A SECOND CHANCE CH.24
"End of an Era"

2007. Tirogvste, Romania.

"Anette Pyre was different from most girls.. She was beautiful, radiant, smart, clever, strong, and a wonderful singer and dancer. She caught the eye of the prince.. The cursed impaler.. The handsome impaler prince, the fearsome yet kind prince of Wallachia, Ţepeş.." "Oh shit! Is it that time already?!" Anette said breaking out of her fairy tale. She got up and ran through the forest that was hidden in the shadow of the Carpathian mountains and ran through Tirogvste to her home. Her long thick wavy black hair blew in the wind, her strong perfect legs carried her fastly through the landscape, and her comfortable punk/goth clothing made for easy comfort and attraction to her thin body. Anette ran into her house and nearly smacked into her aunt. Her aunt was in her early 40's but she was still pretty. She had gypsy blood in her with short black hair, a thin body, and a kind face with a few wrinkles. "Anette! So you finally decided to come home?" her aunt teased. "Well the forest is nice.." Anette answered. Her aunt laughed. "Well I'm going to the hospital to work and your uncle is at work. Dinner's on the table!" she said giving her niece a kiss on the cheek and leaving. Anette was used to this. She had gone through it her whole life. She found company through her books, her mind, and Castle Dracula. Anette ate her dinner alone, as always and went up to her room to work, read, draw, write, watch a fairy tale movie, or just sleep. Tonight she was watching Sleeping Beauty as she worked on her fairy tale.

"Anette Pyre was different from most girls.. She was beautiful, radiant, smart, clever, strong, and a wonderful singer and dancer. She caught the eye of the prince.. The cursed impaler.. The handsome impaler prince, the fearsome yet kind prince of Wallachia, Ţepeş.. She was dancing around a fire when he saw her, how the flames shined in her beautiful blue eyes, how the flames seemed to live in her hair, how the flames nearly licked at her skirts... God Anette you idiot.. The prince hated the gypsies.. How could he fall in love with one?" she cursed to herself. Anette sighed. "How could I write a fairy tale about him, of all people?" she asked herself. "He's not that kind.. No matter how much I wish he was.." she sighed. "He would torture the gypsies if they didn't join his armas.." she said with a sigh. "My people.." she whispered.
It was true that the prince would impale the gypsies but he also would boil their leaders alive and make them eat their flesh.. But perhaps one beautiful gypsy girl could change his hatred of the gypsies into fondness....
"THAT'S IT!" Anette cried nearly smacking herself in the forehead. She opened up wordpad and started typing.
Anette Pyre was different from most girls.. She was beautiful, radiant, smart, clever, strong, and a wonderful singer and dancer. She caught the eye of the prince.. The cursed impaler.. The handsome impaler prince, the fearsome yet kind prince of Wallachia, Ţepeş.. It was true that the prince would impale the gypsies but he would also boil their leaders alive and make them eat their flesh.. But perhaps one beautiful gypsy girl could change his hatred of the gypsies into fondness....
Anette smiled. She finally had the start of her fairy tale. She looked at the books on her bookshelf across from her. On the last shelf below all of her CDs and DVDs were her favorite books.. A historical novel over Vlad the impaler, a biography over the impaler by professors Radu R. Florescu and Raymond T. McNally of Boston College in America, a biography over Prince Vlad by M.J Trow, the novelization of Van Helsing, the classic gothic novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, Midnight Predator, Hawksong, and Snakecharm all by Amelia Atwater Rhodes. Anette looked at all the mangas on her desk. She loved anime and manga very much. She looked at all the series she had collected. Godchild, Bizenghast, Blood Relatives, Chibi Vampire, Rurouni Kenshin, Inuyasha, Chobits, and The Gentlemen's Alliance lined the back of her desk along with her notebooks and other knick-knacks. She looked at her black and grey backpack that sat next to her bookshelf. She looked at her perfect collection of Nightwish CDs. Nightwish was Anette's favorite band. She hated to see Tarja go but she embraced Anette Olzon when she took Tarja's place. "Tuomas you made a good move." she said to herself when she heard the Swedish metal goddess sing Eva. Anette wanted to be the next Anette Olzon. She wanted to be one of the next queens of metal. But who would make a band with her? She was the only gothic kid at her school! Everyone was else was jock, prep, scene, or emo. There were no goth or punk kids. Anette didn't have friends. She was too 'different and weird' to have friends. She spent her time in the forest veiled by the beautiful trees reading or exploring the mountains and forests, rivers and streams, lakes and waterfalls. She loved living so close to the castle at Poiganar. She could see it from her bedroom window perfectly. She dreamed of something living in the castle and taking her away, taking her away to live with him forever..

