Daniel- News

 
 

"Prince Daniel, your father has requested to speak to you."
I got up slowly and followed Nelles out the room. We walked down the long hallway in silence. We stopped at my fathers' room.
Nelles knocked.
It was quiet for a moment then we heard my fathers' deep,booming voice.
"Yes?"
"Your son is here as you requested,my king."
"Bring him in."
Nelles opened the door and then moved aside to let me in.
I hesitated.
"Come,my prince," Nelles said quietly.
I looked at him.
He was pleading. I could tell by his face.
I nodded and walked in.
"You may go, Nelles," my father said.
Nelles nodded and left the room.
I shifted my weight to my right leg.
My dad sign and said,"come closer,my son."
I walked up to him and stopped a foot away from his throne.I felt him staring at me.
"Son..........."
I looked at him.
He had stress lines all over his face."You........you have to get married in a week," he said suddenly.
I actually jumped.
"Whoa!What?!Wait!Father I'm just seventeen an-"
He held out a hand to silence me.
"We all have to do it."
"Who's 'we'?"
"Every prince. That's how we become kings."
I was quiet for a minute.
"But you're king."
He nodded.
"I can't just t-take the crown from you."
He smiled."That is true but you're not taking it away from me."
I was confused."I'm not?"
He shook his head."My time is up."
"What time?"
"As king. I'm passing down my crown to you."
"Uhh...well....thanks(?).....but.....father do I HAVE to be married?"
He laughed."Yes , you do."
"But why in a week?"
"Well since you're turning 18 in a couple of weeks......."
"Oh....well how am I supposed to find a bride in a week?"
"A ball,of course."
"Dad......this is the real world not a fairy tale."
"Well you never know. you might find your Cinderella there. That's how I met your mother."
"Really?"
He nodded.
"Well.....then I'll give it a try."
He smiled."That's my boy."
I gave him a fake smile.
"You can go."
I nodded and walked to the door.
"Daniel."
I turned to him.
"Send Nelles in,please."
I nodded again and clusmly opened the door.Nelles was standing there.
"Errrrr,my father wants you."
He nodded and walked pass me.I shut the door and walked down the hall back to my room.
I flopped on my neat bed.
Me?Married?In a week?

I shut my eyes.
This might be a good thing.
Might.

 

Christal- The Ball

 

"Come on Boa," I whispered. "Wait!" "No I'm leaving before we get caught." I turned around. "Wait,listen it's the kings' speaker guy." Boa grabbed my arm and pulled me. "What guy?"I asked annoyed. "The one that always makes annoucements." "Oh Boa what do we care about what he says?" "Shhh!Listen." "Ladies and gentlemen,the king has arranged a ball for all the 'single' ladies in town but of course couples are welcomed..........." "Boa lets get out of here!" "Shhhh!" I turned my attention back to the tall,skinny annoucer. ".............dance with all the single women. Then pick one young lady.One lucky girl.One lucky prince.One huge wedding!" Everybody went crazy. Boa looked at me."We should go to the ball!" "What?" I pulled him to a dark alley."No.Why?" "Well come on, Christal. Put it together." "Put what together?" "Ugh!Okay, five hungry kids plus lots of free food equals five full happy kids." "Food won't make us happy," I snapped. "Well it'll make us full." I glared at him. "Come on,Christal." I looked up at the sky."Ugh!Okay." "Yes!" I looked at him."But we can't show up in rags." "And we won't." "But how-" "Mrs. Tiny loves you since you saved her play last year so I'm sure she'll let you borrow a dress from the drama department." "And how 'bout you?" "I think she'll let me borrow a tuxedo." I bit my lower lip.It's a habit I had since I was younger. "We need to ask her now,"I told him. "Lets go then." "Wait!" "What?" "When is the ball?" "Weren't you listening?" "Uhhh...-" "Tomorrow." "Tomorrow?" He nodded."Lets go." He turned and started to walk.I followed. "Oh and maybe

you'll dance with the prince." "UGH!!!" Boa looked at me and smiled."What?You don't like him?" "No.Yuck!" "He's a prince." "So?" "Sooo.....nothing."He smiled. We walked in silence. "You're going to ask her,"Boa told me when we were standing in front of Mrs. Tinys' office. "What?Why me?It was your idea." "Yeah but she likes you better." I took a deep breath. "Okay." I grabbed the door knob and opened the door.Mrs.Tiny was looking down at a piece of paper. "Mrs.Tiny?" She looked at me and smiled."Come in,come in." I turned around to look at Boa. He mouthed "go". I mouthed back "how 'bout you?" He shook his head and pushed me gently. I looked at Mrs. Tiny.She was still smiling.I walked to her desk. "How can I help you,my dear Christal?"She giggled. I puffed out some air which sounded like a little laugh. "Um,Mrs.Tiny-?" "Hmm?" "Have you heard of the ball the king is throwing?" "Oh yes!Are you going?" "Uh,well I was thinking 'bout going with,um,Boa-" She smiled."Oh are you and Boa a couple?" "No!Um,just friends." "Oh." "Yeah,anyways we were thinking of going but-" "'But'?" "Yes 'but'....but we don't have the....proper clothes." "Ahhh,well you're more than welcomed to borrow some clothes from the drama department." "That's what I been hoping for,"I said under my breath. "Excuse me?" "I said thank you." "Oh well your very welcomed."She got up."Here let me take you to the clothes." She grabbed a skeleton key from her drawer and walked to a door.She put the key in the key hole and twisted it.The door opened outward. She turned to me."Come on." I walked into the pitch black room."Uhh,Mrs.Tiny,I can't see any-" The lights turned on. "Oh.Never mind." She walked pass me,laughing.She stopped at a rack full of clothes. "You can look for yourself and I'll look for your 'friend' Boa,"Mrs.Tiny said smiling. "Okay."I walked over to the rack.There were all kinds of dresses. Pink ones..... Red ones..... Black ones..... Blue ones..... Purple ones..... Yellow ones..... Even some brown ones... And way in the corner was a white,white one.I grabbed it. Mrs.Tiny came over and said,"wow!" "Yeah,"I agreed. "Well go on.Try it on." I looked at her."Okay." I walked to the dressing room.I took off my t-shirt and shorts.I easily pulled on the dress.I opened the door and Mrs.Tiny squealed. "What's wrong?" "Nothing.......it's just that you look....BEAUTIFUL!" "Oh." "Come look at yourself." We walked over to the tall mirror. Mrs.Tiny was right.I did look beautiful.Not that I was ugly without the dress but.....the dress made me look....better. "That dress is beautiful on you,"Mrs.Tiny complemented. I smiled a little.JUST A LITTLE. "The dress really shows your wonderful figure." I was a bit embarrassed. "And I love how it puffs out a little.And the diamonds on there.This dress didn't even cost as much as it looks..."Blah,blah,blah. Mrs. tiny is a sweet lady but man can she talk. ".....and the prince is going to be all over you." I made a face that she didn't see because she was too busy talking. About ten minutes later she said,"oh well I think I should stop talking so you can go home and.....uh,well do things." "Yeah.Uhh,I'm going to go change." Mrs.Tiny smiled."Go do that." I went back to the dressing room and carefully took off the dress.I pulled on my clothes and went back to Mrs.Tiny. She held out a black plastic cover."Here and give me your dress so I can put a plastic cover on it." I grabbed the plastic cover and gave her the dress. She went back to her office.I followed her. "Here.Hold this." The dress already had a hanger.I grabbed it with my free hand. She pulled a black plastic cover over it."Okay.They're ready to go." "Thanks." "Oh and here's the shoes."She handed me two shoe boxes."Can you carry all that?" "Yeah." She smiled and stretched out her hands. She wanted a hug? I'm not a hugger. She grabbed me and gave me a bear hug.I patted her back. She pulled away."Okay.....Bye." "Bye."I speed walked to the door. "Finally,"Boa said. "Sorry.She wouldn't shut up." He laughed."So you got them?" I nodded."But I don't know how your tuxedo looks."I handed him his tuxedo and shoe box."Mrs.Tiny picked it out." "Oh,well I don't care." "Lets go before Mrs.Tiny accidentally comes out and talks to us for another three hours." He laughed again."It wasn't three hours,it was 'bout seven." A laugh escaped my lips.He looked at me.I looked away. "I like how you laugh.You should laugh more often." I looked at him.I wanted to disagree but I didn't know what to say. "Anyways....."Boa started. "What's the plan?" "We steal free food." "In what?" "Our old bookbags." "And how are we going to sneak bookbags through the guards?" "The bookbags are going to be in my jacket thing." "The bookbags aren't going to fit when they're full." "That's why you're there,to distract the guards." "How am I supposed to distract the guards?" "Be pretty."He smiled. We were already at what Boa,three younger girls and me call "home." It was an abandon house. We opened the door.It was quiet."We're home" "Oh it's ya'll,"Clare said.Clare is twelve.We found her three years ago on the street.Her parents died.Just like the seven year old twins,Haley and Sally. "Yep,"Boa said."Where's the twins?" "Asleep." "Oh."Boa lowered his voice to a whisper. "What you got there?"She pointed to the clothes and shoe box. "Dress,"I answered. Boa pointed at his tuxedo."A tux." "Why do ya'll have a 'dress' and 'tux.'?" Boa and I exchanged looks. "The ball,"we said together. "The ball?" "Yep,"Boa said. "Why are ya'll going to te ball?" "Well....lets just say we're going to have a feast for at least a month." "'We' as in all five of us or 'we' as in ya'll?" "The second one,"Boa joked. I hit Boa in the gut. "OUCH!!!"he said,falling to the ground. "The first one,"I answered. Clare laughed."Good." Boa grabbed my hand and pulled me down. "Why you do that?" "You know why."I got up. "What's going on?"a high,squeaky voice asked. We all looked in the direction it came from.Both Haley and Sally were standing in the hallway. "Uhhh,nothing,"Clare said. Sally whispered something in Haleys' ear. "YA'LL GOING TO THE BALL?"Haley squealed. I looked at Boa. "Uh,yeah,"Boa said getting up. "I want to go and dance with the prince,"Haley told us all. "Oh really?"I asked."Then you can take my place." "Really?" "Ye-" "No,"Boa interrupted. "But,Boa,Christal said-" "Sorry,Haley.She has to go and plus you're to young." Haley frowned. "But,hey,you can help Christal with her hair and stuff." "Wait!Wha-?"I argued. "Aww!Come on,Christal." I glared at Boa. He smiled. Haley and Sally each grabbed one of my hands.Sally grabbed the dress. "Clare.Here."Clare grabbed it and went to our room to hang it up. The girls pulled me out of the house,down to a river in our backyard.They pulled at my clothes. "Stop that,"I told them. Sally looked at me."You have to take a bath.I mean look at you.You're filthy." "Hey!" "Sorry but it's true.If you want to dance with the prince you have to be clean." "I don't want to dance with the prince." "You don't?"Haley practically screamed at me. "No." "Girl-gone-crazzzy!"Sally told Haley. "You got that right,"Haley agreed. I looked at them."Just because I don't drool over the prince mean I'm crazy." "Yeah it does,"Haley said. "We don't drool over him,"Sally said. I rolled my eyes at both of them. "Just take a bath,"Sally ordered. "Turn around then." They did.I pulled off all my clothes and dived into the cold water. "Done?"one of them asked. "Yeah." They turned back around. "You know you don't have to stay,"I told them. Sally ran back up the hill and left me with Haley. "You can go too." "I know but....can I ask you something?" "Yeah,sure.What's up?" She hesitated."When you're in love....you-you're not going to leave us,right?" "Of course not." She smiled ."Bye." She ran up the hill just like Sally. I spent twenty minutes scrubbing myself all over.I did look cleaner.I pulled on my clothes and went back to the abandon house. They were eating. Boa saw'll me first."Wow."I smiled for the first time in years.Boa started to clap."SHE SMILED!!!!" They all clapped. "Smile again!"Boa shouted. I shook my head. "SMILE AGAIN!SMILE AGAIN!SMILE AGAIN!"they said together. I couldn't help myself. "Yeah." The twins circled me and hugged me. After that,we settled down,we ate and got ready to sleep.I started to walk to my room when Clare stopped me."You're sleeping with Boa on the bed." "Why?" "'Cause you can't sleep on the floor.You'll get dirty." "O....kay."I went to the other room.Boa was pulling on a shirt."Cover up,Boa." Boa pulled his shirt down and smiled."So we're roommates?" "Apparently." Boa looked at the bed."Do you have a side that you sleep on?" "Next to the wall." He looked at me."All yours." I crawled across the bed and layed down.Boa turned off the light and layed next to me. I closed my eyes and fell to sleep. I woke up to Haley leaning over me. "By time!Come on."She grabbed my wrist and sat me up. "What do you want?" "To do your hair." I sighed."You can do that later." "Christal,you've slept half the day." "I did?" She nodded."It's almost seven." I pulled my hair back."I'll do my hair." "But-" I cut her off with a look. "Fine." "Um,go get my dress." She ran out the room and came back with the dress and shoe box."Thanks.Now get out so I can change." She ran out and shut the door behind her.I quickly changed into the dress and started to do my hair. Half my hair up and half down. I grabbed the shoe box and opened it.Inside was a diamond neckless and earings and a pair of glass slippers.I stared at them for a while and then put on the jewerly along with the shoes. I opened the door and heard two gasps,one "wow" and a"you look.....beautiful." Boa said it. The twins giggled and Clare smiled.Boa just stared at me. At first I didn't notice him wearing the tuxedo.I raised an eyebrow."Whoa,Boa,you clean up good." He smiled."Well shall we go?"He held out his arm. "We shall."I slipped my arm around his. We walked out the house,down the mile long dirt road,all the way to the castle. "You have the bookbags,right?" He nodded. We walked up the stairs, passed the Grand Doors and into the Ballroom.We walked over to the snack table. Boa took off his tuxedo coat along with th bookbags.He hid them under the table and started stuffing one with fruit.I made sure no one saw. A short,stubby man grabbed my arm."Excuse me ma'am,are you single?" I looked at the him suspiciously."Yeeeeaaah." "Come with me."He pulled me to a long line and left me there. I didn't know why I was standing there for until about two hours later when there were two people in front of me.A song was over and the prince came and grabbed a girl.They started to dance. My blood boiled.I stood in line for two hours for something I didn't want. I rose my dress off the ground and walked out of line,across the dance floor to the snack table. Boa stared at me."You already danced with him?" "You knew that line was for dancing with the prince?" He nodded. I glared at him."WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME BEFORE I STOOD THERE FOR TWO LONG HOURS?" He shrugged."I thought you probably wanted to dance with him. "I TOLD YOU YESTERDAY I DIDN'T LIKE HIM SO WHY WOULD I DANCE WITH HIM!"I barked. "Calm down.I thought you were kidding." "I WASN'T KIDDING!" "I know now.Lets get out of here." I took a deep breath and said,"okay." "Go distract the guard." I looked at the doors.There was just one guard.I walked up to him. "Hey,"I said in a sweet voice. "Hello."Now that I got closer I noticed the guard was the kings' annoucer. "Would you like to dance?" "Errr I-" "Come on,please?" He smiled."Okay." We walked to the dance floor,which was crowded with other people.He placed a hand on my waist and slipped the other one in my hand. And then we started to Waltz. When I saw Boa leave the room I opened my mouth to tell the man I had to use the bathroom when I was interrupted by someone. "Nelles,you don't mind if I cut in?" 'Nelles' pulled away."Why of course not." He bowed to me and.........it was the prince!

