The Princess Who Wasn't

Chapter Five: Choices

Saying that Merilla was rudely awakened would have been an understatement. It wasn’t the screaming, blazing bright lights, or clapping right next to her ear that woke her up. What she awoke to was the stinging cracking sound that came from the connecting of a hand against her already swollen cheek. The pain was so intense that even after opened her eyes all she saw was bright colors against darkness. Once her vision cleared Merilla saw the doctor, the nurse, and the woman who found her on the beach standing over her.

“I told you that it would wake her up,” Karen, the woman who found her, sneered. She was always especially cold. Merilla had heard numerous times about how grateful she should be for Karen and yet, she was not. There were so many times that Merilla had wished Karen had just let her get pulled into the ocean.

“Thank you, Karen. You can go now if you would like,” The doctor stated while staring at Merilla.

“Thank you, doctor. I will be going. Goodness knows this waif has wasted enough of my time and energy. Also, please remove my name from her emergency contact form. I do not want to be bothered about her again.” With that Karen grabbed her purse off the chair against the wall.

“I’ll take care of that, Doctor,” The nurse stated and walked out of the room without any glance at Merilla.

The doctor shook his head and stared at Merilla, then sighed, “I took the Hippocratic Oath, so, I feel that I am obligated to inform you of pertinent information. The town, as you may know, is tired of dealing with you. Once it will not kill you to leave here, they are going to give you a choice. Either get in a boat with a small basket of food and a gallon of water or find a way to keep yourself out of trouble here in the town. That being said, the town has agreed to give you one bar of soap a month so you can stop inflicting your stench on the town.”

“What about food? Water? Clothes?” Merilla didn’t think about the consequences of her words before the slipped out of her mouth. As soon as she realized she spoke out of turn, Merilla cringed waiting for the impact. After a few moments, she opened her eyes to find the doctor just staring at her until she looked up at him and he rolled his eyes before starting to write something on a clip boarded form.

“Look. I am not going to hit you. I am not physical just because I can be and I will answer your questions. When it comes to your clothes you can use the bar soap to help make sure yours are clean. Food and Water will be provided in two different ways. Upon leaving the hospital I will give you a gallon jug, nothing special just a washed-out old milk jug, and you will have ready access to the hose beside the church to fill it up. As for the food, you will no longer be able to go to the dumpsters to obtain free food. However, in our town we have exactly five restaurants. You will cycle through them, one each night, and deep clean the whole building. You will only show up after the restaurant has closed and after you have finished cleaning you are allowed to eat anything that was left over from the day. However, you are NOT under ANY circumstances allowed to cook anything fresh. Also, if there is no left-over food you are still to clean that night’s restaurant. Or like I stated earlier, you can choose the boat and the ocean.” The doctor looked up as he finished the last statement and peered at her as if expecting an immediate answer.

Merilla was more conflicted than she had ever been. She would be fed most days and have clean water whenever she needed if she decided to stay. She would also have a clean body and cleaner clothes than she usually did. However, there was no telling how long it would be before she did something else to mess up and she would be sent out into the ocean anyways. Merilla’s mind was racing about the possibility that it may be easier to just go ahead and take her chances with the ocean. There was no way she would be able to live in the town forever. But the major thought making her decision sway to one or the other would be her willingness to give up her life.

Getting into the boat would be like giving up her life before her life was ready to give her up. It would be like asking the waves to crash over her and pull her into the abyss. Getting into the boat would be like admitting she wasn’t worth the life she was given.

But staying, staying would be like asking the residents to use her. Staying would be like admitting she was no better than the left-over garbage the town was allowing her to eat. Staying would just prolong the inevitable. There was no way to get to another town without getting into the boat so there was no other way out. The question presented itself to her brain, again. Would Merilla stay in the town or would she take her chances in the ocean with the boat?