The Melody Of Destiny

Chapter 10

Anastasia:

Lying on his back reeking of alcohol and drugs he stares up at the sky mumbling in self-pity. Why am I here? Of all the things I could be doing this isn't it. This this idiot ungrateful brat. I could punch him. Nock some sense into him. Grab him by the shoulders and shake him like a macarena. I f only I could tell him. Tell him his words hurt. That he is wrong. Wanna bet he's never heard that before. I am worth something to. I don't deserve to be treated like this. Bet hell just laugh. Someone like him stuck up on a pedestal. He doesn't deserve that pedestal. Not any of it. Come on Ana just say it. Spit it out. Just tell him. Tell him her hurt you. That like an idiot you trusted him. But I can't. I can't. Can I? Just do it. I can't. Pathetic. I am pathetic as I knelt down giving him some water I found in the back of the cab.

He shoves it back at me and I shove it right back to him the water splashing over his face. Can you just stop being an asshole and take a sip. "Are you trying to kill me Ana." He slurs.

I laugh a little in utter frustration. Maybe, the water is poisoned, I almost say almost, but I catch myself just in time. Tonight's not the night for treason. He isn't supposed to be here, he should go back to his bubble, that safe bubble of ignorance and privilege. If my mother could hear me think, she would disown me, I'm almost certain of it.

"Alexander you're high off rockers. Do you even know where you are? Take the dam water. Sober up, would you." I rant. Shoving it back at him. Finally, to my surprise he takes a sip. Why am I helping him? If someone saw me. A beat-up prince and lowly me. My life would be over. He isn't your friend, Ana. But he was and he is your prince.

"Why are you helping me?" He asks.

I don't know why I answer, but I do, and I find myself whispering barely audible: "I still remember the child you were, the person you could have been."

Prince Alexander the 57th:

Disappointment, all I am disappoint, disappointment I am. No one understands, the pressure. So, so much pressure crushing me. Crush, crush, like gravel I am crushed. I am nothing. Prince, that's what I am, a prince, the chosen one. Always a disappointment. The world is laughing, all laughing at me, all but one.

I look up at her, the one who doesn't laugh, I want to tell her I see her, that I don't know why she is here, but she is, and I need that, that love, that care, but she is gone... Where is she? Where is she? I stumble up onto my feet, I need to find her, find her, the clue, the one, the nothing that makes me something. She makes me something.

"Come back, come back!" I yell. Stumbling around Searching for her, it's always been her right beside me. Finally seeing her I yell out: "Don't leave me, I need your help!"

"You make it very hard to help you." she says her words sounding so so far away.

"I will change." I say trying to get closer to her, I will push away the crowds, push away it all, if you would love me, no one loves me I try and say but the words don't come out and she just stares at me unmoving, unsmiling.

"No, you won't." She says sighing.

Annastasia:

"I know it's not easy to love me." He says stumbling closer.

"Alex, I don't have time for this nonsense." I say annoyed.

"I will protect you." He says stumbling around.

"I don't need protecting." I say trying to back up, but I am too slow, and he grabs my hand.

"We could do it, you and me." he stammers.

"Do what?" I say, trying to remove my hand, trying to pull back but he is too strong and pulls me in closer.

"Would you love me, me, if I had nothing, was nothing, nothing?" he whispers in my ear.

Why is he whispering, why is he holding me? "I don't even like you!" I say desperately trying to pull away, but all I manage to do is hurt my shoulder.

"What if I was a monster?" he asks.

"Let me go!" I say, my heart pounding once again.

"You were always there? Scurrying like a little mouse." He says.

I don't know how to respond, I don't know what to think, I need someone, someone to help me but there's no one, just me and him.

"Would you love me if I was nothing?" He asks.

That's the thing, I probably would, but you're not nothing, you're the prince, you're the drunk guy, the guy holding my arm so tight it hurts it really hurts. You're the guy forcing me to smile, too scared to answer truthfully, too scared to panic. You're the guy who makes me so scared that I am calm.

Suddenly a car comes speeding around the corner, its wheels screeching as it abruptly brakes coming to a stop over the walkway just a couple of meters away from us. The prince startles, and that's enough, enough time for me to yank away my hand, and to run away from him, away from the car. But the guy yells at me to stop, to raise my hands, to get down and I know that voice. Its Benjamin, his shadow, aiming his gun at me, his anger and fear all directed at me. He's alone, that tells me he hasn't told anyone yet and neither has the rest of the prince's protection detail. You swear your life to the king, you lose your life to the king, that's their moto, that's their only purpose, and now he'll lose it all because of a party, and he knows that and that makes him dangerous. For a moment I think he will shoot me, but then Alexander yells out breaking the tension.

"You called my Shadow, Anna! How could you? How could you?" Yells the prince.

It takes a while, but Benjamin finally realises it is me. Me who called him. Me who basically saved his life, all he needs to do is get the prince back and pray that he will forget. But I am also the one who knows what he did tonight.

Benjamin finally turns away from me and practically charges at the prince and in one quick movement he has the prince up and in the car. I guess even he has had enough. They speed away, leaving me alone in the dark. Of course, they leave me. Why would I need to get home? How am I going to get home?