Kemerick had always been my home; nothing about the uprising would change that. Then again I haven't see it's rolling hills and comforting forests in four years. The last time I remember having my feet planted on Kemerick's rich soil was the day after the uprising. A day that I would never forget:
A shrill cry echoed through the mist. My head pounded like a distant beat. Grazing against the frigid ground beneath me, my hands shook in confusion and fear. The cry sounded again. As I sat straight up my vision blurred in colors of blended greens, browns and greys. Mainly greys. I tried desperately to search for the source of the cry which awoke me from my deathly slumber.
"Rebecca." The cry sounded in my heart this time. Only one person could have an ear piercing scream like that. It took me a minute to find my balance as I stood up, my legs wobbling like Christmas pudding. But that didn't stop me.
I ran, nearly crashing into trees and thorny shrubbery; my physical body struggled while my mind question, "how did I get here? Where exactly is here?" I had the mind of a lunatic speeding ahead with no sign of stopping, like a horse. A horse! Maybe that's how I got here. There were no tracks, then again I could have been out here for hours. My jumbled thought process evaporated when I came to a clearing in the trees. The mist still blanketed the ground giving me just enough view to spy bushy red hair around the little girl's face.
Arabella." My sister looked up with her blotchy eyes, an unattractive sight for a girl who physically can't frown, but she was frowning now. The expression of fear plastered across her face. Arabella ran towards me, digging her face in my chest. Her whimper broke my heart and for a second it seemed as if all my physical pain diminished.
She was more important to me than anything in the world. She kept me smiling after our father died and annoyingly brought up my obsession with one of the servant boys, Rhan. She was my little sister the only person who I could be goofy with while the rest of the world expected me to be proper and dainty. Everything that I could ever want in a sibling was placed in her and when she cried I cried ten times harder.
I spoke soft comforting words as I sat, placing her in my lap. I was never the comforting type, but Arabella knew that I tried my hardest. I tried the comforting hush that my mom used, but I knew it was pointless coming from me. Surprisingly her cries became to fade into sniffle and coughs, but the ringing in my head began again. I buried my head into the crook of Arabella's neck. I had to be brave and push past the pain.
I tried to focus on my memory, or lack there of. The last thing I could remember was my mother yelling at me because of my improper behavior in front of my future husband. Ducien the Duke, or Ducky Duke. My mother couldn't have picked a worse person for me to marry. The exact second that I walked into meet him, one foot was place on a side table while the other one stretched out in the other direction causing him to slouch in his chair. If his appearance wasn't enough the second he saw me he blurted out to my mother that puberty better treat me well because he's not going to do "do the dance" with a lanky pale girl. I responded with the first thing that came to mind. I planted my heel forcefully into his wide open crotch. men like that should not be able to procreate.
All my mother's been doing the past year is controlling my life because she says I'm no longer a child and need to start acting like an adult. I wish I could be like everyone else and not have to grow up so fast, even Arabella has more time than me. But ever since my father died, everything for my future needed to happen quicker in case my mother also died soon. Someday's I almost had wished that she would, so I could be in control and have everyone listen to me and do what I say.
Minutes passed until I felt a minuscule tug on my mangled sleeve. "Rebecca," Arabella's voice whined as her dainty fingers traced one of many cuts on my upper arm. "Make mommy better." My eyes shot open to see that the most had cleared and that my sight had finally come into focus. Just a few feet away laid a body twisted in an unnatural position. My mother.
I crawled over to her body. I placed my hand on her face, how she would yell if she saw my hands dirty like this. Her skin was frozen her eyes matched her icy body with her perfect crystal blue eyes. I closed them with the realization that she was long gone.
Picking up Arabella again, I cradled her, both of us crying until she fell asleep again in my arms. How I wished I could fall asleep as easily as her. We were alone in the world now. Orphaned at thirteen and seven.
Who knows what became of our country, but if it's still out there, our people need us. Their beloved queen is dead. I quickly had a horrible realization- a ruler at thirteen. What in hell was I going to do.
With that last thought my body gave out letting my head fall to the ground. I guess I woke up Arabella has her scream kept me awake long enough to hear someone running towards us and pick me up. I had just enough energy to open my eyes to meet with Rhan. My eyes didn't stay open for long for soon the friendly face blurred. Quickly, my eyes met darkness. I had always been afraid of the dark and I hated black.
