Inspired by - 21. Panzy's Escape

Tired of being the one in distress, your main character decides the hell with waiting for someone to come fix their problem and they are going to have to save themselves. They are going to do it for themselves and they don't need a Prince Charming or hero to do it for them. Who is your main character and what were the originally going to be saved from?.

Panzy sat down on the back of cart as it traveled down the dusty road. Babbitt and Cesar climbed down from front of the cart to sit near her. Panzy had joined the circus about a month ago. They had never seen a girl who was so unafraid of heights.

“Panzy will you tell us your story?” asked Babbitt

“My story? I’m not sure I know what you mean.”

“Papa says everyone who joins the circus has a story. The reason they came and joined us,” said Cesar as he looked at her golden hair that was cut short around her shoulders now.

“You really don’t want to hear my story. It is just sort of boring.”

“No way,” began Cesar.

“Please, I want to know,” Babbitt begged.

“Alright, but it is really sort of boring. My mother, well I guess she was my step-mother, decided I was a beauty at a young age. I had pretty golden hair even then,” Panzy began.

“I know. I seen it when you first joined us,” whispered Babbitt.

Panzy smiled and fingered her short curly hair.

“She didn’t want anything to happen to me so she locked me away from the rest of the world. Every day she would come and spend a few hours with me but she had things to do at night and I was locked away.”

“You mean she kept you in a dungeon?” Cesar asked with wide eyes.

“No. My mother wouldn’t have done that. She had a small tower that was once a lookout tower years before. When I was young she came in through the little door at the base. As I grew older though there were many things that changed at the tower,” Panzy sadly.

“Did she beat you? Momma often threatens to do that to me with a spoon when I misbehave,” Babbitt said nodding her head.

“No. Mother was never one to punish me. Or at least not that way. She just wanted to keep me safe from the rest of the world but it was also keeping me from seeing the world or being a part of it.”

“I don’t get it,” said Cesar looking at Panzy with a puzzled expression on his face.

“Cesar, you know your home there,” she said pointing to the covered wagon ahead of the cart that was being driven by Cesar’s and Babbitt’s father.

“Yes.”

“Imagine traveling everywhere in there like you do now but never being able to leave it. Never being able to go play in the grass, or sit near the fire, or talk to anyone but your family inside it.”

Babbitt and Cesar looked at each other and then Panzy.

“Is that what it was like for you?” The two children asked together.

“Yes, it was exactly like that.”

“I wouldn’t like that at all,” said Cesar.

“Me neither.”

Panzy smiled at them.

“One day, I listened as my mother talked of the people she met and the places she went. I just couldn’t stand it anymore. I wanted to see the world, go places, and do things.”

“Is that why you joined us?”

“Yes. Your mother helped me cut my hair so I could move freely and after how I lived, heights don’t bother me.”

“That explains why you aren’t afraid to climb the ropes to the top and swing over the crowds,” Babbitt said in awe.

“But how did you leave your tower, Panzy?”

“There was a hook in my tower. I just used the rope I had there and climbed down. My only problem was my ha … rope got stuck and I had to find a way to cut it so I could get away. Once I did I went looking and stumbled upon your circus.”

“Guess you didn’t need a hero,” said Cesar.

“I was my own hero, Cesar. Come on you two, let’s go help your uncle move the donkeys along,” said Panzy climbing off the back of the cart to stretch her legs. She enjoyed walking and looking at as much of the world as she could. The two children rapidly climbed down after her and rushed back to the cart behind the one they had been on where their uncle was hurrying along the donkeys.

Panzy smiled.

“Sorry, Mom. No cage can compare to this freedom,” said Rapunzel softly as she rushed after Cesar and Babbitt.