“Oh me, oh my,” Alan sighed as she lay down on her bed after a nice cold shower after an exceptionally hard work out. She felt herself dozing as she heard her mother’s calls for dinner. Alan rushed to put clothes on before scurrying down the stairs hoping that this night would not be a normal night for her.

“You call this food? It’s more like dog shit! What’s your problem woman,” her father said calmly at first then it escalated into a yell. Her reflexes were quick enough by now that she could get from the threshold of the kitchen to her mother’s side to protect her in seconds before her father could take a swing at Kitty, her mother.

Alan blocked the punch he was in the process of throwing when she jumped in, “Leave her alone.” Alan glared heartily at Barrel, her father, before blocking another punch he was throwing. She was eye level with him as Kitty was a head smaller then the two of them. This was most definitely normal for the family of three; Kitty gets insulted, Alan protects her from the rage infested Barrel. There wasn’t a place on Alan’s body that hadn’t been cut or burnt by that man’s abusive behavior. Alan was quite adept at defense now as well thanks to him. He couldn’t harm a hair on her or Kitty’s heads now and that just made him angrier, and an angrier Barrel was like a sensitive gun with its safety off.

He roared with frustration as Alan kicked him towards the door and he vowed he’d be back, that they couldn’t live without him, and when he came back they’d be sorry. Alan stuck her tongue out at him and he was gone. Her mother was crying now, as always, and Alan comforted her as always. “You know we need him honey. Please don’t do that anymore, or he’ll go away and never come back. If he does that, then how will we live? You can’t keep doing that,” she sobbed into her arms as she sat on the floor looking like a child. Alan rubbed her mother’s back and smiled sadly.

“Now you know I can’t stop protecting you, you’d be dead by now if I hadn’t gotten strong enough to defend you. I work out everyday so I can be stronger then him, so we won’t be victims like when I was little. I won’t have it be like that for us! If he really leaves for good then I’ll drop out of school and get a job. I’ll keep us safe and happy,” Alan said helping her mother to her feet then to a chair. She sat her mother down and served her, then herself and they didn’t speak anymore. Alan went to bed with an odd thought in her mind, What if I killed him… She let the smile creep onto her lips at this thought before sleeping soundly until she heard the screams.

Now, this family lived in a wood with neighbors miles from them, so no one could have heard her mothers shrieks or the gunshots. She had a feeling she would be next if she didn’t act quickly. She jumped out of bed then moved to the window, two stories up; she cursed silently and began to hear Barrel’s ascent to the second story. No time to do anything else but jump and hope for the best, so she opened the window and jumped. Nothing obscured her fall and she hit the ground with a roll and broke into a run. She was unfortunate enough to sleep in her underwear and that the weather was beginning to get colder. Barrel saw her running and then came the gunshots. He was a good aim for it being dark, he hit her side. She gasped and fell but got right back up and continued running. She never explored those woods they lived in, so she didn’t really know the terrain, but she wouldn’t be able to survive for long in the chilled air and wound in her side. She knew he was coming, she heard the back door get slammed shut and his heavy footsteps follow the door sound.

She didn’t get to run for so much longer before another gunshot was heard and she screamed this time, he hit her in the shoulder blade. She could feel the bullet being lodged in her bone. Another gunshot, another scream. He hit her in the buttocks that time, two more shots were fired and he was close. She knew what kind of gun he had, and he would have to reload, luckily those last two shots only grazed her and now was her chance to take him down, oh how fools suffer. She forgot he had a knife on him, so as she charged he pulled the knife out and stuck it in her belly. Oh no…I forgot about the knife… she thought like an idiot. She wouldn’t loose though, so she took hold of the knife and kneed him in the family jewels. He howled and let the knife go, she wasn’t so stupid as the pull the knife out so she picked up a rock and dropped it on his head hoping it killed him but the urge of revenge hadn’t settled in yet, right then her flee skill was on. So she staggered onwards into the dark forest until she fell into so sort of underground cavern. She coughed as dust rose up and gasped at the amount of pain she was in. She had a bad fall but there was a light, a violet light that just seemed to reach out and grab her. She managed to open her eyes and look to the light, she reached for it as it reached for her and just like that she was gone.

