A Modern Fairy Tale

Like all fairy tales, this one is about a princess and a prince.

And like all fairy tales, this one starts with Once upon a time.

Once upon a time there lived a very cute, pretty and adorable princess called You who lived in a great big palace called The World. You are a very cute, pretty and adorable princess indeed. You could make people laugh when they are sad. You could make people sing when they are blue.

And best of all, You are not like any other princess, which is actually a very difficult thing to see for a lot of people. Except for a few minor flaws like sensitive, and always saying things like “ I am right and You are wrong or I can do it but You can’t “ You are perfect. All princess in the Fairy Tale are perfect.

In another part of the great semi big palace called The World, there lived an ordinary and simple young prince named I. I was not such a bad prince himself. I know how to laugh and I know how to sing, although sometimes his voice can go terribly off key. But that was okay because a lot of people sing off key. I had a magnificent toy called Scooter Suzuki VS125 that I like to ride fast like the wind. Except for a few minor flaws like clumsy with his words and with his actions although he has the best of intentions, not knowing how to be nice to himself and always afraid of making the wrong moves or saying the wrong things, I were perfect. This is a fairy tale. In a fairy tale, EVERYONE is perfect!

Anyway, one day I met You. At first, You and I were great together. You and I have so many things in common and can get along very well. It is not easy to find someone that fits like a glove, which it is so unbelievable. You and I both like to talk and can sit for hours arguing about how to cure an incurable disease called Love. Now, Love is a very dangerous disease. Nobody is really cured. People only think they are cured, but the truth is they are not. When this happen they usually get married.

You and I have been in Love before with some other prince and princess. I thought I was cured from Love but it left him heartbroken. You thought You were also cured from Love but it left her heartless and fear. Both You and I had the scars to prove it. Sometimes just for the fun of it they compare scars and sad Love stories.

Sometimes You and I sing together. Sometimes You and I play Tilik Nasib, a very interesting game that You invented. Once, while we’re playing You said that You and I have a same heart and be together. Once, You gave I a blue letter about You called her Past because You said You want him to understand something bout You and once, You was given “ Mike ” of what I claimed to be the best sleeping partner in the World. Once in a while I will laugh at You and once in a while You will make I feel annoyed. But generally it was a very nice system. Well at least they looked happy and laughed a lot.

Like all fairy tales, something bad must happen first before the prince and princess could live happily ever after. So in true fairy tale fashion, one day a disaster called Life happened. Life in itself is not that bad, but Life when coupled with Love scars and past memory can be very dangerous indeed. Among others, Life could turn people into a Workaholic, Cold hearted, Sensitive, Fear, Selfish and can make people Forget, which is something that some people think is good, and some people think is bad.

But generally, whenever Life happened, it is not easy to predict the outcome. Like so many other prince, I became fascinated with Life. And like so many other prince with no magical powers, I began to forget certain things. That is the danger of being too fascinated with Life. Life can make anyone forget. And I forgot. I forgot how to make people smile when they are sad. I forgot how to make people sing when they are blue. I forgot about the scar and bad experience that You had before and worst of all I forgot to say I am Sorry.

Like so many other princess with no magical power, You began to forget also, which is the danger of being too fascinated with Life. You began to forget certain thing, You began to forgot how to make people sing when they are blue. You forgot how to make people smile when they are sad. You forgot about the scar and broken hearted that I had before and worst You forgot to understand.

One day, You got mad at I. When two people got mad at each other, they will either argue or they will stop talking. In this Fairy Tale, You and I stopped talking, fade away and went back to their own parts of the World.

You said, "Hmmmm... maybe Life can be better without You."

And I said, "Hmmm...maybe Life can be better if I am not around."

So You ignored I and pretended that everything was okay even if they would not be friends anymore. But then something strange began to happen to I . I began not to be able to sleep at night.

Now sleep is very important because I work 8 hours every day and I need rest, which was what sleep is all about. But no matter how hard I tried and no matter how tired I was, I could not sleep well.

At first it was not so bad. I could sleep for a few hours and then woke up and thought about You. Sometimes I dreamt about You and whenever this happened, I always woke up feeling sad and blur and sometime I cry because I missed You so much. Then it became less and less sleep and more and more wakefulness until I began to feel very tired and wearisome indeed and not be able to doing anything at all and worse I lost confidence of his self.

