The Abandoned Beauty

Rose threw her legs out of the bed for the fifth time in one night. The baby wouldn't sleep for more than forty-five minutes. As soon as Rose drifted off, the screams woke her again.

Rose had never felt tiredness like it. There were times during the last couple of weeks when she started hallucinating.

It was only a bum change this time. Rose remembered how her mother mocked her when she said she used traditional nappies. She raised her eyebrows and chuckled. "Let's see how long that lasts."

Rose was stuffed if she was giving up on the towelling nappies now, it would prove her mother right. Even if it was twice the work, it was still better for the environment. Folding the nappy around her precious bundle, she used the safety pin to fasten the sides together. He went back into his cot, and then hopefully, he would sleep. It was 2 am.

Five hours later, Rose had given up on sleep and sat in her cold lounge feeding the baby. She pulled her feet under her to keep the chill from getting to them. She could hear the wind blowing through the wooden slats. She could hear the waterfall splashing into the pool some distance off if she listened.

Tom had convinced her to buy this wreck of a house in the middle of nowhere. It would be fun, an adventure. They could renovate the house and build something special together. She sold her house and put all the money into the sale of the shack. They would do the work themselves, so they wouldn't need much money.

It was a perfect dream until Rose announced she was pregnant. Tom had left skid marks along the muddy track he had left so fast. Now she was a single mother, living in the middle of nowhere.

She put the twenty nappies into the machine taking the individual safety pins out, cursing to herself again. Why did she keep forgetting to collect them when the nappies came off? She piled the pins into the box and glanced at the calendar.

Wow, Wednesday already; it seemed like it had only been a few days ago. The sleepless nights had meant the days were blending into one. Still, Wednesdays were always a good day; the postman came up with the mail. Being so remote, he only made the trip once a week. Her post was saved in the office and then brought up to her.

Rose wondered if she had spoken to anyone since Justin last visited. No, the last time she conversed with an adult had been precisely a week ago.

I should change my clothes before he visits. Justin was tall with a mop of dark curly hair and muscles that showed under his T-shirt. In another world, Rose would have been more than interested in him. As things were, even Justin's good looks couldn't raise an erotic thought. She dreamed of sleep, not sex.

The smell coming from her child brought her out of her daydream. Collecting the nappies, wash cloth and safety pins, she changed him again. She would leave him in the cot to change him; with any luck, he would go back to sleep, and she could wash.

She reached for the safety pin tin as she finished wrapping the nappy around his tiny pink bum. She placed her hand into the tin and felt the sharp end of the pin pierce her skin and go up under her nail.

"Fuck"

She had been so tired she had forgotten to fasten all the safety pins. Pulling her hand out, she saw the metal under her nail, blood pooled from the end of her finger.

The dark started around the edge of her vision. Then crept towards the middle until there was nothing but blackness and sleep.

Rose woke up gazing into the dark eyes of Justin; he seemed to be carrying her somewhere.

"Hi," he said. "I was delivering the mail, heard the baby crying, so I looked through the window. I saw you on the floor, so I kicked the door in. Sorry."

"Harry!"

"He is fine. I have sorted his nappy and given him his dummy; he is sleeping."

Justin seemed to remember he was still holding Rose. He blushed and lowered her feet to the floor, keeping hold of her until he was convinced she was stable.

"Aurora, why do you stay here? He asked.

Aurora, no one ever called her that, only her evil mother. Then she realised all her letters were addressed to her birth name. "Please," she said. "Call me Rose; it's what my Aunts called me."

"Rose," he said, making her heart flutter. "Why do you stay here?"

"I have nowhere else to go."

"Then why don't you let me take you back to reality?" He said.

She nodded as he kissed her.

Aurora Beauty and Justin Charming were married six months later.