Rapunzel

“Rapunzel! Rapunzel! Let down your hair!” Cindy taunted, yanking on Rapunzel’s long golden blonde hair. Cindy yanked so hard that Rapunzel fell to the ground, as the rest of the students surrounded, laughing.
“Aw, what’s the matter Rapunzel? No ‘Prince Charming’ yet?” Red mocked and looked at a group of boys, “Any volunteers?”
“No way!” Butch stated, backing away.
“Don’t look at me!” Blake announced, stilling laughing.
“Sorry, I just don’t want to!” Kendall-Rick harshly responded.
“See-ya Rapunzel,” Zack snickered, as his sister, Lil, “accidentally” stepped on her legs as he passed by. Soon enough, all of the young adults became bored and moved on to their next class, but Rapunzel was left crying on the ground.
“Hey, Rapunzel,” Rapunzel heard a familiar voice speak, “You okay?” She peered up and saw Pete standing above her, offering a hand. She hesitantly took it, and Pete helped her up. “Look, Rapunzel, don’t listen to them-”
“I’m really not interested in any ‘They’re just jealous of you’ speech, Pete, but thanks,” Rapunzel interrupted, walking away and wiping away her tears.
“Rapunzel,” Pete stopped her by grabbing her arm, “I wasn't going to give you a speech. I was just going to say that they will get what is coming to them. How they are treating you now, it will come back to bite them, I promise.”
He stared into her crystal blue eyes with his cocoa brown eyes. His short red hair, which was barely long enough to be swept to his right, was partially hidden because of his dark green beanie. He was wearing a plain green polo shirt and a pair of black jeans. He looked at her with his innocent and childish smile. He may be a senior at Marchen University and be a pre-law student, but he will always be a young boy at heart.
He could not help but notice Rapunzel’s long blonde hair, which barely reached her butt, was dancing because of the breeze, but is slightly knotted because of Cindy pulling it. She had on a knee length lavender sundress with flowers printed on the skirt. She is only a junior, and is majoring in cosmetology.
“Well, I um…I better get to class, we have a huge test coming up and I better pay attention,” Rapunzel said after a moment.
“Right, right…um…What class?” he questioned, not wanting the conversation to end.
“Just a side course I decided to take, um…it’s…um…Criminology,” she struggled to say.
“Oh! The one about all of the Jack the Riper?” Pete replied.
“Yeah…how did you know?” Rapunzel answered.
“I took that class last year, I can help you study for it if you want. Maybe you can come by my dorm, around seven tonight?” he asked, with a little too much hope in his eyes.
“Yeah…um…I-I…um…I guess…” she answered, walking away and not realizing that she had just made a date with Pete.

After class Rapunzel went back to her dorm and fell right onto her bed, sighing and attempting to comprehend all that she had just learned. Suddenly she heard a knock on the door. When she answered it she was surprised to see her mother standing in front of her. “Mom? What are you doing here?” Rapunzel asked as she hugged her mother.
“Hey, Baby,” her mother responded, her voice cracking. Rapunzel looked at her mother and saw that her eyes were red and puffy and her make up was running.
“Mom, what’s wrong?” Rapunzel asked, suddenly very concerned.
“Baby, you might want to sit down for this,” was all her mom could say, and Rapunzel sat down on her bed, followed by her mom. “The lump on your side…” her mom started to say as Rapunzel placed her hand over where the lump was, “the test results came back.”
“It’s cancer, isn’t it?” Rapunzel replied, and her mother could not say anything. She did not need to say anything. Rapunzel felt warm tears start to stream down her face.
“The doctors say that it is treatable with Chemo, but we need to start as soon as possible and you will need to take some time off from school,” her mother tried comforting her.
“That might actually be a good thing,” Rapunzel mumbled, remembering the events from earlier in the day.

