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Remember Me?
A bright light loomed over my face causing me to squint and open my eyes. A figure radiated in the sunlight in front of me. His short dirty-blonde glowed, and his glistening, pale, blue eyes shimmered in the light as well.
As soon as he noticed I was awake, his face hovered over mine. “You’re finally awake.” He smiled. I sat up feeling scared, clashing our heads together.
“Don’t hurt me!” I covered my face with my arms, shaking.
The boy gently took my arms and lowered them to my sides. “I don’t know what happened to you, but I would never hurt you, even if I don’t know who you are.”
“How can you say that? You don’t know me. I could be an assassin sent here to lure you into a trap with my girlish charm,” I said in a serious tone.
The boy roared with laughter. “You’re funny,” he cried. At this point, he was rolling around in the grass. It looked over exaggerated.
I didn’t think it was that funny.
“Okay, okay.” He tried catching his breath. “Sorry about that. You weren’t serious I hope.”
“No.”
He smiled. “That’s good.”
“So, what is your name?” I asked curiously.
“It’s Zen. And you? What is your name?” he retorted.
“Well, it’s…” I tried recalling what it was, but noting. “It’s…” I felt embarrassed. I couldn’t remember my name. Wait, who am I? How old am I? Where am I from? What the heck happened? Why can’t I remember anything? Now, I was panicking.
“You must have lost your memory when you hit your head.”
He totally lost me. “How do you know I hit my head?”
Zen pointed to my forehead. I touched my forehead and felt dampness. When I brought my hand back, I noticed there was blood on it. “Do you remember anything?”
I shook my head. “Where are we?” I looked around. All I saw was countless of different colors, varying from reds and oranges to different shades of blues and violets. The patches of green complimented each color well. The field we were on seemed like it was boundless; it went on and on, meeting the horizon. With all the lively colors, I didn’t notice the dark forest behind us. It too looked boundless.
“We are in the country of Ursetania. If you come with me, I will take you to the city and help you get your memory back.” He stood up and extended his hand towards me. “If it turns out you can’t, and we can’t find anyone who knows you, you can live with me.”
“Okay. Thank you.” I took his hand, and he helped me up.
“I need to call you by something, so I don’t have to keep calling you by “You” or “Girl”,” Zen said.
I shook my head in agreement. “Call me what ever you want.”
“Hm, what about Rosette? I think it would fit you considering your hair is the color of a rose,” he suggested.
I didn’t like that name at all. It just seemed too old-fashioned. Besides, my hair was really long. If it reminded me of something, that something would be blood. “No. Try something else.”
“What about… Ellie?”
“Okay.” I wonder where he got that name from.
“Ellie it is!” He smiled. “Okay Ellie, come with me.” Zen tugged on my hand, leading me through the dense forest.
“Hey! Slow down!” I yelled at him.
He grinned. “Nope. We need to cover a lot of ground before it gets dark. Many dangerous people use the night to do their evil bidding. It gives them the upper hand. So what ever you do, don’t let go of my hand.”
For the most part, it was quiet. All I heard was the leaves and branches swaying along with the birds chirping. Not much sunlight was able to seep in through the trees, which made it feel ominous. I didn’t like the silence. It bothered me a lot. The lack of sound and the darkness made me feel alone even if I was right next to Zen. I had to say something. I needed to hear his voice.
“So, how long is this going to take?” I questioned nervously.
“What? You don’t like holding my hand?” He joked.
“Maybe I don’t.” I smiled.
Zen chuckled, “Well, I guess you’re out of luck.”
Now that I paid more attention to him, I noticed little details I didn’t notice before. For instance, his laugh was cute. It wasn’t obnoxious. Actually, it was the complete opposite. It was soft and pleasant, yet, at the same time, it was humorous. Zen’s laugh was enough to make me feel self conscious.
