The Girl In The Tower
A Fairy Tale
Once there was a Girl who lived in a Tower with her grandmother. She was as happy as she was good. Everyone who knew her in the Tower knew her to be good from her actions. She had quit school young to look after her Grandmother, and she worked long hours and weary in the local McDonald's to support them both. She babysat many of the younger children for the parents who had to work evening or night shifts, and even though she had left school early, helped the older ones with their lessons, even some of those older than her. She helped people to carry their shopping bags up the stairs when the lifts were down again, and she would fetch the shopping herself for the older folks when they were ill. She asked for their families, and asked for themselves, and asked for nothing for herself. She treated everyone she met with respect and decency, even when they didn’t treat themselves as well. And the things that made her happy were meeting people and helping them.
One day, in the dark heart of winter, the wealthy Baron who lived in a palace at the top of the Tower noticed her on her way to work. He stood tall and lean looking out from the balcony of his apartment. His eyes were a blue that they matched the sky, his lips were full and red as blood, his jaw framed of sculpted steel, and his skin as smooth as the blade of a knife. Many of the people of the Tower respected him, for he protected it. But they all feared him, for he demanded much in return for his protection. When he saw the Girl, he asked his men who she was, and what they knew of her. The Baron’s men told him that she lived with her grandmother and that she was respected by everyone who knew her in the Tower.
On the following day, the Baron approached the Girl.
“Fair lady, why let your life be so hard when you could come and be with me? I could give you all you could wish for.”
“No thank you, kind sir”, the Girl replied, “I must go to my work, for I have promised to show up and I have to support my grandmother”
“Very well”, said the Baron. “But I shall see you tomorrow and ask you again”.
That evening, when she came home, she got a message telling her that she was no longer needed at work. And the Girl wept.
On the following day, the Baron approached the Girl again.
“Fair lady, why let your life be so hard when you could come and be with me? I could give you all you could wish for.”
“No thank you, kind sir”, the Girl replied, “for I have promised my grandmother that I would take care of her, and I must now find work to do so”.
“Very well”, said the Baron. “But I shall see you tomorrow and ask you again”.
That evening, when she came home, there was no soul in the house, and there was a note on the counter saying goodbye. And the Girl wept.
On the following day, the Baron approached the Girl once more.
“Fair lady, why let your life be so hard when you could come and be with me? I could give you all you could wish for.”
“No thank you, kind sir”, the Girl replied, “I am just 16 years old and less than half your age, and have much ahead in my life”
“Very well”, said the Baron. “But I shall see you tomorrow and ask you again”.
That evening, when she came home, two men waited for her, and they made promises to her. And the Girl wept.
On the following day, the Girl approached the Baron. Before he could say a word, she spoke
“Baron, my life is so hard. I come to you, and ask you to protect me”, the girl asked.
“Of course I will”, the Baron replied. “But you must stay with me, and you must do as I tell you.”
And so the Girl came to the Baron, and moved to his palace at the top of the Tower. There she was given more fine clothes and jewelry than she could care for, and she could do what she wanted in the palace. Three times a week, the Baron came to her, and she did as she was told to. And once a week, on a Wednesday morning, she was allowed to walk down all the way down the steps of the Tower to visit the garden park beside the Tower. With her went two of the Baron’s men, to protect her from any other people who came too close.
And while the men talked together in the garden park, the girl sat on a bench every week and wept, for she missed meeting and helping people, and she did not want to live there, and she did not want to be given everything, and she did not want to do as she was told three times a week.
Weekly, the people of the tower saw her unhappiness in the Garden Park and daily they were sorry for her plight. But no-one dared stand up against the Baron, as he was feared by all. And when in their twos and threes they quietly gathered, they discussed her.
“She is good and she is kind, and she deserves better”, said one.
“She is 16, and no more than a girl, and she deserves better”, said another.
“She is a friend to all of us, and she deserves better”, said the third.
And so everyone in the Tower agreed, except for the Baron and his men. They all discussed the problem and they all debated the solutions. But no-one dared to stand up directly to him, as he was feared by all.
