The Haunted Princess [pic] Once upon a time there was a young princess, Catalina. When she was born she was given three gifts by three fairies. The usual gifts. The first fairy gave her beauty; the second was the gift of song. The third fairy then gave her the gift of love. At this another fairy jumps out of the crowd and shouts to them all, "Why? Why do you give her such useless gifts? Love? Song? When will our young princess actually use these gifts? When will they prove useful in life? By the sounds of it, our young princess is going to grow up into a bimbo! Please, before it's too I bestow a gift upon the child." Slowly the fourth fairy approached the manger. "Oh beautiful, loving princess, you need more then just love, beauty and song. Here is a gift you shall use. I give you conscience. Your new conscience will help you through the bad and the good. Use it well." Then in a sudden puff of smoke, the fairy disappeared. Immediately the king and queen ran to their child, Catalina was fine. But the king and queen couldn't help wondering how the third fairy's gift would effect Catalina. As the years went on, the king and queen found that the princess had many friends and they all thought her singing was glorious and she was so a bit peculiar. When they were messing about outside the gardens, one girl said, "Let's steal the royal flowers!" Then Catalina would start to talk to herself, to her left shoulder and her right. It was as if she was talking between two people. Then after her chats she would warn them not to because of Gabriel. Of course this was enough to ward off any one. But sometimes she would run off with them and pick so many flowers. They would ask her why and she would say that it was Vedil not her. One day the queen walked in on Catalina talking to her shoulders. The queen sighed. "What is she doing?" she thought to herself. At night the princess had been known for talking to herself. The queen wondered, "I wonder what's going on in her mind?". This was when she decided that Catalina needed to see Merlin. Merlin was an old friend of the Queen's. He had a most bizarre profession, he would hypnotise the patient and then, with this special key would look into their minds. The right and left chambers and their memory. He would then see their deepest problems. In this way, Merlin was the most successful psychiatrist in all the land. The queen knew Merlin would know how to help Catalina. Merlin was sitting alone in his chair. "All this modern nonsense!' he complained as he tried to turn on his oven on. Suddenly there was a sharp knocking on the door. He opened the door and the queen came rushing in with Catalina looking all flustered. "Ah! Mildred!" exclaimed Merlin, "how long has it been?" "Oh, far too long dear friend," the queen replied. "But about my keeps talking ?" Merlin understood at once. "Right, bring her into my study; you may leave her here. I shall return her when I'm finished." Poor Merlin didn't know what dangers lay ahead for him. "Sit here my child", said Merlin, beckoning for Catalina. She came to sit on a small mat by Merlin. "Now, I hear you talk to something that isn't there, could you talk to them now please?' Catalina looked blank, "I don't talk to them, they talk to me," replied Catalina. "I see," said Merlin thoughtfully. "I'm going to have a look." Slowly Merlin took a key that hung around his neck and pressed it into Catalina's forehead. Once he had unlocked her mind Merlin gradually got smaller and smaller (small enough to fit inside Catalina's head.) Once Merlin was small ventured in. It was dark in Catalina's mind. "Not much here," thought Merlin looking around thinking of the phrase 'airhead'. But at the end of one passage there were three doors. Cautiously Merlin inspected these three doors. One said LOVE. The other said SONG and the last said BEAUTY. Merlin realised that these were 'The three gifts'. Merlin put his key to the lock of the first door, SONG. Immediately Merlin was surrounded by birds and all of them singing their little hearts out. "Lovely," breathed Merlin. "This can't be what's wrong with Catalina.' Merlin closed the door. The next door was BEAUTY. Steadily Merlin turned the key and ventured in. Merlin found an image of someone dancing around through fields. "An angel, a beautiful angel," whispered Merlin to himself. Slowly he closed the door. The last door was LOVE. Merlin entered. There was a single plaque in the middle of the room reading: 'Whoever shalt enter this room will see whoever they wish to see, and whoever their heart's desire.' Merlin thought this was very strange. Suddenly he felt a gentle arm on his shoulder. He turned was his wife. "It's a miracle," Merlin breathed. Merlin's wife had died two years; he had never stopped thinking about her. "Darling Mai, I miss you so.," began Merlin but at once the lady standing before him started to disappear. "No"' Merlin cried out in dismay. "Not so soon!" But she was gone. Wiping a tear from his eye Merlin got up. "At least I got one last look at her." Merlin closed the door. After Merlin had recovered, he got up and started to look for some more doors, which could hold to key to Catalina's madness. After a while Merlin found another passageway - this one was a strange, eerie passageway. At the end was a huge door, bigger than the rest and it was old and creaky. Cautiously, Merlin turned his key in the lock. It opened. Inside there was no light. Suddenly, someone struck a match! Merlin looked on aghast. It was the devil himself! Right next to him however, there was a kind, gentle face glowing radiantly. 'The angel and devil?' thought Merlin, 'Is this who Catalina has been talking too? Someone's conscience is always portrayed as an angel and devil on your shoulder. But this has led Catalina to madness, that was no good fairy who gave her the gift of conscience!' 'Yes, Merlin', said the Devil smiling wickedly, 'It was not a good fairy, it was me, Vedil! I disguised myself as a good fairy and then entered her mind; here I have driven her to madness. You see, I am one of Satan's messengers. I am a dark creature that enters people's minds. Unfortunately I can do nothing more than that as I have an unwanted guest with me.' As the devil said this he turned his head towards the angel indicating this angel was the unwanted guest. Merlin shook his head in disbelief. 'Why would you do this?' 'The more powerful the greater the reward' Vedil smiled wickedly. 'This angel is Gabriel and he is too weak to stop me doing what I'm doing, but with him around I can't do much more. So to me Catalina's mind is basically useless, and that is why.I shall invade yours!' With that Vedil made a lunge for Merlin, Merlin ran. He ran through the passages and down the one he was in earlier. At that moment he thought of something. If that angel, Gabriel is stopping Vedil from doing any more evil then all we would need was more pure essence to overcome the evil in Vedil. The door of LOVE, SONG and BEAUTY Merlin knew that would work. Merlin unlocked all the doors and threw them all open. Suddenly a bright and radiant light filled the passage. It was so pure and innocent that when Vedil came running down the passageway he was blinded. Then Vedil started to crackle, then he to disintegrate. Soon Vedil was no more than a pile of ashes. Merlin closed all the doors. He turned around to leave and Gabriel was standing in his way. 'Thank you friend, you have saved the human race. Vedil would have invaded everyone's mind if given the chance. You are the man who stopped him. We will not see him again. Mai would've been very proud of you.' With that Gabriel disappeared. 'Poor Mai' said Merlin as he opened Catalina's mind again and walked out. No sooner had Merlin closed Catalina's mind, the young princess 'awoke'. She didn't seem harmed in anyway; in fact she looked so much better. She didn't talk to her shoulders all the way home. Merlin told the queen that Catalina wouldn't be talking to her shoulders any more. The queen thanked him most warmly and invited him to dinner that night. Merlin accepted and followed her to the dinning room. As they were walking Merlin stopped and turned around. He looked through the windows up at the sky. 'Good will always prevail over evil.' He said thought. And as he looked up at the sky he was sure he saw the smiling face of Gabriel.