Fairest (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale 2)

It only took forty-five minutes before Nan maneuvered her way into Mina’s hospital room. Sara and Charlie had left a half hour earlier in search of the lost and found, looking for the Grimoire. Mina had just finished her soup when Nan came sneaking in.

“You’re late,” Mina chirped. “I thought for sure you would sneak in here earlier.”

Nan rolled her eyes. “I tried. I couldn’t get past Nurse Dragon and my future Stepdad wasn’t helping the matter. I think he purposely put old Dragon Lady on me so I wouldn’t sneak in here.”

“Well, then how did you get in?”

“I got Charlie to knock over a cart at the end of the hall!” She grinned triumphantly and crossed her arms. “It made such a commotion that everyone went running.” Nan lifted a backpack and put it on Mina’s bed. “I brought you the emergency essentials: lip gloss, curling iron, hairspray, high heels--”

“Nan, I have crutches! I can’t wear heels,” Mina interrupted.

“Okay, scratch the heels. I’ll wear the heels; you can wear my flats.” She began to pull everything out of her bag and reached for Mina’s hair.

Mina grabbed her best friend’s wrists and pinned them down on the bed. “Nan, what’s going on? Are we okay?” She felt terrible for the way she had acted and treated her best friend. “Can you ever forgive me for getting freaked out at the concert and wanting to go home? I shouldn’t have abandoned you like that.”

Nan’s face became still, quiet. Then she erupted into a huge smile and hugged her closely. “No, I’m sorry for overreacting. I should’ve figured it was your way of getting some alone time with Brody. I can’t believe I didn’t think of it earlier. I know you have a crush on him.” She grabbed Mina’s hand and squeezed tightly. “Can you forgive me for hanging out with Savannah? I did it to kind of get back at you. I was still mad at the time. But as soon as I heard that you went missing. I grew up and realized how stupid I was. I’m your B.F.F. through thick and thin.”

Mina started crying and hugged her friend again. Nan leaned back and began to mess with the makeup and things she had brought in with her. “Nan?” Mina asked. “What is going on?”

Nan smiled at Mina. “You’re on TV. I overheard one of the nurses talking. You probably didn’t know this but someone by the name of Jed Parsons was monitoring the old handheld radio channels and overheard a conversation about a young girl found lost in the woods.”

“That was probably Karl calling in to tell people he found me,” Mina inserted.

Nan raised her eyebrows skeptically. “Well, I don’t know anything about that, except that old Jed thought it was serious and called for help, and since he knew his radio could only reach a few miles, he was able to tell the park rangers and rescue teams a general direction of where to look.”

“It wouldn’t have mattered, I was safe with Karl, and he had a radio and called for help.” Mina tried to assure Nan that it wasn’t a big deal.

“By the time you made it to the hospital, there was quite the stir and there were news teams already waiting for you here.” Nan began to bounce on the bed excitedly.

“I don’t remember.” Mina replied lamely.

“Of course, you didn’t know. It was obvious from the footage that you were totally out of it. But it was so cool!” Nan gushed.

“It wasn’t that big of a deal. Someone found me and then….I don’t remember much after that.” Mina touched her forehead in confusion.

“What time is it?” Nan looked at the clock on the wall. “Here watch this; they’ve been replaying it over the last two days.” Nan grabbed the remote control from the hospital nightstand and furiously clicked away at the black box until the TV came to life. After a few hurried groans from Nan and more channel surfing, she squealed, “There you are!”

Mina watched numbly as a female news reporter dressed in a light jacket with a blue umbrella spoke in a mellow voice that showed little emotion. “Here behind me we see the rescue of one, Wilhelmina Grime, who was lost in the Mt. Adams National Forest. The girl, a sophomore at Kennedy High, was last seen after school with friends. How she ended up lost in the forest is still unknown. A mysterious call by Jed Parsons into the Parks Services, led to a quick rescue.”

The cameraman panned to the ambulance as Mina was loaded on a stretcher with the help of the emergency techs. It was obvious from the way her head flopped from side to side that she was passed out from exhaustion.

The camera and a different reporter pushed through and tried to shove a microphone in her face. “Mina, can you tell us how you became lost in the woods? Were you kidnapped? Held as hostage?”

The camera zoomed in close to Mina’s mud streaked face. Someone tried to push the microphone away from Mina but not before it picked up her delirious whisper of one word. Mina in her unconscious state called out one name. One very audible boy’s name and it wasn’t one she was expecting. She called out Jared’s name.

Mina froze in her hospital room and prayed that the reporter hadn’t understood her. But the reporter was fast, she was able to pick up Mina’s whispered name and she repeated it into the mic. “Who is this Jared? And if you know him, you better tell him that Wilhelmina Grime is calling for him.”

“EEEEK!” Mina screamed into her hospital blanket as she watched herself on the small TV. She couldn’t have believed it, wouldn’t have believed it, if she hadn’t just seen it with her own two eyes. The news report was proof that she was completely insane. Well, hopefully no one would know that she was speaking about the Jared from her school. What if people got the wrong idea? What if Brody heard?

Mina crumpled onto the bed and pulled the thin blanket over her head to hide herself from the world. She could hear the obnoxious reporter speak again, only this time it was a current broadcast, and it sounded like she was broadcasting from outside the hospital. Groaning, she pulled down the blanket enough to see the screen and the group of kids from her school leaving flowers, posters, and cards by the hospital for her. She was touched, she didn’t think anyone even knew who she was, but here was proof of their fondness for her. What happened next completely changed her mind.

The reporter, whose name was Brandy Westhouse, appeared next to the serious and demure face of none other than Savannah White. “So how do you know Wilhelmina?”

Savannah’s face looked forlorn with faked sadness. “We are friends at Kennedy High. Best friends and I’m devastated at what happened. Wilhelmina is sweet and didn’t deserve to have something bad like this happen to her.” Savannah sniffed and wiped fake tears away with a Kleenex. Mina rolled her eyes and would’ve given a million dollars to see if the hanky was actually wet. Savannah continued. “I only wish that I could’ve taken her place.”

“HA!” Nan yelled at the screen. “You’re only saying that because you wish it were you lost in the woods so you can get all of the attention. You crazy attention addict! Can you believe the nerve of her, saying she’s your best friend and she doesn’t even know that you prefer Mina, not Wilhelmina. Geesh!”