Again, Goodbye

Again, Goodbye

Chapter 2: The Beginning of My ‘Awakening’

That’s it! To make the story easier to tell, you’ll just have to venture to the depths of my mind to see it through my eyes. As I was saying, I was going to regret this later. “I-I’m sorry!”

The cute guy looked at me with confused eyes. Oh, those glorious teal, green eyes. Y-yeah, he was a bit startled. “What are you talking about?”

He asked me. I could feel his breath warming my face, through the thin fabric on his face. The rest was thick; I just want to say that now. “W-well…” I started to stutter, “…I’m just sorry!” Without anymore hesitation, I slammed my knee at the cute guy’s…um…weak point.

The poor, poor guy yelped in pain and leaped off of me! Oh, the guilt was overwhelming, but I had to leave, so I stood up and while that guy was…occupied…I ran to the other side of the island, desperately searching for an abandoned cave or something.

After mere minutes of running, thanks to my comfortable shorts and tank top, I stopped and collapsed on the beach. I hate running, and I’ve done it for a while, so I was exhausted. While I was gasping for breath, I heard the sand swish, a sure sign of running footsteps.

Aw, man! That guy was following me! This was getting aggravating! I hid behind a rock close to the rocky side of the plateau and hoped for the best. I stayed as quiet as I possibly could. I stayed as close to the cliff as I possibly could. I stayed as cautious as I possibly could.

Sadly, my hiding skills came up to a grand total of…useless. I should’ve known that the rock was far too small to hide behind and I should’ve known that I breathed too loud. What else could possibly have gotten the guy to look behind the rock!? Oh…it was the only hiding place in plain sight.

Anyway, I was immediately pinned to the ground again by the same cute guy. “You do realize that running away is pointless, right?” The guy’s voice sounded the same as before, but it was a bit more wonderful!

I slowly nodded my head, not wanting to agree to it. “Yeah, but you can’t blame a girl for trying!” My small frown grew to a sheepish grin. The guy laughed, picked me up, and held my arms behind my back. “So, I don’t suppose that this um…kind of handling purposes apply to me?”

“…Yeah,” He hesitantly answered, “They do apply to you.”

I stood there in silence for a few minutes. “…Are you just gonna hold me back? Or is there a reason I’m watching the ocean?”

The guy seemed to become confused again. “You mean…it’s not familiar to you?”

I laughed. “Of course I’m familiar with the ocean! I’ve lived by it my whole life!” While I shook with merry laughter, the guy stood there even more confused. “You’re surprised?” He hesitated, I took it for another opportunity to speak. “You are. Dude, this is MY country.” When he least expected it, I slipped out of his grasp and kicked his…weak point…again. I was brutal. He landed on his knees and I bent down and smiled. “By the way… what was your name?” The sun began to rise, and when it did he disappeared. “What?” My smile vanished as I stood up and glanced out to the sea. “Where’d my cute kidnapper go?”

Before the sun was fully over the horizon, I ran back to my bed, my safe, pleasurable bed. I dressed myself in my night gown again and slowly drifted off to sleep. Nearly four hours past, before I my door was bombarded with my ladies maids, curse them for disrupting my slumber.

“Her Highness Anallise Rotaniayou, please, it’s time for your bath!” More calls for my presence interrupted me from my handsome sleep.

I couldn’t take them anymore! I slid open the neon curtains that surrounded my lilac bed and covers. “SHUT UP! I WANT SLEEP!” With that, I closed them tightly. I could feel my ladies maids’ fear of my sudden rebellion. “Do not open that curtain…” My groggy voice trailed off.

“Speaking of which,” one of the ladies maids spoke, “have any of you seen Sheshay?”

My eyes immediately opened. My dear, dear friend, Sheshay, was gone. She died earlier this morning. That cute kidnapper did it. I sat up and opened the curtain. “Sheshay!?” I demanded to hear more. “What about Sheshay!?”

The ladies maid that spoke of her held her hands up to her chest in fright. “N-nothing, it’s just that Sheshay looked better than ever…”

My eyes grew serious. “How can that…be? When did you see Sheshay?” She said nothing. “I demand to see her. Bring her to me.” Again, they said nothing, but they did stare at me. I sat back and shut the curtains. “I refuse to get out of this bed until I see her! I want to see Sheshay!!” I didn’t hear any footsteps hurrying to fetch her. “AREN’T YOU MY LADIES MAIDS!? FETCH ME SHESHAY!!”

With that, it seemed like everyone rushed to the door to get her. I sat in bed for nearly five minutes, before I heard footsteps walk over to my bedside. “She…shay?” My voice cracked.