Water rushed her ears and threatened to go down her throat but she coughed it up just as fast and kept her head out of the river she found herself in. She lazily kicked with what little strength she had to get to the shore of the river she resided in. She lay half in and half out, wishing so hard that she knew what was going on besides the fact that she was not in her woods any longer. Where…am I? I don’t remember how I got here…So much…pain… she grit her teeth as she moved trying to get on shore completely but was finding it difficult with a knife in her belly. What with a gash in her right side from the first bullet and a bullet in her left buttocks and shoulder blade, then there was the knife in her belly. Though she was strong and managed to get ashore, the hard part was staying awake, for if she was to rest her eyes for but a moment she would surely parish and her mother’s murderer would go on living if he was not already dead. She starred at the clouds that passed overhead until there were none left. She figured that if she lay still for a while the wounds would heal enough and she would be able to rest or move, which ever came first.

She starred at the sky or at birds that passed and then noon came. She couldn’t very well roll over to not look at the sun, she would have to close her eyes, but then she would surely black out! This just wasn’t going to be her day was it? Try as she did to stay awake unconsciousness was stronger then her physical body. She couldn’t hear the woman calling out to her as she finally slipped into blackness. She didn’t think she’d ever wake again to a soft bed and a gentle hand, so when she did she imagined her ordeal with Barrel and the strange new land to be a dream. “Mom,” she called out in her delirium and was shushed. She felt a wet cloth on her head and she tried hard to open her eyes but the gentle hand lay across her eyes to keep them shut.

“Hush now child. You need to sleep to recover your strength,” the kind voice called. Alan struggled to get up but a pain met her from all angles and her eyes shot open. She looked around at the little shack she was in that only had the one bed, a window across the one-roomed house and a fireplace with a kettle near by. It was an elderly woman that stood by her attempting to get her to calm down. “Please child, you’ll only hurt yourself further if you move in such ways. It was hard enough for me to get the bleeding to stop,” she laughed a bit. Alan took a few deep breaths and laid down quietly starring at the old woman. “My name is Grandma Blue, child. My grandson and I found you by the river when we went to fetch water a few days ago. You were barely alive; it’s a good thing we found you and not a wild animal. What’s your name child? We’ve been guessing what it might be, my grandson and I that is,” Grandma Blue said smiling and walking about tending to this and that.

Alan said nothing, she barely heard the woman past her own voice in her head repeating, Why isn’t this a dream? Why can’t I be home with Mom? Grandma Blue looked at Alan as tears began to run down her cheeks. Alan starred at the ceiling and let the tears flow, sniffing loudly every now and again. “Oh child,” Grandma Blue said walking to Alan’s side after checking what was boiling over the fire. She put her hand on Alan’s arm and gave it a squeeze, “Everything will be alright child, I swear to you it will.” Alan just closed her eyes and tried to get back to sleep.

A few weeks passed with Alan slowly recovering and the elderly woman Grandma Blue talking at her. Alan didn’t really say much, every time she tried to tears would spring up in her eyes and she would run outside to cry and gain control of herself. Grandma Blue never minded every time she came back apologizing, she would always say, “Crying or not you’re still good company. Why, my grandson only visits me every now and again. He works for the King you see, so he doesn’t get much time off, but if he works nice and hard then he might get adopted by that nice King and made a prince! I wouldn’t have to live all the way out here if that were so.” Every time Alan cried she had to go through hearing that so she tried to cry less and less when she realized that that old lady would say that every time. A few more weeks passed before Kevin, Grandma Blue’s grandson, came to visit her and Alan. Still Alan said nothing about her name or origin, until she saw who was asking this time.

“Why hello there. You seem to have recovered nicely,” he was only saying this to her now because she was right in the middle of getting her bandages changed. Embarrassment was never really hers in most situations but for such a handsome man of his class to be seeing her half-naked being patched up, well you get the idea. She did what she usually did when she was uncomfortable and she looked away and glared at a spot on the wall. He was glad she did because he frowned at her many scars, it was odd for a girl to have scars at all. Though he shook his head and tried to ignore them all. He chuckled, “I’m sorry, I seem to have caught you at a bad time.” Alan grumbled and Grandma Blue laughed a bit shaking a finger at her grandson. Grandma Blue finished patching Alan up and helped her put clothes on; Alan gritted her teeth as she raised her left arm into a dress.

