Cursed Prince

Chapter|01

There was once a small neighborhood, located near the busy port of Oakland, California. The houses there were small, but the population in the area was smaller. One house, in particular, had a little girl staring absentmindedly out of her smudged, dirty window. She was only four, yet she found her life monotonous and repetitive. Every day was the same as the day before.

She waited, watching as the SOLD sign swung slowly in the front yard of the neighboring house. Half an hour later she was still there, perched on the window seat, and waiting expectantly. Her patience was rewarded when a rusty moving truck came into view.

"They're coming, they're coming!" The four-year-old screeched, adrenaline coursing through her body as she pressed her already flattened face harder into the window pane. In a neighborhood where everyone knew everyone, there were finally new neighbors. And new neighbors meant that in a tiny village of absolute nothing, there could finally be something in her life that could make her feel just a little bit special. A friend. The little girl guaranteed herself that she would be the first to meet them. Her mom hurried down the stairs of their simple two-storied house and ushered the excited child out the white, paint peeling door to greet the arrival of the family. He was only a year older, she soon learned, and his name was Kyle. The change in her life.

Their vivid imaginations got along quite well and took them to unexpected places; places where witches once existed and dragons terrorized people. Places where pirates still ruled the oceans and treasures were yet to be found. Places where fairies were as common as the crows in Viana's front yard and the land of the dead was their home. As they got bigger, so did their imagination.

"Atlantis, an underwater kingdom. Cedar forest, the realm of the gods of Mesopotamia." Kyle would fuel her imagination each and every day, filling her with ancient long-ago stories. But above all, she learned one important word: mythology. "Mythology." She would remind Kyle after being told yet another tale. "Myths are tall tales, and these tales are not true." Kyle would only frown. It seemed she figured, he hadn't yet grasped the division that separated reality from imagination.

Then, the day came. Of course, it was the same sunny lit sky. The Agrid's were coming home from a long day of school or work. The entire family, all in one family van, coming closer. Going up, then down the same hill that led them to their house. And of course, the truck had to be there, smashing into the vehicle. The family van was reduced to bent metal, and shards of broken glass. Along with that, the present Kyle gave her on her eighth birthday, the snowy, white dog, had to include himself in the accident. Her dog, Charlie, lost a leg that day, and Kyle lost his life.