Stallery Mansion - by Sasha

When I was very small, I always thought Stallery Mansion was some kind of fairy-tale castle. It wasn’t too far from where I lived, and sometimes I would pass it when I rode my bike home from school. It stood in the middle of an impeccably green lawn with a little brick path growing through it. There were not one but two fountains that sat on either side of the house itself; one had little cherubs to catch the water in their sculpted hands, and dolphins spewed jets on the other side. The house was made of fancy red brick with grey stone finishings, and ten balcony windows facing the front alone. Huge wooden doors would have welcomed guests if there had ever been any.

The thing about Stallery Mansion was the giant front gate. I could never get close enough to the house to see who lived in it, because a wrought-iron, intricately patterned gate stood between me and the little brick path winding through the pristine green lawn. In all of my life, I had never seen anyone come in or out of that gate, and I rode past the mansion every day. Mum said it was because the people who lived there were very high society, and they only went out in the late evening when I was in bed. They didn’t want to go outside when it was light outside, she told me, because it would ruin their skin and give them wrinkles.

I knew Mum was lying. The real reason that no one ever came in or out of Stallery Mansion was because no one could leave. The only person who could live in such a fancy house would be a princess. Princesses are usually very gracious and love to give out presents to their subjects, especially to little girls who eat their dinner every night. So obviously, the only reason that the princess wouldn’t grace me with her presence was because she couldn’t. There were plenty of stories about evil witches and stepmothers that locked their princesses in towers, and I figured that Stallery Mansion was probably harder to get into than even Rapunzel’s tower. Thus, it was clear to even the simplest of minds that a princess was locked in that castle. Mum just wanted to keep me from trying to save the princess because it was too dangerous. There was probably at least one dragon guarding her, after all.

Every day after school, I would ride up to the gates of Stallery Mansion and look through them, trying to catch a glimpse of the princess through the house’s curtains. I vowed that I would someday save her, and that no one should have to be held captive, even if her castle was kind of pretty.

I knew that there was one thing that was always necessary when it came to saving princesses: a prince. There was no way I could get passed a locked gate and fight at least three dragons on my own; I needed a kind, brave, and strong knight to help me. The only problem was that I didn’t know of many princes around where I lived. There was Benny, one of the teenagers who worked at the candy store and always gave me candy when Mum wasn’t looking; he was very kind. Our gardener Mr. Cotton once sprayed a whole hornet’s nest and threw it away, which was definitely very brave of him. And Dad was very strong; when we moved here he brought all of out of the truck and brought it into the house. But none of them were true princes.

I finally had the answer one day at lunch. I fell and scraped my knees while playing tag at recess, and he helped me up and got a teacher for me. I knew, when I looked into his big hazel eyes and newly grown front teeth that he was the one. Helping a girl when she was down was kind, brave, and strong. I even heard his dad was the president of a big company, which was pretty much the same as a king in my books. I told him immediately after school was done that he had to meet me at Stallery Mansion, at midnight.

At first he was skeptical. He had seen Stallery Mansion before, everyone had, but he didn’t think it was that great. I asked him if he had ever seen the gates open, or anyone in the grounds, or coming in and out of the house. His eyes widened, and I knew he hadn’t. He thought maybe it was haunted, but I assured him it was because there was a princess locked away in that house. I told him we had to meet after dark, because cool things only happen at night, when all of our parents think we’re asleep.

That night I waited until it was dark. I almost fell asleep once, but I stopped myself. I had to wait it out until midnight. Well, in truth I only waited until about nine o’clock, but it felt like midnight, so I went to meet Rory. He had obviously had the same idea, because he was already at Stallery Mansion when I showed up. And the strange thing was, the wrought-iron gate was completely wide open.