Kevin frowned and stepped in to help finish the job. Alan blushed as he helped button up the dress, still frowning, “Who did this to you? Where are you from? What’s your name?”

“Kevin child, don’t push her to tell you. She will reveal all when she is good and ready,” Grandma Blue said patting Kevin’s arm as he finished with the last button. Alan was looking down, she started to shake from trying to keep from crying, when everything came back it came back even harder then when it happened. Kevin put his hands on her shoulders but she brushed them off and ran for the door. Kevin chased after her of course, telling his grandmother that he’d be right back. “But she always comes back child,” Grandma Blue called after him.

Alan ran her heart out trying not to cry so hard; her wounds were still healing but running like this wouldn’t harm them. Kevin wasn’t nearly as fast as her, but he kept up nicely. She ran until she bumped into something that knocked her over and it wasn’t a tree, it was wet and tall. She opened her eyes and couldn’t help but scream; it was Barrel. He looked about ready to strangle her until Kevin came running up to her ready to draw his sword. Barrel’s plans changed instantly to dropping onto his daughter weeping, “I’ve finally found you Alan! Oh my dear sweet child!” Then he whispered harshly into her ear, “If I know you at all that would mean you haven’t told them anything. If you tell them I’ll kill them right in front of you. Understand? Now play along!” Alan did as she was told and hugged him weeping harder now.

Kevin looked convinced enough for Barrel so Barrel, with tears in his eyes stood and helped his daughter stand. “So sir, you are her father. She hasn’t said much but she was always crying, I suspect it was out of missing you,” Kevin said trying to piece things together. He looked to Alan smiling, “So that’s your name. Quite odd for a young woman, but unique, I like it.”

Alan nodded towards her father, “He wanted a boy, but instead he got me.” She smiled to add to the “joke” and it made them laugh. Kevin insisted that he take them back to his grandmother’s home to meet her.

“I have excellent news as well,” Kevin said trying to make them hurry along. They followed him back with Barrel hissing curses at Alan, telling her that she should never have run from her fate, that it would meet her anywhere.

“The only good thing is that we’re here,” he hissed as they reached the place. “Here I have leverage against you. Here I won’t get sent to jail for killing my wife and child…” He chuckled a bit and put on a concerned face to get back to his tall tail. Alan had to play along; she knew exactly what he was capable of, gun or no gun he was dangerous!

“Oh my dear child, is that why you were so sad? You were lost and attacked by wolves? You poor thing, that must have been awful for you,” Grandma Blue said holding Alan lightly against her shriveled bosom. Kevin patted his grandma’s head and she let Alan go with a tear in her old eyes.

“This day doesn’t get any better does it,” Kevin said happily. “A father and daughter reunited in our own humble home, and me getting adopted by the King! What could put a damper on this day,” Kevin boomed. Grandma Blue gasped and jumped into Kevin’s arms at the sound of this “promotion”. All congratulated Kevin for being such a hard worker and so darn loveable, too.

Alan played her part with such gusto she really did feel like a good little girl that just got out of the house too much and was attacked by too many wild things; thus her numerous scars. She walked to Kevin and went up on her tiptoes, he was taller then her you see, and gave him a kiss on the cheek, “Congratulations Sir Kevin.” He starred at her for a moment then a blush crossed his cheeks and he nodded his gratitude. She smiled her sweetest at him and sat back down, kind of liking being a girl for once in her miserable life.

He cleared his throat several times before finally being able to talk, “Well we are to go to the castle as soon as possible, seeing as it is the beginning of the day we should help Grandma Blue pack and leave as soon as possible.” It was unanimous that that was the plan and everyone set to packing, even Barrel. He had to play a part as well didn’t he, he played it well. There was a carriage waiting by the end of the packing, and as Alan and Barrel helped put things in it they exchanged a few words.

“Well, Barrel, you play this part well. It’s sad to think that you could only play this part and not really be a good father. It’s so sad,” Alan said with bite and edge on her voice. She wanted so much to kill him though as strong as she was he was still stronger.

“It’s sad that you can only play the part of a girl you dike,” he hissed back at her making her flinch. She turned to him sharply after putting something down and glared at him, it was clear that he struck a nerve. “Ah, ah, ah! You can’t do anything to me or I kill them. Remember that Alan,” he said grinning and walking back into the little shack to help Grandma Blue into the carriage.