Other people in the World also noticed that You and I were not talking anymore.

Some people think, "Hmm ... the answer is so simple. You and I are in love and You and I are in process to understand each other.

They think like that because Love is a terrible disease and Love is generally known to make people forget and do stupid things. And I did some REALLY stupid things.

The angrier, selfish You got, the more silent I became. The more silent You became, the angrier I got. Remember, in this Fairy Tale both You and I were hurt before by Love. You were heartless and I was heartbroken. When someone is heartless and another one is heartbroken, it is so easy to get angry and get silent even if they are so in Love and need each other. Sometimes they could pretend or hiding the true feeling because of to much hurts and angriness.

So You and I continued being angry and being silent at each other and pretended that Time will take care of everything. Now Time is a very interesting concept. Generally it is known that Time can cure a lot of things, including the terrible disease called Love. You believe that Time can cure their anger and silence because Time was able to heal the scars that they got from their Love with some other prince and princess. You thought Time could also cure the anger and the silence.

Unfortunately, anger and silence were the two things that Time could not cure. In fact, Time could only make them get worse. Time can only make people wait with no proper communication, which is what You and I experience.

Many moons passed and You and I were still not cured from their anger and silence. One night, as I lay awake in his bed, I heard a voice talking from his heart.

The voice said, "It doesn't matter. Believed and say I am Sorry".

I thought about this for a while, and I liked the idea a lot. Finally I was able to sleep without having any angry dreams about You.

The next day I called You. I found it was no surprise that You sounded serious and worn-out. Maybe You didn't feel like talking.

But I was a very persistent prince. When I want something, I will do everything I can to get it. And I always get what I want and sometimes I don’t. So, even though You sounded like You didn't want to talk, I managed to convince that You and I should talk anyhow. So later that night, You and I talked.

But fairy tales are not that simple. There is always another twist. This Fairy Tale has a twist too. Although You and I knew what You and I must say, when You and I talk, I started to forget again. I forgot how to create laughter. I forgot how to sing, I forgot that You were hurt by his action although I do have a good intention and worst of all I forgot how to say I am Sorry.

It was a very strange talk because there was very little talk. Both You and I were reluctant to say too much because too much Time had passed since the last time they sit down and talk. This is the fact what Time can do when two people hurt each other.

I tried very hard to remember how to say I am Sorry but all I could remember was the lyrics to a song by Soluna called For All Time, which went something like this,

“You were mine, there is no one other for me keep in mind, You make my life complete and tonight we make love endlessly coz your mine ,You the one that I keep for all time”.

It used to be a very popular song for You and I.

Anyway, the long night ended and feeling very unhappy, I went back to his part of the World. I thought, maybe this time I should completely doing nothing. But as I sat in front of his laptop computer called DELL, I heard a voice talking from his heart again. The voice said only one word.

It said,

"REMEMBER!"

And just like magic, I suddenly remembered what to do. The problem that You and I have cannot be solved using the usual way. It was time to make the Magic Box.

A Magic Box is a simple box made out of paper. Anyone can buy a Magic Box from the Magic Shop. But what makes a Magic Box magical is what people put inside it. A Magic Box can store anything, from letters to cards, to fairy tales and problems. But there is one condition. Whenever a problem is put in a Magic Box, the problem will not disappear. The problem will stay in there forever until someone comes along and try to solve it for good. That's how a Magic Box works. It just stores a problem. Real people will have to open it and deal with it to make it disappear.

I thought long and hard and I think I found the answer. The answer to the problem that I need to solve with You is a magic potion called Laughter. That was the cure.

So I went to the Magic Shop and shopped for the ingredients to put into the Magic Box. I must choose the ingredients carefully because the wrong ones will not result in Laughter and if Laughter doesn't happen, the problem that You and I faced will not be solved.

So what were the ingredients? These were what I put into the Magic Box to make Laughter :-

1. A two pack of Panadol for relief of headaches, fever and aches in case You get any headaches, fever and aches whenever I do or say something stupid.

2. 20 strips of Hansaplast Junior (ready-to-use strips with funny cartoon characters --- painless to remove, skin friendly, water resistant and dirt proof; and hygienically single packed for convenience) in case Your heart is hurt by the things that I say or do.

3. 1 multi purpose Erasers in case You want to erase all the bad memories and pain that I have caused You.