Another thing was the clothes he was wearing. They were quite plain. He wore an olive green shirt that looked to be a bit worn since the color was faded, which had sleeves stopping above his elbows. Around the neck seemed to be a tad stretched out, which made it easy to see his black undershirt. For his pants, they were a dark grey. Encircling his waist, he wore a black belt with white trim that had a built in halter for his sword. His shoes were somewhat scuffed. On his left hand, he wore a black fingerless glove that extended just below his elbow. It was mostly likely for when he used his sword. Zen also wore a strange necklace around his neck that was thick and silver for most of it, but at each end had a string connected to it. At the bottom of the string, a pendent was tied on.
His clothes seemed more natural than my black tank top that stopped just above my belly button and my black bulgy pants with matching black boots. My right black glove was torn, so I tossed it aside. I kept the left one though. It didn’t look too bad.
“Seriously though, how long is it going to take to get to the city?”
“Three days.”
That’s a long time.
“I’m hoping we don’t encounter any trouble,” he said worriedly. “But, if it does happen, I will protect you. So, you don’t have to worry.”
“Who said I was worried?” I tried to act cool even though I was a little concerned. Though, I wasn’t concerned for myself; it was more for Zen. Something inside of me made me feel confident, like my head was telling me that I knew how to take care of myself. It was weird. I never felt this way before, but I guess that was because I’ve never lost my memory. “Maybe you should worry about yourself.”
“Confident are you? I thought you couldn’t remember anything,” he teased.
“I don’t remember. It’s instinct.”
“That makes sense, I suppose.”
Gradually, I could feel the temperature decrease and noticed how less sunlight seeped through the trees. We stopped running a while ago, and now, it came to a slow walk. We figured darkness was inevitable, so we took our time. Plus, it was getting harder to see.
Out of the blue, my foot caught on something, causing me to fall. Since Zen was holding my hand, he was able to stop my fall. “That was close,” I thought aloud. “I thought I was going to eat dirt,” I laughed.
“Now why would I let that happen?” I felt my face heat up after he said that.
I shrugged. “Why not?”
He sighed. “Look, I’m not a bad person. So please, give me a chance before you make up your mind about me.”
Zen was bent out of shape from what I said, and I didn’t understand why. “Why do you care about what I think? Shouldn’t knowing how you perceive yourself only matter?” I asked with confusion. “You shouldn’t care about what I think or anyone else for that matter.”
He stopped suddenly, which jerked me and caused me to let go of his hand. “But, Ellie, I do care what you think of me. I want us to be friends.”
“Oh, I see.” I paused, trying to think of something to say. “Zen, I never thought you were a bad person. You just assumed that.”
As he went for my hand, my instincts told me to shove him hard. I was hesitant at first, but when I saw that arrow flying towards him, I made sure he was out of the way. “Hey! What was that for?” He busted out in rage. I ignored him and picked up the poisoned steel-tipped arrow that was imbedded into tree just mere inches away from him. “What the—“
I looked around to see where the arrow could have come from. Behind some thick bushes, I noticed a dark figure. “Come out! I see you!” I yelled.
“Well, well, you lucked out. If you hadn’t have pushed him out of the way, he would have been dead.” A tall man emerged from the shrubbery. “You have some instincts, especially for a girl,” he stretched out the word “some”. “It seems that you have peeked my interest, little girl.”
“Oh yeah?” I challenged. “Well, it seems that I don’t care! Go find someone else to rob!” I screamed angrily.
“Aren’t you feisty?” He smirked. “But, I wasn’t here for you. Actually, I’m here to kill him,” the man declared, pointing to Zen.
“Stay away from him!” I stood in front of Zen, so the man couldn’t get to him. “If you want to get to him, you have to go through me first.” I wonder why I was so protective of him all of a sudden. I don’t know. I just have this feeling about him that I can’t explain.
Zen’s hand rested on my shoulder. I quickly glanced over to him. “Ellie, let me take care of this.” He drew out his sword and pushed me to the side.
“Fine.” I found a log to sit on and watched them fight each other. Really, I was pouting because he just pushed me to the side. It was like he had no faith in me, like I was useless.
The man swung his sword. Zen blocked it. It seemed that this pattern continued for a really long time until Zen turned to the offensive side. For a while, Zen was winning. Then, the man kicked dirt into Zen’s face, which blinded him. This gave the vile man an opening. Before he could lunge the sword into him, I jumped in the middle and caught it. Then, I quickly shoved it backwards, making the man back petal. “Ellie?”
