The Runaway

Chapter 46

It took the rest of the day, but the water is gone. I've seen it all now. And I'm exhausted. Why is water exhausting?

"The water is broken." I lay here, in the dark silence. Has he fallen asleep? I should be asleep too.

I'm broken, even my sleep doesn't want to work. My brain is dissolving, melting into nothingness. What is happening to me? Why do I think the same as a child? Who cares about some damn water? I roll onto my right. The moonlight illuminates the room. The plain room is prettier now.

"Shut up about the water," he mumbles, hidden in the pillow.

"Okay." I truly was annoying myself too. I'm rendered useless now. What has the night done to me? What has my curiosity done to me? This is horrible, putrid. My hands... they've decayed, they lost life. My nails are bitter, stained with dirt. I bend my fingers and they feel weak, I straighten my fingers and they feel strained.

My skin has cleared, my veins show more. The teal has grayed. Each beat of my dying heart hurts. My ears are scratched, my nose is bloated, my joints are disintegrating, and my stomach inverted. I'll be a pile of nothingness soon.

How does he feel? He's gone gray, thinner too. He's always tired, the broken horn bothers him all the time. He complains about it a lot.

This isn't fun anymore. Not that it ever was. The humans have weird food, they act weird. The buildings are ugly, they all look miserable and wide. Life is too precious for their misery. Home is so close yet so far. Ma and pa will be happy to see me, I hope.

When will the torment end? When will happiness grace us with its warmth? Will the stars ever align, and things will go back to normal? Please someone, answer my questions.

"Why was half of your kingdom never outside? I didn't see anyone behind the castle."

He rolls onto his side, staring at me through the dark for a while. "No one lives in those houses."

"Why not?"

He stares at me a little longer. My chest feels heavy for some reason. He shrugs.

"Tell meeeee, pleaseeeee."

He sighs as if he's burdened. "They all died."

"Why?" Have never heard of half a kingdom dying.

"Their king and queen got killed. Elves don't live long after their rulers are killed, and their kingdoms are destroyed."

"What happened?"

"I just said it, princess."

"You can explain better than that."

"It's a long story."

"Well, we're not doing anything else." 

He leans against the wall after sitting up. "Fifty years ago, the king became stupid and obsessed with power and decided to take over a smaller kingdom. It all went to shit, and everyone died a year later."

Oh, I should sit up too. I do so. "That is horrible. Not a long story either."

He shrugs. "The world is a cruel place."

"Your dad sounds like an amazing guy."

"He's something. Ruined hundreds of lives for no reason."

"That's horrible. He should go to jail."

He faces me, despair as his blanket. "What's jail?"

"A thing humans made for all the bad humans. There's a lot of them."

"Why?"

"I don't know. I think they're dumb."

He nods. "Why did you want to go to the humans?"

"Curiosity. They have so many insane machines and instruments and creative things. I just didn't expect the cities to be so dull and ugly. Everyone looked sad and there were barely any plants. Your kingdom has barely any plants too."

"There are plants? You saw the grass and flowers. I showed you all the flowers."

I lay back down on my left side, curled in a circle. My bones ache from sitting against the wall- they ache from everything. "I remember. Sometimes I forget that we're not lifelong friends and you've never seen my kingdom. Some days it feels like we're just exploring together... then I remember..."

"We are exploring together. Maybe we were lifelong friends in a past life. What does your kingdom look like?"

"First off, it is much smaller than yours, probably half the size. There is also no forest surrounding it. Everything is covered in vines and flowers. Some doors to the palace are sealed shut from how many vines there are. The plants are taller than me, the buildings are silver, gold and all the light colors. The paths are marble instead of stone. Everything smells like plants and food... Now I'm thinking of how much I wanna be there..."

"Sounds beautiful. You will get there."

"I hope."

"You will."

"Thanks."

He nods and takes the book from the side of the floor, putting it back on the edge of the bed. He traces the cover. My mind goes through thoughts, so many. All the possibilities.

 "What's on your mind?"

"What?"

"You're staring at me."

"You aren't even looking at me, you have no proof."

"You just said it... What's bugging you, princess?"

"Your dad. I never heard of such a thing happening. Can't you take over the kingdom and make him stop?"

"It isn't that easy. I need to be married, and anyways, I don't want to be king."

"Why not?"

"The kingdom doesn't know me. I don't know them. Can't keep order of something I know nothing of. They wouldn't recognize me."

"Why not? How would they not know you?"

"Haven't seen me since I was a child, probably six or seven."

"Why not?"

He flips through the pages of the book till none remain and claps it closed. "My super amazing father wouldn't let me outside. Wouldn't let me do anything besides stay on the top floor. I missed out on everything. How do I talk to people? How do I socialize? What is it like having friends? I had to make the persona to survive, even then it didn't work. People looked at me weird."

"That's awful. Why is he so mean to you? Didn't your mom try to help?"

"She did what she could. She didn't know most of the things he did to me. She didn't know of the man she married. He didn't like that I looked like her. He wanted her beauty, power. He wanted to be the best but couldn't be since he wasn't royalty. That self-absorbed asshole wanted everyone to praise him. Then when mother was gone... it just got worse." He stares at the floor in pain.

If we weren't on separate beds, I'd hug him. Actually, that doesn't matter. I get up, walk over and sit on the bed beside him. He faces me, a past I barely know bothering him, haunting his thoughts. "It'll be okay, everything will get better." I wrap my arms around him.

"What if it doesn't...? They never got better before, who says it'll get better now?"

"Me. I'll protect you from him if that's what you want."

"Never want to see his ugly self again."

"You won't."

A/N: Hello everyone!!! sorry for the super slow update, I'm doing stuff that I'm so excited to do. many projects I wanna do. and I'm SO proud of the beginning of this chapter. it describes Vivienne's mental state so well and physical as well and we all love sylvian being vulnerable 🙌

life is good right now, at 1:46 am.