A Collection of Short Stories

Once Upon A Time

Once upon a time, there was a girl who is respected as a queen of her lands.

Now, she was in a prison, 20 feet below the ground.

Rebecca sat in her cold lonely prison which stank like blood. Her hands were chained with heavy metal which made her muscles strained under the weight. She usually think that she was lifting weights. She wondered how heavy was these chains are. 2kg? 1kg? She don't know, but she got the fact that it's heavy.

Her prison room was made of bricks made of mud with a hint of blood. She heard a rumor that these workers are made to work in harsh conditions, until their hands bleed, thus the smell of blood. She usually called these bricks Blood-Bricks, because of their smell and their iron taste. The only thing that lit up her prison room was the light blinking above her.

She hated sitting in the prison. All because of her not-dead sister.

She hated her sister since young. She was the black sheep of the family. She always revolted against all the laws that held the country in peace. She thought that these laws helped to give birth to a rebellion, which was partly true. At age 15, she ran out of the palace dressed like a boy and called for the audience attention in the middle of the market street, bustling with customers. She told them why she hated these laws and asked them to join her in this rebellion.

Her father, Lord Adam, threatened her sister if she ever did it again, she would be beheaded. She cackled along the long hallway before her cackling stopped by a slap that echoed through the hallway. She then snarled at her father with blood-coated teeth and sauntered away, laughing and cackling. Her father sent her a glass of water full of poison one morning, and she drank it and gurgled on the floor with blood pooling from her mouth. But that was a mistake.

In the day Rebecca was crowned the queen of Lancelot, her sister barged into the coronation and shouted at her that she was not dead, and she bought the whole rebellion with her. In return, she saw in horror the large mass number of people looking at her with hate. Their guns were aimed at her body. Her sister strolled down the hallway with people cheering at her, her black wavy hair flying behind her. She told her that the sister that died on that day was one of her rebellion mates who was willing to die for her. Rebecca was then turned against the crowd and dragged towards the prison while her sister crowned herself, with an army of her rebellion cheering for her.

Rebecca knew she was going to die someday from now. She knew. No one was going to save her, not even the love of her life. She knew he died a long time ago in a fight against the rebels. And so she waited under the light, for hope which fluttered in her heart, as her mind keeps her alive by giving her inspirational thoughts and hope.

One day, on a pale sunny day, she was summoned from the prison to see the queen for the last time before her execution in the morning. It was nearly dusk, with some of the white light seeping through the mountains. She was dragged through the streets with early birds looking at her and grinning with a hint of fury. Their eyes were angry, demanding for blood. They were waiting for her blood to spill on the grounds of this earth.

She reached a room with chandeliers lighting above her. It was full of paintings from the sunrise to the sunset, her sister painted this to show her the memories of this last memory to see her country. Rebecca could see the market street, bustling town people of different colors and the smokes coming from the factories. In front of her sat her sister, dressed in a jet-black dress that trailed behind her with jewels sparkling at the hems of her sleeves. The guards shoved her roughly to her knees.

Her sister sauntered towards her, with a malicious grin.

" What's the matter, sister? Not happy to see your sister again? " her sister said with a hint of amusement.

" I don't want to see your face, " Rebecca's voice sounded hard, because her sister flinched at her choice of her words. But she quickly stood her ground.

" Why not? Because I betrayed... Father? " she said that word with such fury.

" No. Because you destroyed this country reputation, " Rebecca calmly said.

Her sister snarled at her and said, her voice demanding, " The country rules were horrendous and full of nonsense. This country needs to change. "

Rebecca then spat her face and said viciously, " No. This set of rules of yours, is stupid. I don't get the idea of how our country rules is a highly matter for you. I see nothing wrong. Your head is just full of ruling. You just want power and to overrule me. "

Her sister flinched back.

" Get that filthy thing out of my place, " her sister snapped. The guards then dragged Rebecca out of this palace.

They dragged her towards the center of the market street that was streaming with people who were waiting for the bloodshed. An executioner was waiting with an ax, his face masked but his smile had a victorious grin and his eyes full of glee, waiting for blood to spill in front of his bulging eyes. The guards nodded at the executioner as they tied her hands and legs with a rope which scraped her wrist whenever she tried to get out. They forced her head down on the plank and stepped backwards. 

Rebecca looked not at the crowd but at the sky. A lonely eagle soared towards her, its eyes never breaking the stare between them. She took this opportunity to pray that she would go to a beautiful afterlife that she would be free from all of this. 

She prayed and closed her eyes. 

Waited for a few seconds. 

Suddenly a whistling zipped past her ear and the executioner grunted. Rebecca opened her eyes and saw a guy holding a sword in front of her, swinging his sword on the executioner. The executioner cried out as the sword bit into his skin. He staggered, clutching his bare chest before dropping off the stage with a heavy thump. The boy then turned to Rebecca with a glare that she knew from a long time ago. 

" Jack? " she asked in astonishment.