A Paradise Lost

Drunk as a Skunk

Queen Raya dismissed all her maids early. She wanted to be alone inside her bed room. She drank coconut wine and cried her heart out. She was so upset that Bayani refused to marry her after she lowered down her own dignity. She wondered how many queens out there who would willing to humiliate themselves for the sake of a commoner. She thought she was the strongest woman in the world. She never realized that she was so weak when it comes to love. She drank and drank as many coconut wine as she could until she fell asleep. She was unaware as to how many toddy shells of coconut wine she had consumed.

Queen Raya woke up the next day lying on the floor. It was already afternoon when she woke up. There were several toddy shells that were scattered on the floor. She almost fell back on the floor when she attempted to get up. She felt like her head was spinning. She tried to claim on her bed and lied. Anita, her lady-in-waiting, knocked on her door.

“My queen, your brother, Shiloh, Kaalam and Bayani were looking for you. They were worried what happened to you this morning because you were not seated in your throne.”

“Tell them. I’m fine. No need to worry about me.”

“They will not leave until they will see that you are okay.”

“To heck with them. Tell them to leave. I don’t need them. I’ll sit in my throne in a few minutes. No need to worry about me. I only oversleep. Now, go away please. You’re disturbing my slumber.”

Anita went out and told Shiloh, Kaalam, and Bayani that Queen Raya would attend to them shortly. They doubted Anita’s words. They felt like something was wrong with Queen Raya because she never woke up late. If ever she’s not seated on her throne, there was something urgent that she needed to attend to and she would always make sure that everyone knows where she was so that they would not worry about her. But, this morning, it was very unusual of her to leave her throne empty without informing her whereabouts to anyone.

“Please tell your beloved queen that if she will not get out from her room right now, we will all barge into her room.”

“Yes, my majesty. I’ll tell her right away.”

Anita was in a state of panic. She didn’t want them to see the messiness of Queen Raya’s state. She went back inside her room. She locked the door to make sure that they could not barge into her room.

“My queen! You need to get up now or else they will barge into your room.”

“Oh please, let them wait!”

“Raya! What’s happening to you?! Why are you hiding from us?! We need you to get out from your room now or else we will destroy this door and we will drag you out from your room!” Shiloh yelled while knocking on her door.

“Raya! Answer us!” Shiloh yelled again.

“Wait!” Queen Raya yelled. She was annoyed with her brother.

“Hurry up! I need you to hide all the toddy shells before they will completely invade my privacy.”

Anita picked up all the toddy shells as fast as she could. She hid the toddy shells temporarily inside Queen Raya’s bathroom. They were both startled when the door burst open. Bayani opened the door forcefully by banging the door with his body.

“What exactly do you want from me? Can’t you wait for me outside so that I can fix myself first before facing you?!”

“What is that smell in your room? Shiloh sniffed.

“The smell of my room is none of your business. Why don’t you get straight to the point? What do you want from me?!”

“We’re just curious. First of all, I wonder where that smell is coming from.” Shiloh opened the bathroom door.