 

The prince smiled."May I have this dance?" I shook my head. He laughed.Out of nowhere he grabbed my hand and kissed it. I was speachless. He smiled and grabbed my waist like 'Nelles' but firmer and wrapped his fingers around mine. He led. "I happened to see you walk away from the line,were you tired of waiting? I bit my tongue not to say anything that will mess the plan up. "You look very beautiful,"he whispered in my ear. "Um,I got to use the bathroom." He looked at me and smiled."Okay but can I have another dance later?" I bit my lower lip. Lie!

I faked smile."Okay." He twirled me around. He stared at me for a while like he was trying to get every detail of my face. He finally let go of my hand. And what I did surprised him......I ran away. I heard him running after me. I stopped and took off the slippers. "Wait!" I didn't look back.I just ran and stopped outside when I ran into Boa. "Hey!Oh it's you.Where hav-" "Lets go!" "Why?" I bended down and grabbed a bookbag.I grabbed Boas' hand and pulled him. We ran all the way home. Boa stopped at the porch and said between gulps of air,"why...did...we...run..all..the..way... here?" I thought for a moment."The guard was chasing me."It was partly true except it was the prince. "Why?" "'Cause he saw us steal." Boa looked at me."How come he didn't chase me instead?" I shrugged. His eyes narrowed. "I'm sleepy."I walked in the house,dropped the bookbag on the floor and walked in the room.Boa did the same. I grabbed my normal clothes off the floor and went to the bathroom to change. When I came out Boa was already asleep.I crawled over him as quietly as I could. I closed my eyes and thought 'bout my parents,the prince and the.....king. The king...... My parents........ And the stupid prince!

 

Daniel- Mystery Girl

 

 

"Who's the girl-excuse me- lucky

 

girl?"Nelles asked me. I've seen all the pictures of the ladies in the village but.. she wasn't there. The mysterious girl. "My prince?"Nelles said. "I'm sorry,what?" "My prince,would you like some privacy?" "Yea-yes,please." Nelles nodded and left. I moved the pictures aside and got up and walked to my desk drawer.I got an old sketch pad and pencil.I went back to my bed and opened the sketch pad to the first page. I started to draw her

 

christal blue eyes,nose,mouth,head.ears and her light brown hair. I looked at my masterpiece.It did looked like her. I turned the page to a new one and drew her reaction when I kissed her hand. I turned to a new one and drew her all. I turned the pages over and over drawing different pictures of her. I was on the ninth sketch when I heard a soft knock on my door and my moms' gentle,crooning voice say,"may I come in?" "Errr,yes."I closed the sketch pad and hid it under the bed. She opened the door and walked to my bed."Did you find her

 

?" She said her

 

. She couldn't possibily know about her. "Not yet,"I told her. "Do you mean in the pictures or at the ball?" "I mean in the pictures." "Well how does she look?" I was about to grab the sketch pad when my father came in my room and said,"Daniel,may I see your Cinderella." My mother turned to him."Her picture is not there." "If she is not in that pile of pictures it either means she is new to the village,she is just visiting or she is a filthy street rat

 

."My father hated street rats.He never told me why though. "She must be new,"my mother decided. I nodded in agreement. "Then I'll send my finest men to search for her,"my father said. "Like a manhunt?"I asked. "Yes.A manhunt." "Father,may I accompany?" "Mmmm,I don't kn-" "Oh,Royce,let him,"my mother told him. "Alright but first tell me her name?" "She didn't tell me her name." "Okay.....describe her." I grabbed my sketch pad,got up,handed it to him and said,"bye."as I ran out my room,out the castle and into the village. Two hours after I left the castle I found out...............nothing. I looked at my sketches,that my dads men putted up all over the village,and signed. I started to walk back home when I saw a little girl with a watermelon about her own size. A sreet rat

,I thought. She grabbed a sketch of her.

"Excuse me."I said roughly. She jumped and turned sharply to me.Her expression changed from angry and scared to surprise and joyful.Her small round cheeks turn pink.She was small and skinny. "Oh,mmmy prince." My anger left as soon as it came."Hello...........would you like some help with that?" She looked at her watermelon." Ummmmm,no. I got it." I nodded. She looked back at the sketch." Are you looking for Chr-" She stopped herself. " Excuse me?" I asked. Her hazel eyes got big." Nothing." I looked at the sketch to the girl." Do you know her?" Her small mouth opened. Instead of answering the question, she grabbed the sketch and ran down a dark alley.

 

Christal- Kisses

 

I was playing my flute when Haley cried my name. "What!?" I yelled. "Come here!NOW!!!" I ran up the hill. Clare,Sally, and Haley were watching me with big eyes, their mouth wide-open. "Whats going on?" I asked. Clare cleared her throat and said,when no one said anything, " well go on,Haley." "Um okay." Haley turned to me. "I,uhhhh, saw the prince...and he,uhhhhhh, had some sketches of you an-" "And she thinks he's looking for."Sally finished. I froze. "NO." Haley argued. "I know." "How do you know?" Clare asked. "Cause he IS!!!!!!HE LOVES HER!!" I spoke up. "He doesn't love me." "Uh-huh!" I shook my head. She got in my face." Why would he be looking for you then? Christal THINK!!!!!!!!!!" " Haley,he's looking for me cause.......he caught me stealing at the ball." "Oh." Haley and Sally frowned. Clare left. I walked backwards. "Sorry." I waited in the dark alley for Boa. He went to steal an apple or two (or ten) from a man selling them. Boa is an expert at stealing. Its been about 2 minutes since he left. I leaned on the wall and listened to the town people. I heard a cough and jumped. It was the prince. I suddenly felt weak. He smiled. "It's you. It's really you." I backed away. He walked closer. "I'm sorry if I startled you but I....." "What do you want?" He laughed. "I want.........I want you to be my queen." I made a face. "What?" He stepped in front of me and smiled. I was trapped between him and the wall. He grabbed my waist and pulled me to him. Our hips touching. He reached for my head and pulled me to his face. "May I kiss yo-" He cut himself off and kissed me hungrily. I froze.What am I doing?!

" What the h-" a voice said. The prince pulled away. I looked. Boa.

I started to chase Boa but I lost him. As I turned a corner,I bumped someone. "Oh!"a lady exclaimed. "Sorry." "Christal?" I looked at the lady. Mrs. Tiny. "Oh, Mrs.Tiny." She smiled." What are you looking for?" "Ummmm......" She grabbed my hands." I heard the prince is looking for you." I looked around her. "Soooooo,umm- I can't stand it!" I looked at her. "Stand what?" "You not paying attention." "Oh." I caught her eyes. They were dark green. I gasped. I've seen those eyes before but where?

She sqeezed my hand. "I,uhhhhhhh, gotta go." I ran away. I walked in the bedroom.Boa was already laying down. This is the first time I've seen him since this afternoon. I shut the oil lamp off. Boa's head went up. I slowly walked to the bed. "Boa." He didn't answer. I crawled over him to my side. He didn't move. I sat up." Boa." His head turn. I took that as a what. "Why are you mad at me?" He laughed but it wasn't his laugh. It was deep and creepy. When he stopped laughing he said, "seriously!" "Yes." His voice got serious." I thought you ain't like this kid." "Who? The prince?!

 

" "Yeah." "Boa I don't!" "Well letting him suck your face doesn't really show that!" "WHAT THE HELL IS THE MATTER WITH YOU!?!" He laughed again." Nothing." I reached for his throat. He grabbed my hand before I could grab it. He threw all his body weight on me, making us fall back on the bed. His soft lips came to mine. I became dizzy. He let go of my hands and pulled me close to him. His tongue somehow found mine. I moaned. I could feel him smiling. I grabbed on tight to him. His warm arms tightly around me. All the shock was out of me. I didn't care about anything but him and me. When I thought Boa and me were getting closer,he pulled away. "Bo-" I started but he cut me off. "Next time he's sucking your face you'll be thinking of me." I was speechless. What the hell?!

 

Daniel- Secrets

 

Stupid!