“Let me take care of this guy,” I spoke with a grin. Neither the guy nor I waited for Zen to answer. The instant the man swung his sword, I grabbed the sword out of Zen’s hands and defended myself. “Sorry, I need to borrow this.”
Zen just stood there speechless. It wasn’t hard fighting the man. Somehow, sword fighting was natural to me. It felt like I’ve been doing it for a long time. My instincts were right. I did know how to fight, and it wasn’t long before I hit the sword out of his hands. The constant hacking made his hands numb, so it was not difficult to make him drop it on the final blow. Quickly, Zen took the man’s sword.
“Who hired you?” Zen yelled.
“No one hired me.”
“Then why do you want to kill Zen?” I chimed in.
“Because, if he goes down, then his supporters will diminish; and my faction will gain control. It’s as simple as that,” he explained.
“So really, it’s a fight for power,” Zen figured out.
“That’s exactly what it is!” the man roared.
Next, the man came at me with a kick to the chest. I dropped the sword and caught his foot, shoving it upwards. This caused him to fall on his back. He quickly turned falling into a swivel kick, but I was able to dodge it with two back flips. He came at me again, this time with fists of fury. What looked like a hundred punches, were aimed directly at me, and I was able to block each one. Once I found an opening, I took out his legs and ended the fight my punching him in the face, so hard that it knocked him unconscious.
“Let’s go, Zen.” I picked up his sword and offered it to him. He didn’t notice at all. Instead, he was staring at me with a blank expression. “Hello, Zen?” I nudged him with the pommel of the sword.
His eyes met mine. “Sorry. You just....” He trailed off, not knowing what to say. Instead, he just smiled. I punched him lightly on the shoulder, but enough for him to feel it. “Ow! Hey, what did you do that for?” He complained.
“Because,” I began. “You didn’t have any faith in me. You just pushed me to the side,” I explained. Actually, the main reason was because the way he was looking at me made me feel uncomfortable. “That really pissed me off.” I started walking ahead without him.
Zen easily caught up to me. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I’m usually the one who is always protecting others, particularly girls. It’s strange for me to be the one protected, especially by a girl,” he clarified. “I won’t do that again; I promise. You can fight by my side from now on.”
I felt overjoyed, so much that I hugged him. “Thank you so much.” When I let go of him he had this dumbfounded expression on his face. “What?” I asked nervously. “Was that wrong of me to do that?”
“No, no. I just didn’t expect it is all.” He took my hand is his.
I didn’t understand why he held my hand. Originally, it was self reassurance to make sure I was safe. But, now he knows I can take care of myself. Unless, he still doesn’t have faith in me, and what he said was a lie. That jerk! I fight better than him. Immediately, I pulled my hand away and crossed my arms.
“Ellie?” Zen didn’t understand my motives.
“What?”
“Did I upset you?”
“Just a bit. Why do you have to hold my hand? Do you think by doing that it will keep me safe? I can handle myself! How many times do I have to tell you that?” I was extremely irritated. Nothing he said now would lighten my mood.
“That actually didn’t come to mind. I know you can defend yourself.”
“Then why?”
“Well, because,” he started. “I… like…,” he trailed off.
“What? You like what?”
He looked down at his feet. “I like holding your hand,” he admitted, bringing his eyes back to me.
“Oh.” That completely caught me off guard. I didn’t feel irritated anymore. “Sorry for blowing up in your face again.” I offered him my hand, and he gladly took it.
“It’s fine. You are pretty cute when you’re mad.” Zen laughed. Thank God it was dark, so he couldn’t see my face turn red.
We kept walking until we found a wooden shack. “I guess we are sleeping here for the night,” I said quickly, so I could change the subject.
I hurriedly opened the door since I was really tired. All I wanted to do was sleep. To my surprise, it came off the hinges, and I was still holding it by the handle. When I slowly glanced back at Zen, he began laughing really hard to the point he was crying. “Ellie, you have to admit, that was pretty hilarious.”
“Zen! I broke the door! There’s nothing funny about that!” I yelled feeling embarrassed.
