Princess in Disguise [Book on Hold]

Prologue

"I don't wanna be like Cinderella
Sittin' in a dark old dusty cellar
Waiting for somebody, to come and set me free
I don't wanna be like Snow White waiting
For a handsome prince to come and save me
On a horse of white, unless we're riding side by side
Don't want to depend on no-one else
I'd rather rescue myself"

-Cinderella; Tata Young

Thump. Thump. Thump. All that I heard was my heart pounding out of my chest. The sound of it trying to escape the terror. I heard the sonic boom of the bullet piercing the air and crashing with the multiple vases and furniture downstairs.

I sprinted as quickly as possible to my younger sister's room. Covered in dark purple paint, the door was a sign that I had reached my destination. Not giving it a second thought, I flung it open and searched for my her. She was under the bed with her stuffed animal breathing heavily. She came out from under the bed and hugged me tightly.

I hugged her back and whispered for her to follow me. We tip-toed to the closet where our opportunity to escape was.

We scurried inside quietly while I told her to search for a small opening in the wall. I grabbed my necklace and clicked a small button on the right side. Out came the silver key which flashed gold in the light.

"Have you found the small key hole yet?" I asked Gretel who looked around nervously fidgeting with her hands.

"I can't remember where I last saw it. All I remember is putting a shoe box over it," she said looking down at the space completely covered with boxes of shoes and heels.

"We will push them all from the wall to see if we can find it then. If you find it, tell me so we can put the key inside," I told her. She stared at the closet door in horror before her breaths got more shallow. She was on the verge of a panic attack.

"They are coming for us! They are going to know where we are," she said, mumbling something before she started to shove the boxes from the walls to the center of the small room.

I looked at the door in horror before I realized what she said. I grabbed her arm and tried to calm her down a bit. We both started to shove the boxes away until we found the hole.

"Princess, come out, come out, wherever you are," came a male voice from the hallway.

They are going to find us. I saw that my hands started to tremble a little. I put the key inside and turned it. A small metal door slid open.

"Come on Gretel! We are getting the bloody hell out of this place," I yelled whispered. When she was getting up, she hit her head with a metal hanging shelf.

"I found you princesses!" the male voice screamed from inside my sister's room. I saw the doorknob start to turn.

"Gretel! Go inside now!" I screamed while I went to hold the man or men back.

"But what about you?" she wondered starting to shake a little.

"Just go!" I screamed--holding the door with all my strength, "Now!"

Once I saw that Gretel was inside the door I ran as fast as my feet could take me to the small opening.

The door opened almost immediately once I let go. Three men with pistols came inside the room. I was about a foot away from the opening, now. Just a little more, I thought to myself. Just a little bit more.

The sonic boom of the bullet startled me before I started to feel pain on my side and fell to my knees. I bit the inside of my cheek and just began to crawl.

"Princess, sorry to inform you, but you're not getting out of here alive," one of the men said with malice.

I felt like the pain getting worse, and black dots started to cloud my vision. Then they began to shoot at the small door that was closing with both me and Gretel inside.

*

"Gretel, come on we have to leave," I told her once the pain descended and the adrenaline boost began. I got up and smiled when I saw that I made a great choice deciding to wear regular clothes instead of dresses like usual.

"Where are we going now?" Gretel asked me looking around at the tunnels surrounding us. I noticed that my phone was in her left hand while the stuffed toy on the other.

"We are going to run down this whole section of the tunnel. It's going to lead to the main part of the kingdom where our parents are. Okay?" I asked her.

"Yes."

*

Ten minutes later, I noticed that I felt dizzy and a little too woozy. We were almost to the center. We had just climbed a pair of stairs and now we had to go to the elevator to the top floor.

"Gretel, I'm starting to feel funny; and I don't feel so bright," I told her.

"Well, you don't look to bright either," she answered with concern in her eyes.

"Let's keep walking. We are almost there," I said. My words sounded slurred together. The adrenaline boost slowly decreasing more and more by the seconds.

We were just passing through the lobby when I felt pain. Everywhere. I fell on my knees and Gretel started to say something to me. A memory flashed in my mind.

The day my older sister was assassinated. The reason my sister is scared of assassins is for that reason. Who wouldn't be. They were paid to kill us. The royal family.

She was only eighteen. She was supposed to be crowned Queen the following week. But it had quickly turned to horror when she was killed in front of us.

The worst part was that she knew someone was hunting her down. She knew that she was going to die sooner or later. The worst part was that she had already prepared her final statement and had bequeathed us with her belongings.

The blood and the gore of that moment flashed across my vision.

I could just let go and be with with my sister and Damien, but then I thought about Gretel and my parents.

They would be lost. They would become depressed and the kingdom would be in complete chaos.

I have to fight. I have to fight for my sister. My parents. And my kingdom. Royalty Cleopatra de LaRuso will not fall easily to your mercy death.

I tried to control my breathing and heart while all the secretaries and workers who were in the first floor started to crowd around me and spoke quickly to Gretel.

I only caught some words and phrases.

"What.....happened....Call......tell....doctor....parents....princess...."

"Aaahhhh!" I screamed. The pain become to intense for my now fragile body. I was withering in the pain. I saw people move, run, and scream things across the room.

The last thing I saw were black dots clouding my vision and Gretel shaking violently in tears. Then, darkness......