I told myself. How could I be so stupid?! Of course a pretty girl like her

had a boyfriend. That's the reason she didn't want to dance with me at the ball. He was there. I seen him. I saw how his eyes lit up when she talked to him. He was so angry when he caught us kissing. Oh! That kiss...

"Hmm-hmmm."someone cleared their throat. I looked at my doorway and smiled. Penelope, my cousin was leaning on the door. " Oh did I interrupted you." She looked around and smiled." Long time no see, cousin." "I agree." I walked to her and gave her a hug. She grabbed my arm and squeezed it. "Have you been working out?" I laughed. " No they come naturally." She laughed. Her laugh was like a tiny bell. I watched her as she sat down on my bed. She looked at me. She looked different since the last time I saw her which was only a couple of months ago. Her heart shape face was the same, her eyes were the same brown eyes, her hair still framed her face beautifully. She cocked her head, making her dark brown curls cover her body showing only her head. She smiled. "What's funny?" I asked. She stood up and walked around me. "A little birdie told me you're in love." I licked my lips. "I am but it's-" "It's what?" She was really close to me. I took a step back. "I don't know." She frowned. "Oh......How does she look?" I looked down. "She has christal blue eyes, dark brown hair, she has soft pink lips.." It slipped out. I looked at Penelope to see if she caught it. Her eyebrows were arched. She caught it. I looked away. I felt her grab my hand. I looked at her, startled. "Do you have a picture of her?" She asked quietly. I pulled my hand away. "Errr yes." I walked over to my desk and grabbed a sketch of her.

I handed it to her. She observed it. Without looking up she asked, "you drew this?" "Yeah." She traced her finger against the picture. After a while something hit her because her eyes got huge, her mouth opened and she got stiff. "What's wrong?" I asked. She shook her head. "Where's you're dad?" "Why?" I grinned. Rolling her eyes, she said, " I need to tell him something." "His probably in his office." "I owe you." She smiled at me, telling me she had a secret that I needed to find out. I smiled back, assuring her I'll find out. She looked down at the picture and frowned. In a low voice she said," do you love her?" "Well......I like

her." She smiled and walked out my room. Curious,I followed her,careful to stay hidden. She walked in my father's room without knocking. She left it cracked. I looked inside. Penelope had her back to me. I couldn't see my dad. "Can I help you?"my father asked. Penelope slammed down her hand on his desk. "Explain this!"she said. "What?" He paused. "I-I don't know what you want, Penelope." "You know damn well what I want! This relationship between them needs to stop." "You- you can't possibly know." Penelope laughed coldly. My father said with fear in his voice," Penelope,do you know something?" Penelope laughed. "Maybe." "Penelope," my dad's voice boomed." What do you know?" "Calm down,uncle!"she said as if she was enjoying it. Then her voice went seriously. "If the people find out , you'll be in trouble. You need to stop them." "Penelope,you didn't answer me. What do you know?" "I know about Natalie and about Daniel." I creep closer.What about me?

I can hear my dad pace. "How? How do you know? Who told you?" "My mom. Now can we get to the important things. Like for instance, Daniel liking his fathers' ex-lov-" "Penelope, I will take care of that." "Well," she said in a bored tone. "I have to leave but I'll be back in a week. This mess better be fixed. I really do care for Daniel,I don't want him to marry that girl.

" "Don't worry. I'll fix this." "Good. Now, I'm going to get my beauty sleep. I'm leaving tomorrow"she said as if she was the king and my father was the villager. Penelope turned and walked toward the door. Where I was. I quickly ran behind a plant. Penelope stepped out the room and started walking down the hall. I couldn't help but notice her hips sway side to side. I swallowed and forced myself to look away. It was midnight and I was still up, wondering about my fathers' and Penelopes' conversation. I needed to find out. I stood up but stopped. I can't ask my father,he'll know I've been eavesdropping.....I should ask Penelope. It'll be easier to get the truth out of her.

I walked down the hall until I reached her door. I knock softly. No reply. I knock harder. I hear some noise and then a sleepy,"yes?" "Penelope, it's me,Daniel. Can you open the door, I need to talk to you." I hear her getting up and walk swiftly to the door. She opens it and smiles up at me. Even at midnight, she was beautiful. "How can I assist you?" She flutters her thick eyelashes. I smile. If I didn't know any better I'd think she was flirting with me. "Can I come in first?" "Hmmmm, I don't know...my daddy says I can't have boys in my room at night." I laugh." Well I'm your cousin. I don't count." She frowns. "Come in." I walk in and close the door. The candlelights were on.She pats at the spot next to her on the bed. I sit down. "Penelope, I overheard my father and you talking. I was wondering what you were talking about. Can you tell me?" "You overheard us?"she asks with her eyebrow raised. "Yes.... well sort of." She grabbed my hands." Lets not talk about that." "Why?" "Daniel, I know thats not the only reason you came here." "What?" I asked,confused. She slips her hands out of mine and puts them on my chest. She pushes me onto my back. "You know what I'm talking about." It took me a while to understand what was happening. " Penelope, w-what are you talking about? We're cousins!" "Oh, there's so much you don't know, Danny," she purred. I pushed her hands away. "Penelope,what are you talking about?" She laughed, harshly. "I can't tell you but I really do wish I could." She pressed her body against mine. Her hands made shadows in the dim room. I squinted to see what she was doing. I couldn't see anything but I felt her touch on my chest. "Penelope, this is not right." "Hush,Danny. You'll ruin the moment." I knew what was coming but I couldn't stop it. She kissed me. My body took forever to react. I jumped up off the bed. " PENELOPE! WE ARE COUSINS! WHY DID YOU DO THAT?" "Daniel, lower your voice," she hissed. " What? No! Tell me wh-" " I'll tell you just quiet down!" I took a breath and walked to the far wall, near the door. "Speak." " I'm not suppose to tell you but it seems your father is too much of a coward tha-" " My father is not a coward," I interrupted. " So you think but once you know-" " Just tell me, Penelope." " Daniel, don't be like that with me." " Well, how am I suppose to react when a cousin kisses me? I don't think they teach you that in in school." " Daniel, I'm not your cousin. You-" " Yes, you are. Unless....are you adopted?" " What? No. Daniel, let me tell you." " Then tell me!" I snapped. " You keep interrupting me!" " Well, I'm sorry but I'm just......I'm confused and...angry. Penelope, I loved you like a sister. Why did you ruin that?" " Daniel, I'm sorry but I don't want you to love me like a sister," she whispered. I shook my head. " And I won't. Not anymore." " Wha-" " Tell the story, Penelope." She huffed. " Daniel.....fine. I'll tell you but don't hate me. Hate your father." " Tell the story or I'm leaving." " Okay! Your father has been hiding a secret from you as you already can guess. The reason I know is because my mother told me. When your father was young, he was told to marry to get crowned." I nodded. " Yes, it's tradition ever since my great grandfather established it but I didn't know we had to marry this young." " Yes, that is right. My great grandfather, William, I believe was his name." " Carry on with the story, Penelope." " Right. So as I was saying, Uncle Royce didn't want to become king but his father, William the second convinced him somehow. So Uncle Royce had a ball. There he danced with every girl and fell in love with this one girl. She had the blondest, straightest hair and the biggest, palest blue eyes. She was a true beauty but she had one flaw." " Wait is she my mother?" " No.....she was Natalie." " Who?" I was so curious I forgot to be angry. " Exactly. She was a street rat." " A street rat? No, my father hates street rats." " Haven't you ever wondered why?" " But if he was in love with her why would he hate them?" " Because she left hm out of the blue. All that remained of her was note. On the note it said she was a street rat and that she was…with a child." " What? Was it hi-" " There's more," she spoke softly. " Go on then." " Well, your father was then ordere to marry or else. So he did, eventually. He married your mother and then a year later they had a baby boy but the baby only brought back memories of Natalie. Your father went a week acting......weird. Sometimes he was a errr, ass which was considered normal for him ever since he became King," she laughed at her own joke but then her voice went back to serious, " but other times he was depressed. It was as if he had two people in him. After a while of that, he sent his army to look for her. He said he wasn't going to harm anyone while doing this action but he did. The street rats. They scattered as he burned down schools and houses. A month later, tired of being mistreated, the street rats rebelled. There was this big riot here, at the palace and during all the chaos, the little prince was stolen." " I was stolen?" " Don't interrupt." " But-" " Daniel, don't. So as I was saying, Uncle Royce freaked out. He went nuts. He sent army after army to search for the prince. He went so crazy that his best friend-what's his name?" " Who?" " The one who's always near him. He looks like Uncle Royce. He has his dark hair and eyes except he wears his long." I thought a while. " I haven't seen him lately. I heard he went to visit Luhrign." " Luhrign? You mean the village?" " Yes." " Oh do you mean Klaus?" Klaus was always by my father's side. He left to go to Luhrign the week before my ball. I don't know how I forgot him. " Yes! Him. Your father almost beheaded him but Klaus yelled ' if you kill me, you are powerless' and your father let him go. The villagers were getting suspicious about Uncle Royce's behavior. He calmed down and sent his personal army to steal a street rat's kid. They came back with......you." " WHAT?" " Daniel, you are a street rat." " No, that's not possible." " Well, have you ever noticed that you do not resemble your parents?" " I-I do. I resemble my mother." " Just the hair, Daniel but even that is different. Yours is more golden." " No, Penelope. You made this story up." " Daniel, think about it. Your mother has blue eyes and your father has black. How can they have a green-eyed baby?" " It could be passed down in the family," I tried to reason. " Daniel, no one in my family has green eyes!" " I do." " We're not family." I grimaced but my voice was surprisingly calm. " I have to go....thank you for telling me this." I grabbed the door handle. " Wait, Daniel!" She cried, suddenly and ran to the already half-opened, half-closed door. " Where are you going?" " Penelope, please move out of the way." " Where are you going?" I forced the door opened and slipped out of the room " Bye, Penelope." " But Danie-" she cried. I shut the door. She reopened it and walked alongside me. " Daniel, we can be something. We're not related. I've loved you for so long just give me a chance." " You're being desperate, Princess." She grabbed my arm. " Daniel, please." I laughed at her. She stepped in front of me. " Please." " No," I said smiling. I bolted to my door. I locked it and ran to my balcony. I jumped down and landed steadily on my feet. I began walking down the path that lead to the village. Maybe I'll find Mystery Girl.

