Curse - Septiplier

7: Anger

Jack's POV

I wanted to put my head through a wall. Several of them if possible, and I was sure that if this continued any longer nothing would stop me from going through with it. I was sitting at the large table my father had, and he was beside me while the wise men and some other way corporals were here along with the General. I was stuck here in some meeting about the possible encroaching war as a result of my father thinking that I wasn't taking my role as a prince seriously. My job at 18 was to marry, and there were so many things that my father didn't know about this situation that I couldn't say aloud. I definitely didn't want to marry someone I didn't love, and that was a big factor stopping me.

My backside was sore from sitting in a wooden chair for several hours, and I could feel bits of my soul leaving my body. I was usually good at appearing mature and attentive when I didn't have to be, but during this meeting I didn't bother to try. At one point I even fell asleep and started snoring, causing my father more anger than anything else. I swore he was going to throw me out after that, but he caught onto my attempts to leave, and instead ordered me some cold water to splash on my face and keep me awake. I was stuck here, listening to these generals babble about some upcoming war that probably wasn't going to occur.

While our neighboring kingdom often got feisty and willing to pick fights with us, they hardly ever did. There was one time where a skirmish happened in the bay that sits behind us with our boats in the last ten years, and otherwise nothing happened. This upcoming war that they were speaking of didn't make any sense, nor did I care to acknowledge something that had little to no chance of occurring. I wasn't involved in politics, nor did I involve myself in any of the war efforts going on, so if something was secretly happening then maybe I didn't know. However, my father is usually good at keeping the people in the village we protect informed of what is going on outside our borders that might affect what happens within, and I had heard nothing about this war in town whether out and about with Mark or not.

Mark. What was he doing today? Probably something three times more exciting than that of what I was going through. I sighed, resting my chin on my hand as I placed my elbow against the table. I really didn't want to be stuck here today, but my father was clear about his intentions on keeping me here. I hadn't listened to a single thing anyone had been saying, and I'd probably spent more time picking apart the wooden table and being scolded by my father for it than anything else. This whole time he'd been calling me naive and an embarrassment, but I would continue to do whatever it is that I needed to if it would get me out of here. I was considering stripping down to nothing and streaking at this point, just anything to get me out of here. I let out a sigh and let my head fall, slamming my forehead against the table during one of the speeches. The voices paused for a moment and started again when my father leaned over.

"Sit up, Jack," he hissed in my ear, and the temptation to curse at him fluttered into my brain. The number of angry things I wanted to say that were resting on my tongue continued to rise as I sat there, my face against the table and eyes looking over every grain and knot in the wood beneath me. Someone had done a nice job of fixing this wood up for a table. "Jack, I will not repeat myself."

"Don't bother." I muttered in return, feeling like a teenage purposefully winding up his parents. In reality, I was. I wanted to get my father angry enough with me that he would just kick me out, and I could hear his teeth grinding together beside me. He was getting close to a point of breaking point now, and I simply had to keep this childish act up.

"Jack," my father said through gritted teeth, and I ignored him once more. The other men were growing uncomfortable with my father's clear annoyance and my inability to pay attention to what was going on. I probably wasn't making a good impression as a future leader, but my father didn't exactly have anymore sons. Unfortunately for him and everyone else in the kingdom, myself included, I had to be the next successor. "That's it!" My father stood, his chair flying backwards by his abrupt movements. I sat up, looking up at him and feeling smug for a moment that was fleeting as he flew off on me. "You're completely useless, you know that? You can't even sit up for a meeting that will protect the people that you love so much! You're naive and childish, and you're an absolute abhorrent disgrace to the name of this kingdom. Your mother would be disappointed in you, so it's probably best that she's not here to see this!" I paused for a moment, taking in what he had said, and then pure rage flushed through my veins at the mention of my mother. My deceased mother.