An Echo of Royalty

5

   I leaned against the tree, shutting my eyes. Why am I always the bad guy?

    “So, what are you thinking about? You have a deep scowl between your eyes,” Sindy said, sitting beside me.

    “Where did you come from? I didn’t even hear you.” I spilled a little of my food on my shirt and wiped it off.

    She giggled. “I’m good at being quiet. Sorry I scared you. How do you guys survive here without the vamps killing you? You’re in the middle of the forest with no lookouts.” She crossed her legs.

    “We do have lookouts, but only a few. Vamps don’t come into the forest this deep. There isn’t enough food or places to hide when the sun comes up. They may be fast moving, but not fast enough out here in the woods.”

    “Thinking about Joe? You were, weren’t you?” Her eyebrow lifted.

    Mine furrowed in response, “How would you know that?” 

     Her head tilted to the side before she grinned. “I saw you two talking earlier. Whenever you two have any chats, you end up somewhere staring at random objects as if your thinking. I guessed it was about each other.”

    “Good guess. The expression he gave me earlier, I can’t figure it out. It’s a look I’ve never seen on him before.” I took a bite of my food.

    She watched me eat. “Can I ask you something?”

     I swallowed before answering. “Sure.”

    She fiddled with her shoe laces as she spoke. “Are you and Joe together? I only ask, because if you aren’t, well, I like him.”

    Amusement spread across her face. “You’re only thirteen.” 

    She shrugged. “Well it’s not like we’d get married now, we could wait a couple of years, when I’m older. I really like him.”

    “You just met him today, you don’t even know him. His looks are the only thing you’re going off of.” I finished eating and set my bowl on the ground. I brought my legs up as if to sit Indian style but left my knees in the air and set my arms on them. 

    “So! He’s so cute. That’s why I said we could get married in a couple of years, so we could get to know each other first.”

    “Well, you could try, but just promise me you won’t get mad if he doesn’t want to be with you.”

    She looked down at the ground. “I know, he wants you.”

    I c****d my head at the words. “Why do you say that?”

    Her voice changed as she quoted Emily. “Well, I listened to some people earlier today. I think one of them’s name is Emily. She couldn’t understand why you weren’t just giving into Joe because she would give anything to be with him. He has a lack of taste to keep chasing you. That he should go after one of the other women, in particularly her.” She finally stared up at me. “I’ve seen the way you two look at each other. Why aren’t you guys together?” She looked at me intently, waiting for an answer.

    “I almost don’t know why anymore. I’ve about lost my reason for it. It’s a long story,” I said, rubbing my temples.

    “I’m a good listener. I like stories and if I’m gonna stay here it would be awesome to know more about you.” She pulled her legs in so they were under her chin.

    “Okay.” Where to start. “Well, you know that the vampires attacked around two years ago. My parents watched it on the news and decided we were gonna move out of the city and go to the forest. They hadn’t hit our part of the city too bad yet, so we thought we had time. My dad wanted to put as many miles between us and the city before night, so we left so early it was still dark. They were pulled from the car and killed.” 

    Wrapping her wrists around her knees, she buried her face in her arms, peeking over them. 

    Sighing, I said, “They left me alone, they didn’t even try to get me.” Wiping the moisture off my cheek, I sniffed.

    “Then what?” she prompted after several minutes.

    I turned to her. "You look scared. Why do you want to know more?" 

    Her head lifted a little. "It's like a scary movie. I like to know the ending even if it's a bad one."

    Shrugging, I went on. "I jumped in the front seat, put the car in drive and drove until I got to the forest. Then I walked for hours until it got dark and these guys found me." Pulling up the lip of my shirt, I wiped at my face again. Today was a first that my past wasn’t on my mind and neither was the pain from it. Telling Sindy my story didn't hurt as much as the nightmares. 

    Standing I grabbed my bowl to make my way back to the wash tent. Sindy followed.

    "I'm sorry," she said, her voice intent. "For what they did to you. Nobody should have to go

through something like that. I wish it hadn't happened." 

    Yawning, I dropped my bowl in the dishwater to clean it. The day had dragged on and on. I needed something fun to do. Hunting was always relaxing. I'll go in the morning. But if that was going to happen, I needed to get to bed now in order to get up in time. "I'm going to bed. Have they set you up in a tent yet?" 

    "Yeah, I'm in Emily and Jamie's tent. I don’t think they want me in there permanently though. I don't gather they like me very much."

    "Give them time. You’re new. Just don't hang out with them too much, or you’ll sink to there immaturity. Course, you may go through it anyway." I dried the dishes and put them away. 

    We walked to the tents and I nodded to her goodnight before we went our own ways. 

    Joe was next to my doorway, arms crossed. "I’m sorry you had to tell Sindy what happened."

    "Joe, I don't want to deal with you right now. Just let me go to bed," I said, glancing at my home.

    He moved in front of me putting his hands up in front of him. "I don't want to be a problem. I want to say I wish you didn’t have to relive the memory of your parents again." He said, taking a step closer to me, tapping the underside of my chin so I would look up at his cool blue eyes. 

    "I relive it almost every night," I whispered, a newer tear forming to slide down my cheek. 

    "Don't be ashamed of your tears. They just represent your feelings for people you've lost. There is nothing wrong with that." He leaned down and kissed my forehead. Without saying another word, he left.

    I watched him disappear into the dark.