Once upon a time in a faraway land there lived a beautiful princess. She had every characteristic of a princess; the voice that sings “ah…uhahh..ah?,” soft silky pale skin, long shiny brown hair, and sparkling brown eyes. Isn’t this what every girl dreams of? Not every girl. For this princess wanted much more than this perfect life. She didn’t want to spend the day sitting around waiting for her prince to come; she wanted adventure and to see the world.
You can expect what her father would say, “Why would you want something more; you have everything that you need at your command?”
But her mom had a different opinion. She would say, “If you believe, you can do anything you wish to do, no matter how hard or impossible it may seem.” Then one day her life would change so drastically that her wish just might come true.
Hi, my name is Annabelle and this is my story.

For as long as I can remember my life was what every girl wanted. I had a handsome prince whom I was to marry, went to thousands of balls, and received everything my heart desired. But if you didn’t live this perfect life, you wouldn’t see all of the consequences. I had to sit around all day drinking tea and gossiping. Ugh. My kind of day would be to ride around in the fields on my horse, Magic, until I wouldn’t be able to see in front of me.
Then one day while I was sitting around the castle waiting for something to happen, a guard ran into my sitting room, grabbed me and started running toward the stables with a sack just big enough to fit on my horse. He told me to ride as far and fast as I could to get away from the castle. A small army had broken into the castle and was holding my parents captive. Unsure of what to do I jumped on my horse and rode. I wouldn’t stop until I was into the next kingdom, and then I would go to the palace and demand their help, as I was Princess Annabelle of the neighboring kingdom. Until then I didn’t realize that I lost my way and had no idea where I was anymore. Finally, I saw a light way off in the distance. It was a small tavern, the perfect place to spend the night.
The next day I started on my way in the right direction. By the time I got to the palace it was around noon. The guards saw me and let me in instantly. Then I heard news that surprised me; this royal family had been kidnapped about two days ago. While trying to figure all this out, I ran into someone who was running from the opposite direction. In fact, I ran right into him.
“I’m so sorry your majesty,” the boy said.
I looked closely at him. For some reason he looked strangely familiar. I shook my head, no, I’ve never seen him before. The boy was quite rude and started running again. I ran after him wondering where he went. When I caught up to him he was running into the stables. The boy heard me coming and dove under a hay bale. I went right over to his hiding place and cleared away the straw. I demanded to know why he was running. He wouldn’t tell me, but from looking at his clothes and the sack he was carrying, I could tell he was running away. The boy was searching for something in his bag and then somehow I was on the floor and he was tying a cloth over my mouth, hands, and feet. He told me his name, Patrick, and said he would take off the gag if I wouldn’t scream. I was planning on doing just that, but then I saw the fear in his eyes. I shook my head yes. He was trying to find his royal family from this kingdom and he needed a horse. He asked me my name and I told him my name, Princess Annabelle. I told him my kingdom was attacked and I needed help to get my family back. He said he would help me if he could ride my horse. I said yes hoping he would untie me. He of course, did not. He picked me up and tossed me over Magic’s back, got on and started riding.
By nightfall we were in the middle of the forest, and he untied me so I could walk around a little. We made camp and I built a fire. I was proud of my work because never doing anything important in the palace, this was different for me. My sack from the guard contained a small tent for sleeping. The next morning I went for a walk to try and find something to eat for breakfast. I saw Patrick swimming in a small creek. On his shoulder was a wound that looked familiar. He saw me and smiled. We started on our way.
Later in the afternoon we arrived at my castle. It was so dark and not the home I was used to seeing. Inside we saw everything had been destroyed. Pictures slashed, things thrown on the ground. As we ran from room to room, we heard a noise. It was a small cry. It was one of my ladies maids sitting outside a door crying. She said that my parents were locked in the highest tower with the other royal family. Two royal children are missing and if they don’t find them before midnight tonight everyone else will die. I realized I was one of those royal children.
“I have to turn myself in,” I said.
“NO!” Patrick said, “You can’t give up like that. I have a plan. You will have to sacrifice something on your part because you can’t be yourself right now.”
His plan was to have us sneak in as servants giving the two families’ their dinner. The sacrifice was that I can’t look like myself. I would need to chop off all my hair. I agreed to do it to save my family. I took my knife and cut it off. Then my maid gave me a servant outfit to wear. He said there was one problem, my eyes. Everyone knows that my family has sparkling brown eyes. I decided to cover my eyes with a cloth and hoped I wouldn’t get noticed.
First we had to find trays and food. We snuck down to the kitchen to see what we could scavenge. Luckily we found just enough food to fill two trays and then we started for the tower. There were guards leading all the way up to the top. I noticed that as we got closer Patrick kept looking back down to see if anyone was following us.
Finally, we made it to the top. There was my father’s guard. The man who was with him at all times. He was the one who captured everyone and he would pay.
After some time, we were allowed to enter the tower’s top room. Inside were two royal families huddled together for warmth. I wanted to run into my mother’s arms and tell her everything was going to be okay, but I knew I had a job to do.
Then our plan started. Patrick snuck up behind and did the same thing he did to me so the guard would fall on the ground. I got the two families and we headed down the stairs. We pushed past every guard and were finally safe. I took off my disguise and showed my family that I was the one who saved them. When I went over to the other family I saw them embracing Patrick. They kept calling him by a different name that I had heard of once before, Christopher. I realized I did know him; he was the prince I used to play with when we shared the same kingdom. He had been wearing a disguise because he had escaped from the kidnappers like I had. Our two kingdoms had joined together to save our country.
Now I’m Queen Annabelle ruling with King Christopher. We make a pretty good team exploring the world together and saving our land. This is the life that I have always wanted.