Kard~Tale

Chapter One

My hair swirls around me in a mid-November breeze. I swallow a gulp of air as my feet peddle too fast, but I mean to, it helps me deal. The skyscrapers tower over me and the morning rush hour vibrates in my ears. My cheek stings where mom slapped me. I told her she shouldn't drink this early, and she slapped me across the face. So I went off on my bike. I need to get as far as possible from her. This has happened before, where she gets mad and I run away to cool down, when really it's her who needs to cool down. I coast across an intersection, cars mere feet from the bike. The lake barely comes into view and I loosen up, knowing I can sit on the sand and sort everything out. Nothing will change though, mom will still be drunk and dad still gone. I pass a strip of stores, separated by thin alleyways. Before I can register what's happening, I am ripped into one of the dark alleys so fast I don't even gasp. I can't see the kidnapper and before anything else happens, the sounds of the city fade and what's already dark becomes even darker.

~

Suddenly I'm in a different place. The sun shines down on a huge prairie of flowers. This is not a park I know of, especially because a deep blue ocean lies on the horizon. A movement to my right startles me and I remember I've been kidnapped. The person removes the hood of their cloak. 

"Where the hell am I?" I say "Who are you?" I demand. My breath quickens as I look around some more. Could I be in Europe? They have flower prairies, right? As well as strange kidnappers who wear cloaks. 

"Please, calm yourself. I mean you no harm." 

"Just tell me where the hell I am!" 

"Come in the carriage and I will explain." As if this couldn't get any weirder, I turn around and there's this giant carriage with gold trim with red and blue. 

"No way am I getting in a carriage." What year is it? I wonder, but  there is no way that's possible. Then again it's in front of me, so it must be real. She gets in and leaves the door open for me. Oh whatever, this is probably just some eccentric dream I'm having after the real kidnapper snatched me and drugged me up. I peer into the carriage and step in. The cushions are plush and the windows are framed with curtains. 

"So, what year is it?" 

"The year is 1846 P.A." What the heck is happening? This is one weird dream. 

"You're going to tell me where I am right now, and also where you're taking me!" What if this isn't a dream. The woman hesitates before saying, 

"You are in the Kingdom of Kard, and I am taking you to Playcard Castle." My head swirls with anxiety and the carriage seems to sway. 

"And where's that?" Some other place in Europe?" Her head swivels back and forth. 

"Kard is separate from your world. You could say you've entered a card game." I realize very quickly that this is not a dream. The dreams I have are products of my worst fear, being alone. 

"And why exactly am I here?" The space in the carriage is tight and most of it is filled with the woman's dress, an orange-ish brown color, as brown as her eyes. She smiles at me like a mother to an ignorant child. 

"Our kingdom is in a civil war," before I let her finish, I speak. 

"So you're going to enslave me as a soldier. You just grabbed the first person you saw, huh?" 

"No my dear, that is not your role." 

"Then what is! What am I here for?" I say, my eyes are wide. 

"You are here to end it."

~

The carriage is quiet, and I stare out the window at these endless fields of flowers and grass and villages. The woman sits in front of me, doing nothing. I move away from the window and she notices.