Punished
1156 Words
HEINA
"What in the world is wrong with you?!" They began yelling the moment we got home.
"Why did you have to draw attention to yourself? Why did you tell people who you are?!" Ryso was shaking with anger. "Now see the problem you've landed yourself, dragging us with you. How are you so stupid?!"
My knee hurt. My head hurt. My face was swollen and itchy. I was as tired as a single, working class mother with five kids and piling bills to pay.
I didn't deserve to be yelled at after everything I'd gone through today. I wished I wasn't living with these cold hearted jerks who wouldn't stop making life terrible for me, as if their sister wasn't doing enough to me at school..
I stood, my head bowed, my shoulders slacked, my eyes welled with tears. I sniffled.
"Stop f*****g playing the victim card here! Once you're caught in your mess that you created, you go off and bawl your eyes out and it is beginning to grate my nerves raw." Ryso spat spitefully.
"Take me back." I said in a low, teary voice.
"What did you say?" They asked.
I raised my head, swiping tears from beneath my glasses. "I want to go back home. Take me back."
"You must be crazy." One hissed.
"Take me back! You are tired of me and I am equally tired of you both and your stupid, mean sister so take me back! I do not belong here. I never wanted to be here." I lashed in a broken tone.
A hand slapped across my face. I stumbled from the pain and shock, I cradled that part of my face.
"You do not raise your voice as us, ever." It was Ryso who'd issued that slap.
"You should be grateful we risked our lives bringing you here. You have nothing, no one back in the human world!" They both looked at me like I was done mental case they were stuck with.
"Being alone is better than being with you two mean dragon people. All of you are mean except for Aslan and Irana." I cried, still holding my face. It stung so bad.
They growled, an identical emotion I couldn't decipher flashed through their gazes. "What is your relationship with the boy?"
I sniffled again, my brows furrowing. "What boy?"
"Aslan Finch."
I shrugged. "He's my friend."
"Henceforth, we forbid you from seeing him." Ryso voiced coldly and commandingly.
"What? W-why?" Anger mixed with sadness and disbelief.
"That's your punishment for not keeping your mouth shut. For risking our tribe." Ryno took a seat on a sofa, unperturbed by the despair written on my face.
"Please don't do this." I pleaded. I couldn't lose my friends, not even Aslan. "It's not even my fault. I-I didn't say anything to anyone. It was Sirra who started it. She bullied me today in school and when Irana stood up for me, she got upset and told everyone why my name is heina."
"How dare you?!" Ryso with so much hatred etched in his gaze spat in my face.
He didn't believe me. Neither did Ryno, judging from his usual aloofness and spite burning in his topaz blues.
"Y-you don't believe me?" Disappointment laced my words.
"Being stupid wasn't enough, you have to be a liar too." Ryno finally spoke up after a long while of icy daggers thrown my way.
"I'm not lying. Sirra is the cause. She..."
"I said shut up!" Ryso grabbed me by my throat. "I wish we could allow those elders kill you. It'll be better for everyone."
His words scorched my heart and made it bleed a little more.
"A-ask her. Please." I tapped relentlessly on his hand curled around my throat. "C-can't b-breathe."
"Let her go, Ryso. She's not worth it." Ryno didn't sound concerned, just mildly irritated.
He released me.
"Hey, you." Ryso snapped his fingers at a maid passing by.
Her eyes immediately filled with fear as she took in my state. "Y-yes, Your Highness?" She bowed but still trying to sneak peaks in case they wanted to lash out on her too.
"Get me the princess." He commanded, taking a seat beside his brother.
Standing for too long was becoming a chore, my injured knee from where Sirra had set her leg as trap for me back at the school's cafeteria was hurting too much.
I had to limp forward to grab the back of a sofa. They saw me, knew I was in pain but deliberately ignored me.
Sirra came down, her glare on me.
"You called, brothers." She joined them on the opposite sofa.
"Did you announce who she is today in school?" Ryso questioned.
She frowned, looking confused. God, she was a damn good actress. Her expression was enough to make anyone believe her. "I didn't. Why would I? You both clearly told me not to."
"What happened in school today?" Ryno put in.
She shrugged. "Falin dropped us off as usual. She went her own way. Everything started in the cafeteria when Irana came up to me and started accusing me and you both of being terrible to Heina."
"Ah...Sirra, why..."
That single warning glare from Ryno was enough to have my mouth shut. She was such a liar and her brothers were going to believe her. They were already believing her.
"...I was surprised and tried to explain that it was all a lie." Sirra continued. "Heina stood up and started an argument. She and Irana tried to attack me. All I wanted was to defend myself right back so I pushed Heina, Irana seeing this, fled the cafeteria, leaving Heina all by herself."
"B-but..." Once again, their glares clamped my lips shut.
I could only sob quietly, tears filling my eyes.
"That's what happened?" Ryso probed.
Sirra nodded. "I have witnesses, brothers. I'm not lying. I swear."
"We believe you. You can go." He permitted her to leave.
The covert smirk on her face didn't go unnoticed by me.
"Do you know how much danger you have brought to us?" Ryno's chill tone whipped me hard emotionally.
"You did not just expose us, you lied about it." Ryso disappointment and anger were on the rise. "And you will pay for it. Your punishment has just increased."
"W-what?" I couldn't believe this was happening to me.
"Firstly, you will stay away from the Finch siblings." Ryso began. "Two, you will be taken to the cell where you will join Klaz for betraying the secret. For three days, you will have no access to food and water. Lastly, you will be given a daily twelve strokes for lying to our faces."
Defenseless, I crumpled to the ground, shaking my auburn hair loose "I-I didn't d-do anything. P-please."
"Guards!" They called.
Two guys came hurrying into the living room, heads bowed immediately. "Yes, Your Highnesses."
"Take her to the same cell where Klaz is."
- Writer
