Remember

Chapter 3:

     (I did it. X3.)

     Chapter 3:

     I have no sense of time here, other than Bailey telling me how long a process has been. It's all a blur though, as the pain coming from my wrist is bringing me in and out of consciousness. Eventually I wake up and feel no pain, Bailey not far off when I do come around.

     "Your wrist is all fixed up now, Sky." She mumbles, looking more awake than she had before. "With that mess out of the way," I sit up, shifting weight into my right wrist and back off of it again, relief bubbling inside of me. "I'm need you to drink this." I look back to Bailey, taking note that her formal medic getup is gone. She's dressed in shorts and a tank top, plastic gloves on her hands as she hands me a plastic cup. Inside the cup is a stationary brown liquid, and it reminds me of the wine in hell. That Hero enjoys. I begin to drink it. "Now, you're going to notice an intense-." I cut her off as the sudden stab to my back causes me to begin choking on the sticky liquid. My mouth and throat feel thick and I can't breathe from the film of this liquid blocking my airway. "Sky, you need to calm down!" Bailey urges. I continue to panic. Wouldn't anyone? It feels like something is reaching into my back and firmly grasping my bones, then taking said bones and tearing them out. "Sky!" It's hard to hear Bailey with this ringing in my ears, and everything around me sounds muffled. I can hear my heart as clear as day though, and its quickening rhyme sounds very wrong.

     It doesn't matter anyways, because soon Bailey's had enough and I'm being struck on the skull with a metal pole. I'm on the floor very quickly, still having trouble breathing, still panicking. But she strikes me again as I watch her do it this time, and after that I can't remember anything.

     --- Prince Mitchell ---

     The morning hush is still in tune, quieting the castle, silencing the city. The dawn has only just begun, reds and oranges piercing through the film of blue as the sun cuts its way into the day, leaving the moon to rot where it lay and slowly decompose. The process is beautiful.

     I'm not dressed up; I hate those garments. I already know what my father is going to say, so I'm dallying. The air is cool, the Fourth soon to begin, the Third halfway through its yearly cycle. Outside I sit on the ledge of a balcony, watching the sleeping kingdom from afar. I've never been outside the castle even though I can defend myself, and I know the geography, and the cities... That won't ever be enough for my father, though. To him I am weak and will never be anything else.

     A sigh escapes my lips, and I lean back, placing my head against the brick wall of the castle, bricks of stone that are cold in this early morning. My robe gently sways as a breeze blows by; one bare leg propped up, my arms wrapped around it, the other bare leg dangling off the ledge of this balcony up so high that a fall would surely kill me.

     That doesn't sound so bad.

     I can't stay here forever, sadly. They'll find me eventually, they always do, always will. There aren't many more hiding places in this castle anymore. I'm 23. Imagine how many I've gone through since I was 5. Trust me; the castle isn't that big at all, in fact I could argue that it's been shrinking... but what would be the point in arguing when no one is going to listen?

     I stand, stretch, cast my eyes over the city once more before turning away, entering the castle, wrapping my body up in my robe. I'm not cold, but no doubt I'll be passing some of the female servants and quite frankly I'm only in boxers. By now, some sort of breakfast is made, surely.

     The halls remain empty for a time, though eventually I pass by an older female, in her mid-thirties, pulling back the large, thick, and heavy curtains that cover the windows and letting the natural light pour inside. She glances to me as I pass by, saying nothing as she returns her attention to tying back the drapes. In return, I don't say a thing, both of us avoiding attention, avoiding sound that will disturb the bliss and silence.