The Planet of Darkness

Chapter Two

After breakfast, my parents have allowed me to leave the castle and to hang out with my friends. I leave eagerly, for being inside makes me want to go crazy, and head down into the village. I pass Red Riding Hood along the road and stop her.

"Hey, Red!" I wave.

She takes a bow and smiles sweetly at me, "good morning, Princess."

I cross my arms and snarl at her, "you know how I wish you wouldn't call me that. It makes it sound as if we're not friends."

Red takes another bow and apologizes. When she straightens out, her red hood falls down off of her hair; her red hair is in a double braid, like always. I am slightly jealous of all the freckles she has on her nose. I can never have freckles because I am a vampire.

"Carol...? Are you okay?" Red asks me, bringing me back into reality and away from my jealousy.

"I am fine." I answer quickly then add, "what are you doing today?"

Red smiles brightly and giggles, "well, I am heading towards my grandmother's house today! I do it once a week!"

I blink at her in confusion. It takes me a second to remember that she has long-term memory loss. Once a week Red travels through the nearby woods to her grandmother's house to deliver her a basket of food. Unfortunately, over two years ago her grandmother had died from being eaten by a hungry wolf. That event has traumatized her so much to where she forcefully blocked the memory out and forgot about it entirely. Every week, my father must assign a new person to act as her grandmother so Red will never remember that day so many years ago.

"Well, I must be off! Or I am going to be very late." Red says before waving goodbye.

I wave her goodbye and yell out, "good luck!" before continuing my path through the village. I wonder who will be her grandmother this week. I have overheard my father complaining to my mother how many of the villagers are getting tired of pretending to be a dead grandmother and how they want my father to either tell her the truth or make it to where she can only see her grandmother once a year.

My father would never tell Red the truth. The last time that someone tried doing so, Red threw a huge fit and nearly destroyed the whole village! She was screaming, crying, and throwing things. I was terrified. Mother Goose was the only one who could calm her down. When Red was calm, she forgot about the whole situation, including her grandmother's death.

I pass many houses and wave at everyone I pass. My mother has made it very clear that I need to get into the habit at waving at everyone, even to people I don't like! It was hard at first, but now it is quite easy. I just smile and wave and hide my true expression of annoyance.

"Oh, Princess Carol!"

I stop and turn to see Prince Charming waving me over. He has white hair (the only white thing in this darkened world), and nearly white eyes. He is also a very tall guy who is a few years older than me even though I've been alive longer than him. I so wanted to roll my eyes and walk away. He is so annoying. But I am a princess and rolling my eyes will not do in my favor. Instead, I walk towards him and greet him.

"How are you today?" Prince Charming asks.

"I am quite well. Just very busy." I reply back.

"I imagine so. Being the only princess and all." He smiles at me, "say, you know about the grand ball that is coming soon?"

"Yes..." I answer nervously. Where is this conversation going to?

He scratches his head, "well, would you like to be my date?"

I take a deep breath and decline nicely, "that would be unwise. I will be very busy that night with guests. And, besides, we're not the same."

He sighs and replies with, "yeah, I know. You're a vamp and I'm just a wolf boy."

A wolf boy is a person who's one parent is a werewolf and the other one is not. Prince Charming has wolf ears and a wolf tale but he cannot transform into an actual wolf. I am very glad that he is a wolf boy because my parents would never allow us to go to a ball together-- if I ever would want to go to him. Which I don't!

"Look, I really need to go." I tell him then continue to go through the village. "I have someone to see."

"Okay. Goodbye." Prince Charming answers in a sad tone.

Past the village lays a small field next to a huge lake. The lake is our drinking water as well as where we go swimming. The witches make sure it is drinkable for everyone-- they do a great job at taking care of us. They are the eldest ones here, even older than my parents!

Near the lake, I see my friend Gracelynn. She is a shy unicorn that is just as old as me, maybe older. She doesn't say much but she is my best friend. We normally talk about what the world be like with the sun here, filling this dark world into a bright light. Gracelynn remembers the tales her family had told her about the sun and how they still yearn for it. Sometimes I make Gracelynn tell me about the sun and everything she knows about it. She tells me how to used to light up the world and disappear during nightfall. I ask her,

"Where does the sun go to?"

She would laugh and answer, "well, to sleep of course! It can't be up forever."

She made it seem like the sun is such a wonderful thing, I wonder why it's deadly.