Alan put her smile back on and grabbed the last of the items that little old lady had. Kevin was doing the same and their hands brushed. Kevin looked to Alan at that moment, but Alan, being disgruntled still, didn’t pay him any mind. “I’m sorry, did you want to take that Sir Kevin,” she said a little surprised.

He starred at her for a moment longer, trying to understand her. “You’re such a mystery,” he said in a bit of a whisper. She tipped her head to the side a bit, trying to understand him. He just smiled at her, took the item and was out the door. Now Alan looked back at all that was left: a little shack. “Are you coming Lady Alan,” Kevin said peaking back into the house. Alan nodded a few times and was out the door and into the carriage with the rest of the “family.”

They reached the castle town by the time the drawbridge was being drawn in. Alan looked about at everything, trying to ignore the pain that was both physical and mental. Just try and play your part Alan girl! You can do this, don’t let him beat you…don’t let him kill them… she told herself trying to keep the sad expression off her face. “Have you ever seen anything like this Lady Alan,” Kevin asked her. She kept her mesmerized face on and shook her head in the cutest way she could think of. Kevin blushed again and smiled at her, though he felt something was wrong. It was the way she looked at her father, something wasn’t right.

Everyone got settled into his/her own rooms and the ceremony for Kevin’s official adoption was but a few days away. The King was surprised that Kevin had so many guests, but surprised or not he was glad to have them all. “Now I may be King of this region, but that doesn’t stop us from being friends. Don’t hesitate to ask me for anything,” he was so chipper and merry that it made Alan smile for real. Barrel on the other hand made snide remarks about him being a pansy or a sissy.

Deep night came swiftly and Alan found herself thinking of her mother and Barrel. She fell onto her mattress careful not to open a wound or two, then she thought tiredly about her mother’s cries of pain as she was shot, tears ran down Alan’s cheeks. “I can’t keep crying,” she hissed at herself not knowing Kevin was in the room.

“No, you should keep crying if it makes you feel better. If it doesn’t then maybe you should kick the habit,” he was smiling kindly with a lantern illuminating his face. Alan looked behind him, Barrel was watching her, she knew he was. She smiled kindly to him; she got up and looked to him.

“I’m crying because I’m sad, so I guess it’s ok to, right? I’m just so happy that you’ve brought us, almost complete strangers to live here,” she lied professionally. “I don’t know how to thank you,” she hugged him close, putting her mouth near his ear. She whispered hoarsely into his ear, “I’m not who you think I am…neither is father, and that is all I can say…” A tear from her cheek passed to his and when she pulled away it looked as if he was crying. “If you’ll excuse me Sir Kevin, I’m very tired,” she nodded to the door.

He took her hand and kissed it, she didn’t flinch, but she did smile. He nodded, still smiling kindly; he took the back of her head in one hand and placed the other on her cheek. He leaned in to kiss her cheek but whispered into her, “Don’t ever be anything you aren’t, please, when you can tell me what’s really wrong…” He left a light kiss on her cheek and left, she didn’t get to even lay down before Barrel walked in.

“He’s cute,” Barrel said laughing. Alan glared, wishing so hard that she had all her strength to go at it right then and there with him. “I think I should finish you off as soon as possible but seeing as I’m such a good guy I’ll make a bargain with you,” he paused so to let her nod. “We wait till you’re at full strength, then duke it out like men. Is it a deal?”

“A deal if only we use just our bodies, no outside weapons,” she stuck her hand out and Barrel nodded. He took her hand and she added, “Until then we’ll be a happy Father and Daughter living amongst royalty.”

Each and every night Alan tossed and turned trying to sleep but the screams in her head wouldn’t let her rest. So instead she jogged around the grounds and did whatever exercise she could that didn’t involve her lifting her left arm too much. Night after night Kevin watched her run or do whatever she did, it saddened him to see her doing such things. One night he confronted her, “Why do you stay up all night exercising Lady Alan?”

“To keep in shape of course Sir Kevin,” she smiled and patted at the sweat on her brow. “I need to stay in shape don’t I? If I let myself go-”

“Stop lying,” he said harshly. He jumped at how he said it, and the fake smile was wiped clean off Alan’s face. He held shook his head and grabbed Alan’s shoulders, he gave her a little shake as he spoke, “And you can’t keep lying like this who are you sparing when you lie like-”

“You,” she said cutting him off with the deepest of sadness in her eyes. “I can’t tell you anything more Sir, and it’s getting late,” she had gained her fake smile again by the end of her sentence. “I’m not fit to be in your presence Sir,” she moved away from him but he grabbed her arm and brought her back to him.

