The Mistaken Prince

It all started with a news headline... (chp.1)

Chapter one

Everyone remembers that night. There is absolutely no doubt about it. The sirens going anywhere and everywhere, the entire city in a corrupted state, and the rampage of the heralds running around to deliver the news. 

I was sitting at the dinner table, eating microwave Mac and cheese. I was peering at the TV set up in our small living room right next to the stove.

 Well, I was peering but not paying attention. I was actually reading the newspaper, which came to our door everyday. 

My family was not doing well on the money side, so we couldn't afford the gaming magazines I love reading. I occasionally would take my friends' old issues, but they were not the same.

 I have only gotten one new issue, and it was my tenth birthday. The smell of the new cover, the clean brisk papers, the perfectly straight edges, I loved it.

The newspaper I was reading had a very large headline that you honestly could not miss. This very headline was everywhere and anywhere. On billboards, on the news, and on this paper I was reading. 

The headline read in bold lettering "Princess of Galdana goes missing under mysterious circumstances, prizes are being given for any information."

I've heard about the princess before. I used to have a crush on her, wished I was her royal boyfriend or something. She was now 13, and I was 14. When I was younger, it seemed as if it was meant to be.

 I would sit in my bed at night, staring at the roof and planning our royal wedding. I even went to the effort of making a diagram, carefully drawn tables with bouquets sat atop of them.

"Charlie! Supper time" my mother shouted even though I was five feet away.

 I put down the newspaper and collected myself for supper. 

Tonight we had roast beef and still-frozen peas. I did not think much of what I enjoyed eating, as I would always scarf anything I could get down.

 When I planned my dream royal wedding, the main dish was calavari. I never have tried it, but it seems freaking delicious.

"So, did you hear about the princess? What a shame. I wonder where she disappeared to this time." my father said through bites of beef.

 This was not the first time she had disappeared. Three times in the past she supposedly had gone missing, yet she was found hours later in the grand garden curled up with a book in hand. 

That seemed like the life. Grounds large enough to disappear into, yet with people who cared enough about you to create a ruckus. 

"She is probably just in the garden again." I said blatantly.

Except this time was not like the other times. 

She was really gone.

 One week later, and it is all people will talk about. You can't go to the market to get cheese without hearing at least six mentions of her. 

The news was blaring, the heralds were screaming, and it was pure chaos. They needed her back.