The Perfect Storm

My Own Personal Hell.

Chapter 1.

I was running. Fast.

The wind was rushing past me. My legs were sore. Here and there, I could hear thousands of sounds and I can assure you, they were scary. Really scary.

I can run with such ease, I thought. The mere thought of a princess running like I was brought a smile on my face. Little did I know, there was a branch of a tree lying very gracefully on the floor of the dark forest. So what you're thinking right now is that how can a small branch of a tree affect me? Well, let me tell you... It wasn't that small and it sure as heck affected me.

I tripped. As soon as my face made contact with the floor, I heard a curse. I stood up and brushed the dust off. My beautiful gown ( which let me tell you, I hate with such intensity that you can not imagine) was covered in mud.

"Misha!", I shouted. I looked at my watch which I kept in the pocket of my gown. Yes, I had a pocket in my gown. What? A girl needs a pocket. Especially a girl who has so many things to hide.

"Where are you?", I shouted again. "I swear if you're kidding with me right now it's not the proper time!"

Suddenly someone coughed and someone coughed from behind me. I froze. Slowly, my hand reached the side pocket of my gown. I started to search for the knife that I kept there.

Mirror? Nah. Napkin? Nah. I kept searching but hell! There were so many things. Bobby pins? Mask? Compass? My childhood doll's left eye? I have to fix her when I get home."Focus!" I whispered to myself.

No, no, no, no, no! This is not happening to me! It can't be. I don't have the knife. I must've left it on the table when I was examining the cockroach with it.

Someone coughed again.

Slowly, very slowly, I started turning around. What if he kills me? I can always tell him that I'm a princess. But then he'll tell mother and she'll kill me. Or what if he kidnaps me and asks mother for money? I'll definitely die then. I mean, come on! Everyone knows that my mother won't give a penny to have me back.

I was so scared. So scared that I won't make it to the ball. I mean, who cares about a kidnapper? At least, he'll be better than my mother. I still remember her saying, "Be there or don't bother to call yourself my daughter! This is not some simple ball! Thousands and thousands of people will be there. Everyone will be waiting for my daughters. Any funny business and you'll face my wrath."

I mean, come on! She even smirked when she said that and it was pure evil.

When someone is scared, They either run, scream or hide themselves. In my case, if I run, he's gonna shoot me. If I hide... Well, I can't. If I scream, I'm going to prove that I'm a fragile, little girl who can't do any better than screaming. So I did what I could think of at that time. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and faced the person standing.

He snorted. You heard that right. Snorted.

I carefully opened my eyes and standing in front of me, was my very own sister, trying to control her laughter.

"You-you should've seen your face!", she laughed.

"Ughhh! Stop. Just stop. So you scare the hell out of me. I think that you're some killer trying to kidnap me and when I open my eyes, which by the way I closed because I was so scared, to see my sister, in all her glory, standing in front of me and she actually laughed at my face!", I groaned.

"Your face! Oh God", she was still laughing like a maniac.

"10 minutes", I said.

Her eyes widen like she's seen a ghost. Suddenly all of the laughter died and all that was left was an eerie silence.

"We should run", she said.

"We must", I replied in the same monotone that she used.

So we ran and we ran fast. Thousands of thoughts were running in my mind. What if we don't make it on time? What if something bad happens and we can't reach the castle? What if mother finds out that I wasn't in my room preparing for the ball like I promised her that I was going to? Just then, the trees started to disappear and all of the surroundings were full of lights.

I looked at my watch again. Two more minutes until the ball starts. I looked at my left side and saw that Misha was running at the same pace. Her hair were sticking in all directions just like mine. Can't complain about that though. I just wanted to reach the castle as fast as possible. I even remember my mother asking me to receive the guests. Excuse me, did I say asking me to? Well, scratch that. Ordering me to.

Finally, I could see it. I could see the castle. Have you ever in your life experienced a day when you think that you're so happy that all of a sudden you just want to jump up and and down and dance till all of your energy is wasted? Well, this was the moment. We both, me and my sister Misha, stood in front of the golden doors of the castle. As soon as the guards saw us they opened the doors but the look on their faces was as if they were giving you a personal warning. Me being me, ignored it. I think Misha did too because she pinched one of guard's nose while passing them. As soon as we entered the ball room, all the eyes were on us. We stood on the stairs. Now you must be thinking that we were looking beautiful that's why everyone couldn't just resist staring at us. Well, my dear people, that wasn't the reason.

One of the women gasped. "They're the youngest daughters, aren't they?", she asked the woman standing next to her.

That's when I caught my mother's furious eyes in the middle of the ball room. I bet if she could omit red flames from her eyes, she would.

I still didn't understand why they were acting that way so I turned to Misha as she did the same. My eyes widened and she mimicked my actions. My hand flew to my mouth.

That was the moment when I forced myself to look down. My dress was covered in mud. I repeat, my precious dress was covered in mud.

"Oh My God", I whispered.

My dress was not only covered in mud but it was also torn. Every pair of eyes in the room, which let me tell you were many, were on us. That's when someone tapped my shoulder. I turned around to see Misha pointing towards the big clock.

"Half of the ball has passed", the time on it screamed. My watch, oh my poor watch, wasn't working properly. In fact it wasn't working at all. I looked at the time and according to it, 10 minutes were still left until the ball started. How I wish it was true.

This, ladies and gentlemen was my own personal hell.

Maybe I should've danced when I had the chance.