The person opened the curtains and I was staring into big, chocolate brown eyes, covered with evenly cut, dirty blonde bangs. It was Sheshay. “S-Sheshay!? How is this possible!? That kidnapper murdered you last night! I remember!” I grabbed hold of my friend’s shoulders. “I-I remember… There’s no way that I could forget a face like his.” She looked at me, confused. “He was so cute, there was no way I, of all people, forget a cute face!” Sheshay seemed to smirk, but it was more smile than smirk. What was happening!?

Sheshay carefully took my hands off her shoulders and set them in my lap. “I’m fine! I wasn’t murdered by a hot and cool kidnapper.” She giggled. “I heard that the ladies maids were frightened of your little tantrum.”

While face was happy, my face was scared beyond belief. “B-but…you died. It was so real! He held me down, I ran, he held me down again, and disappeared when the sun became visible. That’s why I’m so tired. You woke me up in the middle of the night, hurried me down to the boats, and then…” Tears rolled down my face. “He stuck a sword through your heart.”

Sheshay placed her hand over her heart. “Stuck a sword through my heart…? It was all a bad dream.” She set both her hands on my bed and leaned on them.

“S-Sheshay…” I began, “…say my name.” She stared at me, her happy face gone. “Say my name.” I commanded in a cold tone.

Sheshay smiled as she spoke. “Of course, I’m sorry, Anallise Rotaniayou.”

I painfully smiled; it was more than I could possible bear. “T-thanks…Sheshay.” Tears rolled down my cheeks. “I’ll get ready, now. You may leave.” After the door shut, I shoved my head into my pillow and cried. I had said ‘cute’, that person said ‘hot’ and ‘cool.’ How do you get ‘hot’ and ‘cool’ out of cute? She called me Anallise Rotaniayou. When I was much younger, I’d call her Sheshay and I commanded her to call me Anally. She always did, but this was the very first time she said my real name to my face in private.

That person is not Sheshay! She really did die on the beach, that cute kidnapper did kill her. “S-Sheshay…” My voice drowned in my tears.

Nevertheless, I did dress myself, with the help from my ladies maids, in my red velvet gown. After getting dressed, I stared at myself in the mirror; I wasn’t wearing just any gown, I was wearing one of my treasured ones. “A-am I meeting someone…important?” I asked my ladies maids.

Gwen answered me, her short brown hair bounced from side to side. “Yes, you’re meeting the Duke of Haagenyouta!” She sounded excited; I inferred that he was young and handsome. “He’s very…um…what’s the word I’m looking for?”

“Cute?” I substituted.

Gwen shook her energetic, little head. “No! That doesn’t do this guy justice!”

My face lit up. “He’s hot!?”

Gwen nodded her head. “So hot!” Gwen was my second best friend, but she couldn’t replace Sheshay. “I can’t wait until you meet him!”

“What’s he like!?” I asked, very excited, but still a bit sad.

Gwen placed her fist under her chin in thought. “Well, he had brown hair and crystal blue eyes!”

“B-brown hair…and b-blue eyes?” My smile instantly faded. The kidnapper had brown hair, but…his eyes…were green, not blue. “Have you seen any boy here with brown hair and green eyes?”

Gwen shook her head no. “No, Your Grace. Not recently.”

I sighed and slowly made my way to the main room. I climbed up the three steps to the thrones and stood by my mother. “The visitor…is he the Duke of Haagenyouta?” She nodded her head. Her smooth brown hair swept over her shoulder and her small, gold tiara never moved. I wasn’t proud of mine; it was a tiny sliver ring that merely wrapped around my head. If it wasn’t for its shine, no one would know who I was and I’d refuse to wear it.

I stood back and waited for Mother to send him in. She did and when he entered I was surprised. The Duke was so young! He seemed, actually, a little younger than me! I was in shock! That Gwen…oh, wait, she’s a lot younger than me, also. I suppose our taste in men is different. That kid can’t possibly be the kidnapper. I had my hopes up so high, too.

I sighed a bit, but not enough for kid Duke to hear. Mother heard it, and secretly gave me a look. I mentally apologized, and maybe the message reached her. I hope it did, if so, then I’ll receive one less scolding tonight.

Anyway, the kid Duke’s pompous adviser, a horribly, awful breed, got past the introduction. I tried to breathe a sigh of relief, but I had to stop, I didn’t want to bite off more than I could chew; I’d choke.

“Without further ado, I now present, the Duke of Haagenyouta!” Watch the advisor forget last minute add-ons. “Oh, and by the way,” Ah, see, “the Duke would wish to ask Princess Anallise Rotaniayou.”

Crazy advisor said what!? OH, NO WAY IN HELL! There is no way, I’d get married to that little punk! That little, scrawny, snot-nosed kid, couldn’t even dream of marriage!!

