Ilona and the House of Knights

    I lie in my bed and conjure up the gruesome image of Isaac dying. Why do I do this to myself? I think. Because I hate myself. I hug my legs, trying to keep the fresh tears away that threaten to trickle down my cheeks at any moment. Even after a year of him being gone, the pain is still as fresh as if it was just yesterday that he had died. It’s my fault that he’s dead. I stand up and pace around the room. I haven’t gone out of the house ever since Isaac has died. Once I found a place to isolate myself, I stayed there and haven’t gone outside once. The house, abandoned, was surprisingly stocked with various canned goods and bottled water and still is since I usually have a low appetite.             I walk into my bathroom and look in the mirror. My pale blond hair falls down to the middle of my back. I’m extremely pale, thin, and I have light green eyes. I take in my features until my eyes land on the scar that runs across my left temple. Looking at my scar always brings back morbid memories of Isaac. Frustrated, I walk out of the bathroom.                 I lie on the hardwood floor—compared to the heat of the house, it’s nice and cold. I might of well have died along with Isaac. I’ve isolated myself, relentlessly drowning in my depression, allowing it to pull me under further and further. Isaac gave his life for me—and for what? For me to waste away my own life? That is all I have done for this past year. My life wasn’t worth saving…             Isaac and I grew up in a small town named Heart. When we were younger we didn’t talk very much. It was when we were 14 that we actually started to talk. I always watched him from a distance though. Never once had I liked anyone else, it was always Isaac. My puppy love grew into something more soon after we started talking and he asked me to be his girlfriend. The first date he took me on was to Lake Sapphire. It wasn’t too far out of town on horse, and we watched the sunset. It was beautiful, I was the happiest person alive. I couldn’t had asked for more.             My best friend Jamie was always a little jealous of Isaac and my close relationship with him. She complained about not being able to find someone to fall in love with, and I also think she thought that I was becoming closer to him than I was to her. Now she probably really believes that since both Isaac and I went missing… She probably loathes me, and I don’t blame her… Though, I was never closer to Isaac than I was with Jamie, I loved them the same I was just in love with Isaac.             Jamie always had love right in front of her eyes. Our friend Damien had always loved her, but she friend zoned him, and I never understood why. Damien is a nice guy, and he is good looking. They share a lot of common interests. She must have not thought about Damien that way, but I know he was in love with her.             My mind slowly drifts away from my old friends and focuses on Isaac again. I mentally replay the brutal image of him dying over and over again. I keep thinking of the moment when he looked into my eyes as he was dying. His eyes seemed to hold a hint of disappointment, like I wasn’t good enough. I’m not good enough… The scene continues to play over and over again like a broken record player.             Isaac and I had planned to go on a trip, just the two of us. Neither of us had ever been any further than Lake Sapphire. Isaac took his deceased father’s world map and we decided to walk east of Heart, towards Lake Sapphire. It took us about four hours walking, to reach the lake, so we took a 30-minute break and laid down... There are 11 miles of woods separating Heart from Lake Sapphire. After our break we started walking again until we reached a small town named Johnson, an excruciating 6-hour walk. We were dead tired by the time we reached Johnson in the early hours of the following morning. Our first stop was a small hotel, we slept there until late afternoon. Isaac seemed annoyed that we had woken up so late, like he was in a rush. I tried to calm him down, and we left right away.             We walked through the town until a mountain range prevented us from going any further.             “Looks like it’s time to go back.” I sighed.             “No.” He said with a smirk. “Let’s go rock climbing.”             I gave him a blank stare. “Isaac, we have been walking almost nonstop for a full day.”      He hugged me and kissed my cheek, then looked at my eyes. “Come on babe, after we see what’s behind these mountains then we will go back home, I promise.”             I looked into his hazel green eyes and was instantly persuaded. “Okay.” I agreed with a smile, like an i***t.             We slowly and carefully started to climb the small mountain. After wanting to give up and cry in frustration about a thousand times, we finally reached the top. I was instantly struck with awe. What lay in front of us was breath taking, in a creepy way. The small mountains hid a small dark gray castle that had a large sign on it reading “The Kingdom of Knights”. There was a black spiked fence around it, and a few dead trees.             “Let’s go inside.”             I gave Isaac a look that told him that I thought he was crazy. The castle was pretty in a Gothic way, but it sent shivers through my body, bad shivers.             “No.” I said. He gave me a sad look and looked at the castle for a while.             “Please!” He begged, looking at me again. “After we take a tour inside them we can go back home.”             I looked at him angrily. “Isaac, you already promised that once we reached the top then we would go back home. I’m tired, and this castle thing, whatever it is, is giving me bad vibes.”             He rolled his eyes at me. “Don’t be such a wimp. At least let me enjoy exploring, we never leave Heart.”             I looked at him with my mouth dropped open. He had never played the guilt trip on me before.             “Fine.” I agreed, snapping my mouth shut. He gave me a smug smile and started climbing down the mountain. I followed after him. I became anxious and it seemed like we had reached the ground too soon. I didn’t want to go any closer to the castle, but I didn’t want to disappoint Isaac, he rarely asked for anything             Every step closer we took towards it, the more I dreaded the decision I had made. Isaac seemed to sprint to it, while I tarried by a dead tree.             “Come on!” He yelled at me over his shoulder. I sighed and took tiny steps till I reached him. While I took in my surroundings, he tried to find a way in. The gate had an old rusty chain with a lock on it. Maybe we won’t find a way in. A jolt of happiness bolted through me. Isaac ran around the back. Minutes later he shouted, “Ilona there’s a way in back here!” My happiness was instantly replaced with fear.             I jogged around back and spotted a hole under the gate next to where Isaac stood. I raised a brow at him.             “You expect me to climb under that and get dirty?”             “Getting dirty isn’t anything new to you.” he said with a wink. I rolled my eyes at him, it’s not like we had ever had s*x or anything… We just did things together. “After you” I gestured towards the hole in the ground. He slid under and waited for me on the other side; I followed behind with a grunt.             Once I reached the other side we quickly walked around the small castle looking for a way in. There were no back or side entrances but once we reached the front, we discovered that the large double doors were unlocked. Isaac opened it with no hesitation. The inside was engulfed by shadows. Chills rippled up my arms and I took a small step backwards, almost tripping over my own feet.             “Isaac, we should go.” I begged him.             He walked forward without saying anything, as if in a trance.             “Please Isaac!” I yelled, almost in tears.             “Ilona, don’t be scared, I’m not going to let anything happen to you.” he growled.             Shocked and scared, I followed behind him, and the door shut behind me with a bang. There was no light at all, and I did end up falling this time. Isaac was quick to catch me, laughing at my clumsiness. He propped me back on my feet and started rustling through his bag. He then pulled out a flashlight and turned it on. It lit up the entire room. I grunted to myself and Isaac laughed.             “Really Ilona? You were afraid of a ‘castle’ filled with a bunch of boxes?” I playfully punched him in the arm and rolled my eyes at him. Though I still did get a bad chill throughout my entire body, but I didn’t tell him. He walked forward, dodging boxes in front of him and opened a door that led to another room.             This room was bigger, with stairs leading to the middle of the room. Pictures and racks of swords hung on the walls. It looked like a castle out of a fantasy story, just a miniature version.             “Shit.” Isaac muttered to himself as we were surrounded by darkness.             “Isaac, turn on the flashlight, this isn’t a funny joke.” I said in a shaky voice.             “It’s not a joke Ilona, the batteries in the flashlight just died.”             I took in a quick breath, trying to calm myself and extended my arms trying to look for Isaac.             “Where are you?” I asked             “I don’t know I can’t see anything.” he spat out in an annoyed manner.             Running into a wall I groaned and laughed at myself a little bit. “Okay it’s time to leave now Isaac. I want to go home.”             “After we take a look at this room, I just want to take a sword home as a souvenir.”             At that moment a light in the middle of the room lit up. I snapped my head towards it and walked forward a little.             “Did you turn on that light Isaac?”             “No… I think someone else might be here.”             With the small light I could see Isaac’s figure. I quickly ran over to him and grabbed his hand.             “Then we should leave before we get caught.” I said in a rushed tone.             “Wait I can see the swords on the sword rack. Let me grab one really fast.” He said as he started to jog over to the far left wall, intersecting with the small light in the middle of the room. I stood and looked nervously around the shadowed room. Once Isaac reached the wall and grabbed a sword, someone appeared in the light.             I man dressed in all black with a mask on, and a sword case tied to his hip. I shrieked and took a step back, causing Isaac to look in my direction. When he noticed the man standing in the middle of the room he ran over to me, avoiding the man, with the sword he had grabbed off the wall. Isaac grabbed my hand and softly pushed me back a little bit.             “Hey dude, we mean no harm. We were just wondering around. We’ll leave now.”             The man laughed a slow deep laugh. I took a few steps back and whispered to Isaac, “We should run.”             “Then what? He stabs us in the back and kills us? If he attacks I can at least try to fight back.” He whispered back to me.             “Isaac come on, we need to go.” I tried pulling him back more but he just looked at me like I was stupid, and I gave him the same look in return. I looked back to the center of the room and realized that the man was gone. Isaac must had seen the scared and confused look on my face because he instantly turned around with his newly found sword drawn.             Out of nowhere the man pushed Isaac to the ground with such force that his sword flew out of his hand. Isaac tried to retrieve his sword, but he didn’t make it. The man tripped Isaac and kicked him in the side.             “Stop!” I yelled hopelessly.             The man turned towards me and shooed me away with his hand, as if I was an annoying bug he could command at the flick of his wrist. He then took his sword out of his case and thrust it into Isaac’s chest. Isaac and I gave out a cry at the same time. I ran over to him but was stopped short. The man pushed me to the ground, causing me to hit my head on the floor. It took me a second too long and before I knew it, the man was in front of me, holding me up by the front of my shirt and then throwing me across the room.             I laid helplessly, crying, and hoping the man would come after me and Isaac would have time to get away. I could hear him walking slowly towards me. Panicked yet relieved, I lifted my head towards him and got a closer look—his mask was white with crimson eyes. He swung his sword towards my face causing a sharp pain to run down my left temple and blood blurred my left eye. He picked me up again and threw me again, this time I hit a wall with a crunch and let out a scream.             “Over here!” Isaac screamed, causing my heart to drop. No you i***t… I thought to myself. Seconds later I could hear Isaac grunting. I lifted my head to see the man stabbing Isaac in the chest again. I forced myself to stand and picked up Isaac’s sword. I ran at the man with the intention of slicing him in half, but he dodged me and I fell to the floor, dropping the sword.             The man laughed loudly and stared at me. I started back with hate filled eyes overflowed with tears and blood. Isaac stood, picking up the sword I dropped.             “Ilona, when I say run, run and don’t stop. Look for help.”             “Isaa-”             “RUN!” he yelled.             I ran out up the stairs, and looked back before I left. That’s when I saw the look of disappointment in his eyes. I ran out of the room and out of the Kingdom of Knights. I crawled back under the gate, and made my way to the mountains. With tears and blood blurring my vision, and a broken wrist, I nearly killed myself climbing back over the mountain but the image of the events that just happened still fresh in my head kept me going. Once I reached the small town I ran into the nearest building and demanded help. I shouted frantically for people to climb over the mountain and save Isaac, but no one would. Even the policemen refused me, and when I tried to climb back over the mountain they arrested me and held me in a cell for two days. They thought I was crazy and said nothing like the Kingdom of Knights even existed.             After that I really did go crazy. I headed back to Heart, hoping that my friends, family or someone would help me but I gave up… Isaac would already be dead. I walked passed Heart and wondered into the forest in a stupor. Miles in I found an abandoned house that ever since has been my home.             This is where I find myself now, in a house that isn’t even mine, isolating myself from everything and everyone. I can feel myself slowly dying from the inside out. I miss my mom and my best friends, but I couldn’t stand seeing them again and trying to explain everything to them. They wouldn’t understand why I left and hid from everyone.             Lately I’ve been missing them more than ever. Several times in the past few days I’ve almost opened the front door to go see them but I resisted. Not only am I worried about them not understanding, but I’m worried about them hating me for leaving or maybe I’ll be a burden to them; a broken girl who needs taken care of. I hate being someone’s problem and I hate being the cause of drama. It’s better for the ones I love if I just stay away.             I plop down on my bed and close my eyes. I wish I could find Isaac’s remains and give him a proper burial. My eyes snap open and I fly off my bed. Of course seeing his dead body would hurt but what hurts more is imagining his dead body dumped and laying out there through the snow and rain, with animals eating his decaying body, and travelers cluelessly walking on his remains. Bile rises in my throat and I immediately grab my backpack and start packing bottles of water and canned food that has been stored in the basement by the previous owners of my ’home’. Of course I don’t know where that man would have put Isaac’s body, or if he would have just left Isaac where he was, but I have to figure out.