 

Christal- The Prince

 I rubbed my fingers down my flute. It was very old but precious to me. I began to play a fun beat on it. I closed my eyes and felt the music surround me. It soothed me and all my surroundings seemed to have disappeared. My mind was filled with white, cotton-like fog. The music continued its beat as a man with black hair walked towards me. I noticed he was wearing a golden robe. I wasn't scared of him, he showed no harm. As he got closer, though, I could see actual fire in his eyes. Shocked, I almost dropped my flute bringing me back to reality. Who was that man? Why does he look so familiar? I looked up at the gray sky. There was a loud growl nearby. I squinted and looked around. The growl came from the border line that separated the street rats from the villagers. I slowly and quietly walked towards it. I poked my head around the wall corner. A man figure was hunched over near the wall. I held my flute out in front of me. He growled again and hit the wall with his fist. I sucked in air. He's violent. I tightened my grip on the flute. " Uh, hey, man. Is something wrong?" " Who are you?" he grunted. " Who are you?" I shot back. He laughed. " Just go away." " I can stay if I want," I said standing in front of him with my hands on my hips. He stood up straight and paced. " No. No, you can't. I could get you arrested for being out here without permission." If he was violent he probably would have attacked by then. I poked him on the stomach with my flut as he stopped in front of me. " You do know you'll get arrested too, right?" He laughed again. The flute shook under my hand. " What's so funny?" I asked jabbing the flute in his stomach. He grabbed the flute and tried to move it. I poked him again even harder. He groaned. " Answer my question, what's so funny?" My flute was yanked forward. I slammed into his body. I felt warm breath hit my left ear as the man spoke. " Nothings funny." " You're strange." I pulled away and wondered if strange was good or bad. I shook my head. Why am I so calm? I tried to sound angry." Can I have my flute back?" " You can but it doesn't mean I will." " Give me it!" He laughed. " I don't feel like it." " Listen," I said tiredly. " It's morning and I'm tired. That's the only reason you're still breathing. Now don't make me angry 'cause I'll get more vicious than I have ever been before." " But I don't think you can get angry with me. You haven't yet." I was getting irritated. " Don't get too cocky. I can get angry and leash out any second." " Then why don't you?" I stepped forward until I felt his body heat. " Watch yourself now. Give me my flute and no one gets hurt." " Oh really?" I closed my eyes and tried to control my anger. He was pretty confident I wouldn't attack him yet....I was also pretty confident he wouldn't attack me. I licked my lips. " Who do you think you are?" I knew he was smirking. My hands trembled. " Give me my flute," I said between my teeth. He poked me with my flute. My eyes flew opened and I jumped on him. He fell backwards on the ground. I felt around for my flute. The shadow of the wall made it hard to see. Ours hands collided just then. He grabbed my hand and twisted it. I clenched my teeth to stop a cry. He twisted it more. I rolled off him and jerk my hand away. I wasn't completely angry for some reason. I stood up and adjusted my eyes to the dark. I could see the man's figure again. He had my flute in his hands. Quickly sneaking behind him, I kicked him. He fell to the ground on his chest. I quickly sat on his back. " Are you going to give me my flute?" " No." I hit his back. He coughed but didn't bulge. I reached over and gripped my flute. He held his end tight but I was still able to snatch it away. " Okay, you have it. Now, can you get off me?" " I can but it doesn't mean I will." His body shook as he laughed. " Okay." Is that all he has to say? I wondered. I blinked and felt myself being lifted in the air. Suddenly, I was on the ground. The figure appeared above me. He pinned me to the ground. " Get off me!" He ignored me for a long minute." This isn't like me. I'm sorry." He released me and got off. I sat up and watched his shadow. The sun was beginning to rise.  " What isn't like you? Being a jerk? I find that hard to believe." He chuckled. " Yes but you wouldn't know. You don't know me." I started to smile but stopped. " Who are you?" The sun lightly shined behind him. I got up and pushed him back. The light showed he had golden hair. I pushed him further. He had green eyes and an angel's stone features. I gasped and pulled my hand away from him. Prince Daniel. I hid in the shadow. He blinked as the light hit his eyes. " What's wrong?" he asked innocently trying to go back into the shade. " I got to go." He grabbed me before I could turn around. " Don't." I closed my eyes as he pulled me away from my hiding spot. The suns rays gently warmed my face. I took a peek at the Prince's face. His green eyes looked down at me with confusion. I closed my eyes again. " You're-you're mystery girl." I started to squirm. If I lay one hand on him, I'll die, I knew. There has to be another way to escape. I opened my eyes and controlled myself. I stared at his hair. " Prince Daniel, please let me go and you'll never see me. I have a family." His eyes watched my every move. " You're married?" " No." His golden hair looked a bit messy like he barely woke up and didn't brush it. " Then how do you have a family?" " Prince Daniel!" a man's voice echoed against the dirty house walls. I jumped, alarmed. The Prince gripped my shoulders tighter. " Who was that? It was a man, wasn't it?" he asked. I nodded. " He called you too." He slammed my body to the wall. I groaned. He whispered in my ear, " I'm sorry. Just stay quiet." I did as he told me. He let me go and looked around the wall and cursed. I watched as he came back to me. He grabbed my hands and pulled me into the nearest abandon house. I didn't resist for an unknown reason. Once inside the house, he turned to me. I met his eyes this time. " I'm sorry but my father's soldiers are out there looking for me. I don't want to be found and....I brought you in because-well I honestly don't know but you're free to go......if you want to." I bit my bottom lip. He was charming but I was supposed to hate him. " Um, I should probably go." He studied me. " Is this the last time I'm going to see you?" " Yes." " Then I should apologize for my behavior. I shouldn't have kissed you the other day. I'm sorry for laying a hand on you today as well." " Um, thanks?" The room filled with an awkward silence. I stared at my bare feet. " Do you mind telling me your name?" " Um, its Christal." " Christal what?" I looked at him, suspiciously. " Why do you need to know everything?" " I'm sorry. I was just curious." He looked so innocent. He had an angels appearance. I felt bad for being so harsh to him. " No, I'm sorry. I'm Christal, uhhhhh, Maaannela." I made it up. I didn't have a last name. " Christal Manela?" I nodded quickly. " Yeah!" " Well, Christal Manela I really do wish you and I  could of been something. You are very...err....different." " Is that good or bad?" " Good." He smiled and stared into my eyes. I felt heat rise to my cheeks. " Well be careful out there Christal. I won't bother you anymore." " Oh you never bothered me you just........" I smiled. " Yeah you did." He laughed and got closer to me. I couldn't stop smiling. He just had a fun aura. " I'm sorry then. Please forgive me." " I don't know," I teased. He took a step closer. " What do I have to do to help you decide?" " Hmmm what would you do, Prince?" He raised an eyebrow. " Tell me what you want?" I couldn't hold my laughter. He laughed with me. When we stopped, I realized I was in his arms. I cleared my throat and pulled away. " I should go." As I turned to go, there was a high pitch scream. I looked at Daniel. He walked to a window. My head began to pound. It took all my strength to concentration on him. His eyebrows cringed and he cursed under his breath as another girl screamed. " What's wrong, Daniel?" I walked closer to the window. He turned to me. There was more screams. I was feeling faint. " Its just some little girls. They're street rats and my fathers army has gotten them." My heart began to race. I slowly and steadily found my way to the window. I felt breathless like someone punched me in the gut. The prince held me up. " Christal, what's wrong?" " I know those girls! Go tell them to let them go!"My head spun. " I can't! I'm hiding from them!" " Why? They can't hurt you! You're the prince!" I croaked. " I'm hiding from the King." " You're dad?! Why?" " He's not my dad." I shook my head, confused. " Do something, please." " I can't,"he said helplessly. I growled and forced my legs to work. I got up and ran to the door. Daniel yelled from behind me. " No!" I was lifted into the air just as I grasped the door knob. I kicked and punched the air in frustration. The arms around me tightened. " Christal, calm down." " No! Let me go!" I yelled. " Haley! Sally! Clare! I'm com-" " Shhh!" Daniel hissed. " Kicglen, check this house. I heard something. Dant, check that one. Hurry men! We don't have all day," a man with a funny accent ordered from the other side of the door. Daniel carried me farther away from the door. I started to yell again but he covered my mouth. We entered a room and he somehow got us under an old bed. He pulled me close to him, probably knowing I would try to run if he had me distant. I could hear the front door open and heavy footsteps make their way to us. A pair of black boots appeared at the bedroom doorway. I bit Daniel's hand scared out of my mind. He didn't pull his hand away, he just held me tighter. The boots came closer. " Daniel," a man's voice filled the room. The boots kicked the bed. " Prince Daniel, where are you?" The man walked around and then back to the door. When he disappeared, Daniel let out a loud breath. I froze because the man was still in the house. The house was silent for a second.....then came the footsteps, louder each step. " Who is in here?" The man ran into the room. He walked over to a door near my feet and opened it to show an empty closet. He turned swiftly to the bed and flipped it over as easy as snapping your fingers. Time seemed to go by slowly. I looked up and saw a bold, aggressive- looking man. His light, brown eyes showed surprise. Daniel grabbed me and pulled me up. He stepped in between the man and me. I could tell the man didn't know what to do. He kept looking back and forth from the door to the prince. Daniel stood up straighter. " Do not say a word or I will have your head chopped off." " My prince-" " I said not a word." He said it calmly but with so much power that I winced. All my life I hidden from people like Daniel and here I was with him. In the same room, breathing the same air. I took a step back. And then another. And an another until I reached the doorway. I slid out and began walking down the hall toward the kitchen. I was halfway there when I heard the front door slam. I froze. Heavy footsteps made their way my way. I turned on my heel and headed back to the room. The footsteps seemed louder and closer but no one told me to stop. I was right at the door when someone pushed me back on the wall. My eyes opened wider than they have ever before. A greasy looking man glared down at me. His face was wide and covered with black hair. His beard scratched my nose as he looked back behind him. I got a glimpse of an ocean of men behind him. Unlike the man in front of me, they looked professional. They wore navy blue suits and stood up tall. Their faces were hairless and clean. The greasy man looked back at me with devious eyes. My nose felt irritated from his nappy beard. I pushed the man away from me without thinking. He grabbed my hands before I realized what I did and then grabbed my shirt with his fist. He carried me up until my eyes leveled with his. I squirmed. He sneered and then pushed me back on the wall. There was a crack and the whole house was filled with deadly silence. I gasped for air. The Grease man covered my mouth. I couldn't control my breathing. I couldn't breath at all. I tried to fight the man for a while but then he punched my stomach and I stopped. I tried to stop choking. A young boy, around the age of fifteen, appeared behind the Grease man. " General Shnitwit, I don't think its very wise to kill the girl. I think the King would want to handle her." The Grease man turned to the boy without removing his hand from my mouth. " Shut it, Niel." " But, sir-" " Shut it," Grease man sputtered. The boy walked back. Grease man turned back to me. " Now, little Missy, back to y-" " What is going on?" a voice pierced the air. Everyone looked at the doorway. Daniel was standing there looking at Grease man with intensive eyes. " Let her go now." Grease man threw his hands up in surrender. I took a gulp of air and jumped into Daniel's opened arms. He held me as he talked to Grease man. " What were you doing to her? You are informed she is my future wife, am I correct?" Every word Daniel said made his chest vibrate. " I was not informed, my prince. I'm so sorry, I just assumed she was a rat. I'm so sorry, it was her clothing." " Do not apologize to me. Apologize to my wife." " My future Queen, I am so dearly sorry for laying a hand on you. Would you please accept my apology?" I took a deep breath and nodded. I just wanted to get out of there.  " Now that my wife is fine, we have to go." " But my prince,"  the man said, suddenly grinning. " As superior as you are, the king has commanded us to bring you to him. We have to follow his orders." The Prince pulled me behind him. He whispered in my ear one word. " Run." I managed to slip out quietly. Instead of exiting out of the front door, I jumped out the kitchen window. The reason being that there was a group of men standing outside the front door. They would of shot me the moment I opened the door. I landed on the side of the house. I laid myself flat against the wall as I moved toward the back of the house. I could hear the Prince's voice through the walls of the house. I ignored my instinct of staying and listening and kept on moving. As I reached the back yard, I stopped in my tracks, not knowing where to go. I wasn't sure whether to run the way I was for sure the Prince wouldn't go or the way he would go. My gut told me to go right, the Prince would never go in that direction. Mainly because it goes deeper into the abandoned village where the street rats live. I started walking that way when I heard a girl scream; it was Haley. I twisted around and ran as fast as I could to her. I was so concentrated on getting to her that I didn't see Daniel jump out the window. He grabbed me before I could expose myself. He lifted me on his back and ran the opposite way from the girls. I started to cry, knowing I couldn't help them. The Prince ran across the backyard to the left where there was a small forest that hid a bridge connecting the village to my own abandoned village. The small army barely came into my blurry vision by the time the trees swallowed us. You  could hear their heavy steps coming our way. The Prince continued to run. Instead of going across the bridge he threw us into a mud river that flowed under it. I held my mouth close, knowing we had to wait until the army passed us. I felt the Prince grab my hand and pull me up. I gasped for air and went back down. Once again he pulled me up. I heard him say, " stay up until they come closer." The only sound was their steps coming our way and the silent sobs of three frightened girls. I began to shake; out of anger, fear, or just the cold mud against my skin I was not sure. The Prince pulled me down when the leaves of a near by bush started to rattle. You could hear their steps hitting the ground and crossing the bridge. This lasted a couple of minutes but even when they stopped we waited. When I knew I could last no longer and was sure they were gone. I grabbed the Prince's hand and signaled him it was ok to go up. Our heads both came up at the same time. I let his hand go and crawled to land. I laid my back against the ground and watched as the Prince did the same. I sighed and closed my eyes. I started to fall asleep when there was a sharp scream from far away. It came from my head and I started to cry to myself. I let them take my babies away. I didn't fight for them. " Christal, are you okay?" My eyes opened and I saw a dark figure above me. Shocked, I screamed, rolled away and jumped to my feet. I ripped a branch off a tree and held it in front of me. It wouldn't help much if he attacked but it was better than not having anything at all. " Who are you?" The man held his hands up in surrender. " It's okay! It's me, Daniel." The name Daniel made my anger flare. I dropped the branch and ran towards him. I jumped on him and pounded my fist against him. " You stupid man! I hate you!!!!" He grabbed my wrist and somehow got me on my back. " Christal, what is wrong?" " You! You are wrong!" I yelled, crying at the same time. He held me in that position until I calmed down. " Christal, I am very confused to why you are so angry with me. What have I done?" " I....I told you I knew those girls." " How? They are filthy street rats." " I'm a street rat!" I cried out. He let me go as he sat back down on the ground. I couldn't tell his expression because he was covered in mud. I got up to go when he mumbled something. I stop and stared down at him. " What did you say?" " I'm sorry I couldn't help you." " Couldn't?" I glared down at him. His green eyes met mine. I walked around him. " You could of....but you chose not to." " Christal, it's not like that." " What is it like then?" I shot at him. He covered his face with his hands and quickly slammed his hands back down. " Is there anyway to take this mud off?" I rolled my eyes. " Use a leaf, your heinous." He got up and grabbed a big green leaf off a tree. I couldn't hold back a smile as he started to wipe himself. Leaf after leaf he used but no progress showed. " Er, I don't think it's helping." I started to laugh. " You're an idiot." I fell to the ground laughing. He dropped the leaf that was in his hand and laughed with me. We ended up on the ground again. It was the first time in years that I had laughed and it felt great. Daniel touched my cheeks as I giggled harder. He pulled his hand away and smiled. " What," I said after a while of him smiling at my face. I touched my cheek and felt a leaf on it. A ripple of laughter escaped my mouth. Daniel chuckled and watched me laugh. I covered my face. " Why are you hiding?" he asked. " I can't stop laughing." He grabbed my hands and removed them. He stared down at me with those angel green eyes. My laughing started to slow down. " You are more beautiful when you laugh." " You can't even see my face behind this mud," I stated. He smiled. " I meant your spirit." I sighed. " I don't even have a spirit anymore." " You do and it's beautiful." He slowly leaned down and gave me a small kiss on my lips. My heart raced. He then let go of my hands. " I'm sorry. Go ahead and hit me." I surprised him and myself when I reached up and pulled his lips back to mine. His lips were caked with mud. I started to kiss him slowly. He kissed me back but then stopped. He pulled away and spat out something brown. " I'm sorry. I had mud in my mouth." I laughed. " Dirty mouth? What would your dad say?" Daniel laid back down on his back and clenched his fist. I sat up wondering what I said that was so wrong. " Why are you mad?" " Because," he said , forcefully. " All my life, the people I called father and mother were never really my parents. They lied to me. I learn to be disgusted with my own people. I'm furious why my father never told me the truth....I'm also furious as to why he ran my people out." I watched him stare up at the already clear sky. His face was covered with dry, thick mud that was cracked on his forehead. Underneath that mud, he was in deep thought. I also noticed his fist were clenched up. I wasn't sure whether to interrupt him or not. Why do I care? I asked myself. I still felt this pain as I asked, " I'm confused. Why are you mad again?"

