Class couldn’t start yet. If she didn’t come, he might as well have stayed in bed today. He groaned silently, being careful not to let anyone know that he cared in the least about who was there and who was not.
The door opened, giving him one last hope. That hope was dashed to pieces, though, as a guy wearing a hooded sweatshirt and baseball cap with the school name on it came in and took a seat in the near back corner. Trevor groaned again.
But then, a hand stopped the door just before it closed, and Trevor’s breath caught in his throat. The hand of an angel. The door swung open. In walked Ashley with the grace of a ballerina. Her silky brown hair flowed about her shoulders as she scanned the classroom. Did she look at him? She caught sight of a desk on the far side of the room and made her way to it without even touching the floor. Trevor’s heart rejoiced as she sat down in a desk that was just out of his line of sight toward the professor. He could glance her way with a slight turn of the head. This would be a good hour.
Trevor heard all that the professor said, but he seemed to forget to take any notes. Occasionally, he caught himself gazing at the perfection of Ashley’s beauty a little too long, and jerked himself back to class.
“Now I want you to take a few minutes,” said the professor, “and write about the poetry of Sir Philip Sydney. How is the unrequited love that he describes more holy than a romantic love relationship?”
Trevor scribbled a few sentences in his almost illegible handwriting, but the issue that was most pressing on his mind was what Ashley thought about the question. What did she think about unrequited love? Did she think it was more holy? He wished that he knew her answer, because that would make answering the question easier for him.
After a few minutes of discussion, the bell rang and nearly all the students jumped to their feet, in a hurry to get to their next class which was all the way across campus, or maybe they were just in a hurry to get out of a classroom.
“Be sure to leave your papers up here on the table before you go,” called the professor over the noise.
Trevor weaved through the traffic to drop his sheet of paper on the top of the growing pile. He almost flinched as he looked up to see Ashley placing hers neatly on top of his. Did she glance up at him, too? His heart started to pound. On instinct, he did an about-face and bolted for the door to safety. Would she think that was weird? Should he have said something? Was he that brave? Did she even notice him anyway?
Trevor silently crept through the bushes toward the orange glowing fire, followed closely by his ragtag crew. They were drunks or criminals, mostly. As varied as a box full of chocolates. The one thing they all had in common was that they were all cheated in one way or another by the conniving Captain Scallywag. Trevor had thought it would take much more convincing to find a crew willing to take on the Scourge of the High Seas, but these rascals had jumped at any opportunity to get revenge on Scallywag. All they needed was a man with enough mettle to lead them. A man like Trevor.
He had the greatest reason of all to hunt the dreaded Captain, even though he had never even met him. The pirate had stolen the most precious jewel in the world from him. She had eyes that sparkled like diamonds, lips the color of rubies, and skin as fair as the finest porcelain. She truly was priceless. Ashley. As long as he could remember he had watched her with longing, though she never even looked at him twice. And now that Scallywag had taken her—to be held for ransom, no doubt—Trevor could not sit by and wait for others to find the courage to act. He would do whatever was necessary to save her, no matter the cost to himself.
He could see the pirates now, gathered around the campfire, drinking and singing and fighting. He crept closer, without making a noise. He didn’t even dare to breathe. He motioned for a few of his men to take positions around the camp. Like night phantoms, they disappeared into the shadows of the tropical foliage. In a few short minutes they would be in position, waiting for the signal.
But Trevor couldn’t risk any harm to his love. He had to know where she was before he rushed in. He inched closer, and saw her, tied and sitting on a log next to the fire. Trevor almost rushed in alone when he saw those filthy pirates taunting her and touching her with their filthy hands, but he reined in his passion.
Just then, a drunken pirate crashed through the bush right in front of Trevor. The pirate stopped, head bobbing, took in the dark creeping shapes in the moonlight, and suddenly realized what was happening. A steel blade flashed and the pirate looked down to see a knife stuck in his chest. He fell down dead, but not before he let out a yell of pain. The party around the fire came to a crashing halt. The pirates were still for a moment before they started inching toward the jungle as they tried to peer into the shapeless shadows.
Trevor whistled out the signal and a round of shots rang out. A few drunken pirates fell down dead, all far from Ashley. Chaos erupted as the pirates drew their swords to meet the wave of steel falling on them from the woods. Taken by surprise, they did not stand a chance.
Jumping into the orange glow, Trevor slashed a startled pirate, and leaped over the fire to where Ashley sat on the log, with her head ducked between her legs. She screamed when Trevor pulled her up. “Don’t worry,” he said, “we’re here to rescue you.”
“Get me out of here,” she pleaded.
“We’re working on it,” he replied as he bent down to cut her feet free. Standing up, he gently cut the bonds on her wrists, and in one fluid motion, he took her delicate hand and said, “Follow me.”
