Princess, It's Me

The Invitation

“Come one, come all. Listen close and listen well. His Majesty, the Great King of Kings, will be holding a ball in celebration of the Prince’s birthday. Everyone within five miles of the castle must attend. Those outside the five miles may choose to attend. The ball will be held next Saturday at sunset.”

The crowd that formed around the announcer slowly dispersed. The ladies faster than the men. I watched from afar, observing how the people reacted to the news. The men were not as happy as the ladies, especially the young men. The ladies were more excited, yet there was a hint of curiosity in their eyes, in everyone’s eyes, since no one had actually seen the Prince.

News spread like a wildfire when he was born, but the “King of Kings” refused to present him to the kingdom. The Queen had died during childbirth, leaving the kingdom in chaos. She was so kind that it was infectious. No one could possibly be mean or cold-hearted around her. Even the King who has become her opposite.

When the Queen was still alive, she did everything in her power to make sure that everyone in the kingdom was happy. Her love for her people stretched out beyond the walls of the castle, beyond the townspeople, and beyond the farmlands. She made the poor families in the outskirts of the kingdom feel like they were royalty by visiting them every few months and bringing gifts and necessities like food, water, and clothes. She took care of her people. On the other hand, the King stopped visiting the poor families, stopped donating goods, stopped the celebrations of the people, stopped caring. For the first few weeks, almost everyone gave the King space to mourn the death of his Queen, but after months and months of no change, everyone gave up hope of reliving those days of happiness.

When the announcer gave the people the invitation to the Prince’s birthday celebration, everyone was excited as if today the world turned back to the good old times. The hope that bounced off of everyone made it seem as if they had forgotten the last 20 years of misery and depression.

I watched as the people disappeared into the shops and back to their homes. The sun followed them as he too began to disappear behind the mountains. I gathered my things and began my way home.

Home. The four-lettered word that broke my heart every time I thought about it. If I had a home I would run as fast as I could and lay on a soft-made bed with dinner ready upon my arrival. I would never leave this safe and warm place, but this place was only found in my memories. I remember bits and pieces, but about 4 years ago my house caught on fire and killed both my parents. I somehow survived all that, but there was a piece of me that died that day as well. The voice inside my head stopped talking back.

Although I remember being trapped and afraid, I never felt alone. I know there was someone with me that day, but not a person exactly. As difficult as it is to explain it to myself, it is terrifying to explain it to someone else. I could just imagine how crazy everyone who make me out to be. I know I’m not crazy, and I know that I did not make up that voice inside my head. There was just no way of knowing since there was no one I could talk to. Not even that voice.

My “home” was a closet space at the bottom of the castle. No one dared disturb the King or enter the castle, so there were certain areas that the guards overlooked. About two hours after sundown, the guards took their final sweep of the grounds before switching shifts with another set of guards. I noticed this behavior when I would sleep in the horse stall. I had to wait a couple hours for the horses to be returned that night. I heard that there was something happening on the outskirts of the kingdom and two guards went to check out what was happening. I would usually be inside the stall at sundown, but since I had to wait awhile, I witnessed the exchange. I stayed up for the next couple of days and saw the same exchange happen at the same time every evening. So when the night came and the exchange happened, I snuck inside the castle. I walked the hallway for about 5 minutes when I heard something, and I bolted for the first door I saw. It was the eighth door on the left. The closet was small but long with cleaning supplies covering the walls. The wall on the opposite side of the door had a cabinet that almost covered the entire wall. A small space on the left side allowed me to squeeze behind the cabinet and make that my bed. The area was small but safe. I could sleep the entire night without interruptions.

I laid in my “bed” thinking of what I would do. The announcer said that those who lived within five miles of the castle had to attend, but technically I did not live within the five miles of the castle, but in it. Also, I had no clothes or money to be able to get into the castle. The guards would probably look at me and within a second lock me up and claim I was a thief since my appearance resembled one. These thoughts mingled in my mind for a while before I turned to finally sleep.

Knock knock.

There was someone knocking on the door. Someone was knocking on a closet door. Who would be knocking on a closet door? I stared at the wall with fear crawling down my back. Why would someone knock on a closet door?