Daniel- Finally Getting Through

 I heard her question but I didn't answer right away. I took a breath and tried to think of a way to ignore the question. I didn't feel like explaining again. She should of listened the first time. Christal hit my leg. My anger towards my father was starting to over flow. I clenched my fist again. Christal became more impatient. She began tapping my foot. I tried to speak casual but there was an edge to my voice. " What?" "Why are you mad?" she repeated. I sat up and simply glared at her. " You really don't know? After I just told you?" "No. Now tell me." she met my eyes. I continued to glare. " My father, that's why I'm mad." She looked lost for a while but then shook her head. " You told me that already but thats all you told me. I didn't- well I don't really know what exactly happened so to me you have no reason to be mad." "Oh," was all I could say. I couldn't meet her eyes while I told her the story. When I finished telling her, she didn't speak. I was forced to meet her eyes then. They showed no emotion. Neither did her face. I touched her cheek. Some dry mud came off. I smiled. " Where can we get cleaned?" " You can use a leaf again,if you want,but there's a river near."Her voice was flat. I sighed, annoyed by her sudden change of emotion and got up. I held out my hand to help her up but she ignored it and got up by herself. We started walking along the mud river. By the time we exited the forest and entered the backyard of the house we were just in , I could hear clean running water. As we got closer, Christal kept looking back at me. When we reached the river, Christal took off her shirt. Shocked, I stared. She turned toward me. She was practically naked. I started smiling. "Well are you just gonna stand there or are you gonna get in the water?" I tried to speak but I couldn't. Instead I slipped off my own shirt and jumped into the cold water. The second I stuck my head out the water, I felt refreshed. I looked around and noticed Christal was next to me. She was washing her shirt. I grabbed my shirt off the dry ground and tried to wash it. Luckily, Christal felt some sympathy and washed it for me. I thanked her and began scrubbing mud off my chest and my stomach. At first, I didn't notice someone staring at me. I  smiled as I noticed who it was. " Do you like the view?" Christal blushed and turned away. I laughed and went back to cleaning myself. When I finished cleaning the top part of my body, I took off my pants and boxers and threw them on the ground. I quickly finished and began washing my boxers. I embarrassed her. Now she's mad at me. I laughed to myself and pulled on my boxers. Christal was already pulling on her shirt. I frowned. I wanted to see more. Christal saw and smiled. She put her hands on her hips that I was able to see just seconds ago and said, " what's wrong? Were you enjoying the view?" I laughed and nodded. " Yeah, I was but....you were too, now weren't you?" She turned red and shook her head. "No, it wasn't like that." I walked toward her. She bit her bottom lip but didn't move. I wrapped my arms around her back and pulled her toward me. I wanted her badly. I brought her face to mine and kissed her hungrily. She kissed me back. The sun warmed our faces and the water seemed to be pushing me closer to her. My mind swirled with different thoughts. The kiss was perfect. I thought nothing could ruin it until she pushed me away. I lost my balance and fell backwards. The rushing water kept my head underwater and pulling me away. Water was surrounding me, going in my eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. When I was finally able to get on my feet and stand up, Christal was out of the river with her feet in the water. I coughed up some water and found my way to her. I stopped at her feet. She wouldn't even look in my direction. I laid my hands on her knees. "What's wrong?" I asked. " It's just," she paused. " Daniel, that kiss- it was-" "Amazing?"I suggested. " No, it was a mistake. Both of the kisses," she said, not trying to hide the disgust in her voice. "No they weren't." I grabbed her chin and forced her to look me in the eyes. " You're lying to yourself if you think that." She shook her head viciously. " No. I'm not suppose to like you and your not suppose to like me." " Why?" I asked harshly. " 'Cause you're the prince and I'm a street rat." " That doesn't matter! I can marry whoever I want!" "No, you can't, Daniel. It's a law." She looked away again. "Then how come I've never heard of it?" " I don't know." There was a moment of silence. "Let's just forget this happened." "What? Why?" "'Cause it'll make things less complicated." " Christal, you can't just forget something like that." I tried to get her to look at me again but she wouldn't. " I can't forget." " You have too." " Christal, I'm not the real Prince. I don't have to go back. I can stay here with you." " No." " Why not?" " 'Cause I don't want you...here," she said slowly, looking down at her hands. " You are lying." " No, I'm not. I never liked you and I never will." " Christal, you are trying to convince yourself that you do not like me but just now you showed your true emotions. You kissed me back and you liked it. Both times we kissed today." " No, I didn't. That's why I pushed you away." " You pushed me away because you are fighting yourself. A part of you dislikes me, while the other likes me. Admit it." " You're wrong," she said plainly. "You're being ridiculous now!" She whipped her head toward me. " I'm being ridiculous?! You were being ridiculous when you were hiding from your dad's guards! You're a coward, Daniel! That's what you are! A coward!" "What? I wasn't being a coward, I was just," I stopped. It wasn't going to come out right. "I'm not scared of them. I was just hiding but not of fear." She shook her head. Her eyes were getting watery. "Maybe your not scared of the guards but your scared of your dad! Your own dad! "I'm not scared of my father, Christal!" "Then how come you didn't stop your guards from taking my girls?! Huh?!" "Because I can't stop them from taking them! I have no right!I'm just a prince not a king!" She blinked the tears away and stared at me. "So-so if you were a king you could stop them?" "Yes,it's possible." Her eyes got big. Tears were caught in her long eyelashes. They looked like small crystals. "Marry me then." "What?" I asked, surprised. "Marry me and then you'll be king. You'll be able to stop them from-from killing my innocent girls. Please! Marry me!" "I can't." A tear slid down her cheek. "Please! I mean you wanted to marry me before, why not now?" "Because I want nothing to do with my father now." "Please! Do it for me!" she said, sounding so fragile that I jumped out of the water and cradled her. "Fine! I'll do it for you." She laid her head on my naked chest and cried. Every once in a while she'd whisper, "thank you." " On one condition, though," I said, interrupting one of her thank yous. She lifted her head and croaked, " what?" " Admit that I am right." " About what?" " Your feelings toward me." She was silent for a moment. " You're completely right." " So why do you fight it?" " 'Cause......all my life I've hated the royalties." " But I have done nothing wrong." " Yet," she mumbled. " Christal, I won't do nothing to hurt you." " I hope not." She laid her head back on my chest. " So when are we getting married?" I smiled. " Soon." I woke up to the smell of scrambled eggs. My eyes flew open and I walked toward the smell. Christal smiled at me when I enter the kitchen. I gave her a weary smile and sat down at the table. She set a plate of cold bread and eggs on the table. She sat down on the chair opposite from me and ripped the bread in half. " You know you're lucky I could even steal this. Normally there isn't breakfast." She handed me one half of the bread and opened her own in half and stuffed it with eggs. I did the same and finished eating it in less than one minute and was still hungry afterwards. I watched Christal eat hers. She was almost done when she offered me the rest. I shook my head and looked her in the eye. " I'm nervous about going to the village so I shouldn't eat much." She put it down and nodded. " True. So, um, do you want to go ahead and go?" " Sure." We both got up and headed out the door. It was nice outside. Birds were singing, there was a small breeze, and the sun was barely rising. I walked alongside Christal watching the sky nervously. Each step we took was taking us closer to the palace. We walked passed old buildings and across a large field with dead grass. We walked through an alley that lead to the village. Many people saw me and whispered to the person next to them. Christal hid behind me. " Don't hide," I told her. " You're safe with me." She slipped her hand in mine and walked next to me. I was heading to the palace until I heard a familiar voice. " These street rat were found yesterday sneaking around our village! OUR village! We owe our thanks to General Shnitwit and his obedient soldiers!" There was a roaring applaud. I walked toward the noise and saw a huge crowd surrounding a stage. On the stage was my father, General Shnitwit and a couple of soldiers. They all smiled and waved at the crowd. " Okay, okay. Settle down now," my father ordered. Everyone instantly fell silent. " Okay, now let us bring out the filthy rats!" Everybody booed as ten or more people were lead up on to the stage with chains on their ankles, hands, neck, and everything else you could think of. They were all in poor condition. Christal stiffened. At that moment three girls stood out. One was about thirteen and the two other ones were twins about the age of six or seven. They were hunched over, looking weak. My father laughed. " Okay, ladies and gentlemen, this is not new. You know the procedure! We start with the betting!" Men hooted as a young women around the age of twenty was brought to the middle of the stage. She recoiled as a guard hit her with a whip. " Stand up straight!" he yelled. She did as she was told without making a sound. My father grinned. " Okay! Let us start the betting at five hundred silver maligans!" " Right here," someone screamed. " We have a bettor! Okay going once-" Christal dug her nails into my palm. She whispered, " how much is five hundred silver maligans?" " Depends from where you're talking about." " The country side." " Oh, errrrr, about two hundred and fifty bucks." " Going twice!" my father yelled. Christal frowned and spoke quietly," those bastards think we're that cheap?" I didn't respond. " Eight hundred!" a man next to me yelled. " Ha! She's not worth that much, my dear good man but okay! Eight hundred it is! Going once!" " Eight fifty!" another man hollered. " Eight fifty going once!" " Eight ninety!" the first man called out. " Eight ninety going once!"The bets kept getting bigger and bigger until a tall, weird looking man challenged one thousand silvers. " Well now isn't that big. It might even be a record for the highest bet! One thousand going once!" Silence. " Going twice!" Silence. " Sold to the highest bettor for one thousand silver maligans!" The woman lowered her head as she was taken to her new owner. He took hold of her and gave her a wet, disgusting kiss on the lips. I turned away. " I can't stand this anymore." Christal growled. " I hate your dad!" I cleared my throat and spoke clear and loud. " Father! I've heard you've been looking for me!" Everyone stop their talking and turned their heads toward me. I looked straight ahead at my father.  He looked surprised but then a smile curled up on his face. " Son! Where in the world have you been?" The villagers moved aside and made a clear, straight path to the stage. I squeezed Christal's hand and began to walk forward. Christal yanked her hand away. I looked back at her. " Come on!" She shook her head. " Go by yourself." I stared at her. " Come with me." " Just go," she urged. I sighed and turned back to the stage. My eyes collided with the thirteen year  old girl. Her eyes glossed with tears. I noticed they were green, maybe darker than mine. I walked forward, never losing our connection. She seemed to be studying me. Whether I was there to help or to torture. I tried to show that I was there to help and the message must have reached her because she gave me a tiny smile. I reached the stage by that time.  