The Princess Who Returned

Chapter one

It was a sunny morning and one of the few weekends I was actually left to my own devices that is without any duties or lessons. Days like this were scarce and far between so I was determined to make the best of today by starting and finishing this novel I had just got. Well I planned to at least but fate had other plans.

I had not even started on the first page when my door was thrown open by my terror of a best friend Aasha. She, it seemed had run all the way up here which was evident from her messy black hair adorned with droplets of sweat, flushed face and her panting which resembled that of a dog. That sight amused me to no end and despite my best efforts I could not hold my laughter.

In response she furrowed her eyebrows in an attempt to look threatening but only succeeded in looking like a furious puppy. This only made me laugh harder and nearly fall off the bed I was reading on when something soft hit my head and fell onto the floor.

I looked at the floor and saw a pink ball and then looked back up to see Aasha holding my wooden cat paperweight with a nefarious grin on her face and paled. I asked terrified "Y- you aren't thinking of throwing that at me, are you?" to which she coolly replied, "That depends on whether you stop laughing or not. It's your choice." And finished with a smirk.

 Now I was sweating nervously, don't get me wrong she was an awesome friend but when she got mad, she was a literal demon, that being said she had never gotten mad at me but she was still pretty scary sometimes. For instance, there was this one boy in her class a few years ago that foolishly insulted me and ended up coming to the court the next day with silver hair to apologise to me.

I was baffled at first since I had not even known of this event happening in the first place but all my doubts had been cleared when she came as per usual with her mother who worked as my mother's personal adviser. As soon as she stepped into the castle and saw me, she asked me if someone had come and apologised. I said someone had and asked her about it so she narrated the whole incident. We were both four then and that was the first glimpse I got of her rather dangerous side. This wheatish skinned, tall, chocolate brown eyed girl was not someone you messed with and I had just done that.

We both stayed like that for a while; I, a pale-faced, green-eyed, red-haired beauty nervously peering over the rim of my novel which was held in front of my face in a bid to hopefully serve as a shield and the black-haired beast standing over me while juggling a wooden cat-shaped paperweight with an evil grin on her face. Until we both burst out laughing. That immediately broke the tension and Aasha flopped onto the bed next to me smiling. I started smiling as well and finally put my novel down. Once she saw that her smile grew wider and she asked me to lie down as well. I obliged and faced her but when I did my smile immediately vanished.

Now that I was right next to her, I could see her face more clearly and it looked sickly. She was really pale and had dark circles under her warm brown eyes. She was still smiling but the sparkle she used to have in her eyes had dimmed and left behind an unfamiliar sadness. I told her, "You look really sick, I think you should go home." As soon as I said that her smile vanished and she looked serious for a split moment but quickly switched back to her usual self. She whined, "but you're finally free today and we have to complete our bucket list." 

But I stayed firm and admonished her, "We have all the time in the world to do that but what you need now is rest so I really think you should go home." "stop acting like a mother, I am perfectly fine and want to complete our bucket list." I did not waver "You are going home today at all costs. We will not be able to do much in your state anyway so your obstinance is just stupid."

"But who knows the next time you will be free, this is a rare opportunity and I want to make the best of it." "I promise I will make time when you get better. Please just go home today and work on getting better. I am getting really worried." I said desperately and in reply she sighed sadly, "alright I will go home, I don't want you getting worried about me." As a reply I hugged her, relieved that she had listened to me and would be getting better.