The next morning was thankfully a Friday which meant a much needed weekend. Anette went through her daily school routine and at third period she had her favorite class of all.. Tech Theater. Her teacher, Mr. Ballew was a teacher from America. He had severe ADD issues and was OCD. But he was hilarious and gave great advice. "MINIONS! WE WILL BE HANGING ZE LIGHTS OF DOOM!" Mr. Ballew said clearly showing that he had about 3 cups of coffee this morning. "Anette get your butt up the ladder." he said. "Yes sir.." Anette answered. She climbed up the ladder and began to hang the ERS that costed more than she was worth. It was heavy and large but she had experience with them. After all she had been a techie for about 3 years.

After Tech Theater she went through the rest of her day as usual until lunch. Anette ate her lunch as she read a book over the impaler prince when she heard a girl say in english "DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH?!". Anette looked up to see a rag tag group of girls. There was a blonde with glasses and her hair pulled back holding a book and a lunch tray. There was a dirty blonde with glasses, a twig like body, and a lunch box she was the one who had spoken. There was a girl that was clearly asian wearing dark clothes, glasses, and holding a lunch tray. There was another girl that was strawberry blonde with a book and a lunchtray. There was a slightly shorter girl with long light brown hair with glasses wearing a big black jacket holding a few mangas and a lunch tray. "Yes. Fluently." Anette answered. "THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!" the very skinny girl cried. "May we sit with you?" the strawberry blonde asked. "Of course!" Anette answered moving her backpack to sit by her feet. The girls sat at the table and introduced themselves. "My name is Jescee." the very skinny blonde said. "My name is Emily." the blonde with her face buried in a book said. "My name is Katie." the strawberry blonde said. "And this is Makayla or as we call her 'emo'." Katie said pointing to the slightly shorter light brunette sitting next to her. "I'm Catherine or you can just call me Cat." the asian girl with black hair said. "Nice to meet you all. My name is Anette." Anette said. "Nice to meet you." they all said. The girls ate lunch and talked. "So Anette what is that you're reading?" Emily asked. "Oh it's about my country's hero." Anette answered. "Vlad the impaler right?" Emily asked. "Yes of course. How did you know?" Anette asked surprised that she knew of Romania's robin hood. "I read, watch documentaries, etcetera.." Emily said taking a bite of her lunch as she turned the page of her book.

And that was how Anette got friends. The girls were American exchange students. They signed up because it sounded interesting and hey it was a free trip! It also looks good on college applications as well. Anette went home that way with her new friends. They were taken in by Anette's neighbors of all people! The friends could see each other whenever they wanted! Anette went to the forest with her book and sat underneath the big oak tree that was her favorite spot. She rested against the large trunk and felt the cool breeze lick at her face and hair. She looked at her book which had a portrait of the impaler on it. She gently traced the pronounced features of his face. " Ţepeş.." she sighed. "Why can you not be alive? Why can you not take me away? Why can't you show me everything? The world, the skies, the rivers, the mountains, the castles, the fields, the hills, the seas, the kingdoms, even love.." Anette sighed stroking the picture's hair. He was what she showed affection towards. Even though he was dead, several years older than her, and more importantly married twice she couldn't help but feel feelings for him. Not just admiration and respect but compassion, understanding, and maybe even love..

TO BE CONTINUED.