I slowly climbed the stairs. My father hugged me. " Oh, son. Where have you been?" I faked a smile and turned to the crowd. " I ran away!" People's jaw dropped opened. My father looked at me like I was psycho. " why?" he asked. I forced a loud, fake laugh. " Father, I am just fooling with you! Why would I runaway when I have everything? When everything is perfect!" I sounded to harsh at the end but no one caught it. Instead, everyone laughed  as if it was the funniest joke ever heard. My father smiled. " So where were you  really?" " Well, father, I have been searching for my wife and, my dear father, guess what? I have found her!" There was an explosion of noise. It was a mixture of claps, screams, and, oddly, a band. My father patted my back. " Congratulations, son! Now where is she?" I searched for Christal. I spotted her walking to the back of the crowd. Why is she acting like that? She wanted to get married. I pointed at her direction. " Ahh, there's my beloved future wife. She's the brunette that is trying to hide. Don't  be shy sweety." Christal stopped in her tracks and turned stiffly toward me. She smiled and walked swiftly to the stage. When she reached me, she gave me a huge hug and whispered quietly in my ear, " you'll pay later." I chuckled. " This beautiful woman is Christal Manela. She is from a village all the way across the world! She came here to visit her cousin the same week of the ball so she went and we danced and we fell instantly in love." I looked at Christal. She had tears in her eyes. I held her tightly to me. Many  ahhhs came from the crowd. I kissed Christal gently on the lips just to make the act more believable. I looked at my father. " We want to wed as soon as possible!" " Well, how about tomorrow?" " That would be wonderful!" " Then so be! Tomorrow , my people, we shall have a wedding at the palace!" The villagers cheered. I walked with Christal off the stage. Christal turned to me when we were away from the villager's sight. She looked alarmed. " What's wrong?" " Are they safe? Are my girls safe?" I nodded. " They should have stopped the betting." She gave a shaky breath. " Good. You know I got a little freaked out to go to the stage?" I laughed. " No. The hiding didn't give it away AT ALL." She playfully punched me. " Shut up! You were being a douche bag calling me out like that!" I tilted her chin until her lips were centimeters away from mine. " Was I? I thought I was just pointing out my future wife." She smiled. I licked my dry lips, my tongue slightly touching her lips. She jerked her head away and looked at the ground. " Sorry," I whispered. I put some space between us. " No, I'm sorry. I just made it awkward between us." She paused. " You know what's funny? Just days ago I hated you with every nerve in my body and today... we're engaged. How did that happen?" " I don't know. I guess we were just brought together by faith." I thought for a while. " Christal, what are we? Are we friends or more?" "I honestly don't know. I want to be friends but....we always end up having these moments that....make me feel so attracted to you that you don't even know!" She wouldn't meet my eyes. I watched a bird fly onto a nearby house. " Christal, why don't you just give into your temptations?" She giggled. " My temptations are....uh, not pg thirteen." I jerked my head toward her. She was red as an apple. A laugh erupted from me. " Well, mine aren't so pure either." She grinned but still wouldn't look at me. " Oh really?" " Yeah," I said walking closer to her. " Then tell me, Danny, what your temptations are." " Okay," I said, grabbing her hands. " I want to make sweet-" " Don't say love," she interrupted. " Why? Is it so wrong? I mean we are getting married soon. What do you expect we'll be doing on our honeymoon," I said. I stayed up most of the previous night thinking of Christal and what I could do to her. " Hey, don't think you'll get that lucky!" " Hey, don't think you'll get that lucky!" I joked. She laughed. " Okay, whatever. Carry on, Danny. What else do you want to do with me?" I kissed her finger tips. " After we make love, I want to make you mine. Forever." She pulled her hands away. " Daniel, there's a law forbidding us to be together." " Well, they won't know you're a street rat." " They'll find out, Danny." " They won't! And if they do, what could they do? We'll be king and queen by then!" my voice was getting whinny. " They'll persecute us," she said finally. I stared at her. " I don't care.....as long as I'm with you." " But, Daniel," she said sadly, looking up at me with sorrowful eyes. " I don't want to die." I reached for her hands but she moved them away so I couldn't see them. I stared in her eyes, instead." Not even with me by your side?" She lowered her head. " Daniel, I'm sorry.....I'm sorry for not loving as much as you do, I'm sorry for getting you in this mess, and I'm sorry I'm a street rat." Has she gone mad? I almost choked on my saliva. " What? Why are you sorry for those things?" " 'Cause they're all hurting you." " How? They're not!" I argued. " They are! I'm hurting you when I can't love you as much as you want me to. You're already talking about dying with me for God sakes! And I'm hurting you by getting you in this mess 'cause you don't want to get married, you don't want to see your dad but I'm forcing you for my selfish reason! And most of all" Her voice was getting quiet. " I'm sorry for being a street rat 'cause you can't get your happy ending 'cause this....world we live in....they don't want us to be together!" She paused. She got on her feet. " I'm sorry, Daniel." In a flash she was running away. I barely had time to stand up when she turned a corner. I ran with all my might and was able to see her a few yards away. I picked up the speed and there was a few feet between us. She turned a sudden corner. I was still able to catch up even though I slipped turning. I grabbed her by the shoulders and stopped her. She started fighting so I had to put her against a wall. She kicked the wall but then got tired and stopped moving all together. I turned her toward me. It took a few minutes to catch my breath. " Why did you run away?" " To stop harming you," she cried. " What about you're family?" I wondered. " I was gonna find a way to rescue them." I laughed for no reason at all. " Christal, you...you are so different and difficult!" She glared at me. I chuckled and laid my forehead against hers. " You hide your emotions. Why?" " I've done it for years. It's a habit." I shook my head. " You confuse me, you know. One moment you're smiling the next you're glaring." " Daniel, I'm trying to get you to hate me! You can't love me." " I think it's a little too late," I whispered. " You don't love me. You just.... like me a lot." " I don't know but I'm falling for you. Hard." She shook her head. " Stop then." " No. Stop trying to make me hate you because I can't." She pulled her head away and looked me in the eyes. " You're stubborn, you know?" " No, just when it involves you." She smiled and grabbed my face in her small hands. She pulled me close to her and kissed me softly on the lips. My heart pounded and my head felt so light. When she was about to pull away she bit me hard on the lip. I jerked away. " OW! Christal, what the hell?" She smiled slyly. " That's for calling me out." I woke up and stretched out on my king size bed. I've missed this bed so much! I then remembered Christal slept with me the night before. She wasn't there anymore. Where is she? I got up and ran to the door. I came face to face with her. We could have collided but I stopped inches away. She smiled. " That was close." I wrapped my arms around her waist. " Yeah, it was. Good morning." She touched my hair. " Morning." I picked her up and threw her on the bed. She giggled and sat up. I sat next to her. " Where were you?" " Um, your mom woke me up and wanted to talk." " About?" " You. Me. Us. The wedding." " Oh." I watched her play with her fingers. " So the wedding is today. You excited?" " Nervous," she whispered. " Why?" " Um." She turned red. " The honeymoon." I chuckled. " We don't have to do anything if you want." She gave me a mischievous look. " What do you want to do?" I smiled and got up. " I have to go see the tailor. Bye." She frowned. " Bye." I laughed to myself as I walked out the room. The tailor told me the day before to meet him in my fathers' room so I headed there. " Daniel?" a woman's voice rung in the hallway. I froze. The voice was familiar but I couldn't recall who it was. " What are you doing here? Did you come back for me?" I slowly turned around. " Dammit." Penelope stood in the middle of the hallway. Her hair was up in a messy ponytail and her beautiful face had light streaks starting from her eyes all the way across her cheeks. Has she been crying? She wore a long, powder blue dress that showed her figure. She took a step closer. " Why are you here, Daniel?" " Well, I'm getting married." Her eyes got big. " To who?" " Christal Manela." " The street rat?" she said with hatred. " She's not a street rat, she's from a village on the other side of the world." " What if she's lying?" " She's not." " How do I know you're not lying?" " Because I'm not." She took two steps closer. " How do I know?" " Penelope, I don't have time for this. Bye." I turned and walked down the hall. " Daniel, you can't marry her! She's your father's daughter!" " Penelope, just stop. I don't want to hear it!" " It's the truth." I kept walking down the hall and entered my father's room. The tailor immediately measured me and then handed me a plain suit. " You have grown since the last time I seen you, my prince. You've gotten more muscular." I politely thanked him and headed for the door. " Congratulations on your wedding," he added. I thanked him again. " Have you even given her a proposal ring?" I faced him. " Well, today's the wedding day. It'll be a waste of time to go and do it now." " I understand. Do you have your ring?" I nodded. " I chose it out yesterday." " Oh good." He smiled. I walked out the door and saw my father walking toward me. He already had his suit on. " Why don't you have your suit on? The wedding is starting in about ten minutes. You need to get dressed. Hurry, son." " Okay, but I have a question. What are you going to do with the street rats?" " Oh, I will just skip the betting. Why do you ask?" " Just wondering." He grinned. " Did you enjoy the betting yesterday before you interrupted?" " Errrr, yes." " Well, if you and your wife would like to see it continue then I can repost it." " Oh, no. That's not necessary." " Okay, son. Go get ready." He patted me on the back and entered his room. I quickly walked to my room and got ready. I came out the room and found a butler there. " Ruskle, right?" He nodded. " Yes, sir. Your father has commanded me to show you to your place where you'll be standing." " Okay." I let him lead the way. We went outside to the back of the palace where there was a big garden and a bunch of flat land. There was chairs in rows and a white carpet in the middle dividing the chairs in half. He took me to the front and told me to stay. I waited and noticed people were filling the chairs. They whispered to each other and the young women kept flashing me smiles. I turned my head sideways and pretended not to see them. Suddenly, the wedding song came on. I looked at the aisle but saw no one coming. Did she punk out? I looked away, fearing that that was the cause. I noticed the priest next to me then. He leaned over to me. " She'll come. Don't worry." I smiled and thanked him. It made me feel a bit of relief. I watched the aisle again. No one came. She's not coming. I let my head hang in shame. I really thought she would come. There was a sudden noise of gasps. I looked back up and smiled. Christal was coming down the aisle looking as stunning as ever. She wore a big, pearl white dress and her veil was so transparent you could see her beautiful face. She walked with my father. He whispered something in her ear as he lead her up to me. She nodded and walked the rest of the way to me. I grabbed her laced covered hands and felt her squeeze my hands. I smiled and we turned to the priest. My heart sped up as he talked. This girl will be my wife and I will love and care for her as long as I live.