4. One packet of Strepsil Vitamin C-100 in case You get a sore throat when You and I talk, because whenever You and I talk, it could be a REALLY long talk.

5. One packet of New Primier Expression in case I made You cry.

6. 1 packets of MILO because I know You like to drink MILO (Minum MILO Anda Jadi Sihat Dan Kuat!) in case You need to be Sihat dan Kuat when You and I argue.

7. I bar of Cadbury FRUITE & NUT (Only 12.5 gram/957 per energy...very healthy) in case You need the extra energy to keep reading this Fairy Tale

8. 2 pictures of a powerless idiot prince with out any magical power that admire a princess so much and try to rescue her from a bad dragons and past memories.

But those were not all. Right at the bottom of the Magic Box, far beneath The Panadol, The Hansaplast, The Erasers, The Strepsils, The Kleenex, The MILO, The Cadbury bar and a Picture, I put in as many HUGS and KISSES that I could find – because I know sometimes words are not enough to say all that I needed to say. Sometimes, when people hurt each other, saying I am Sorry doesn't help much to ease the pain. Sometimes Hugs and Kisses can do a much better job in saying all the right things. Since I couldn't find the right words to say, I packed her Hugs and Kisses into the Magic Box and hoped they will work.

Last but not least, I opened up his Songbook and copied down a song called "Wish List ". I wrote the song down to remind You that no matter what happens next, or whenever You feel like You don't belong and doubted the Love and Sincerity that I giving to You the song will always be there to remind You that I am here. Originally I wrote the song for You, I thought You deserve the song better than anyone else.

So I print up the song "Wish List " from his songbook, and put the paper inside the Magic Box.

There was one last thing to do. A Magic Box must always come with an instruction manual, because without it You will not know how to use all the things that make the Magic Box magic.

So I sat in front of his DELL and started to write this Fairy Tale. I almost didn't know what to write, but slowly I wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote because I knew this is a very important Fairy Tale.

After I finished writing the Fairy Tale that will become the Magic Box' instruction manual, I printed it and sealed the Magic Box. On second thought, I opened the Magic Box again and put in some Prayers. I did this because You were broken-hearted and heartless before, and I did not know whether You were fully cured or not. I sealed the Magic Box with Faith and Hope, tied a piece of white string across it and waited for the right time to come when I will give the Magic Box to You. The time is Now.

Now this is where the Fairy Tale ends. Will You and I be Lover again? Will You and I live happily ever after? Will You and I finally find the cure for Love? and Is the problem solved?

Some people might even ask, "Will You and I be together again?".

And for the first time in a long long time, I really Cry. Why? Because I don't know the answer. This is the kind of Fairy Tale where the ending is up to You to consider.

But the Magic Box is magical indeed. When You opened the Magic Box, You were very confused. You saw The Panadol, The Hansaplast, The Erasers, The Strepsils, The Kleenex, The MILO, The Cadbury Bar, The Picture, The Hugs and Kisses, The prayers and The Song; but You didn't understand what all these things mean. Then You saw the Fairy Tale. You picked up the Fairy Tale that I wrote, and as You read it, slowly You began to understand. And very slowly, You began to smile.

Now, this is not the ending yet. The end would be a long way ahead because this is the kind of Fairy Tale that will have a lot of sequels. This Fairy Tale is just like the Rocky movies. There were Rocky I, II, III, IV, V and if Sylvester Stallone was not so old, there could probably even be a Rocky 2002. Fortunately he was old so the World was saved from another Rocky sequel.

But it didn't really matter because even if this Fairy Tale does not end with the words "..and they live happily ever after...", I am still very happy. Why? because when it came to what mattered and when it came to his responsibility to You - I always been sincere and very honest toward my feelings and everything to You and finally know how to say I am Sorry and the best part was, I really mean it .

Maybe someday You will come again to the part of the World where I and You live. That may happen, on the other hand, that may not happen. Life is not that easy to comprehend. Who knows? I don't know what will happen next. And You also don't know what will happen next.

But I do know this, sometimes we mistake familiarity for love, and time for quality. I know that 10 years from now, when both You and I are old and gray and no longer blessed with the arrogance of Youth, You will remember the time when You received a Magic Box that I had PAINSTAKINGLY created and how it finally made You laugh and smile again and finally understand that I do treasured this friendship.