“Hey, Rapunzel! How was today?” the nurse asked, trying her best to make Rapunzel feel comfortable. “I see that you have shaved your head today. That is good, it makes you feel more in control.” Rapunzel did not say anything, she just stared at her reflection on the window. She was not use to seeing her head so bald. “Rapunzel, you have a couple visitors,” the nurse said before leaving the room and allowing Cindy and Red to enter her room.
“Rapunzel! Rapunzel! Let down your ha-oh, right. Sorry ‘bout that,” Cindy joked. Her blue eyes glistened and her blonde curls bounced as she laughed at her own joke. Her tight pale blue shirt looked as if she had just wrapped herself with plastic wrap and her slightly darker blue jean skirt looked about as comfortable as a skirt made of glass. She was also a junior at Marchen University, but she was studying fashion because she wanted to be a famous shoe designer.
“Nice one, Cid!” Red laughed. Red’s real name is Tala, but everyone always calls her “Red” because she always wears her boyfriend’s, Zack’s, red hoodie. Today was obviously no exception, even though it was about seventy degrees outside. Her hood was also up, allowing her long curly brown hair to peek out from the sides, barely covering her dark brown eyes. She also had on a pair of jean booty shorts. She was actually only a sophomore, but she hangs out with Cindy because Cindy was her roommate when it was her freshman year. She also majors in fashion because she wants to design her own lines of fall clothing.
“Look, Rapunzel, it really is a shame you’re not at school anymore. We all really miss you,” Red stated with fake sympathy. Rapunzel did not respond at all, she just continued to stare at her reflection.
“You should look at someone when they are talking to you!” Cindy exclaimed, but still no reaction from Rapunzel.
“Hello! I think that the chemo is affecting her brain!” Red responded.
“Obviously! C’mon, Red, let’s leave!” Cindy stated, but right before she left, she was sure to slap Rapunzel’s bald head, above her ear.
“Cid!” Rapunzel heard Red yell in the hallway, “She has cancer, you can’t just slap her like that! There’s this little thing called karma, and that’s gonna’ come back to get you!”
Rapunzel laid her head down on her pillow. “…they will get what is coming to them. How they are treating you now, it will come back to bite them, I promise,” she heard a voice echo in her mind. She allowed a tear to fall. “When, Pete? When?” Suddenly, it hit Rapunzel; it will not just happen, she will have to make it happen. She sat up and grabbed her journal which her mom gave to her, along with a pen and started writing, and started plotting. As she wrote, the edges of her mouth slowly curved upward, almost maniacally.

That very same night, Rapunzel was sleeping very well. She was sleeping well for the first time in years, when around three in the morning she got a call from Pete. “Rapunzel! Did you hear!” Pete exclaimed into the phone.
“Hear what?” Rapunzel responding, groggily.
“Cindy’s dead!” Pete exclaimed.
“What!” Rapunzel sat up erratically.
“She’s dead! Someone killed her!” Pete repeated.
“What! Who!” Rapunzel replied.
“I-I-I don’t know! The police don’t know yet! They said someone broke into her dorm, punched her so much they broke her face, gaged her, tied her hands and feet together, then scalped her alive, then slit her throat!” Pete shouted.
“What!” Rapunzel yelled.
“I know! What kind of sick pervert would do such a thing?”
“The killer scalped her!”
“Yeah! What the heck is wrong with people!”
“I don’t know!”
“Alright, Rapunzel, look, I will find out all that I can, and let you know tomorrow when I visit you,” Pete said once he calmed down after about ten more minutes of freaking out over the phone with Rapunzel.
“That sounds like a plan,” Rapunzel was barely able to say before hanging up. Once the phone was off, she almost fell to the floor laughing. “They have no idea!” she exclaimed through burst of malevolent laughter, before reaching under her pillow to pull out chunks of long golden locks of hair.

“So, you talked to Cindy, yesterday, correct?” the officer asked, sternly.
“Yes, sir,” Rapunzel answered.
“And according to Tala Cajun, you girls did not experience the kindest interactions, correct?”
“They were mean to me, yeah,” Rapunzel responded as she placed her hand where Cindy slapped her.
“Mrs. Aeron, are you okay? Your head is red there, what happened?” the officer asked, and Rapunzel saw her chance.
“Well, as Cindy and Red were leaving, Cindy slapped me across the head. When Red saw this, she glared at Cindy and yelled at her that ‘what goes around comes around,’” Rapunzel stated.
“So, Mrs. Cajun, predicted that something will happen to her?” the officer mumbled to his partner. “Mrs. Aeron, one more question.”
“Yes, officer,” she looked up at the officer with her most sympathetic look.
“Did you kill Cindy Birch?”
“No. I mean, yeah, she could be mean, but I would never want anyone to hurt her.”
“Alright, thank you, Mrs. Aeron, I think that we got all that we need,” the officer stated before both him and his partner got a call about another death.
“444, Riding Street, another college student dead, possible suicide.”
“Dammit, another one,” the officer’s partner muttered before both of them rushed out of the hospital.
“Idiots,” Rapunzel mumbled, smirking. She opened her window and grabbed the urine drainage bag, which she stole from a cart full of them for other patients. Rapunzel sat down on her bed, opened the bag, and started to weave the blonde and brown curls of hair together.