Christal- Happily Ever After?

 

When I was younger, I used to sneak into the villager's weddings and watch as the bride and groom exchanged vows. I even memorized what they said. Now I was thankful because I was getting married. I was both happy and hesitant. Should I be doing this? I looked at Daniel for guidance. His face showed confidence. I sighed quietly and looked at the priest. He was speaking but I couldn't quite concentrate so I just gave up hearing him and stared at Daniel. He's so damn hot. God! I just wanted to rip his clothes off right there. I have to wait until the honeymoon! Ugh!

My ankles were killing me. The dresser made me wear what they call " stilettos." I don't know why. I could hardly walk in them, they wouldn't even be seen under this gigantic dress, and they made me late coming to my wedding. Stupid things! I can't wait to take them off! Once again, I thought of the honeymoon. My heart pounded fast. I was still a virgin so I didn't know what to do when you have sex. All I knew was that you needed two people. A shiver went down my back as I got an image of Daniel's naked chest. His abs looked like stone. They gleamed in the sun light. A purr escaped from me. The priest glanced at me but didn't stop talking. I stopped breathing. Did I actually just do that out loud? Daniel squeezed my hands. I looked up at him and saw he was smiling. Ah! He's so cute when he smiles! I still couldn't believe a day ago I hated him. I took a deep breath and tried to listen to the priest again. " Christal, do you take Daniel as your lawful husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish until death do you part?" Daniel stared through the veil, into my eyes. I didn't hesitate." I do." The ring bearer held up the pillow that held two rings. I grabbed the one I chose the day before for Daniel. I spoke the words that I've memorized for years but this time they weren't just words. They actually meant something. I slipped the ring onto Daniels fourth finger. He smiled at me and then repeated the vows. He slowly put the ring on my finger. Finally, it was time to kiss. Daniel gripped the veils edges and pulled it up, revealing my face. He leaned in and we shared a gentle kiss that made my bones feel cold. " We're married," Daniel whispered as we walked down the aisle together. I smiled and tried to protect my face from getting hit by the rice the people were throwing. " Yeah, we are. What do we do now?" " Well, we could stay here and speak with the villagers or we could go on our honeymoon. It's your choice." We were getting closer to the carriage that waited in the front of the house. I laughed. " My choice? Then, I chose....staying here." He stopped walking. " Okay." I laughed hard and pulled him to the wagon. We got in and sat next to each other. " But Christal," he said with confusion in his voice. " I thought you wanted to stay and speak with the villagers?" I smiled. " Shut up." " Why? You said you wanted to stay?" I looked at him. " Are you serious?" " Yes, you're telling me to stay but you're pulling me away. Which is it?" " Daniel, I was joking." " You didn't sound like you were." " Well, I was. You take things too serious." " No, I don't!" " Yes, you- Daniel, are we seriously fighting right now?" " No." A smile broke out in his face. " It was a joke." " What?! Ughhhh, you're a.....a jerk!" I pushed him away, laughing. He grabbed me and kissed my neck. I giggled. " I'm sorry. Forgive me, wife." I ran my hands through his golden hair. " Nope." " What do I have to do to earn your forgiveness?" My heart sped up. " You'll see." He ran his hands against my arm. " Okay. Errrr, Furlin, drive." " What?" I asked. Just then the carriage moved forward. " Oh, never mind." Daniel smiled and kissed my arm. I shivered. " Daniel, lets not do this now." " Do what?" he asked, acting innocent. I giggled. " Daniel." " Fine." He sat back and stared out the carriage. " Awww, did I upset you?" I laid my head on his shoulder and giggled uncontrollable. He laughed along with me. " Furlin, could you drive faster?" " Yes, sir," a low male voice answered. I tapped Daniel. " Your eeexcited." He licked his lips. " Maybe. Maybe not." I giggled. " You aaaare!" His smile grew. " Why do you make me suffer?" " I like seeing you suffer." He grabbed my chin and stared deeply into my eyes. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach. " Do you want a kiss?" I was starting to feel faint. His soft, pink lips were inches away from mine. I could almost feel their warmness. I nodded. He let me go. " Too bad. You have to wait. We can't do this now." " What?" I cried. He laughed by himself. I pushed him away." That's not funny!" " It is to me." I rolled my eyes and folded my arms. He teased me for about the next thirty minutes. " Prince Daniel," Furlin spoke. " You're here." Daniel smiled and jumped out the carriage. He helped me get out. " Ugh! I hate this dress," I complained. " Thanks, Furlin!" The driver pulled on the reins of the white horse and drove away. Daniel turned back to me. " I think I can help you with that." Heat rose to my face. Daniel winked and began to walk forward. That's when I noticed we were on a beach. There was a small ship near. I struggled to keep up with Daniel. " Where are we going?" He turned around and realized I needed help. He ran back to me and took my  hand in his. " We're going to a small island I own." " You own an island?" He nodded. " Is it that shocking? I mean I am known as the prince." " Still. Wow. So how are we going to get there?" " That boat over there will take us." " So how do we get on the boat?" We turned right. " There's a dock up ahead." " Why do we need a duck?" I asked, totally confused. " No. Not a duck a dock. D-o-c-k." He chuckled. " Oh." We got closer to what he called a "dock." The ship waited there for us. Daniel grabbed my waist and helped me up. A shiver went through my whole body. I looked back at Daniel. How come he never shivers? Daniel put his hand on my back and steered me to the rear of the ship. I stared out at the blue/green ocean. I smiled as a small fish jumped out of the water.  Daniel pointed something out. " That's a dolphin." Suddenly, a huge, weird looking fish jumped out of the water, twirled in the air, and finished off by making a clean dive into the water. " Whoa! That was amazing!" Daniel nodded. He leaned close to my ear. " I can do that." " No, you can't!" " I know." He grinned. " I was trying to impress you." " Hey, you don't need to impress me anymore. I married you, didn't I?" " Yes. Yes, you did."I laughed at his stupidity. He smiled at me but his voice turned serious. " I've been meaning to ask you a question. What did my father whisper in your ear when he was walking you down the aisle?" A chill went through my body. " He said, um, that I would make a good wife but," I stopped not knowing if I should tell Daniel what I thought of that. " But?" he urged me to continue. " But it sounded as if he was saying I would make a good wife to...him." I waited for Daniel to say something but he didn't. He stared beyond the sea. Somewhere only he saw. " Daniel?" He spoke without moving. " He's been acting weird, lately." I licked my chapped lips. The lipstick the stylers put on me only made my lips drier. You look good, they said. Retards! I let my anger pass quickly and went back to what Daniel said. " You know there use to be a rumor 'bout your dad. That he, uh, never mind." Daniel was too busy staring off but five minutes later he looked back at me. " I'm sorry. What did you say?" " I said there use to be a rumor saying that your dad was a," I laughed. " a sorcerer." Daniel smiled. " Thats crazy! Sorcerers aren't real!" I nodded. " I know but they say thats the reason the street rats rebelled." " But I thought the street rats rebelled because of the mistreatment?" " Well if that was the case don't you think we would of rebelled again? I mean nothing has changed? And if so, for the worst." Daniel considered that. " okay, so lets say my father is a sorcerer. Why would the street rats rebel?" " Well your dad could of done something evil." " Like what?" Daniel was putting some real thought into this. I smiled. " I don't know. It's just a rumor. A really dumb rumor. Ugh, I'm going to take these shoe's off. They're killing me!" Daniel stared back at the sea. I slipped the shoes off and threw them behind me. My eyes wandered around for something interesting but there was only the sea. I closed my eyes for the longest moment and when I opened them I found myself in a room filled with a hundred little kids. I blinked. What's going on? I looked around the room searching for Daniel but all I saw was dirty little kids. They weren't normal kids though. They were a mixture of street rats, children of broke merchants and farmers, and orphans. Most people considered orphans to be street rats because both didn't have parents but there was a huge difference. Street rats lived on their own, orphans had some kind person taking care of them. And street rats didn't have last names, most orphans did. The more I looked around, the more I realized what was happening. I was in my old school gym with my old schoolmates. We were having an assembly but I didn't know the reason. All I knew was that I was excited. " Christal, they gonna call you next," a little girl with dirty, blond pigtails exclaimed. Instead of being annoyed, I was happy to see this girl. Annelie! She used to be my friend. I automatically grabbed her hands. " You think so? I be the happiest girl on earth if they call my name!" I cried. The nine year old girl flashed me a toothless smile. " Definitely! You so talented on that flutey thang! Mrs. Halron can't can't pick you!" Somehow I understood everything she said. A small smile was pasted on my face. The lady Annelie referred to as Mrs. Halron walked to the front of the gym. She spoke loud and clear. " This award goes to my most talented and kindest student I've ever had. This student is very unique and I truly believe she has the power to change this world! And now, I am proud to announce that this years music award goes to-drum roll please." Every little kid, including me, pounded their little fist on their laps. The room was filled with curiosity. My heart beat quickened. Is it me she's talking 'bout? I wondered. I turned to Annelie, confused. " Why this 'ward so special? It just a stupid 'ward." Annelie looked at me like I was insane. " Sometimes it like you have two brains. You know we all want this 'ward cuz Mrs. Halron giving it out." I looked at " Mrs. Halron." I felt some kind of affection for this tall, brunette woman. And I felt determination to get that award in her hands. She's the reason  I  survive the night. I continue to fight to live just to see her. I was startled. Whoa! Where did that come from? I shook my head. I'm going mad. Mrs. Halron cleared her throat and said the winner. The name seemed to bounce off the wall. Christal. Christal. Christal. Christal. Annelie pushed me up. I started walking forth with a huge smile on my face. My schoolmates cheered me on even though some were jealous. I was half way there when there was a sudden noise of explosion. Not like the explosion of claps I got second ago but an explosion of.........a building. I felt something hot touch my arm. I didn't have time to look because the next moment I was in the air. Then with a loud THUD I landed on my side. I cried in pain but no one heard. I looked up and saw fire everywhere. Kids were running and screaming. Annelie was my first thought. I searched the crowd of kids running away, she wasn't there. I forced myself up, crying. My arm was broken, I knew that. I walked around, desperate to find my friend. My arm was hurting, badly. I tried to stop the tears but I was nine, I couldn't hold them back. My vision blurred. My legs were starting to feel like twigs now. Someone bumped into me causing me to fall over. The pain was unbearable. I screamed. There was two hands on me, then, helping me up. I wiped the tears away with my good hand and saw a boy standing in front of me. He was taller than me so I had to look up. He had chocolate brown eyes. I felt protected then. My lip quivered. " Boa, help me find Annelie!" My mind clicked. Boa! Of course those were his eyes! Little Boa grabbed my good hand and pulled me toward a door. " Is she over there, Boa?" Little Boa looked at me for a second then nodded. " Yeah, sure." I yanked my arm away. " You're lying!" I ran the opposite direction. Where most of the destruction was. Something told me Annelie was there and that something also told me to turn around and run. I continued to run to the chaos. Boa was still following me, I knew, but I could easily get him off my trail. As I got closer, I could feel an unnatural force. It was suffocating me. I choked and fell to the ground. I gasped for air. Air. The fresh air that had once filled my lungs. So