MESSING WITH THE CROWN

Beep! Beep! Beep! My alarm clock rang loudly, the vibration it buzzed off on my tiny bedside table garnered a slow frustrated groan from my lungs. I banged my legs angrily on the soft mattress and pulled my quilt over my head. "Ugh!" I slapped a palm over my face and swiped it down. Why did this day ever come? And why me? Choosing to ignore my alarm has always been an easy endeavour but I can't seem to do that this unpleasant morning considering that I could not sleep a wink over the night. Why? You would ask me. Well, if I am unable to survive this morning by escaping my parent's claws, you would find out exactly why. And I have an hour and thirty minutes exactly to do that else, I am at the detriment of finding myself doing exactly what I have been avoiding since I came of age but I can't seem to get myself off my bed since I was sure I could very well rush over things and still safely escape since I have got my room under lock. Except I forgot to lock my doors as I have planned to this morning before I execute my elaborate escape plan which by all means isn't elaborate at all if you ask me. I mean what could be so elaborate about jumping down my room window into my home's garden and escaping through the back door with a backpack full of notepads, pens, my laptop and a few snacks I stole the night before from my mother's snack box? Oh, add a few over twenty thousand dollars bills I have saved to commute with some to my Uncle's place which is the next city from mine and the rest for my upkeep while I find a steady income source until this whole Royal Companion jamboree ends. I groaned and spent another two minutes remembering the wide, weird pride on my parent's faces once they had received the royal order from the Royal court two days ago. Shaking my head in distaste, I pulled my thoughts out of the disgusting scene that had made me spit the juice I had in my mouth on my big brother who had his family over to greet my parents. What? You can't blame me that he was seated opposite of me at lunch and had supported and cheered my parents on sending me off to the Royal Palace. "Maybe that would help her set her priorities right," he had remarked with a smile. "Anika, you are no longer a child. For God's sake, you will be twenty four come this fall." It was then that I decided to release the content on his face as my small payment to him for being a jerk to me and a part of this scheme that is set to ruin my lifelong dream of being a self-made, independent woman who doesn't have to succumb to societal standards of being a man's woman, donning my husband's name and being tagged as Mrs this or Mrs that. Yes. You heard right. I have been avoiding getting married or betrothed to any of the hundreds of bachelors that have come to seek my hand in marriage since I turned twenty, the official marriageable age for all young ladies in the entire Kingdom of Wamona. And obviously, hundreds of bachelors' is an exaggeration on my part. But, hey, I had a bunch of them flocking to my parent's doorstep. "Enough of reminiscing Anika," I told myself as I sat up on my bed. Normally, I would have had to struggle out of my bed to stretch and drive away the heavy layer of sleep that always clouded my eyes every morning. That is so because I am a heavy and long sleeper and it usually takes a lot of work for me to be fully awake once it's morning. Taking caffeinated drinks has never solved the problem, but a long stretch and exercise do the magic. However this morning, I don't even have sleep in my eyes because I have been so restless since the day we got the royal decree. I have tried many times to escape to the next city but have failed woefully because my parents, my mother especially, always have one plan, an outing or an elite gathering or the other to keep me in her sight. I had no choice but to keep their hopes alive that I am a changed daughter now. The one that doesn't hop and run at the slightest inconvenience isn't part of the grand plan. Too bad I will be doing the same this morning, and that's why I set an alarm for 4 am to give me enough time to steal my way out of this house for the next three months. "It's so sad to leave when I just got back to town," I whined and hopped on my feet to my bathroom. I needed a hot bath to keep my sanity so I don't go crazy over anything. As I brushed my teeth and took my morning bath, I kept chanting a sort of mantra I made for myself. All is well that ends well! Ah! I know, it's a common saying and I got you, ah. Do you think that I would ever form a mantra for myself? No! I'm your example of an I don't care kind of person who loves to mostly live the day as it comes unlike most of the people I grew up with here in Wamona. It seems I'm the only one lacking directions. I smirked as the water cascaded down my body at the thought of my mother grooming me every day as I grew into a young lady to always be courteous and act as a woman should as far back as age 10. Huh! It killed me to always have to attend those expensive, ceremonious classes that my mother signed me up for every Saturday. My father, on the other hand, would teach and lecture me on the conduct of politics since he works closely with the Royal Court as the Chief Advisor to the King on State Affairs. Yeah! He was that high up and my mother is as you would predict, Secretary of the Statesmen Wives Association. A group of women that mostly sit around to gossip endlessly about their husbands, children and all the juicy updates in the Wamona Kingdom. In my opinion, the association's name is just a refined way of calling them 'gossips', elite gossip for that matter. There is no belittling the level of atrocities these women have committed with their mouths, carrying one piece of information from one place to another as they have heard and, sadly, my mother tends to be at the peak. There is no single happening in Wamona that my mother doesn't know of. Time and time again, she has made me believe that is the only way she keeps herself busy while my father carries out his duties to the throne and the kingdom as a State man. All in all, everyone seems to have a clear occupation, even my older brother now lectures as a Professor at the Wamona Kingdom University, the place where every young Wamona blood goes to get a degree. Except you already left the Kingdom before your higher education days. My parents went there. Same with my brother. And myself. I used to wonder what being outside Wamona would be like because all my life, I have lived here and now this damn thing is about to hold me back forever. Not going to happen. I was out of the bath now and applying lotion to my body. I checked the time, it was well over 5 am. I better dress up quick and escape before my mother's 