He held her close and leaned down to her sweaty ear and whispered, “He’s not watching, that father of yours. I made sure he wasn’t before I confronted you, it’s him you seem to be doing this for. Stop pretending, just stop it!” He was getting mad, but she trusted his word and dropped the façade instantly. “Now,” he said turning her around so he could see her real face. “Tell me the real story Alan, if that is your real name…”

“Alan is my real name, what I said about my father wanting a boy is true. It’s because my mother didn’t conceive a male child she suffered up till her death. That man that calls himself my father since I was born abused me, and so was my mother. I wanted to protect her since I knew it was my fault she was getting hurt. I grew strong and took all the abuse so she wouldn’t get hurt anymore. He had it though, when he couldn’t even touch me anymore. So he killed her, and he was coming for me but I ran…I beat me up really bad as you saw. I can’t sleep at night because I hear her screaming Kevin…I just can’t stand it,” Alan was on her knees weeping by the end of her story.

Kevin looked about ready to run into Barrel’s room and kill him but he held himself next Alan and offered her his arms. She fell into him like she belonged there and wept for her mother and herself. “It wasn’t ever your fault Lady Alan, don’t you dare blame yourself ever again,” Kevin said soothingly stroking her sweaty hair. She gained her composure and tried to push away from him but he didn’t let her.

“Please let me go, I’m sweaty and icky,” she tried to get away but he didn’t let her again. She looked to him, “Have you fallen for me Kevin?” If there was one unique thing about her it was her honesty. His smile told her answer. She gained a straight face and starred at him, “You’ve fallen for a false Alan. Heh, you’ve fallen for Alana haven’t you? The actual female version of me, the actress extraordinare! Well you’re a fool Sir Kevin if you’ve done that, to say it bluntly. Now let go.”

He just kept smiling, “You know I’m not a fool. I figured you out when I was watching you all this time. I found the real you out here, and I’ve fallen for the correct Alan.” He leaned down slightly and placed a light kiss on her sweaty lips, she couldn’t help but jump back away from him out of his grasp.

She looked terrified at Kevin and touched a fingertip to her lips, “Why…did you…” She turned and ran back into the palace without looking back at the smiling Kevin. She went into her room and hoped that he wouldn’t confront her about this the next day at breakfast. He was a true gentleman and didn’t do anything out of the ordinary, and of course at night her mind wouldn’t let her sleep so she gained her strength back and then some.

She went to Barrel one night with a suggestion, “Here is not where our duel should take place. We should have it back at Grandma Blue’s shack. That way if we both die it’ll take them a while to find our bodies. Deal?” Barrel of course shook on it, he was so confident that he would win, but Alan knew that she wanted to avenge her mother more then he wanted to kill her.

That trusty night arrived with a storm but that wouldn’t stop the two from taking horses, they had learned to ride them in there time in the castle, and leaving on a joy ride before night fall. Prince Kevin objected but “Alana” had smiled to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek, she also whispered, “If I’m not back tomorrow morning then you can forget about me…” Despite his worried expression he trusted her strength and couldn’t wait to see her the next morning.

“I won’t ever forget you,” he said when she had already left and the storm was on its way to raging. They entered the shack and wasted no more time before the both set out attacking. They battled for a bit in the darkness, both inflicting equal damage to the other. Lightening flashed and so did something in Barrel’s hand.

“You bastard,” Alan hissed as another flash of lightening occurred. She knew he wasn’t true to his word, she would beat him either way, and if betting stabbed just to get near him was the way then so be it. She charged him as lightening flashed once more, she caught the dagger when he raised it above his head to strike her, she was significantly faster then him. She let fly a right hook into jaw. The blow was so powerful that it knocked him back with the knife still in his hand. He had slashed Alan’s hand on his way back; she didn’t even feel it. She went after him and he was quick to recover, he sliced at her belly and cut it deep. It wouldn’t stop her; nothing would at this point, not even a bullet to the head. She kicked him in the stomach and sent him into the wall behind him, she didn’t let him recover this time and she just kept hitting him. She wrestled the knife out of his hand, not without getting cut a few more times though. She threw it to the side and continued beating on him.