clean.....unlike this...... I made a horrible realization. There is no air here! My chest tightened. I knew I was going to die. I frowned. I didn't remember my last breath...how sad to die without remembering your last breath. A tear rolled down my cheek and fell to the floor. Boa was suddenly above me. He grabbed me and carried me away from the fire. I watched the fire as we got closer to the wonderful air. Why are you so beautiful but dangerous? I asked the fire. It didn't respond( thank God). Finally, I could breath. I sucked in as much air as I could. I still watched the fire. It was hypnotizing. People kept running around it, some through. I watched in horror as I saw two dirty, blond pigtails catch on fire. Annelie! She screamed and fell to the ground. A man stood near her, frowning. He had black hair and eyes. He was very tan. He looked like he was thirty. I squinted and noticed he had a scar on his forehead. Was he evil? Yes! He's killing Annelie! But how? I somehow knew the answer. Magic. I cried as Boa took me farther away. The pain of seeing my best friend die was far more worst than my arm. I closed my eyes. This isn't happening! When I opened my eyes, I was staring at the sea. I gasped. Daniel watched me. " What's wrong?" My bottom lip quivered. " It's real! It's all real! There is sorcerers around here. One of them has black hair!" Daniel stared at me. " What? How do you know this?" " 'Cause I've seen it with my own eyes! You have to believe me!" He grabbed my shaking hands. " Okay, I do." " You do?" He nodded. " Is this sorcerer evil?" The memory of Annelie's burning head came to me. I nodded, sadly. Daniel walked to the sailor. " Turn this ship around." " Yes, sir." Daniel walked back to me. " You said the sorcerer had black hair?" I nodded. The man's looks were slipping from my grasps but I remembered his black hair. " Christal, do you believe this sorcerer could be my father?" " I don't know," I responded, weakly. " Then describe him." " I can't." " Why?" " 'Cause I can't remember." " Then how are we suppose to know who's the sorcerer?" " I'll know when I see him." The carriage kept bouncing. I looked at Daniel. I just finished telling him all I could remember about the flashback. " I'm sorry about Annelie." " It was years ago. I hardly remember her." " Did Mrs. Halron die?" he asked, gently. I slowly nodded. " They said she suffocated." " What happened after that?" " The school wasn't repaired so they had to minimize the students that could attend. Ages seven to twelve." " So you don't attend school?" " No, but I do sometimes- not all the times- volunteer to help in fund raisers. Like in the talent show I played my flute and raised up about one hundred dollars." " Oh! That reminds me!" Daniel searched in his suit. He took out a long case. It was small enough to fit in his suit pocket though. He handed it to me. " Open it." I held the case. " What is it?" " Open it and see." I clicked the lock open and stared at silver objects. " What are they?" Daniel smile and grabbed the case. He took out the objects and started to connect them. I watched him with wonder. Daniel connected one more object and gave me the silver stick. " A flute?" I cried. He smiled. " Since you lost your old flute, I thought this one could replace it." I smiled sadly at Daniel. " Mrs. Halron gave me my old flute." " Oh, I'm so sorry, Christal. I didn't-" " No, don't apologize. Thanks for the flute."I kissed him on the lips and observed the flute. It was heavier than my old one. It was probably custom made. I put the mouth piece to my lips and blew. A beautiful sound came out. I laughed. " Play a song," Daniel commanded. I put the flute back to my lips and blew again. I flexed my fingers and began playing a simple melody. Then when I was use to the flute, my fingers moved on their own. I closed my eyes and continued blow. The song had a fun beat but the words were sad. Annelie use to sing the song to me. She was a talented singer. Her voice always touched my heart. One day when Clare was sick and Boa forced me to go to school. Annelie sung me a song that said:No need to worryeverything will be alrightjust close your eyesand you'll see sun light.The dark is goneso don't you crydon't you cryI swear if you do, I might die.Don't you worrywe have it allmaybe not moneybut each other,Christal. She used to sing that over and over until I smiled. It was short but her little voice carried it on forever. A year after she died, I learned the notes and played the song when I was sad or worried. It wasn't the same but sometimes I could hear a little girl far away sing the song along. " That's beautiful," Daniel interrupted my thoughts. I put the flute down and nodded. Daniel glanced out the carriage. " We're here." I shivered as I got out the carriage. We heard noises coming from the back so we headed there. The king was seated along with a man with long, black hair and the General who took my girls. A soldier with a gun stood near them. There was a stage in front of them. Daniel dragged me down to them. Somethings wrong. The King smiled at us as we approached. " What happened? Why are you home so early?" " Father-" Daniel was interrupted by a gun shot. The soldier with the gun smiled and put it down. There was a thud that followed. I looked around. What the- I froze. On the stage was the corpse of a street rat. It was a young boy, maybe ten years old. He wasn't moving and blood was starting to flow out his head. I turned back to the King. He was laughing. I shook my head, disgusted. Before I could speak, a girl  screamed from behind me. " Uncle Royce, this girl is a street rat! Kill her now!" We all turned to face the girl. She had long, dark, curly hair that covered most of her petite body. She was truly beautiful but her voice was harsh. She pointed at me. " Penelope, thats ridicules!" the king sputtered. " Uncle Royce, she's Natalie's daught-" " Penelope, hush." The king was on his feet now. His face was turning red with anger. " Oh, Uncle, Daniel already knows about Natalie!" The King jerked his head toward Daniel's direction so fast that his crown fell down to his eyes. He lifted his crown so it was back to its original place. Above his thick eyebrows. " You do?" Daniel glared at his dad. " Yes. How could you keep that a secret from me?" " Daniel, you don-" " Fine, I'll take care of this on my own!" the girl said but no one listened. I watched as she went the soldier with the gun and whispered something in his ear. He looked at her with hesitant eyes. She gave him a sharp look and he handed her his gun. She met my eyes and smiled wickedly. " Ready to die?" The men were to busy arguing to hear her. She pointed the gun at me. I gasped and ran toward the house. My intention wasn't to go to the house though. I looked back and saw her chasing me. My girls, I thought suddenly. I ran toward the stage. They're somewhere here, I knew. I was right. Ahead there was an Army truck filled with people. I spotted my girls instantly. I stopped as a soldier stepped in my way. " How can I help you, my princess?" " Uhhh, c-can I see those three, uh, rats. The prince and I want to have them personally tortured." " Oh, okay." He slowly went to the back of the car. I turned around and saw the girl was nowhere to be found. " Could you hurry up!"He jumped and ordered the girls to come near him. " Could you take off their chains?" He turned to me. " Are you sure? They might leash ou-" " I'm sure." He nodded and took out a key. He began unlocking Sally's feet first. I kept looking back and gripped my flute. The girl was gone. " Here you go, Princess." Sally, Haley, and Clare were free. " Thank you! Come on...rats!" He smiled and went back to his position. The girls and I quickly ran to the front of the palace. There I told the girls to turn right and find a hiding place. I stayed there for a while to stare at Daniel. He was shaking his head. His short, golden hair gleaming in the light. I bit my bottom lip and forced myself to turn around. BOOM! Something flew past me. I gasped. The girl stood near the front door. She screamed and shot the gun at me again. I ran to my left. She followed behind me and shot again. There was yelling going on behind us. I didn't dare turn around. BOOM! It flew by only inches away. I screamed and ran faster. I ended up losing the girl. I stopped and caught my breath. I needed to find my girls so I walked through the village hiding from people. I knew when I reached the other side because of the rocks. You see, if you go to the right from the palace you'll find rocks and cliffs. I walked around the edges and didn't see the girls. I put my flute to my mouth and played one of Haley's favorite songs. A high pitch scream echoed in my ear. " Christal!" It was Haley. She appeared out of nowhere. She wrapped her skinny arms around me and pressed her face into my back. I turned around and gave her a hug. I felt Sally's arms around me suddenly, then Clare's. We stood there hugging for the longest moment. Finally, Clare showed me where they were hiding. She took me to a huge rock. At first I thought we were going to climb it but Clare went to the side of the rock. I thought she fell down the cliff but as I leaned over I saw she was clinging onto the rock. She squeezed her body against the rock and walked farther away from me. I looked at what little space she had to walk on. About six inches. If she made a silly mistake she would fall down about eighteen feet and either land in a small river or on some really sharp rocks. I swallowed. " Guys, this is too dangerous," I told them. The small girls shook there heads and followed Clare. I watched terrorized. Clare slipped into a small hole on the wall. " It's a cave?" " Yep," Haley answered, cocking her head slightly to see my face. " Careful," I warned. She nodded and slipped into the hole. " Come on, Christal!" Clare stuck her head out the wall. I took a deep breath and held my flute in my mouth. I gripped the wall and tried to flatten my body against it but the dress made it difficult. I took my steps carefully. I couldn't see my feet. The dress' fault. When I reached the hole I had a problem getting in. The girls help pull me in. I took the flute out my mouth and steadied my breath. The girls surrounded me. " What?" I asked when my breathing was controlled. Sally stared with big eyes. " What happened to you? I thought you didn't like the prince? Are you married to him now? Where's Boa? Are we living here now? Wha- "Whoa! Calm down. I'll answer your answers but slow down." They laughed and asked questions. I responded but didn't give them much details. " Do you love the Prince?" Haley asked. " Uhh, I....don't but I do, uh, like him." Sally grabbed the flute. " Who gave you this?" " The Prince." " Awwwww!" the girls started to tease me. I shook my head. " You guys need to go to sleep." The twins groaned and laid down on the cold floor. Clare and I ripped some cloth off my dress and put it on the girls. I turned to Clare when the small girls started to snore. " What did the people do to you guys?" She looked at the ground. " They treated us like....rats. They gave us a little portion of food and they whipped us if we were bad." I grabbed her hands. " They're going to pay and I'll make sure they do, okay?" She nodded. After a moment of silence she picked up my flute. " I missed hearing you play. Could you play me a song?" I took the flute from her hands and put it against my lips. The flute was cold. I looked at Clare's face. It was covered with dirt and her eyes were watery. I closed my eyes and played. I played the song over and over. Clare eventually fell asleep and snored lightly. I played louder."No need to worryeverything will be alrightjust close your eyesand you'll see sun light.The dark is goneso don't you crydon't you cryI swear if you do, I might die.Don't you worrywe have it allmaybe not moneybut each other, sweet Christal,"someone sung from somewhere far, far away. I got lost in the song and could hear the voice get louder. It was getting closer. I opened my eye and saw a bright light flash through the cave. The voice stopped and all was silent. I closed my eyes, knowing she won't be back.....not tonight. I fell asleep and dreamed of my good friend, Annelie.No need to worryeverything will be alrightjust close your eyesand you'll see sun light.The dark is goneso don't you crydon't you cryI swear if you do, I might die.Don't you worrywe have it allmaybe not moneybut each other, sweet ChristalNo need to worryeverything will be alrightjust close your eyesand you'll see sun light.The dark is goneso don't you crydon't you cryI swear if you do, I might die.Don't you worry we have it all maybe not moneybut each other, sweet Christal.....To be continued.

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 10.09.2011

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I dedicate this book to my little sister, Natalie.