6 o'clock alarm goes off. I had texted my Uncle, Robin that I will be crashing for a few undecided days and he gladly welcomed me. Like always. He is the total opposite of my dad who never indulges my carefree life. With my Uncle, I can gladly be as free spirited as I can be because he used to be just like me once before but much more concerned about life than I am. I mean, all I do is write stories and publish them secretly on the interspace. I have not come out to hone my craft but I love it this way. I make my living the little way I can and I love that I can have my time to myself and spend it exploring new ideas, new grounds and seeing things in another light. Not in some politically automated form where there is a standard to doing things even in the house. I never want to be subjected to such restricting ideologies and go into the palace as a Royal Companion to contest against nine other more delightful and courteous young ladies than I am. I shook my head at the thought of even being delightful, meek, courteous, and whatnot and just know that they aren't attributes fit for me. Don't get me wrong though. It is not that I am not a lady, or that I act in some undignified manner, of course, no. It's just that I, Anika Cooley, am not cut out for acting in certain ways a lady should. I do keep my whims to myself. However, I can be a handful. And at 23, these habits of being a go-lucky, clumsy, feisty, smart, silly and mischievous lady to tone it down a little just never die hard. "Okay, enough thinking Anika, more acting," I sanctioned my thoughts and grabbed my backpack. I knew I did not need clothes as I will find enough to wear at my Uncle's because his wife likes to spoil me silly since they have no female child and I kind of bridge that gap for her. Doing a quick scan of my room again, I sighed and took out a pen and paper to boldly write with all pride that- Dear Father & Mother, It is with great sadness that I leave you this letter of my disappearance for a while until I have come to a reasonable conclusion about what I want to do with this twinkling life of mine. You do not need to worry about my well-being, as you know, I will be 24 before my return this time and I promise to be the best daughter that you want me to be who fends for herself as usual. I have left you my room and all that is in it to remind you of my beautiful existence. Love, A. I raised the piece to look at it and felt proud of myself to have been able to cook up such a wonderful goodbye note on short notice, my lips curled up in a proud smile. Ah! The joy of being witty is comparable to none. With that out of the way, I placed it diligently where my mother's eyes would first lay once she opens the door. That reminds me, of the door. Well, I will be out in a matter of minutes and it won't matter anymore if it was locked. I checked myself in the mirror and saw that all was perfectly fine with my auburn hair up in a bun and a green bonnet sitting pretty on it to complement my short, white flay gown and green leggings to complete the look. Just perfect. I looked into the distant sky from my room's window and see the dark skies being illuminated slowly by white lights. Dawn is here and the morning is just by the minute. Time to go. I walked to the window and gently pulled the little locks that held it in place against the panes, careful not to awaken my parents because their room is directly below mine, much to my dismay. But am I an expert at sneaking away? Oh yes, call me the master of sneakers, I sure invented sneaking away and I am proud of it. I have successfully unlocked the windows. Easy pissy! I could write you a guide on how to unlock doors and windows when sneaking away without noise any time you want at a reasonable price. Even the tiniest service rendered gets paid for in the 21st Century. Once I pulled the drapes to the side, the cold and chilly morning breeze was the first to attack my skin which so reacted instantly by swelling up with tiny goose pimples and that reminds me of my pullover. I almost forget that I am very prone to colds and that's why I don't even leave my window open at night because of my rare allergy to colds since little. See, if I ever offend you and you just want to be very mean and take revenge, make me stand in the cold chilly mornings of Wamona for about ten minutes-, and that's even a stretch-, five minutes will do and I will be a cold Anika in the arctic because myself and cold or harsh weather are like North Korea to the rest of the world. Not cordial at all. I quickly got hold of my cardigan and draped it over myself, then I strapped on my bag, and advanced towards the window to progress on this journey of unknown days. But as I got hold of the window pane and holstered myself up, immediately putting one leg out against the outer wall of our duplex, my butts landed on the old window rails where the softness of them was pinched and a loud, painful yelp escaped my throat before I could mute myself with one of my palms. "Bloody hell," I whispered. I had forgotten about the godforsaken shrapnel which by now I should be used to because it happens all the time. "All the..." "And what in heavens ward are you doing Annie?" a sharp, shocked voice cuts into my sentence followed by the sudden sound of my door slamming against the wall of my room and sending a sharp echo into the night rather angrily and the next thing, the light switch was turned on and at my doorway stood my mother with eyes blazing and nose flaring. "I knew you were bound to run, again," she seethes. I looked at her sleeping wear and flip flops and back at myself and at the window slide which by now I am holding with my other hand to support myself. Shocked and alarmed by her sudden intrusion, I released my other hand and instead of pulling the slide back in, instead, I pushed it out in a bid to stop myself from being pulled away with it as my mother approached angrily at me with arms akimbo, my leg couldn't find the top of the other window which was just below the one I sat on and so I found myself instantly falling off the railing, followed by a banging sound as I landed face first into the mud of new flower plants my mother had just tended before rolling over a few times and laying butt flat on the cold, wet ground, my head, facing heavenward. "Oh my God, Annie," came my mother's voice followed by disappearing footsteps. I hadn't opened my eyes but I could hear footsteps descending from inside our house followed by my father's voice and the maid's. "Uh!" I shouldn't be grasping sounds from a such distance but I think something happened to my hearing as I fell cause I think and banged my head in the process of falling. The voices were faint, and they seemed to be slipping away. Am I dead?