Crown of Jade

Caspian: Dust and Tears

The crown lightly brushed the tip of her hair, I stumbled out of the woods when her eyes opened, with rage. "You are too late". He continued to slowly move the crown towards her head, but a surge of anger and avarice rushed through my veins. "Stop!"

Nefertiti's paws brushed my sweaty forehead. What kind of dream was that? 

She purred, I jumped out of bed. I don't know why, but I have this urge to do something today, something meaningful. The floor creaked as I stepped out of bed. Nefertiti followed me all the way to the washroom. "You know I can't let you in here Titi" She accepted the fact and walked out. What was happening? I felt this small piece of my body pushing me to do something, something extraordinary, something that part is not even telling me. I gasped and leaned on the sink, trying to persuade myself that it didn't mean anything. I quickly dressed up. What if it's the letter? I mean there's nothing else in my life that mattered so much that my mind is urging me so much to do something about it. What else could it be? No. It can't be the letter. The letter's just a prank. Right? I stepped out, completely in denial of the fact that there was a letter lying somewhere in my house claiming that I was a prince. 

Nefertiti looked like she was mad at me as I walked out groggily to get breakfast. I sighed and ate, scrunched up in my bed, thinking about what to write. Definitely not the letter. I groaned. It was like my mind was divided into two parts; My practical side, telling me that it doesn't mean anything, and then there's the other one. Bugging me so much that I felt like my brain would burst into a million tiny pieces, and I would just be lying there in the cottage, hopeless, too weak to even fight my own thoughts. Cause of Death: Unwanted thoughts.

 I can't.  For the first time, I felt wistfulness coursing through my veins. Enough was enough. What if this would change my life? I know I said that I liked living over here, but that can't be the whole purpose of my life. Living in this small and cursed town for like the next 50 years? I wanted to be a bestselling writer before the Lexers, I wanted to change the world. What happened to those dreams? How did the Lexers impact my mind so much that my dreams and hopes just faded to dust and tears? I thought that the Lexers were nothing. I can't let them have so much control in my life. They wouldn't stop me from anything. But guess what, they already did, 15 years ago.

I got up, for once in my life I had this burning sensation to actually do something, something that mattered, to me, and the world.

I dug through the pile of papers on the floor. I caressed the silky paper of the letter in my hands, for the first time, I was so relieved to find something. I quickly smoothed it out, reminiscing over how my boss would smoothen my shirt to look 'presentable' in front of the customers. The shirt did get wrinkled and stained because of the shoe polish, though. 

The next second, I was scurrying over the wet mud outside of the cottage with my brown sling bag, the letter in my hand. I had a prevalent fear that the letter in my hand would effortlessly slip into a prodigious bundle of dung as I briskly walked. My shoes made a sound that I unfortunately don't even have words to describe. After almost walking a mile from my cottage, I saw a small child playing with a ball. 

I walked over to him unhesitantly and held him by his arm, I'm pretty sure it was a bit too agressive but I think I can be excused because I just walked a mile with no breaks. "Hey Garrett! How are you doing? Good. Um, I got this letter yesterday and I was wondering if it was you or your friends?" Garrett looked me in the eyes for a few seconds as I brandished the letter in front of him. Unsure of what to say, he let go a little 'um' and then continued the staring contest. "Listen don't be scared, okay? I'm just asking because I want to be sure that there isn't some weirdo saying I'm a prince, right?" I chuckled at what I said. But clearly no one found it funny. Garret finally let out something from his tiny mouth. 

"I don't know. Ask Ben" He pointed at the little cottage just a few steps away, its wooden walls outside certainly didn't look like it could sustain life, or death. Garrett was an incredibly helpful and endearing child. Probably one of my favourites from the pranksters. I cordially smiled at him and patted him on his shoulder. His expressions remained unchanged. Jogging towards the small cottage, I noticed a pair standing next to the cottage, it consisted of a middle-aged woman with a black stick in her hand standing in front of a small whitish boy with mud stains on his plump cheeks, and his blue watercolor eyes reflecting the afternoon sun.

I slowly walked over to them , trying not to disturb their business. As soon as I stepped in a puddle of dung a squishy noise was emitted. This made the offspring's head turn. "Mama!" The mother's head turned too now. But by that time, my main source of information, Ben, ran away to the back of the cottage. The mother didn't notice and straightened and smoothed her blonde braid as a smile unfolded on her face. 

"Uh- Hello! May I help you?" "Um- Actually, I needed something with your son- Ben." I replied, keeping an eye on the running child as he fled. "Ben? Are you sure?" "Yes, don't worry, it'll be very quick, it's just a small question I wanted to ask." "Well, I hope he's not in trouble!" She awkwardly laughed, and I smiled back. She started to run to the back of the cottage, her stick fell to a clatter on the ground. After not even a minute, she came back, her dry hands clutching the boy's shoulder. I felt sorry for him, but also happy at the same time that I didn't have to go through this. (Since I didn't have any parents). The mother giggled slightly while holding Ben's little shoulder. "Well, go ahead!" I bent down to Ben's height and quietly asked him. 

"Hey, Ben! I didn't want to disturb you and your mom but- I just wanted to ask, um, did you send this letter to me?" I showed him the letter in my hands. He shook his head, not uttering a word. "Tell the truth you numbskull" The mother berated him and pinched his back. "I'm telling you I didn't do anything!" "Oh yeah? Well you said the same thing when the sugar jar broke in the kitchen last week, and guess what? You did that!" "Please, um, it's okay, I believe him, thank you both so much, you have been so helpful. I'll take my leave now." The mother cordially smiled and then continued berating him. 

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Hey everyone! This is rey, I'm so sorry I haven't uploaded this part in so much time, I was so excited for publishing this since I started the book but because of a lot of exams and studies I had to divert my attention from writing to studying. But now, I'm all set to continue wattpad since my exams got over (YAY!) and my holiday are starting. I promise I'll try to be more active. Lastly, I hope you all enjoyed this part so far! If you've reached till here, I just want to say a HUGE thank you to you for even deciding to read this and thinking it's worth it <3, even if this is my mom who I told to read this :) Bye now!

toodles <3