The Runaway

Chapter 54

He faces our hands, watches the clothes float around. They keep trying to leave us. They're not being very proper.

"Uh... the king..."

I was suspecting it was him, but I didn't want to hear it. "Oh, you poor thing. What happened?"

He stares at the waterfall, the trees beside it. "A lot..."

"Tell me?" I never heard anyone physically get hurt by someone else. I thought he tripped into things... That doesn't make sense.

He rubs the back of his neck and grabs my hand again. "How?"

"I don't know. Just say what you want."

"I want to tell you everything, but I've never told anyone anything."

I feel so lucky he trusts me this much. "I'll listen to you." The water isn't as cold now, which is nice. And it makes me feel lighter, which helps from all the agony from walking.

"Will you?"

"Yes."

He sighs and faces back at the water behind me, sadness on his beautiful face. "So much happened- oh gosh. He hated me, still does. He hates my existence. Ever since I was little, he kept me away from everyone besides the workers in the castle, mother and Killian. He was always nicer to Killian than me. I don't know why, never did anything to him, I was five. At first, he would just belittle me because he could. Mother never knew.

"I swear, they started being mean to each other after I was born, I never did anything wrong. I was a baby. A baby! What did I do to his salty self?" He pauses and gets back on track. "He would always mock mother's compliments to me when she wasn't looking, when her back was turned. She would call me her pretty boy and soon as she turned around, he would mock her and stare at me as if I killed his pet.

"I remember once, dinner was over, I was six I think? And she was being nice to me because she is nice, and as soon as she let go of my hand to talk to someone, the king hunched over to my height and mocked her to me, like she was lying. He acted completely normal once she came back of course. I learned about him taking over the other kingdom later, mother didn't know till it was too late.

"He expanded the wall and told her it was for the people, so there could be more space for them. She thought it was great of him and all her previous doubts from his stupidness were gone, till, you know, she found out. No one told me what happened after.

"Oh yeah, he just got meaner and meaner to me. Instead of him mocking mother, he would insult me and tell me each time it was a joke. It always confused me. I was sad, alone and confused in the bedroom I was locked in. He would tell mother I needed to stay inside for safety and since I was pale, so I must have been sick. I was only pale since I was inside all the time.

"I was depressed, so depressed and he kept covering it up. I wish I told her till it was too late... She would have helped me... they already weren't getting along since he was so stupid. I found a secret passageway in my room, in the wall one day. That's when I made the "mystery guy" as you called him. I acted the opposite of myself. Split myself in two so no one would mix us up. Of course, some people noticed like the head chef, the one that exposed me.

"Darian found out too, the healer, and one of the guards. I would only walk around at night, when I should have been asleep and as the years went on, no one checked in on me anymore- the years after mother died that is."

I wipe the tears off of his face the moments he stopped talking. My heart is broken for him. I would love to make fun of his father. Treat him the same as he treated the sad guy in front of me.

"She was beautiful. Her hair was much longer than yours. She looked like me but without the horns, those skip every other generation. She was the most beautiful one in all the kingdom and the king hated that. It made him hate me even more. He hated that I was identical to her, the only one stopping him from taking over the kingdom. It's a whole mess.

"He also wanted me to be a girl, so I could look the same as mother, since she was so beautiful. I think that's why he was mean to me first. Well, after mother died, he didn't let me go to the funeral. I was alone in the castle that day. My voice echoed everywhere. It was so lonely, I stayed in my bed most of the day after they left, crying till I slept. The same nightmare playing over and over in the dark."

He finally looks at me, the unloved child showing in him. I watch his eyes, making me feel opia. He is so sad right now, so very sad and depressed. Is depressed extra sad? It sounds like it.

"Can I tell you...? You already know a lot..."

I nod. I don't want to talk. Is this how he feels all the time? I boop his nose with mine. He raises an eyebrow, and I can't help but smile.

"You really are weird. Uhm, I was thirteen, yeah, and it was night. Mother told me and Killian good night, every night and we were waiting, waiting a lot actually. I decided to get out of bed and find her. The moon was high in the sky, it was too late. I was walking through the quiet hallways, looking for her. Walking barefoot on stone is not fun. I went to one of the staircases to the tower once I heard yelling. On the roof, mother and the king were fighting over something, but mother was so distressed... She was crying and trying her best to convince him not to do whatever it was. His back was to me. They didn't see me..."

He lets go of my hands and rubs his face, sighing really hard, his voice cracking too.

A/N: The sadness has begun. This was so depressing to write but after reading it, it isn't. I have to write maybe 3 or 4 more chapters then I'm done with this book :)