“Please! Honey, stop! Have mercy, I’m your father,” he said as she continued to fight him. She grabbed his right arm at the wrist and made a quick movement that sent him screaming. She broke his wrist and then set onto the other hand. She kicked his knees in the other way and dislocated his shoulders. He wouldn’t stop screaming, “Have mercy!”

“Mercy? Mercy! I don’t care if you’re the president or King! You killed my mother, you tried to kill me! You deserve to die, and that’s what I’m doing here tonight,” she said looking like a crazed maniac. She wasn’t going to just kill him like he did to Kitty, she would make him suffer more. She didn’t want to spend all night on him of course, so she skipped to the end of her plan. She dug out his eyes with her fingers and made him eat his eyeballs. She would have cut off his balls and fed them to him, but she was pressed for time and she didn’t want to go down there.

“Mercy Alan! Have mercy on your father! I’m sorry for what I’ve done, please have mercy,” he cried out in between screams.

“Alright then,” she said grinning, “I’ll have mercy.” She stuck her index and middle fingers into his eye sockets and fiddled with his brain. He let out an ear-piercing scream and writhed a bit before he finally stopped moving. She was shaking and crying as she sat with her fingers in her father’s brain. She wailed into the falling night and started beating the corpse with her fists until they were raw and bloody. She looked for things to mutilate him with and pulled up a floorboard. She beat him with the wood, splintering her hands and blood splattering on her as she made him uglier then normal.

She moved away from the corpse and found her way out into the breaking day. She remembered what she had said to Kevin and rushed to where the horses used to be. The storm must have spooked them off. So here Alan is, stranded miles and miles from the nearest civilized area. “Maybe this is for the best,” she said quietly to herself. She looked around the area and looked up river, “I don’t even belong here. This isn’t my world or time…I don’t deserve Kevin anyway. I killed my father…I mutilated him, tortured him…I’m liable for jail time…” She started laughing at herself and it quickly turned into tears, she cried until she felt the warm sunlight touch her cheek. Time for me to go she thought and began traveling up river.

The day was breaking and Kevin sat at the window that overlooked the city drawbridge. He hoped he would see Alan, he had stayed up the whole night hoping she’d be back. He was, in the least to say, disappointed that she didn’t show. How am I supposed to forget her? She made such an impact… he thought in distress. “She can’t be dead,” he said after a while of starring at the waking city. “She was too strong for that! Maybe she’s hurt and can’t get back or the horse ran off or something! She’s not dead,” he concluded and was set on his course to find her.

Meanwhile, Alan found her way up river. Along the way she stopped every now and again to rip at her clothes and try to patch herself up or stop for a quick drink. She had to stop several times to splash water in her face to keep awake. She came to a very large lake equipped with a waterfall at the far end. She maneuvered over to it and examined the rock formation. I can probably climb if I started there and made my way over there… she thought out her rout and went along with it. She had a gut feeling that this was where she had come from. It was like a side walk with a rushing river instead of a road as she entered the cave. She could see a faint light not far ahead, so she went to it. It was an orb of some kind and she reached for it but stopped.

“Do I really want to go back,” she asked quietly out load. “What’s there for me? An empty house and sad memories? I’ll have the memories either way. Then again, what do I have here…” She stood with her fingers only centimeters from the glowing orb.

“You have a man that loves you dearly,” Kevin’s voice said from behind her. She wasn’t surprised he was there for some reason.

“You don’t love me,” she said as he took her hand away from the orb and kissed it. He raised his eyebrow at her comment as if to say, “You wanna bet?” “You don’t. You only think you do because you fell for a false me. You don’t love me Kevin.”

“I beg to differ Lady Alan. I told you before when you told me that I fell for that “Alana” you said I didn’t fall for her. I fell for the tough young woman who stands up for herself, even if that means killing her own father. You don’t have to go wherever it is that you need to go. I’m giving you a place to be and that’s as a princess by my side. Won’t you except my offer,” he said holding her hand against his cheek.