Slowly, one by one, girls were all picked off. All were killed the same way as Cindy; the killer broke in her house, gaged her, bounded her hands and feet, scraped the hair off of her scalp while she was still alive, and then her throat was cut. It started off as girls from the campus, but eventually Rapunzel started to pick out different girls whom were mean to her in one way or another. After every death, the police questioned Rapunzel, but no matter how suspicious she seemed, they could never find anything that connected her to the case. She was clever. She could hide the hair and her journal where the police could never find it. She always managed to keep her hands and clothes clean of any blood. She always snuck out during the night, making sure that no one could see her or recognize her if she was spotted. For months no one was sure who was the sick killer, because no one ever thought that the sick killer would actually be sick.

One day Rapunzel had just finished weaving together the hairs of the victims when she heard a knock on the door. For a moment she thought it was her nurse, until she remember, her nurse had not shown up for a couple of weeks. “Hey, ‘Punzel!” Pete cooed.
“Oh, hey Pete!” Rapunzel replied, cheery.
“So, did you hear about the killer’s new victim?” Pete asked.
“No, who now?” Rapunzel asked, as if she did not know.
“Jackie-Bean, last night,” Pete sighed.
“What?” Rapunzel pretended to be shocked.
“I know! What the heck is wrong with this guy!” Pete exclaimed.
“I don’t know…”
“Well, I guess the one benefit of your cancer is that you’re safe from the killer,” Pete joked, causing Rapunzel to laugh much harder than he expected.
“Excuse me, Rapunzel, I am sorry, but your friend is going to have to leave, visiting hours are over,” the new nurse interrupted.
“Oh, sorry ‘Punzel, but I guess that I better get going,” Pete responded, before hugging Rapunzel and leaving.
“Don’t stay up too late, Rapunzel,” the nurse ordered before she left too. Once she was sure they were gone, she took out her journal and started to pick out her next victim. She flipped through her yearbook, which Pete brought her, and saw the girl whom she had picked for tonight, Kenny Clerk. Her long dark black hair would fit perfectly with the rest of Rapunzel’s collection. Rapunzel changed her clothes, put on her wig, grabbed her bag and climbed out the window.

Kenny was sleeping restlessly tonight, she had kept dreaming about all of her friends. She kept dozing in and out of sleep, when she heard a soft thud next to her. Kenny turned over to investigate when suddenly she felt a hand over her mouth and her eyes came face to face to Rapunzel’s. Kenny tried to hit Rapunzel, but Rapunzel grabbed her hands before she had the chance. Rapunzel used some rope to tie her hands together. Kenny tried to scream, but Rapunzel stuffed a rag into her mouth the first time she tried. Her bright blues eyes stared at Rapunzel in terror. Her short sleeve blue and yellow t-shirt was almost completely turned around from the struggle and her bright red short shorts were starting to fall down from her continuing to struggle. The bright red blanket, which matched her shorts, was now on the floor. “Hello, Kenny,” Rapunzel whispered. “You know, someone once told me that how you all treated me will come back to bite you, and I waited and waited for weeks, but nothing! So then I realized that you can’t just wait for something to be done, you have to do it yourself! You would always tease me and tortured me, but you never understood what it was like! You could never understand what it could possibly be to just constantly have this pain.” Rapunzel punched her in the face as hard as she could. “Constantly beating you!” Another punch. “Non-stop!” Another one. “And,” another punch, “there’s,” another punch, “absolutely,” and another “nothing,” and another, “you,” and another “can,” and another “do” and another “to” and another “stop” and another “it!”
Rapunzel raised her fist one last time to land one final blow before she started with her hair when suddenly she heard a familiar voice, “Rapunzel?” Without hesitation she grabbed her knife and lunged it at the mystery voice behind her. The mystery voice groaned in pain as she quickly twisted Kenny’s neck, keeping her from running away while she dealt with the intruder. Rapunzel turned around, ready to kill whoever was behind her, or at least that is what she thought. As soon as she turned around, she was faced with two cocoa brown eyes filled with tears, and just as quickly as she turned around, she could no longer breath. She was too busy choking on her own blood. She placed her hands over the slice in her throat, trying to keep the blood from oozing out, but it was too late. She feel to the ground and felt her killer’s warm arms embrace her. “I’m sorry, ‘Punzel! I’m so sorry!” was the last thing she heard before the last little amount of life left her body.