Broken Queen

Chapter 6: What a shame𖤛-𝚅𝚒𝚘𝚕𝚊-𖤛

"Get your bloody arse off of me!"
I quickly scamper to my feet and then turn my head away from...him. His voice... It seems familiar, like a dream. The thought vanishes from my mind as quickly as it came.
I make sure I am completely covered. I can't see his feathers, and he can't see mine. Good. Finally, I managed to spit out.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you."
Out of the corner of my eye I can see him dusting himself off and then he looks at me
"Oh my gosh are you ok?"
His tone has suddenly changed from angry to sincere. I am shocked by the sudden exchange from this man, especially since I just fell onto him from a building.
I start to see him reach for something in his pocket and I run. I run away from him, heart beating and eyes full of tears, I run. I forget about my father, Margret, my thigh, me. I just ran. Jolting me back to reality, I'm back sitting next to the man and he is looking into my eyes. His face is more clear in the moon light and I'm startled at how young he is. He looks around my age, if not a year older. I take my guard down and look back into his eyes. The world stops, along with my heart. My face! He can see my ugly, deformed face. I flinch at the thought and it seems as if I pulled him from his thoughts.
"Are you- Are you okay?"
I barely realize his accent and I inwardly panic while searching for a response. I stand up with him and respond.
"Yeah. No broken bones. Sorry about that-."
My words are cut off by the sight of his cheek. There's a wet splotch sitting on it and I pull my hand from his, clasping them to my mouth.
"Oh my gosh! Your cheek! Are you bleeding? Did I do that? I'm so sorry!"
He laughs and shakes his head.
His black hair bobs up and down.
I reach up to touch a strand.
Everything in my mind screams at me to run, to go back to the castle and forget this night ever happened, but I don't.
He just pauses and lets me examine his hair.
It's soft.
My hair used to be curly, before I started straightening it every day.
I ruined my hair.
Now, each strand of hair in my head is equivalent to hay from a farm.
I drop his hair and Look into his eyes.
Something drops inside of me.
An overwhelming familiarity floods my memory.
I know him.
We've spoken.
Where have we spoken?
My thoughts are abruptly stopped.
The sound of clanking against the floor startles me and I take a step back, only to realize that the adrenaline flowing through me has run out. I cry out in pain and fall, holding my thigh. My scream echoes through the alley and I hear yelling. The man-boy picked me up and I felt him holding me. More screams, tears- my tears. He puts me down against a shop wall and my vision starts to blur. I feel blood all over my leg. The boy pulled something out and attacked the guard. Wait, guard? Why is there a guard? Guards are funny. "No." I cry out, laughing. "You're so funny." I blink and the boy is in front of me. Covered in a weird, thick, liquid. "Hi." I laugh and feel his cheek.
"Hi."
He smiles and I laugh.
"You must've hit your head pretty hard. It's either that, or you're in shock from that wound in your-."
He looks down and a face of recognition lights up at the sight of the wound on my thigh. He looks back up at my face. "No! I'm ugly. You'll run away like the other ones." Before I know it, I start to cry and he puts his palm to my cheek.
"I won't. I promise."
The world stills. And I give in to the darkness.