"Sammy…" Sammy opened his eyes: darkness. "Sammy!" He reached up and turned on the light. From his position of the floor he saw that his best friend Jessie was sitting up in her bed looking wide eyed with fear. "What is it Jessie?" he asked sleepily. Her eyes fell and said unhappily, "I had a nightmare…" Sammy kicked off the quilt blanket that was serving him as a confider. "You know it isn't really a sleep-over if we don't sleep." He said. Jessie pulled her blankets tighter around her. "But I can't sleep Sammy! I just can't!"

Sammy moved from sitting on the floor to sitting on her bed. She really did look scared out of her mind with her light brown hair sticking out in all directions and her skin looking paler than usual. What kind of best friend would he be going back to sleep with her like that? "Is there anything I can do to help you sleep?" Sammy asked. Jessie thought about it for a moment then her eyes brightened immensely.

She got up from her spot and disappeared under her bed for a moment and returned onto her bed again holding a book in Sammy's face. "Tell me a story Sammy." She said. Sammy looked down at the title. Goodnight Princess. "Jessie…" "Pleeeeeeeease!" Jessie whined. "If I'm the guest then why do I have to read the story?" Jessie shrugged. "You can read and I can't?" She did make a pressing argument, and he wasn't getting to sleep another way, what's a 6-year-old to do?

"Alright, alright I'll tell you the story, but don't tell anyone I read this to you." Jessie nodded vigorously and leaned forward, listening intently. Sammy took a deep breath and opened the book.

Goodnight Princess

By Naomi Wright

Once Upon a Time in a far off Kingdom there lived a beautiful princess named Princess..."

Sammy glanced up at Jessie grinning mischievously. "Princess Jessie." Jessie giggled and Sammy continued.

The princess was loved through ought the kingdom because of her kind heart and her gentleness to those no one else would love. The Princess lived in a tall tower with a long balcony where she liked to keep a garden where she grew big healthy plants and beautiful flowers of every color imaginable.

Almost every morning when she went out to water her plants a boy who watched the kings hunting dogs would walk in the courtyard below the tower. His name was….uh….Orlando.

"Orlando? Whose Orlando?" Jessie asked. "I don't know I made it up." Jessie cocked her head curiously. "Well why can't the boy's name be Sammy?" she asked. "Cause I know how this story ends." Sammy muttered. "Come on Sammy, pleeeeeease?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"No"

"Pretty please with whipped cream and a cherry on top?"

"I'm lactose intolerant"

"What's that?"

"I don't know my mom says that whenever I ask for ice cream."

"Come on pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-"

"Alright, alright" Sammy muttered in defeat. Jessie grinned triumphantly.

Almost every morning when she went out to water her plants a boy who watched the kings hunting dogs would walk by the castle. His name was Sammy.

"Thank you."

The Boy was terribly shy and could never get up the courage to talk to the Princess in person so he always stayed down in the yard and talked to her from there. The Princess didn't mind. In fact she enjoyed the boy's company; despite his shyness. And this went on nearly every morning until the cool fall months.

One day when the princess was out in the garden picking her fruits from the plants the boy appeared. "Hello your highness." He said. The princess smiled. "Hello, it's a lovely morning isn't it?" The boy nodded. "Those fruits you have look good." The princess picked up a basket filled with delicious looking fruits. "I'm going to give them to the children in the village, they seem to enjoy them." "That's very hospitable of you." The boy said.

Just then one of the fruits fell out of the basket and landed in a tree that reached up past the balcony. When she reached over the railing to pick it up she slipped and fell down into the court yard below landing in a thick thorn bush. When the boy rushed over to help her, he found she was fast asleep. He quickly called for help and soon the princess was up in her tower again with all the palace doctors surrounding her.

One of the doctors explained that the thorn bush she had fallen in had special properties. If someone was pricked by the thorns in the bushes they would fall into a deep sleep and only a genuine expression of love could awaken her.

"Will she be alright? Oh please tell me she'll be alright Sammy!" Jessie whimpered. "Jessie, if I told you that it would spoil the ending. And besides we have to be quiet, it's way past our bed time." Jessie made a motion like she was zipping up her mouth as Sammy continued.