“Oh, really?” My so-called Mother responded. “What an honor.”

AN HONOR!? ARE YOU BLIND, WOMAN!? THAT LITTLE MIDGET NEEDS TO GROW EXPONENTIALLY FOR A FEW YEARS, and then we can talk!

“What do you think, Anallise?” Mother asked, it’s not like I’ll actually have a choice.

Well, personally, I think you’ve all GONE COMPLETELY OFF THE DEEP END! “I’m…shocked.” I truthfully said.

My mother smiled. “What do you think of the Duke, Anallise?”

I think he’s a short, stupid child who doesn’t even deserve to glance at my splendor. “I think the Duke of Haagenyouta is…brave.”

“Brave?” She asked. “Do you care to elaborate?”

I nodded my head, and walked in front of the kid. I even had to bend down a bit! “I think that this ‘journey’ was a very brave decision.” I bet he was wondering what kind of method of torture I was willing to use on him for even suggesting such a vile request.

“I see,” She continued to add on and I continued to use my mental thesaurus, “what impression does the idea of marriage have on you?”

I turned around and smiled, while secretly grinding my teeth. “I think it’s extraordinary.”

“Good.” She clapped her hands together and stood. For some reason, my mother seemed extremely pleased and if she weren’t royal, she’d laugh out loud. “Excuse me,” she spoke to the advisor, “you may show the Duke in, now.” My smile disappeared completely. “Anallise, I see you’ve taken a liking to the royal page.” P-PAGE!? I THOUGHT THIS MIDGET WAS THE DUKE!

Suddenly, the doors opened. (1) My Mr. Wonderful walked through the doors. Hey!? Did I say that I opposed marriage to the Duke!? OF COURSE NOT! I can definitely submit to marriage! His short, smooth auburn hair hugged his neck and his clear green eyes sparked my happy self. “T-the Duke of Haagenyouta, I presume?”

He smiled. “Yes.” The Duke’s voice sunk deep into my ears and I just HAD to hear more! “The Princess of Bejeu, I presume?”

He slowly moved over the tiled floor, swept up my right hand, and placed a small peck on the very center of it. “Y-yes.” I blushed as he stared into my eyes, wait…I knew these eyes. “Excuse me, but when did you arrive in our fine country of Bejeu?”

I was suspicious, and with good reason, some mystery man tried to kidnap me this morning. “Just a few hours ago.”

How long was ‘four hours’ ago? “I see, thank you for answering my question.” I slipped on a fake smile and hurried out of the room. I commanded to see ‘Sheshay’ and she appeared at my side, later in my room. “You are dead. I’d bet my life on it.” I started, she gasped. “Ah, hah! I knew it! Sheshay, or not, I do not know you. Who are you?”

That person’s gasp wasn’t enough to fool me and when it knew that I did, it laughed and morphed into a shadow. “You’re absolutely right.”

My eyes grew huge; I had stumbled upon something that wasn’t meant to be stumbled upon. “Who are you!?” I demanded. The shadow morphed into the Duke. “T-the Duke of Haagenyouta!? Or…the cute kidnapper?”

The ‘Duke’ sat on my bed. “Both, actually.” His voice was the same. “More specifically, I am a shape shifter.” When the ‘Duke’s’ hand turned shadowy and started to crawl up my arm, I ran to the door, but he was there. “There’s no real way to tell who I am.” He glanced around, and I hesitantly did the same. “Your room is deserted; we’re all alone. I suppose that makes my job so much easier, but then again, it wouldn’t matter anyway if you had revealed me to the public. I could grab you and disappear.”

His words trickled out of his mouth, with extra horror to singe my spine. “G-grab me? Why?”

The figure laughed. “Yes, take you. You did pin ‘cute kidnapper’ on me, did you not?” I merely gasped and ran for the window, sure it wouldn’t do much, but I was planning that. I quickly ran to the balcony and stuck one of my legs off of it. “If you move, I jump!”

He laughed and started coming for me, but then I kicked my over leg over, having my legs swaying in the wind. “I AM NOT KIDDING!” He stopped completely and growled, even though he was evil, he still looked hot while doing it. “What are you going to do, now?”

He crossed his arms and smiled. “I’d still grab you, there’s no way you’ll jump to your death willingly.” That cute kidnapper made me so angry!

Suddenly, the door burst open, revealing the actual Duke. I saw him, right when I spoke my words and committed my actions. “Oh yeah? Watch me, you jerk!” With that, I willingly leaped off of my balcony. I heard the Duke shout ‘NO!’ and the cute kidnapper cuss, while I fell to my death.

Done.

(1): Mr. Wonderful by Smile (DDR version) plays in the background. XD This is definitely the Duke’s song. XD