Remember when you were a little kid and you used to go out and play with your friends around the block? I used to leave after lunch and the time would fly by, while me and my friends reenacted the old, classic fairytales. We knew everything about each other, the ultimate best friends. The “invincible five”. Selena was my next door neighbor and she was casted as Gretel. Jose was Selena’s older brother holding the role of Hansel. Sean was the son of one of my mom’s friends and he was Prince Charming. Hailey was living in the building next door and she had Belle’s role. Finally, I was Cinderella. We would play until dawn, when dinner was ready. The next day we would pick up from where we left off and that was our routine for five years.

Do you ever think about the last time you hung out with your friends? Looking back, you didn’t know it would be the last time. Oh and how you wish you did. Do you know what you would have told them? Over the years I thought about it from time to time. The answer would be emotional and deep and surely not something an eleven year old would say, so I guess I don’t know what I would have said. I don’t know the day or what had happened. All I can recall are my parents saying we are moving. No explanation, no consent needed from me. In a few hours everything was packed up and the furniture was all it was left. It was almost the time for us to play, so my friends came and they saw the moving truck. I don’t think I said anything. I just ran up and hugged them. No one said anything; but when my dad came to drag me to the car, I just looked at them and told them I am going away. They were as sad and confused as me. With time, we all forgot. The playdates became fewer, until the best friends became strangers. We stopped talking after a while and the invincible five were not so invincible anymore.

 Thinking back, I realized that ever since we are little we are being asked: What do you want to be when you grow up? Mainly, the first given answers are either a princes or a queen, a prince or a king, a worrier or a dragon fighter, a fairy or a good witch. The reason behind it, is because we are in a desperate need for a perfect life, a need to live in the perfect world where the good defeats the evil, a need to exceed our human condition. When asked, we say what we want to become, not where the story would have to unfold. So what good would it be if the supernatural beings would be brought into this world. What do you actually think it would happen? The story would have a happy ending, right? That is how fairy tales work after all. Or maybe not.

After ten years I decided to bring everyone back together for lunch, but I did not take into consideration that people change and that we are not eleven anymore.  Jose aka Hansel has been so hurt ever since their parents abandoned them, that he left his sister all alone and got into drugs, just he won’t feel anymore. He won’t feel the pressure of the world or the hurt inside him. He was convicted for assault and possession, but his sister payed his bail. I guess that is the only phone call she receives from him. For our meeting, he rented a suit and pretended he works at a gaming company, just so he would impress everyone. So he won’t have to add to the list of suppressed emotions, our pity. At the other end of the table, there is Selena, Gretel, because they wanted to sit as far as they could from each other. She owns a bakery in downtown New York, named “Pebbles”. She brought us some gingerbread, which is their specialty and it tasted alright, but the reviews online would beg to disagree. She invested everything she had in the business and she can’t stand that it is not going accordingly. She got pregnant at twenty years old, when she left home to start her baking career and now has a pair of three year old twins. The father left and now she is left to sustain the family. She tried to hide it, but we can all tell by her stain on her shirt and the bags under her eyes what is going on. Sean, he really became the Prince Charming he wanted to be. In college, while studying for his business degree, he met the girl of his dreams. One thing led to another and they got engaged, but a few months later she left him for an European investor in her father’s company. I think he was so heart broken, that he switched his emotions off and swore not to fall in love again. Now he is the co-owner of a popular night-club, lives in the nicer part of town and parties with models. Something he described as the life of his dreams. But I know him, deep down, he wants to settle down, wants to love and be loved, but is too afraid to fall again. Hailey aka Belle, was my best friend and now she is the CEO of an energy drink company. She kept on talking about the success of the company, about her five year plan, her designer clothes and about her travels and perfect life. She was married, but that didn’t last, because it seems like she didn’t know the spell that turns the beast into the prince, after all. Me? I am the proud editor of a somewhat successful magazine and I am happy. Well, as happy as I can be. We all try to impress each other so it is my turn to brag.  I am not a hypocrite, though. I psychoanalyzed everyone and now it is my turn and you are going to find my other side as well. I have been in a quest to find my prince charming, to bring me my glass slipper back. So now, my boyfriend is a fashion designer that travels the world and is barely home. But that is what I wanted, right? To be crowned. To be taken care of? Now I am trapped. I can say anything I want, anything I believe, anything that crosses my mind. Anything but the truth.

 So, how is that for putting on masks? Do you understand now? Do you understand the pressure that society holds and the need of conformity? In this world even characters like Cinderella, Belle, Hansel & Gretel and Prince Charming have to put on masks to fit in, to have the perfect and care-free life that is so demanded. Now that we established that no one can reach today’s society’s standards, what if fairy tales are to blame after all? What is this image of perfection and happily ever after? In life there are ups and downs and the prince doesn’t always get the girl or maybe the princess doesn’t need a prince or even if the character gets lost in the depths of the woods, it doesn’t mean that it should remain lost. The story doesn’t go accordingly, but it is an unique story, an experience and opportunity. So what if it’s not fairy tale-like? Some people prefer other genres anyway.

Now. I cannot leave the story of our heroes unfinished. Or can I? In all honesty their lives were kind of depressing all together, but I think that some things are better left unsaid. All I can say is that with the powerful friendship bond, both Belle and Cinderella, realized they are better off on their own. The prince shifted his focus on his business, instead on focusing on the past and the brothers managed to help their business take off, together, as they have become a big happy family along with Gretel’s  kids. Therefore, you could say that the “invincible five” are back.

They are here to stay. No more pretending, because at one point or another all masks fall and when the line is drawn all that matters is if you lived the life you wanted and if you are proud of the person you have become. Although I said I don’t agree with the happy ending cliché, you can end the “incredible five’s” story as you wish. I only made a suggestion. After all, every story has two sides. It depends on the perspective you approach. One can even say, that all the things that the characters have been through led to their grandiose reunion. So instead of looking at their story as a sad, boring and hopeless life, you can take a breath in, take a step back, close your eyes, in order to see the bigger picture that led to those three magical words: “Happily ever after”