The Monster Within Me

The Truth

I wake up late the next morning, exhausted from my sleepless night. I stumble out of my room, still in my simple light blue nightgown, and run into Eva. She looks relieved.

"Oh, Miss Alissa! I'm glad you are up. King Charles wishes to speak to you before he leaves for his Remaok, his office" Eva informs me, curtsying, "But first, I have orders to dress you."

"Oh, no! I can dress myself. Will you tell King Charles that I will be there momentarily?" I ask. If I am being dressed by someone- I am giving in to this life. I will never do that.

"Of course, milady." Eva swishes off. I carefully walk back into my room. I open the closet, and pick the dress closest to me. I look down at it. It's blue and red, and it stops just above my knees. It's familiar, and I remember why. Eliza had a Swesme, a sewer, sew it for me. It was made to look like the dress that I came to Atlantis in. Sick of dwelling in the past, I pick another one, green this time, and pull it on. I hurry out of the room, into the Okaha to meet the King, my foster father.

"Alissa!" King Charles says, sitting next to Eliza on a pristine watery blue love sofa at the tabl. She smiles at me. "So glad you made it here." I sadly smiled. Charles could never know it, but that was what my father, my real father said every time I came down to dinner, because I would always be late to everything. But he's dead. Dead. Why can't I get over it? Charles is the only father figure I have. But he can never replace my real dad. Never.

"I'm so sorry to disrupt the family meeting, but your highness, the Wroka, the chief policeman, requires you in for the review of the rest of the police." Reah announces, standing in the doorway. Her fiery red hair contrasts with the aqua world outside of the window that stands behind her.

"Alright." King Charles stands up. "Tell the Wroka I will be there shortly." He hugs me, kisses Eliza, and heads out of the door, following Reah to his Remaok. Eliza turns to me with an air of excitement.

"Guess what?" she says, smoothing out her green dress that compliment her eyes nicely. I look up into them, truly looking at them for the first time since she found me sitting on a water rock, crying. She was also in a state of grief, having lost Liliana, even though it had happened 11 years earlier. This plays through my head as I look deep into her eyes. They're familiar, and all of a sudden my heart knows why. They're the same eyes that my sister, Autumn, had. The same clear, trusting shade of blue. Eyes that could make you do anything. I would know them from anywhere. But they can't be Autumn's eyes. Because I watched her rise into the clouds, into the lightning, and into the rain. Eliza's voice snaps me back to the future. "I was corresponding with Mrs. Levts, and she said that you can come in for your lesson at 11."

"Of course" I say. "Where else would I go, anyway?" I mumble the last bit

"What did you say?" Eliza inquiries. "And anyway, it's high time that you went back to school." And turning around, blue dress flowing behind her, Eliza flounced out of the room. My room. Eliza let me take off 1 weeks from school to celebrate my half birthday. Here, they don't celebrate your birthday, rather your half one. And where would I go, if I could? Away. I'd find my sister. I'd live on land again. But I can't leave this castle.

I have been stuck in this room for 6 years. Stuck in this castle. I know that the city is in danger. But what could be so special about me? Why can't I leave? What danger is the King and Queen protecting me from?

"Reah!" I called out. I heard her frantic footsteps nearing my bedroom. I heard her pause outside of the clear blue glasslike door, and I knew that she was putting herself back together.

"Yes, Miss Alissa?" Reah said, stepping into my room. "What can I do for you?"

"Please fetch the Queen for me. Thanks you, Reah." I answered in the most polite way I could muster. I had had lessons from Eliza and Charles on the manners that were expected in Atlantis. Words like Yo, Yas, and Sup, were considered extremely rude. It was much more polite to shake someone's hand, call them Mr. or Ms. and say: How do you do?

"Whatever you desire, milady Alissa." Reah said, bowing deeply. I listened to her footsteps fade into the distance. I sat quietly for a few minutes before, I lay down and buried myself under the covers. I heard my door open, and felt the covers being lifted from my head.

"Whatever is the matter, my little gem?" Eliza asks in soothing voice.

"I WANT THE TRUTH! The real one. Why can't I leave this castle? Why am I stuck here?" I ask, on the verge of yelling at her. Her face just masks shock, and do I see a sliver of something else? Fear.

"I think it is time," she says, more to herself than me.

"Yes. It past time" I snapped, past annoyed, "I would like to know. Everyone knows but me. And they all try to hide the truth!" Eliza looks like she's making a decision in her head and grumbling about the antics of moody teenagers. I'm not a teen. Not a real one anyway. I guess being 14 does make me one but- I feel like I have been trapped in an age loop, never growing up. Always being 7 years old. She takes a deep breath and begins to speak.

"A long time, Atlantis was a city Above, you should know this by now. We were a strong, powerful, and a great city, again, probably common information. However, here's where the tale changes. Since we were had great power in the world, we had many enemies. There was one group of people who especially hated us because of the skills we had acquired. We made domes that allowed people to breathe underwater. We made phones out of sea glass, the most precious substance in the world. And we were smart. Skilled scholars taught the children, organized the kingdom. This group, well, they thought we were a threat. And we were. Skilled in combat, we could overthrow them in a second. We didn't get the chance to." A dark look passes over the queen's face. She shakes it off, and continues her tale.

"This group, the Getre, has the power to control the weather. They sunk Atlantis and cast a curse on Atlantis. A dark one. Every year, one girl will disappear, and be sent above. But, there is one girl, who can stop these evil people, these evil people who have tried to destroy us. She is called the Opal, and in Atlantis's time of greatest need, she will appear, and save us from this force that we, just the common people cannot stop"

"Eliza. Why can she stop the curse, and when will she come?" I ask, questions popping into the brain like raindrops hitting the ground, slowly, then all at once.

"Because, gem, she has a good power. Power to heal the dark. Power to reawaken the Good in people. And for your second question, I believe she is already here."