He immediately came to my side. “Don’t worry about the door. Besides, it would have happened to anyone. This shack is old and decrepit. The wood is rotted, and the nails are all rusted.” He took the door from me and leaned it against the shack. “We should get some rest. We need our strength for tomorrow.” He walked inside and I followed.
“Shouldn’t we build a fire; you know, so we don’t freeze?” I shivered.
“The shack is made of rotted wood. One spark would set it a blaze,” he informed me.
“Oh,” I said disappointed.
His eyes shifted to me. “You’re shivering.” Zen’s hand touched my face. “You’re freezing.” He took my hand and led me to wall. Both of us sat against it. Then, he wrapped an arm around my shoulder. “It may not be much, but at least it’s something.”
Whoa, he was warm. How can someone be this warm on this cold night?
It stayed quiet for a long time. I couldn’t tell if he was sleeping or just sitting against the wall awake. I wanted to say something but was afraid to in case he really was sleeping. “Are you still cold?” He managed to say.
“No. Thank you for keeping me warm.” I could tell that we were going to be good friends in the future. It’s just a feeling I have.
“You are most welcome.” If I could see him, I bet he is smirking right about now. He has a tendency of doing that. I guess that was part of his happy-go-lucky personality, which I admired so much. He is always calm unlike me. I’m constantly stressing out over stupid things. For instance, I over react every time Zen says something benevolent because I take it the wrong way. I don’t know why I do that.
“God! This is so frustrating!” I reminisced while hitting myself on the head, hoping that some sense would be knocked in to me.
I felt his hand grab mine in the dark. “What are you doing?” He spoke with humor in his voice.
“I’m so stupid!” I used my other hand to hit my head. He stopped me. Both of his hands detained mine. “Let me go!”
“Nope,” he said simply. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Now, I felt embarrassed. I didn’t want him to take notice but he did. What do I do now?
“Well, I’m not letting you go until you tell me.”
“You really want to know?” I offered. He nodded. “Fine. I’ve come to the realization that I’m stupid, very, very stupid.”
He chuckled, “What? No you are not.”
“Uh, yes I am. I overreact and stress myself out over dumb things.”
“That doesn’t make you stupid. You’re just a bit high-strung. There’s nothing wrong with that.” He let go of my hands. “Look, you’re not the only one like that. I stress myself out and I too overreact. The only difference is that I don’t voice it.”
Okay, there was no way that was true. “How can that be true? You are a happy-go-lucky person.”
“Sometimes. But, not always. Like… when you’re with me, I get stressed out. It has nothing to do with you. It’s just that I keep telling myself that I have to protect you, and you don’t need it. Or the fact that I like you, but I don’t know how you really think of me.” He sighed. I could tell he was nervous.
It hasn’t even been a day. So how could he already like me? It’s strange. When I’m with him, it feels like eternity. Unless what he means doesn’t mean anything special, like it’s a common “I like you”, which also means “I think you’re cool”. Ugh, I’m thinking way too much in to this. “Zen, I know you’re a good person, so please don’t stress out.”
“But how do you really know that? You’ve only known me for ten hours.”
“Because… you are kind. You treat me like I am precious to you even though you don’t know who I am,” I rested my head on his shoulder and shut my eyes.
“I know who you are,” he whispered. It felt like I was dreaming because I’m not even sure he actually said that. Zen kept me warm, so I was able to sleep comfortably.
The sound of Zen’s sword bumping against the wall startled me. I opened my eyes. The sunlight entering through the door made it difficult to see. But, what I could barely make out was two figures holding Zen against his will with a hand covering his mouth. “You idiot! Why didn’t you wake me up?” I yelled. When I noticed tears flowing down his face, I immediately felt guilty for yelling at him. Although, it did surprise me that he was crying. From what I could see, he didn’t look injured.
For some reason I had the sudden urge to react, as if someone was about to attack me. My instincts haven’t failed me yet. With a quick hand, I caught the blade that was aimed at my neck and glanced up at the person who swung it at me with great displeasure. I shoved the blade into him, and he dropped at once.
