Story: The Three Lovers

Kylie had always been a beautiful girl. When she was growing up everyone who knew her would say that the gods must have created her in the image of an angel. The older Kylie got the more beautiful she became. She went through school being sought after by all the guys. In high school, they all tried to convince her to be their girlfriend, but she always refused. Her senior year she decided she would take a boyfriend, but only if there was a promise of forever with the relationship. She didn’t want to waste her time with a meaningless relationship, but instead wanted to be a part of one with a promising future.

Once the word got out that Kylie was willing to be in a relationship, three boys distinguished themselves from the rest. Matt was captain of the football team and student council president. He was handsome, strong, and all the girls loved him. Steven was a drum major and top of his class. He was graduating with honors and was set to be valedictorian. He also had many scholarships lined up for college. Dylan was a drama geek. He was the lead in all the school plays and had a full ride to Julliard waiting for him when he graduated.

Kylie knew each of these boys well because they had all gone to school together since they were little kids. She liked each of them for different reasons. She knew she had said that she would pick a boyfriend, but she couldn’t. How was she supposed to choose between three exceptional young men? They were all so nice and kindhearted and she didn’t want to hurt the feelings of the ones who weren’t picked. She stressed about the decision for weeks. She couldn’t even focus on her school work because she was so worried about who to pick. The stress of the decision, plus the stress of finals, and the stress of graduation and the future proved too much for her to handle. Her body gave out and she fell into a long coma.

                                                                                         

The boys, being head over heels for her, were distraught. They all handled it in different ways. Dylan stayed by her bedside the whole time. He didn’t even leave to go to his classes. He helped brush her hair and sang to her. He talked to her and kept her company. He wanted to make sure she knew what was happening in the outside world. Matt dedicated every football game to her and set up a fundraiser to help her parents pay for the medical bills. Steven spent hours and hours researching her condition. He was extremely smart for his age and was trying to help the doctors find out what was wrong and how to treat her.

Weeks went by, but Dylan never left her bedside. Matt had played better than he ever had and he had helped raise a significant amount of money for Kylie’s medical expenses. Steven spent tireless hours in his lab, on top of going to school, desperately hoping to figure out was wrong with her. Finally, there was a breakthrough and the doctors found a diagnosis. They started her on treatment right away and in a matter of days she was awake. She was as beautiful as ever. Her eyes sparkled, her skin seemed to glow and not one hair on her head was astray. No one could even tell that she had spent weeks lying in a hospital bed. The boys each explained to her what they had done for her. Matt told her about all the games he won in her name and the amount of money he had raised for her. Steven told her about his contributions in finding her diagnosis. Dylan told her how he never left her side, how he kept up her appearance, and that he sang to her and talked to her.

After hearing the things that the boys went through, Kylie was able to make a decision. She thanked Matt for all he did, but told him that the way he reacted is the way a son would react and therefore he should not be her boyfriend. She told Steven that she greatly appreciated his dedication and hard work, but that he reacted the way a father would and therefore should not be her boyfriend. She then talked to Dylan and told him that she wanted to be with him. She told him that he reacted the way a young man in love would react. He gave up his time and didn’t worry about how missing school would affect him his senior year; the only thing he cared about was being there for her and making sure she got better. This is how a boyfriend should act and it also showed her that they had a promising future. Her decision was final and she made the right call, for Kylie and Dylan went on to have a long and happy relationship.

Author’s note: I used the story of the Three Lovers who brought the Dead Girl to Life from Twenty- Two Goblins. The story is a riddle the goblin is telling the king about a young girl who has to choose between three men to be her husband. She couldn’t make a decision because she didn’t want to hurt the feelings of the other two. Then she got sick and died, which left the men distraught. After she was cremated, one of them slept on her ashes and begged for food, the second dipped her bones in the sacred Ganges River and the third became a monk and wandered the world until he found a spell to bring her back to life. He then went back to her grave and brought her back to life. Once she came back to life the men began to fight over who should get to marry her. The goblin then asks the king who should be able to marry her. The king replies by saying the man who brought her back to life acted as a father would. The man who dipped her bones in the river acted as a son would. The man that gave up his life to live in the cemetery acted as a lover and deserved to marry her. This was the correct answer. I chose to keep the plot close to the original story, but I wanted to make it more modern. I also changed it to where she was only in a coma so it wasn’t as dramatic. I chose this image because even though it is of Sleeping Beauty, it goes along with the concept of her being in a coma. The story also has a fairy tale feel to it, so having a fairy tale image felt appropriate.

Image Info: Sleeping Beauty by Henry Meynell Rheam; Wikipedia Commons

Bibliography: Twenty- Two Goblins translated by Arthur Ryder; Mythology and Folklore Untextbook