So the king issued a proclamation to the land, asking boys from through ought the kingdom to try to waken the princess. They knew somewhere there must be someone who could wake her up. He even offered a large reward of gold and fine jewels.

The kingdom boys came showering the princess with hugs and kisses and declarations of love, but none of them were able to wake up the princess. Soon it began growing ever colder and the fall months grew into cold winter ones. It seemed as though the princess would never wake up. The kingdom grew saddened over her plight. The king and queen wore black to signify their mourning but on of the saddest was the boy from the courtyard.

He had watched the princess in hopes she would wake up but it seemed as though she would never wake up, and his royal friend was going to be lost to the darkness of rest. And he only grew sadder and sadder until one day…

Sammy stopped glancing up at Jessie. "Are you crying Jessie?" Jessie sniffled wiping her eyes on her pajama sleeve. "No….of course not…" then she began sobbing. Sammy sighed grabbing some Kleenex off the night stand and handing it to her, "Here.". She blew her nose and handed him the Kleenex. "Gee…thanks." Sammy said sarcastically throwing the used tissue in the trash bin. Jessie took a deep breath. "Alright I'm fine now." Sammy smiled shaking his head.

…he finally approached the princess's bedside. Around him the noblemen and ladies-in-waiting scoffed and sneered. "He's only a palace servant, what can he do?" they said. But the boy ignored them. He gazed down on the princess's gentle sleeping face and was nearly over-come with shyness. So all he could bring himself to do was did was say softly"Goodnight Princess." With that he turned and left the tower, to run away and never return.

No sooner had the boy left then the princess sat up in bed rubbing her eyes sleepily. "Oh my, what on earth happened?" The king explained quickly how the princess had been asleep and how many boys all over the kingdom had tried to wake her but only just a few minuets ago the boy from the courtyard had woken her. The Princess quickly got up from her bed and put on her slippers. She began running as fast as she could to the door.

All around her the noblemen and ladies-in-waiting pleaded her not to go. "But Princess, why would you marry him? He's only a lowly servant." "I know." The princess said. "But princess, it is snowing. You can't go running around in your pajamas and slippers, you'll catch your death!" "I know." The princess said. "But Princess, if you marry that boy, you won't get to be queen." She paused before the opened door way. "I know." She said. With that the princess ran out of the room. The king watched and smiled, silently giving her his blessing.

Mean while the boy from the court yard was riding on the back of an Ox cart, filled with hay, out of the kingdom as the snow swirled around him. "Hello!" The boy looked up and was surprised to see the princess running after the ox cart. "Princess? What are you doing here?" The boy asked. "I want to come with you!" She called after. The boy looked surprised. "What?"

"I know you were able to wake me up, and I want to come with you!" she said. "But... why me?" the boy asked. "Because…" She couldn't finish because she was out of breath from running. The boy quickly reached out and helped her up into the cart. "Because…I…love…you…" the princess said between gasps for breath. The boy looked even more surprised as well as bashful. He muttered something the princess couldn't hear but she knew in her heart what he had said. "...I love you too..."

Soon they made arrangements that the next town the Ox cart stopped in they would get married in, and by the time they had finished the sun had long since disappeared from the sky. So the princess lye back in the hay and closed her eyes. The boy simply smiled taking off his small jacket and wrapping it around her shoulders. And he whispered in her ear one thing,

"Goodnight, Princess"

Sammy shut the book. "So there's your story, can we please go to bed now Jessie…Jessie?" He looked up and found Jessie to be fast asleep. Sammy smiled. He got up and went to turn out the light. As he did he looked back at Jessie. She looked so at peace, despite the fact he knew she'd be bombarding him for the story's end in the morning, but for now her face seemed gentle, like she was having a pleasant dream.

He quietly walked over to her. Gazing down at her soft, innocent face he whispered, "Goodnight, princess." With that he turned off the light and laid back on the quilt blanket, drifting off to sleep. He couldn't have seen the smile playing on Jessie's lips.

THE END