He was leading her to safety, cutting down the occasional pirate who strayed into his path, when Ashley suddenly stopped and her hand was ripped from his. He turned and saw her standing with a pistol to her head. On instinct, Trevor drew his own pistol, which he had saved for an emergency. She was held firmly by a man dressed in clothes that once could have been considered dignified. But the constant wear and the lack of washing had turned them into nothing more than pirate rags. A tattered feather flopped loosely from his captain’s hat.
“Captain Scallywag,” Trevor said in an outburst of rage.
“That’s Scallywäg,” said the captain. “It’s Scandinavian.”
“What do you want with her?” Trevor demanded.
“It’s not all that difficult to realize what a poor old lonely pirate would want from a beautiful creature such as this,” said Scallywag, stroking Ashley’s cheek with the barrel of his pistol. “And I’m sure it’s the same thing you want with her.”
Trevor stopped himself after taking one impassioned step toward them. “If you come any closer,” said Scallywag pressing the pistol against Ashley’s head, “Your little dearie will be meeting her maker a little sooner than expected.” Ashley screamed in fear or pain, or a combination of the two.
Trevor stood stock still. “If you hurt her, you’ll be the next to go,” he said, oblivious to the chaos of the battle. The two men stood in a standoff. “So what now?” Trevor asked. “Who makes the next move?”
“This is how this is going to play out,” said the Captain. “You tell your men to cease and desist. Me and my men go to our ship. Before we go, I free the girl, you live happily ever after and you let us sail away.” He let that sink in for a minute. “Are we agreed?”
“Agreed,” said Trevor. He called out for his men to cease. The noise faded away until the only sounds that could be heard was the crackling of the fire and the gentle rushing of the surf.
“We’ll be shoving off sooner than planned, boys! Get the ship ready!” The pirates moved to obey, and Trevor’s men looked on reluctantly. Captain Scallywag shuffled over to the beach, careful to never take his barrel from Ashley’s head. She muttered pleadings to not hurt her, but the Captain wasn’t listening. Trevor tried to tell her that everything would be all right, but it didn’t seem to be any use. They made their way to the beach and Trevor never took the barrel of his pistol from Scallywag’s face.
“She doesn’t go on your ship, Scallywag,” said Trevor.
“That wasn’t part of the arrangement.”
“It is now.”
“What assurance do I have that you won’t kill me once I let her go?” asked Scallywag. “I promise to shove her off before we shove off.”
Trevor’s men moved in to block the Captain’s path to his ship.
Behind them, Scallywag’s men drew their swords, and showed their gapped grins. “If you let her go,” said Trevor, “my men won’t touch you or your crew. I’m a man of my word, Captain.”
“Just as I am, I’m sure,” replied Scallywag with a grin. “But we all know that a pretty woman will make liars of us all.”
“You must trust me.” Trevor looked deeply into Ashley’s eyes.
“Aw, but I’ve hardly even met you, lad. And you attacked me and my crew without warning. That doesn’t bode well for our relationship.”
A slight calm came over Ashley’s face, showing that she understood.
Captain Scallywag waited for Trevor to reply. Trevor sucked in a chestful of air. Ashley closed her eyes. Even the waves seemed to stop in anticipation.
“DUCK!” Bang. Smoke billowed out in front of Trevor. There was a moment when he wasn’t sure what had happened. The smoke faded into the night air, and a body lay lifeless in the sand. Another was bundled on the ground and shook ever so slightly. He ran over to the huddled form, and kneeled down next to her, taking her hand. Ashley looked up at him, tears streaking down her face.
“Is it safe now?” she asked.
“It’s safe,” said Trevor. “You’re safe now.”
She leaped up and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck as she muttered a hundred million ‘thank you’s. “You saved my life, and I don’t even know your name.”
Trevor was about to tell her his name when she cut him off. “Do you even know my name?”
“I’ve loved you since the first time I saw you,” Trevor said. “I know your name.”
“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you…” was all she could say. She held him tighter every time she said it. Trevor was oblivious to what his men did with Scallywag’s crew.
I would do anything for love. But I won’t do that.
Trevor’s eyes slid open. He saw the cinderblock walls, the painted
brown metal bed frame, the stained tanish carpet. He reluctantly climbed out of bed. He wasn’t all that tired; he just liked being
asleep. He went through the same morning
routine, went to the same classes, and came home to ate the same lunch—only
this time he had grape juice since he had made some the night before. Again, he was the first one to his
Yet, to his utter glee, Ashley walked in before the class even started. He thought that this would be a good day again. But Trevor froze when he saw her make her way toward him. She sat down in the desk right in front of him. What should he do? Should he wait for her to turn around? Should he try to talk to her? He could hardly breathe.