She looked at him for a moment before glaring at him. “You think I should believe that you fell for me? I look like a man, I act like a man, I dress like a man, I even have a man’s name! You’re telling me that you fell for me as I am? Ha! If that’s so I’d have to call you queer! You don’t know me Kevin, and I’m not from this place. So if you really love me like you say you do, then you won’t come after me,” she said pushing him into the river. “Don’t die,” she said with tears in her eyes as he rushed off over the waterfall. She turned back to the task at hand and reached out to the orb that called to her. She touched it and it sent a shock through her.

It had been weeks now since she came back, and the house was still so quiet. When she came back her house still had her dead mother in it so she had to call 911 and get her taken care of. She said that she didn’t know where her father had gone, and she couldn’t remember where she had been for that last couple of months or so. She didn’t have any relatives and since she was almost 18 she was allowed to stay in her house and get a job. She didn’t need to go to school anymore so she dropped out and devoted her time to working 3 jobs. It kept her occupied, so she couldn’t think of what her father had done or what she had done to her father. She still had nightmares, so that was her time to work out.

She slept less as days turned to months and she began to get sick. She called off work, she worked in warehouses, she put her strength to good use. She lay around the big empty house trying to get rest but none would visit her. Never could she get a good night’s sleep even now, when she needed it the most. She began to cough wildly, she looked to her hand when she was done and there was blood. “This sleep depravation is killing me…” she sighed sadly. She looked around the house as if searching for something, maybe an actual reason to stay. She shook her head sadly and called her bank. “I’d like for you to do me a favor Ed,” she said to her banker who was also a “friend”. “I want you to take all my money out and give it away, I’m not going to be here for very much longer, you can take it all if you need it. No, no don’t ask me anything just do it alright? Thanks Ed, you’re the best…” she went into a coughing fit before she hung up.

She made up a “For Sale sign and wrote Ed’s # on the board. Before she knew what was happening she was running out her back door into her woods, heading for that cavern. She stood before the hole in the ground and looked around for a large rock, they were everywhere so it wasn’t hard to find the right sized one. She lifted it over her head with difficulty and jumped down leaving the rock to plug up the hole. There it was that light that called to her and she smiled as she touched it.

She stayed conscious this time as she plunged into the rapid river that took her over the waterfall. She dove into the lake and bobbed back up, she made for land and then began to walk. It was nighttime when she made it to the castle town and the drawbridge was just going up. “Wait,” she yelled to the guards but they didn’t stop. She lowered her head in defeat, she didn’t know how much longer she would be alive! The drawbridge was only a ¼ way up, if she could jump high enough… She ran back to a safe enough spot and bolted. She ran her very fastest and jumped her very highest! She cleared the drawbridge and rolled in hurting her arms. She hit the ground hard and began to cough violently, she left a puddle of blood on the ground but she couldn’t stop now. She got up, much to her body’s protests and ran for the castle.

She wouldn’t be able to get in now, she knew that for a fact but she knew where Kevin’s room was. She ran around the large castle to his window, ivy grew there and she would be able to climb up. She felt a cough coming on but she held it back and began her accent. She stumbled in the window and fell to the floor. She heard a gasp and saw a light flicker on from behind her eyelids, but she started to cough so she couldn’t very well open her eyes. “Alan,” Kevin said worriedly yet happily. “Alan, I thought you’d never come back…” her coughing fit was over so she opened her eyes

“I had to,” she said trying to sit up, but she was finding it hard. “I had to…I’m going to die soon Kevin and I had to come back to tell you that I love you, too. I was afraid to be in love before but it’s funny how life works. I was only ever afraid of two things: my mother getting hurt and my father. Well my mother’s dead and so is my father,” she gave a small laugh.

“Why are you saying you’re going to die, you won’t. I won’t let you! You got away from me before, but not again…” Kevin said knowing very well that he couldn’t hold onto her. She was pale before and now she looked translucent. “Why is this happening,” he said with tears in his eyes.

“I can’t say for sure, but I think it has something to do with me not being able to rest. I haven’t had sleep in months. Literally I’ve probably only slept about 5 hours in the last few months. I just couldn’t Kevin,” she went quiet for a while just starring at him. He stroked her cheek, it was like ice, and he leaned down to kiss her gently. She brought a hand up and forced his lips down harder on hers. “I’ll miss you and Grandma Blue Kevin, I’m sure you’ll make a wonderful King,” she said with tears running down her cheeks and a smile on her lips. She took her last breath and sighed into death with a last few words on her lips, “Love you.”