ricochet || an original story

stella

Hours pass, but Rowan doesn't leave my room. He refuses to. Every time I ask him to, he shakes his head and stays on my bed, holding onto Alyona's pale, dead body like it's his last source of oxygen. Even when the dinner bell rings, he refuses to go. So I also refuse to go.

An hour after the dinner bell rings, there's another knock on the door. I frantically cover Alyona's body with my blanket and Rowan tries his best to stop crying. "Come in!" I shout.

Verona walks in and stares me down. "Are you okay?" she asks, shutting the door behind her.

I shake my head, but before I have the chance to speak, Rowan chimes in.

"No, they're not okay. They're a bloody monster."

I take a seat on the floor, my back against the leg of my bed. "I said I'm sorry." I whisper.

Verona look from me, to the lump on the bed, to Rowan, and back again.

"Please don't kill me," I plead, a fresh round of tears pouring down my face. I sniffle, looking up to Verona.

She tilts her head to the side and frowns.

I sigh, knowing that look anywhere. It's her pity face. I hate it, but I'm past caring.

She bends down and gives me a hug, then does the same to Rowan. "It's okay, Sweeties." She smiles. "Now, what's this?" she unveils Alyona's body and gasps.

I shake my head. "Please don't report me. I did what King Smithson asked. Please." I beg, looking up at her.

Verona looks continues to stare at the body, shocked. "Did she... Did she suffer?"

Rowan answers for me. "Gods, I hope not."

I can't bring myself to say that she did, in fact, suffer. I couldn't get a clean kill unless she did.

I squeeze my eyes shut and cover my ears with my hands, trying to block out the memory. I don't know why I do that, though. I know it won't work. I open my eyes and stare at the ground, my ears now uncovered, too. "I miss her." I say softly.

Verona looks back down at me. "Vega?" she asks.

My eyes widen and I dig my fingers into the palms of my hands. "No. No. Alyona was just another Vega. No." I stand up and start pacing around my room. My thoughts are moving a million miles per second and I can't seem to take a deep breath. "Neither of them deserved this. I shouldn't have killed Alyona. She was the closest thing to Vega I--" I'm cut off by an embrace from Verona.

Rowan is hugging themself in the corner of my bed for some shred of comfort. The more I observe them, the more I realize they have the same nose and eyes as Verona, just like Price Devin. Maybe they're just Prince Devin in disguise, except Rowan doesn't have the same eye color as Prince Devin. Colored contacts, perhaps? Or it's most likely just a coincidence.

"I'm sorry." I say to him, pulling away from Verona. "I'm so sorry, Rowan."

He finally gets off my bed, tears still streaming down his face. "I hope you die, Park." He leaves my room.

"I hope so, too." I say in a whisper.

"Stell?" Verona grabs my hands to comfort me. "Do you want me to bring her body to Ricky? Say I found her in the garden like this?"

I nod. There's no way I could hide the body and report back to the king without turning myself in.

I watch through blurry eyes as Verona scoops up Alyona's corpse and exits my room, her face blank, expressionless.

I curl up in a ball on the floor, my crying finally coming to a stop. My mouth is drier than a fresh towel because I'm severely dehydrated, so all that comes out of me now are dry sobs. I wish I could turn back time and stop myself from killing Alyona. I'd rather face every punishment from the king than kill another person I'm close to. I'd rather die alone than get close to another person again.

Eventually, I fall into a deep sleep. But it's not a restful one. My dream is another nightmare. The same one I had a few weeks ago, but this time with Alyona.

When I wake up nearly four hours later, my sleeves are damp with my tears and I'm unable to fall back asleep. I sigh. It's going to be a very long night.