That class period was a living example of agony and ecstasy. Trevor almost thought he could die right then, and he might have if he hadn’t kept reminding himself to inhale and then exhale. When the bell sounded, Trevor had already packed up his books, and he was out the door. Is this what a heart attack feels like? Walking down the hallway, he kept his eyes on the carpeted floor and cursed himself for being so chicken.
He nearly jumped when he noticed someone walking beside him wearing Ashley’s sandals. A quick glance out of the corner of his eye told Trevor that it was her. His mind went blank. What to do? Better not let on that he even noticed. He dashed into a nearby classroom, almost barreling over the few students who were still trickling out. He took a few deep breaths, regained his composure, and ignored the students in the classroom who were wondering who he was.
Then he heard, “What are you doing here, Trevor?” and turned to see Andy, his roommate.
He couldn’t think straight. There was a jumble of words in his head. He couldn’t grab onto any idea. “Oh…uhh…I…uh…just came to ask you…um…if I could borrow your…uh…” He reached out blindly for a word and heard himself say, “cheese grater.”
A puzzled look came across Andy’s face. “You came all the way to my class just to ask me to borrow a cheese grater?”
“Uhh…yeah.”
“How did you even know where my class is?”
“I…uh…looked it up on the internet.” Thoughts were beginning to emerge from the fog of words. “My last class was just down the hall.”
Andy paused for a second before answering. “Yeah, of course you can use it.”
“Okay, great,” said Trevor, “I’ll see you later, then.” He turned to leave, just hoping that he wouldn’t have to explain this later.
“And you can just go ahead and use it next time,” said Andy, but Travis was already on his way out. “You don’t have to ask me.”
Travis peeked out the door and down the hall just as Ashley disappeared around the corner. Did she look back?
Trevor’s heart gradually slowed to its normal beat.
During the rest of the semester, Trevor spent his nights rescuing his lady love, and his days wondering how to let her know that he existed. Every night he was someone different: an archeological adventurer, a trench coat wearing private eye, an intergalactic flying ace, an international secret agent, or a superhuman hero. The common bond was that he always saved Ashley from certain death. At least he had something to look forward to every night. Each day he went to class with a mixture of anticipation and fear. He hoped for another chance to talk to her, but he was sure that he would blow it.
The leaves started changing. The air grew crisper. The mountains turned white, and Trevor still hadn’t even said more than two words to the woman of his dreams as finals day loomed over the horizon.
Sir Trevor ran as fast as he could
through the forest for what seemed like hours but the Beast managed to stay
just out of reach. He sailed around the
Trevor awoke in a cold sweat, long before his alarm sounded. Long before Meatloaf could belt out his tragic ballad. Trevor got up, drank a glass of water and walked around for a little bit until he had semi-cleared his head. He lay in bed for what felt like hours until he finally couldn’t take any more and found something else to do until his first test of the day. Playing video games alone in the middle of the night is a great way to get your mind off anything.
The morning passed like the first week of school. Like the worst week of Trevor’s life. Today was it. The dream had been a sign, he knew it. He would never see her again. He was destined to end up miserable. There was no avoiding it.
Walking to his English class, Trevor almost didn’t want to see her, knowing that it would be for the last time. Knowing that he could never muster the guts to say more than two words in succession to her. But only idiots missed the final. He walked into the classroom to see pajama clad students, who probably hadn’t slept at all the night before. Trevor took a seat on the far side of the room. He scanned the room out of the corner of his eye and started when Ashley’s eyes met his from across the room. He hoped that she hadn’t noticed him flinch.
Trevor breezed through the final. He stood up, and walked across the room. He let his paper flutter down to the table and made his way to the door. His shoes felt like they were made of lead. He didn’t even dare look up. He grabbed the door knob. Strained to pull it open. Slowly stepped through. It slammed behind him. The sound echoed in the carpeted hallway. He trudged down the empty corridor. He didn’t even care where he went. He just trudged.
All of a sudden, there were other shoes walking beside his. Nice shoes. Wonderful shoes. Without even realizing it, Trevor raised his head, and saw the person next to him. Ashley smiled and glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. Trevor’s heart fluttered and something amazingly warm filled his insides. The most amazing fragrance wafted into his nostrils. He didn’t take his eyes off her. Nor did he break stride. He opened his mouth. Nothing came out. She turned down another hallway. Did she glance back at him?
This was it. Is this the last time he’d see her? Should he keep going down the hall as if he didn’t even notice her? Or, should he go after her? Ask her for her number? Would she give it to him? Would she reject him? Could he risk everything, just like all the men he dreamed to be? That split second in mid-stride felt like forever.
He followed her. He caught up to her. He said, “Hi.”
She said, “Hi,” back.
He looked at her.
She looked back.
He took a deep breath.
He said, “What was your name, again?”