Now, I was pissed. I charged at the two men holding Zen captive. One quickly pulled a knife to his throat; I instantly stopped. “Make another move, and he is dead,” the man holding the knife said.
I subtly pulled out the sword that was lunged into the deceased man. “I’m warning you!” He yelled touching the knife to Zen’s skin.
I grinned. There was this feeling of winning inside of me, which made me feel extremely confident. “What are you smiling at?” the other man roared.
“I was just wondering something.” I glanced at Zen once more to see if he was alright. His tears had dried up, and it seemed like his mind was in synch with mine. “How good is your hand-eye-coordination?” I whipped the sword at the armed man, piercing him through the head. This gave Zen the chance to take out the other guy with his sword.
Once everything was settled, Zen came to my side. “Are you alri—“
“Do you know how stupid you are?” I bellowed. “You could have been killed! Forget about your stupid pride! If you need help, let me help you!” He probably doesn’t even care that I was worried. That idiot. His eyes searched mine, most likely unsure what to say. “Oh, and another thing—“
He pulled me closer to him by my black tank top and crushed his lips against mine. “Please shut up,” he breathed and kissed me again with his hands moving to my cheeks. As he pulled away, my eyes searched his questioningly.
H-he just— But why? “Your real name is Rosette René Lexi, but you changed it to Ellie René when you were thirteen because you thought Rosette was too old-fashioned. Your original name was picked because it was supposed to resemble what your hair color reminded your parents of, which was a rose; but, you thought it looked more like blood.”
I became stunned and stepped away from him. “How do you know all of this?”
“Because, we are childhood friends.”
“If we are childhood friends, then why did you kiss me?” I didn’t believe him. How could I have forgotten someone as important as Zen?
“I’ll tell you as soon as you get your memory back.”
“What? No! I want to know now!” I yelled.
“No,” he sighed. “Not yet.”
“How come you didn’t tell me who I was when you found me?” I was so frustrated that I began to cry.
“At first, I wasn’t sure it was you because the last time I saw you was four years ago. You looked so different from the last time I saw you. You usually kept your hair short, but now, it’s really long. You’ve even become more beautiful.” He looked completely stressed out. I wonder if he thinks that I hate him now. Sure, I am mad, but I don’t think I could ever hate him.
“Why did I leave?” I questioned. If what he is saying is true, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have left him without a very good reason.
“You left the city in order to become an assassin.”
So I am an assassin. Pretty ironic if you ask me, especially because I was joking about being one yesterday. “Oh.” I guess that does explain a lot of things.
“Oh?” he sounded confused. “Ellie, aren’t you overwhelmed?”
“No. I’m just angry you didn’t tell me right away.” I hit him lightly. Well, I thought it was lightly.
“Ow,” he winced. “I totally disserved that.”
“Yes, you totally did.” It turns out that I do believe him. He knew what I was thinking when he tried giving me Rosette for a name.
“We should be on our way. We have the whole day ahead of us.”
I nodded.
We walked for hours and hours through the dense forest until we came upon an opening of vast, green fields with wildlife roaming them and trees widely dispersed. Rays of sunshine brought out the different shades of green and yellow. Even the miniature flowers showed off their bright colors. The sight of a deer walking slowly with its young near the trees made my stomach growl. I felt horrible for even thinking about harming it for food, but it felt like I haven’t eaten for weeks.
I did my best to not think about it. It was hard though. The lack of food made my body weak. I needed my strength in case someone were to attack Zen again. I took Zen’s hand and ran towards the closest tree hoping there was some kind of fruit on it.
Not only were there fruit on the tree, the tree provided enough shade for the both of us. I reached for the nearest fruit. Before I could take a bite, Zen grabbed it from me and threw it as far as he could. “Hey, why’d you do that?”
“The unripe ones are toxic.” He cut down a branch that had bright, pink, oval fruits on it. “These are the ones that you can eat. Anything other than this, don’t eat it. You’ll get deathly ill if you do.”
“Oh. Ha ha,” I laughed feeling uncomfortable. “Thanks.”
He nodded with a smile.