One cold bleak Wednesday morning, as the Girl started on her weekly journey down to the garden park, a man bumped into them. It was strange, for there was seldom anyone on the steps. She recognized him — he was the grocer: she had helped his father when his leg was broken and he couldn’t walk around on his own. The grocer nodded, and smiled, and nodded again twice. She smiled back and walked on.
As they reached the bottom of the steps, she met was another person there, a small child that she knew from the time that she had helped them to learn how to read. She smiled at the child, and the small child nodded, and smiled, and nodded again twice. The Girl was puzzled that two people she knew had done so in so short a time. She walked out into the cold sun and entered the Garden Park with the two men.
The two men lit their cigarettes and started to talk to each other as usual, while she walked off to find her bench. She noticed there were many more people in the Garden Park than usual, especially for such a cold day. Almost all of them were women from the Tower. One older lady — one who the Girl would carry shopping for — walked briskly on the path towards her. Just before she reached her, she suddenly bent over coughing. The Girl took a step towards her to her and the men started coming towards them. But the older lady stood up, and said clearly “It’s alright, everything will be fine — nothing to worry about — just need to go when I can!” and started to walk. The men relaxed and returned to their discussion, but as the older lady passed the Girl, she quickly nodded, and then smiled, and then nodded again twice, as she continued on her walk.
The Girl was most confused by this, so much so that when she sat down on her bench, it distracted her from her tears. A minute or two later, there was another distraction. She saw two young men from the Tower came out the main door loudly fighting with each other. She recognized them as two young men whose mother had great problems with her life. The Girl had traveled with her to the hospital on one of her worst days and waited there until they had helped sew everything back together again. Never had she seen them angry, and never had she seen them hit anything or anyone, much less each other. And yet, here they were, punching, and fighting, and screaming. The two men dropped their cigarettes and went to the source of the noise.
When the two turned to stop or to watch the fight, she suddenly saw in front of her a huge, bulky, angry-looking man, with a great scar that divided his stubbly round beetroot of a face in two. She had never seen anyone as frightful as this before, was about to scream when he rapidly nodded, smiled, and nodded again twice.
“Come with me”, he said.
And so, as she heard the screams of the fight continuing, the Girl and the huge man raced off out of the Garden Park and into a car parked out of sight, and quietly drove off.
“What is going on?” she asked.
“Do you know Agnes Jones?”
The Girl did. Agnes was an old woman who got injured and had to go to the hospital 3 years before. The Girl had brought her food and cleaned her house and wheeled her around the Tower while she was recovering — small things that she thought little of, just the kind of thing you do to help others. Agnes had moved away again about 6 months ago — people often moved on like that in the Tower.
“My aunt Aggie was the only one in the world who ever cared much for me. She raised me, and I was meant to look after her. But I was stupid, and I got into trouble, and I got locked away. My own fault, but I didn’t think that at the time. She moved to the Tower while I was inside so she could be nearer to me to visit. Practically every week she’d come. It was only then that I realized what she had meant to me. And then, she broke her hip, and had to have get it replaced. She couldn’t do nothing for herself. It was my longest two months on the inside, ‘specially as I should have been the one to help her. But she called. You know? Every day when she couldn’t visit. She never gave up on me. She means the world to me.”
The huge man could no longer speak. He sniffled, and the Girl politely looked out her side window. After a minute, he continued.
“When I got out, we moved back North. A long way from this. That’s where we’re heading now. She’s still in touch with folks in the Tower, and, well, now here I am. She wants to look after you for a bit, now things are settled. I came to say thanks.”
As the car eased off towards the motorway, the Girl looked over her shoulder, just in time to see the Tower disappear in the distance, behind the scale of the city. And though she did not know it, in the apartments of the Tower that night, as the news of her arrival in the North filtered through, there were many who wept in gratitude.
Thanks for reading! If you liked this, you may enjoy a sideways trip into one of the #LegalHorrorStories I wrote back in October. Here is one to try out: