Two Birds [ONC 2024]

New Abode

"Jane! What in the world!"

I immediately landed on top of someone, bringing them down on the ground. Good lord, I was alive!

I lay on top of the person till I heard another cry. "Get off meee!"

"Oh sorry!" I immediately got off and found Steve lying on the ground, panting heavily. He got up, and glared at me in anger.

"What was so scary in falling from the height of about one meter?"

I gasped. One meter? Oh, but it felt more like my doom.

"I-I thought I was going to die," I stuttered.

"No one dies upon falling from the height of four feet," he scolded. "Ahh, my arm!"

He pressed on to his right arm, in pain due to getting crushed by my fall. I looked at him sympathetically and was about to apologise when Catherine came running towards us.

"Jess!" She gave me a hug. "Why did you scream?"

"I-I fell," I replied.

"Yeah, on top of me from the height of three feet," Steve complained.

Catherine laughed horrendously. Yes, horrendously. I could sense it, both Steve and I would not mind smacking her at the moment.

"Not funny!" The two of us spoke together.

She stopped laughing and straightened herself. "Alright, what do we do now?"

"Follow me," Steve replied. The two of us followed Steve to one of the hidden exits of the Palace. On the way, I was shocked to see guards lying on the ground, fast asleep.

"How?" I asked Steve, pointing towards the guards.

"Mabel did that," he replied. "She did something with their food and there you go!"

I gulped. I hadn't known that Mabel could get so dangerous. But on the other hand, I was happy that she had risked helping me, even though she knew she could end up in trouble.

We walked past the Garden, and entered the Palace once again. This was not a very frequently used path and was ideal for the situation.

The corridor was well lit with chandeliers for a while but once we took a right turn, the appearance of the corridor changed instantly.

It was more of a partially built tunnel, lit by distantly placed torches, burning ever so brightly. It was hard to figure out objects in the dark but we had to make our way through it somehow.

Frequent sounds of mice or random lizards popping out startled me to the core which made Catherine giggle. I'll never understand what was so funny about it.

Soon, we emerged through the tunnel, out of the Palace premises. Cold wind blew at my face as I embraced the new world which I had rarely been in. A world of the commoners.

"Take this Jane." Steve handed me a bag. "It consists of all the necessities, including clothes and some food for a couple of days."

I nodded. Tears welled up in my eyes and I couldn't help but hug Steve. We embraced one another lovingly, being childhood friends it was truly hard to leave him behind.

"Go, before someone finds you," Steve said, wiping away his tears.

"Thank you for everything Steve," I said with emotion.

He smiled and with heavy steps, turned and made his way back into the Palace. I could only hope that Steve and Mabel would not end up in any trouble for helping us out.

"Jane." Catherine placed her palm on my shoulder. I turned towards her and we made our way further away from the Palace.

On the way, the two of us put on cloaks so that we would not get recognised by any for what we wore. It was dark and I believe most of the citizens must've gone over to the Palace to attend my wedding. It was a blessing in disguise that there would be no one to notice us.

It took us quite some time till we had walked far away from anyone who could've potentially recognised us. We were entering the woods, the place where Steve had mentioned would be a small dwelling for us to stay.

I was aware that it would lack the comforts of the Palace, but I had to deal with it.

"How much longer?" I huffed, my legs aching from walking for so long.

"I've no clue," Catherine shook her head. "It's your Kingdom, not mine," she smirked.

I sighed. Why did I know so little about the place I lived in? I shook my head in frustration. I had no idea whether we were even going in the right direction or not!

Upon hours of walking and unable to find the place, I gave up. I sat next to a tree and wiped off the sweat from my forehead. First, I was in my wedding gown, upon which I had been wearing a cloak. Could it get anymore brutal?

"Get up Jess!" Catherine instructed.

"I can't go any further!" I complained. "I'm going to stay here for the night. I'm done!"

"I'll go and search then," she replied. A sudden feeling of dread crossed my heart. What if an animal was to hunt me down?

"NO!" I yelled and got back up. "Don't leave me!"

She gave me a hug and said, "Jess, we need to find a suitable place for the night. We can't be staying in the forest this way. Anything could happen anytime."

"Ughh fine!" I sighed. Together, we made our way further.

The woods were quiet, the silence echoing. Except for the sounds of the numerous insects buzzing around, nothing else was heard. The darkness was yet another trouble, as we made our way with the help of the moonlight.

Slowly, it began to dawn. The sun began to rise and I had lost all my breath. I was certain that this was my life's worst decision. I wondered if we would ever find the dwelling.

Luckily, we did. Just when all hope was lost, we saw a small cottage in the woods. Upon noticing its presence, I ran up to it, losing all my patience and wanting to fall asleep.

The door was unlocked and I immediately barged into the cottage. However, it's appearances left my mouth hanging open.

The cottage was nothing but a piece of junk! What was in there? Everything made out of wood. No carpet, no chandelier, no source of light, nothing for a suitable life!

All it had was a small cot, a weirdly tiny chimney, an area for stove and a couple of chairs. That's it! Wait, did it not have any restroom?

I looked around, panicking. This couldn't be happening!

"C-Cat!" I stuttered. "What is this?"

"Our new abode," she sighed with exhaustion.

Word Count: 1116 Words