We split the fruits in half and ate all of them that were on the branch. I felt completely replenished. Zen then cut a few more down to take them on the road with us.
In the far distance, I spotted a lake. I immediately took off running without waiting for Zen. My bodily odor was starting to reach its peak. I really needed a bath. If I was lucky, I could catch some fish too.
“Ellie! Wait for me!” Zen screamed. I stopped three-fourths of the way. It was comical watching him run with the fruits bobbing up and down on the branch he held over his shoulder. I pouted with my arms crossed as I waited. All I wanted to do was jump in the lake instead of roasting in the sun as Zen caught up. When he caught up he needed to catch his breath. “Don’t run off without giving me some inkling of where you’re going,” he huffed.
“Fine.” We walked the rest of the way there.
I asked for his sword as soon as I got to the edge of the water. He handed it over without any questions. Instantaneously, I dove in. The water was just right. It cooled my skin down and felt amazing flowing through my hair. It made my scalp tingle.
I stabbed the first fish I saw. It was a good size too. It was bigger than me. One stab wasn’t enough to take it down. It started coming after me with its mouth opened wide, which was full of razor-sharp teeth. I didn’t panic. I lunged the sword into its head, killing it instantly. Blood streamed out of both wounds making it harder to see. That didn’t matter though. I was still able to reach the top.
Zen was shocked when I came out of the water with a giant fish slung over my shoulder, but that soon went away. He began laughing. “I’m still full from eating all that fruit.”
“More for me then.” I used Zen’s sword to cut the scales off. After that was done, I cut off a giant piece and ate it happily.
“While you do that, I’m going in for a swim.”
“Have fun.” He took off his shirt and threw his belt to the side.
A giant scar on his chest captured my attention. It extended from his right shoulder to past his belly button. I stopped what I was doing to get a closer look. He figured me out right away as soon as I touched his scar. In that moment, flashes of pictures clouded my vision.
There was someone swinging a sword at a couple, killing them. Then, that someone came after me. A boy who looked like Zen and was around twelve years old jumped in front of me, taking the blow. He collapsed in that second. Blood was everywhere. Everything was hazy. I think I was getting my memory back. This had to have been how Zen got that scar. He was protecting me.
Now I remember why I left. I wanted to be strong enough to defend myself and the people I love, so I trained to become an assassin. Also, it was so I could get revenge on the person who killed my parents and for hurting Zen. Unfortunately, that’s all I remember.
“Ellie, you remember?” he said wiping the tears from my face.
“Yeah, but only a little. Someone killed my parents and you jumped in front of me just as I was being attacked.”
“Yes.” His hand fiddled with something in his pocket. “Do you remember this?” He pulled out an aqua-jeweled dragonfly clip. Another set of flashes filled my head.
I watched as a younger Zen competed in a sword duel. Each opponent was easily defeated, one by one. As a prize, Zen received that same clip.
There was a display of fireworks that same night, and during the finale, he pinned a section of my hair up with the clip and displayed that stupid grin he always shows.
“I do.” Soon enough, everything started coming back. I had found the person responsible for the death of my parents and the near death of Zen. He went by the name of Aeto Chularen. He was disguised as a member of the council hired to kill the head of the council who just happened to be my father. We engaged in battle, and I was winning until something went horribly wrong. He played a dirty trick by throwing sand in my face. Aeto had this pouch full of sand in case he got into a desperate situation where he was over-matched. That’s when he must have knocked me out.
“That’s good. I was afraid you wouldn’t remember.” I’m surprised Zen was the one who found me.
Zen, I could never get tired of saying his name. “Zen! I missed you so much.” I hugged him tightly. “I can’t believe I didn’t remember you. I was scared.”
“I missed you too.” He squeezed me tighter. “Everything will be alright now.” His breath on my neck gave me chills. “Before you left, there was something that I wanted to tell you. I just couldn’t bring myself to say it, and it eventually became too late. But now, I can say it.”
I chuckled because I knew what he was talking about. “You’re going to say, Ellie, I love you so much that I would go to the ends of the Earth for you,” I said dramatically, throwing my hands up and then bringing them to my heart.
He scratched his head. “Not in those exact words. And hey! I don’t really sound like that.”
