Once upon a time

Althea was not shocked at all at what Penelope said while Lanie suddenly looked at Penelope with wide eyes. That crossed her mind the day they saw Penelope enter that house but she couldn't just believe it because she also thought of other reasons why Penelope was at that house like, maybe, she was just visiting. But tonight, Penelope cleared everything for them. She even felt dizzy from what she heard.

"I did not know that the Hossler had a… daughter?" Althea mumbled. Penelope just smiled sorrowfully.

"Since I was born, I was not meant to be revealed to the public. Hosslers. One of the richest families in the country. Do you think they want to reveal their only daughter to the world?" Penelope took another shot. "No, they will not do that. Because once the world knows that they have a child, that I exist, my family enemies will use me… I will become the weakness of the Hossler."

For a moment, they did not speak after what Penelope said. Penelope was staring at the other customers while drinking. Althea just played her drink while Lanie slightly leaned on the sofa while her eyes were closed.

"Do you guys want to know the story of the witch?" Penelope suddenly spoke.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Althea boredly answered as she drank her cocktail. Penelope smiled and leaned her back at the sofa and began the story of the witch.

"Once upon a time, there was a couple who lived in a simple yet beautiful house together with their only daughter." Althea and Lanie became more serious after hearing the start of the story. Penelope stared at nowhere with a slight smile on her lips like she remembered good circumstances. "The father provides all the best things for his family, for their happiness. The mother was also content with their life. Them, living a simple and happy life. But one day, someone came to their humble house. An old woman who looks very elegant and powerful. The couple looked at the old woman with their shocked and scared expressions. Quickly, the mother ordered her daughter to go to her room and don't go out until her mother called her. The old woman looked at the little girl who was hiding behind her mother's back and… wickedly smiled at her. The little girl followed her mother's order. She went to her room but she went outside a few minutes after she went to her room. She hides near their stairs as she watches and hears her parents talk to the old woman."

"Go back to the palace." The old woman said to the little girl's father.

"I won't go back there! We are already good here, mother!" her father responded. That old man is the mother of her father. That old woman is her grandmother. The little girl listens to them until the old woman goes home. That night, she heard her parents fighting.

"Why don't we go back there, honey?" her mother says. Her father angrily rejected the idea.

"Think of your daughter! Do you think you can give her a pleasant life if we continue living like this?" her mother shouted.

"Why? Why did my mother talk like that? I am okay in this life of ours. Why did she force her father to go to her mother's house? Father hated that place." The little girl thought.

Penelope was still staring at nowhere while telling the story to her friends. Althea was looking at Penelope while Lanie became sad all of sudden, did not know if that was an effect of alcohol or is it because of the story.

Then, Penelope resumed the story.

"You will lose us if you don't listen to your mother." The little girl's mother said firmly, causing the father to look at her with scared and disbelieving emotions. The father can't believe that her wife, who likes simple life, said that. The father knew that when they came back to that house, they would start to live in hell. But his wife did not take back what she said so, the father could not do anything but to go back to that house.

When they started living at that house, the little girl's father suddenly had a very nice job with a high salary while the little girl's mother was starting to change. From a very simple and loving mother, she became strict with her. The mother always went out shopping until she used to live an expensive life. Slowly, she did not know her mother anymore. She became like the old woman who visited their humble house a long time ago.

Years later, the father announces that he will be a candidate for a senator position. The mother was extremely happy because of that. So the father works even harder because he saw that her wife was very happy, the thing he always wanted. But he forgot that he had a daughter. A daughter who is not happy.

The father became so busy that he couldn't even go home early and look for his daughter who is always in her room in the order of her mother. The little girl slowly loses her friends as she grows up.

"You are not allowed to play with them. I will not allow you to play with those filthy children. You are a princess, you deserve to stay at this palace. You are a precious princess, no one deserves you." The mother said to her daughter as she combed her hair, while her daughter looked at the window of the house, getting jealous of the children who were enjoying each other's company.

That continued for years, as her daughter grew up into a lady. The mother looks at her as if she is her barbie doll, her most precious thing… that made her daughter suffocate, alone and scared.

The scenario became worse when the father died in an ambush. The mother became even more greedy to power and wanted to get revenge for her beloved husband… and then, she became the witch that the children feared in the other fairytale. A kind woman, a loving mother, became a bad witch. A bad witch that doesn't care if she hurts and kills people just for her greediness and revenge. Bad witch who controlled and locked up her daughter in that cursed palace.

After Penelope ended her story, no one dared to speak or even move to their places. There are no more people at the bar because it closes at 12 midnight and it's now almost 1am. They just drink and drink until they are wasted.

Penelope smiled as she watched her friends getting more wasted. They did not say anything about her story as if that is their way to comfort Penelope, their way to tell her that the both of them are her by her side no matter what happens. And that was enough for her. Enough for her to finally fight the witch in that cursed castle.

When she saw that her two friends had already passed out. She called the person who is connected to them and might be the person who can help her, who can help them.

"I already made up my mind. Is your offer still available? If yes, then come here at my bar. I hope you know where it is." She looked at her friends. "And please bring an extra driver. These two ladies beside me have already passed out and I'm already dizzy as hell."