Angora. (on-going)

Chapter One - The Lost Beauty.

“Princess!” A familiar voice shouted from the distance. ‘You have to wake up, please wake up,” My body was shaking and I urged it to stop but I couldn’t, someone else was causing the violent shaking. “Please Princess.” A voice begged and begged and begged, it was as if this women’s whole life depended on my existence – little did I know that it actually did.

My eyes clicked open and were instantly blinded by beaming down sunlight, I blinked a couple times then sat upright and spoke. “Who the hell is Princess?”

“My lady, your words, they are so foul, Erik will not be happy about this.” The women looked me over puzzled, running her eyes up and down my entire body and over every inch of me like I was being studied – or like she was making sure that I was not injured. “Do you not know who I am?” she asked worried.

“I’m sorry but I don’t even know where I am let alone who you are.” I was rude, not intentionally, but I will still very rude. I paused for a second, actually the whole world pause, shouldn’t I be hurt, my car flipped shouldn’t I have a broken arm or be unconscious. I looked around and saw a town spread out in front of me in beautiful shades of tan and brown, with black rooftops and stunning architecture.

“I’m Tabitha, your….well I’m your maid or your peasant whichever you shall call me.” Tears welled up in poor Tabitha’s eyes as she continued to speak. “Your inAngoramy lady, how can you not remember?”

Tabitha was fragile, I was afraid to touch her and console her as she kept on speaking, her long grassy brown hair hanging in her face as if she were ashamed of it. She didn’t look me directly in the eye either; her eyes always stay attached to the ground as if I were Medusa about to turn her to stone. She had rags on for clothes, surely she didn’t dress like this all the time, she wore no shoes and her mossy green dress had holes all over it and there was barely anything left of her cream sweater.

“How did I get here Tabitha? I mean…” I took a deep breathe. “I’m not from ‘this’ world, I’m from Earth where people go and have office jobs and eat at McDonalds.”

“Princess I have no idea what you are speaking of, you are on Earth my lady. Come, come this way.” She began to walk motioning me down a long narrow windy path through dense thick forest and finally into a village, the village I had seen from the hill. This time the houses were eye level and just as stunning from atop the hill. There had flower boxes on every window with wild beautifully coloured flowers growing from every one. “Erik will know exactly what to do for you.”

The village was full of people, running and rushing back and forth with baskets of apples and carrots in hand, some bowed for me and other just stepped aside to let me pass. Princess, I was there Princess, but how could I be I didn’t even know where I was. I didn’t even know who half these people are.

“All hail the Princess!” One town’s person shouts as everyone around me bows to the ground. Surely I wasn’t that important, I couldn’t be. I was just Amelia from a small town inCalifornia, sure I lived in a half decent expensive and nice house, but that was it, no one knew my name or who I was. Or at least no one should have. I was a big deal around here apparently.

There were children playing what appeared to be soccer as Tabitha escorted me into a horse drawn carriage. Was I on Earth? Twenty-twelve seemed a long way away from this land. It was like I was living in the eight-teen hundreds. I watched as the horses raced up a stone path along a hill hide, large stone buildings passed and more people who appeared to be wealthier than those I had just previously seen down the hill appeared. The further we climbed in our carriage the more extravagant things became until I saw it. A castle made of stone, with gargoyles and beautifully flowered balconies. It was huge like something that I had only seen in movies, and dreamed of living in ever since I was a little girl playing dress-up.

“Do you know where you are now Princess?” Tabitha spoke but I paid no attention. I couldn’t take my eyes off the growing castle in the distance.

I keep watching everything pass me by until finally our carriage stopped in front or an iron gate. Tabitha hopped out first and escorted be out, making sure I did not trip on the cobblestone walkway. She stepped up on a stone pedestal and reached to a keypad where she typed in a bunch of funny looking numbers and letters, which I didn’t even think were really letters or numbers at all, they were some other language or dialect, because they definitely were not English.

There was a giant roar in the distance, as if someone were being killed by a creature of large size, I jumped and Tabitha chuckled. She was amused by my behaviour, I didn’t understand why.

“That’s probably just Erik playing with Pepper, nothing to be afraid of my lady, you and Erik have has Pepper for years ever since he was put on your doorstep and hatched from his egg, don’t you remember?”

I shook my head no as the large icon gate opened and another carriage pulled up to greet us. Tabitha pushed me inside and again we were on a long winding drive up a bumpy driveway. Tree’s enveloped us as we went deeper and deeper into what seemed like a never ending forest. It was beautiful.

Song birds sang beautiful choruses all around us and deer pranced in and out of trees, eating leaves and grass and not even noticing we were near. The forest was bright green and I swear you could see more miles. Trees were tall mountainous objects and they felt like the touched the sky in places. Vines were strung up everywhere and monkey’s played peek-a-boo as we rode by. I was to busy admiring the forest that I almost missed it when I saw it, a small house nestled way deep into the forest. It looked abandoned and rotted.

“Gilbert lives there.” Tabitha spoke as she stared at the house getting smaller in the distance. “He used to be your Prince. You loved him very much when you were young, well you still are young but you understand what I’m saying.” She smiled, she must have been thinking about Gilbert and I. “You two did everything together, you’d go for walks through the castle and hold hands and kiss and pick at each other, you were very in love.”

“What happened?” I whispered finally taking my eyes of the small broken down home that could barely be seen in the distance anymore.

“What happens in every love story my lady, another man captured your heart.” She sighed as if she were not impressed that this had happened. “You were sixteen when Gilbert asked for your hand in marriage you ran off not knowing how to answer his question and you were not seen for weeks. When you came back you brought Erik with you and told Gilbert no, that you would not marry him.”

This was all brand new news to me, it came flowing into my head at such a rapid speed that it was all too much to deal with. Seeing the people talk and children play, seeing the castle in the distance and the forest creep up along side of me and then disappear again. I was just a young girl, surely this was not my where I belonged, surely I would be home anytime. I would open my eyes at any second and I’d be in my pink and purple bedroom, laying in my king size bed with my boyfriend lying next to me. He would tell me ‘Good morning’ kiss my forehead and then head out to make us some breakfast while I stayed and rested and made sure I was ready to get out of bed. But none of this world was like that, and as much as I willed by eyes to open, to end this crazy dream, they didn’t. Just how long would I be stuck here, not knowing how to get back to where I was really from.