“I know. I just thought it was funny.” I grinned.
“Oh.” He sounded disappointed.
“Anyways, the only reason I know is because I saw you practicing in front of Fletcher one day. It was quite comical to watch.” Fletcher was also one of our childhood friends. He was the oldest out of the three of us and was a great companion. He sometimes acted as a guidance counselor. “What has he been doing all this time?”
“He joined the army. Lately, he’s been taking on dangerous missions.”
“Oh, I see,” I lowered my head.
“Ellie,” he paused. “Do you have feelings for Fletcher?” Idiot! I have feelings for you! Not him! Why would I have feelings for Fletcher anyways? I just respect him is all! I aimed a punch at Zen’s face for being stupid. It really angered me that he didn’t figure out the signs. It was freaking obvious. He caught my fist. “Is that a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’?”
“You really piss me off. Of course it’s a ‘NO’!” I ran back to my fish and continued eating it.
“Does that mean you have feelings for me then?”
“Of course it does!” I threw a chunk of fish at Zen’s head. “Jeez, how dense are you?” I said with a mouth full of fish.
I laughed when the chunk hit him on the head. He smiled back.
“Hey! You two!” A man’s voice called out to us. “Do ya’ need a ride back to the city?” An older man walking alongside two horses came up to us.
“Wow, it must be our lucky day,” Zen spoke with excitement. “Yes, we would be most grateful if you would allow us to accompany you.” He put everything back on.
“Would you like some fish?” I offered him a large piece.
“Why thank you very much. It’s been days since my last meal.” The kind man quickly ate it. “My name is Cieg. Who might you young’ns be?”
“I’m Zen and this here is Ellie.”
“You two lovers?” He asked.
“I’d like to think of us as lovers,” Zen smiled.
“Yeah, sure, what he said.” My mouth was full of fish again.
Both of them laugh. “She’s a keeper,” Cieg cracked up.
“I know.”
After all of the chatting, we were able to get a lift. Zen and I took one horse, while Cieg took the other. At full gallop, it took twelve hours to get to the city. The fruit we gave the horses gave them plenty of energy.
The guards on the night shift welcomed us. “Prince Zen? Is that you?” One of them asked full of enthusiasm.
“Yes, it’s me.”
Wait, what? “Zen, why did he call you prince?”
“About that… Well you see, after you left, I found out that my father is the king. He slept with one of the maids, and she gave birth to me; but, the king and his family denounced me, keeping me a secret from society. Since, my half brother died a while ago, they decided to acknowledge me.” No wonder he kept being attacked. They were trying to eliminate the last heir to the throne.
“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” I smacked him.
“Because, I didn’t want you to think any different of me,” he said desperately.
“And why would I do that? Zen, you’re my best friend. You should know I would never do that to you.” It’s obvious he doesn’t trust me. How can I be with someone like that?
He sighed. “Look, when Fletcher found out I was a prince, he completely changed. I just didn’t want the same thing to happen to you.”
When I see that stupid idiot again, I’m going to give him a beating. Fletcher is going to wish he was never born. “Don’t worry, I won’t change. I promise.”
“Ellie? Is that you?” Another guard called out.
“Yes, it’s me.” The voice sounded familiar. “Uncle Grey?”
“Oh my God, it really is you.” He helped me off the horse and hugged me.
“It’s been a long time.”
Uncle Grey was the one who took care of me after my parents were killed. He is my father’s younger brother who works the night shift as a guard, so I never got to see him during the day. I left without telling him where I was going. He probably was really worried.
“My prince, your father is very angry at you for suddenly disappearing,” Uncle Grey informed him.
Zen jumped off the horse. “Thank you very much for the ride,” both Zen and I said.
“You can keep the rest of the fish,” I offered. It was tied onto the horse’s saddle and I didn’t feel like untying it. Also, it was a thank you gift.
“Why thank you.” Cieg smiled. “Now you young’ns take care, ya’ hear?”
“Yes, we will,” Zen assured him. We waved goodbye.
