Evangelina

The name Evangelina means “angel,” and the name Rochelle means “little rock.” These are the names of the two princesses in this story. Two princesses battling a dragon to save their kingdom. Their mother didn’t know how accurate those names would be when she named the twin girls. But she soon learns, and the truth hurts.

Appearing from the wind, her sister called for her to follow her into the forest behind her house. Rochelle followed her twin happily, excited to play with her again. To have a new adventure. To battle a new dragon and beat it this time.

“Look!” Her sister shouted, pointing ahead of them where a small tree house stood. It was old and weather-worn, and it had a hole in the roof, allowing leaves to float in. But to the girls, it was a beautiful glass castle built on a high cliff above enchanted waters. And the hole in the roof was a secret tunnel to the fairy realms, allowing for the fairies to come through and visit the girls. But the best part about this world and this castle, the girls were princesses and they were together. Nothing could happen to them or separate them as long as they were in this kingdom.

The girls approached their castle with smiling faces. One at a time, they climbed the mountain to be able to walk inside of the large, magical oak doors. Upon seeing the dying leaves on the ground, Rochelle let out a squeal of delight.

“Look, Angel!” Rochelle said excitedly, pointing at the ground where the dead leaves turned into colorful flower petals. She spoke with a beautiful wonder to her tone, not allowing herself to believe that all the things she saw were created from her imagination. “The fairies laid out the flowers to welcome us! How did they know we were coming?”

“Magic,” Evangelina whispered, spreading her arms and widening her eyes. Rochelle’s smile widened and she turned to the fairies’ tunnel as another fairy came through. The fairy floated down and landed on top of her head, causing the two little girls to laugh as Evangelina took the fairy off of her sister’s head, handing it to her. She smiled woefully at her sister, who was happily chatting to the fairy. Her heart ached every time she saw her sister act like that, it was like a weight tied to her heart slowly pulling it down. Evangelina would truly do anything for her sister, even if it meant she couldn’t be at peace. It was proven by her being there, by her twin’s side, that day and every other.

“Angel, hurry! Look, the village!” Rochelle suddenly exclaimed, clutching the fairy close to her and pointing out the window in terror. Evangelina rushed to stand by her sister’s side and looked at what her sister was pointing at. It was a squirrel scavenging the ground for food some yards away, but the girls saw a huge dragon, attacking a village just beyond the edge of the enchanted lake. Rochelle turned to her sister, tears brimming in her eyes. With a shaky voice, she spoke, “What do we do?”

Evangelina smiled sadly at her sister, responding, “As princesses, we have to help them.”

“But, how?” Rochelle pouted, looking at her sister with her eyebrows scrunched. She could hear the village yelling for her to help them, but she was afraid. How was a young princess supposed to defeat a dragon?

Instead of responding again, Evangelina scoured the castle in search of something to defend themselves with. She found two sticks in the corner that turned into magical swords able to ward off evil dragons. Quickly, she picked them up and rushed to her sister, handing a sword to her. Her sister stared quizzically at her before she explained what they were.

“These are magic swords. They’ll get rid of the dragon and save the village!” Evangelina smiled excitedly at her sister. Her sister tilted her head and spoke quietly.

“Do they defeat all dragons?” Evangelina’s smile lessened and became sad in understanding. Tears began to pool in her eyes, and in her mind, Evangelina responded, “I wish they could defeat all dragons, Little Rock, then we’d never be apart.”

“No, but they will help us defeat this one and save our people,” Evangelina spoke softly, reaching for her sister’s hand. “Come, Little Rock, our people need us to save them.”

And so Rochelle ran towards her bike, untying it from the tree and mounting her entrancing unicorn. He was the color of the sky and talked to Rochelle, always there to guide her way. Her sister quickly got on the unicorn after her sister and they flew over the lake towards the village in peril.

The girls quickly dismounted the unicorn, leaving him to rest against a tall tree. They ran towards the village and tried fighting off the dragon. But they were too late - the dragon had ruined the village and there were no survivors. As the dragon flew away, taking the lives of the villagers with it, Rochelle fell to her knees with tears pooling in her eyes as she looked upon the once beautiful village. Her face fell in her hands as tears fell from her eyes. She felt the cold air prickle her skin as her sister sat next to her.

