To Marry the Future

In The Eyes Of Fear

The universe had never seemed this big and this small at the same time. 

Crowds of people huddled together around a street performer like mountains. This would go on for days with the same performer in the same spot but only sometimes different people. As I passed by daily for my morning walks before breakfast I tried to ignore the people. This was new to me. I had never had this many people ignoring me. Right after breakfast, my morning jogs were the same. I did not exist. 

Finally, I had enough. What was so amazing? I got near the crowd and no one noticed me. I stood there in silence, awkward and confused.

Slowly I turned to Sophia and in a low sweet voice asked, “What is all the commotion?”

She turned to ask the woman to her  right, “Who is that?”

The woman gasped and replied, “That is the last known survivor of Nova.”

Sophia quickly turned to me and I turned away just as fast. I “had the manners” to not listen to their conversation. But Sophia quickly grabbed my hand and rushed back home before I even had the chance to ask what the woman had replied.

Later that night as I went out to take out Sunshine to poop before bed, I had noticed that the streets weren’t crowded as they usually were at night this close to my house.

The following morning the street performer was gone and the people around seemed to have gone back to normal as if nothing had occurred. I started to wonder if I had imagined the performer and the people. I had thought I was going crazy, more so when I asked Sophia about it and she had no idea what I was talking about.

It had been about 7 days since everything went back to normal. Still, I could not stop thinking that I was going crazy. Everyone acted like it never happened. I stared at my father across the dining table. Finally, I wanted to ask the question I was too scared to ask.

“Father…?” I awaited his response for what seemed like forever. Just as I was going to give up and return to eating, he replied.

“Speak.” The intensity in his voice sent shivers down my spine. I froze, scared to speak, but I was even more scared to not.

“Where is Nova?” That was not the only question or the most important one I had, but I could not allow myself to ask. Something in me told me not to ask. I feared the feeling more than the need to know. 

Father dropped his fork, “Bring me a new one! THIS INSTANT!” I held my breath knowing I had made a grave mistake. I wanted to speak but that was the most dangerous thing to do right now.

A young maid that seemed just barely of age walked in with a fork trembling in fear. She seemed more afraid than I did. I sat there paralyzed in pin-drop silence that was proven after the fork fell and hit the ground once more. The maid trembled not a sound out of her, not even a yelp. It felt like 5 minutes of silence hit the room. It was only a split second between the drop and Father’s anger to build up but to us, it felt like an eternity of fear. He stood up, dropping the chair behind him. Everyone took a step back even I, who was across the dining room, jumped a little in my seat.

“Bring this maid to me and Aurora will go 3 days without food, you need to fit into the dress for next week's ball.” I let out the breath I was holding in, a sigh of relief. The maids had also let out a sigh along with me the moment Father’s door to his room closed with a big bang from his anger. We should not have celebrated but what had happened was the best it would get when he was that angry.