Three guards accompanied us to the palace. The city was quiet and dark except for a few lanterns. All we heard were the footsteps on the fancy decorated pavement constructed of limestone. The natural, colored lines created many different shapes.
I could tell from Zen’s expression that he didn’t want to see his father yet. We glanced at each other, knowing what the other person was thinking. Zen took my hand, and we made a break for it. The guards chased after us of course. I jumped on top of the giant arbor with plants weaved through it and ran across it, which extended over a large pond that had a marble statue of the king in the middle of it, while Zen swung across the bars. From there on, we continued running to our secret spot where only Zen, Fletcher, and I knew of.
This place was just as I remembered, but with a few additions Zen added. We were surrounded by plants that kind of encircled us like a maze. The hedges were tall enough where they towered over us and the bright, light, purple flowers that were embedded throughout the hedges glowed as the light from the string of miniature lanterns hit them.
“Where did you get these lanterns?” I questioned with amazement.
“I had them specially made.”
In the dark, this place was so much better. The moon added necessary light that brought out the green in the leaves. “This place is—“ I was speechless.
“Ellie, would you please do me the honor in marrying me?” Oh my gosh! He just proposed to me! Of course I will marry him.
“Zen, we are only seventeen years old. Isn’t it a bit early?” Really that didn’t matter to me. I just didn’t want to sound too anxious.
“If it’s too early for you, we don’t have to get married right away.” No, let’s get married right away. I’ve been waiting for this day since I was nine years old.
“I’m just kidding. I’m ready when you are.” I smiled happily.
He brought his hands to my cheeks and stared into my eyes. It wasn’t long until his lips connected to mine. “I love you,” he whispered.
 AnimeFreak4Real · Mon Jun 13, 2011 @ 10:00pm · 0 Comments |
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Resonance
A flame of united souls
Wielded by any mortal
Is stronger than words
And can be heard a mile away;
There are no coincidences,
It is fate;
Meeting that special one is destiny
With destinations always intertwining;
When there are lies and disguises
Kicking the twisted world;
Being together will help break the trance;
But, if faced alone, too,
A kind hand will be extended;
Promises are made
Because there is no tomorrow,
More than yesterday;
Believe a little more in the extra bonds.
If the flame of united souls
Wielded by any mortal,
Is a harmony stronger than words;
Is it being heard now?
AnimeFreak4Real · Mon Jun 13, 2011 @ 09:30pm · 0 Comments |
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POPCORN-FLAVORED LOLLIPOPS
Who was the bright one to say, "Hey, I have an idea. Let's make popcorn flavored lollipops." ? It's sooo unethical.You got all these different fruit flavors, butterscotch, root-beer, bubble gum, cotton candy, and maybe there's chocolate. Then, after all those flavors that make complete sense, there's POPCORN. Who the ******** thought that was a good idea?
So, you see bag of lollipops or someone's handing them out, and all you're thinking is "Anything but the popcorn flavored one. Please God, help me. I don't care if I'm allergic to cherries, I'll take the cherry one over popcorn. I don't care if I die." You build up all this anxiety over a shitty lollipop, and you feel crappy because you made yourself sick. Now, if you get a normal lollipop, you can't eat it because you feel sick. Once you get the popcorn flavored one, you're DONE! All that's left to do is throw it away because no one will dare trading with you. It's all over. Or, you get a mystery flavored one and you're all happy because you like guessing what it is from the color you can barely see through the wrapper. When you see the yellow-brownish tint, you know you're in trouble. You are probably thinking, "Please be mango or root beer." But, no, it's POPCORN. You thought you could escape it's wrath by getting the mystery flavor, but no cigar.
Why couldn't they just make another fruit flavor like Kiwi? Or even better, get one of those fireball candies and just add the stick. How hard is that? What i think is they were trying to get every color in the rainbow, and when they got to that color they were dumbfounded. So, they just added that nastyyyy flavor in. I guess the flavor orange wasn't good enough. Or even make coke a flavor. Seriously, what is wrong with people?They should at least put a warning label on the wrapper. "WARNING! May cause you to throw up!" xp
AnimeFreak4Real · Mon Jun 13, 2011 @ 09:07pm · 0 Comments |
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