“W-why do they do this?” Rochelle wailed aloud. She wanted to defeat the dragon this time. Just once, she wanted to be able to defeat the dragon. She was tired of dragons taking things from her, tired of them winning. “Why do dragons have to destroy everything?”

“It’s what they do, Little Rock. It’s all they know how to do.” Evangelina’s voice cracked with sadness as she spoke. In that moment, all she wanted to do was hold her sister close and never let go. To tell her that they defeated the dragon that plagued their village. But the truth was she couldn’t, and sometimes dragons won. And when they did, they didn’t leave anything but a memory. Trying so hard not to cry, she spoke again, “Dragons are evil and hard to defeat, Little Rock. There are no good dragons. What’s important is learning to live and be happy after their reign of terror.”

Slowly, Rochelle moved her hands from her face and looked up at her sister. She noticed the tears coming from her sister’s eyes. She watched as they fell from her sister’s eyes only to disappear as they left her face. They looked identical, almost a mirror image of each other. Rochelle reached to hug her sister, but pulled her arms back. She couldn’t hug her sister, not anymore. Her bottom lip quivered as she stared at her sister, wishing nothing than to be able to hold her sister in her arms again. To be able to feel her heartbeat against hers, to feel the warmth of the love coming from her sister. Instead, both twins had to sit in front of the other, watching while tears fell from their eyes and unable to do anything to stop them.

“How, Angel? How can we be happy after the dragon has taken everything from us?” She asked softly, lowering her head down. Wind blew past the two girls, causing Rochelle’s hair to fly and cover her face. She was glad for that, she didn’t want her sister to see her cry anymore.

Before Evangelina had a chance to respond, the girls a heard a voice yelling for Rochelle. Almost immediately, the magic melted away, and there was no longer a beautiful castle over enchanting lake, or a rampaged village. Instead, there was just a young girl in the woods sitting over a pile of overturned dirt, a few yards away from a rickety treehouse. No longer was there her unicorn standing next a tree, but rather her beat up, sky-blue bike that had carried her on many journeys.

Nor were there princesses, just a little girl with an imagination too big for her own good. And a heart and mind filled with so much hurt, it allowed the imagination to take over to protect her.

Rochelle let out a heavy sigh as she rose from the dirt, small pieces falling off of her and back onto the ground. She rode her bike back home with a heavy heart, meeting her worry-stricken mother on the back porch. At seeing her daughter dirty and tear stained, the mother’s heart broke.

“Rochelle, where have you been? I haven’t seen you all afternoon.” Her mother asked, her voice was soft but had an edge of worry for her daughter. She didn’t know where her daughter had been, nor why she had been crying.

“I was at our castle, with Angel.” The girl replied quietly, almost inaudible to her mother. Her mother took in a haggard breath, tears brimming in her eyes and looking up at the sky. She was looking for guidance, she didn’t know what to say to her daughter, or how to say it.

“Chelle... Angel’s gone. You know that, right sweetie?” As she was speaking, her voice cracked under the pressure of holding the tears in. The little girl shook her head and looked up at her mother with a face filled with more agony and grief than should ever have been on a young face like hers.

“I know, mom. It’s just,” She paused, taking in a last breath before the tears fell down her face once again. “It’s just, I miss her so much. It’s not fair, why did it take her? Why did it have to take her mommy?”

The girl broke down once again, throwing her bike to the side and hugging herself tightly. That was when her mother broke. It was more painful than anyone could imagine to have to see her daughter like that. The tears flowed freely from the woman’s eyes as she wrapped her arms around her daughter.

And so they stood in each other’s embrace. A mother and a daughter crying for their lost and broken village. Missing their beautiful princess and cursing the dragon that took her away from them.

The truth about rocks is that they break and they crumble from time to time, especially small ones. And dragons are cancerous, destroying everything in their path unless they can be stopped. But the thing about dragons is that if you don’t stop them in time, you’ve already lost. And not all dragons can be slain, especially when it is just a young princess trying to fight against a dragon that she’s already lost to.