Secrets We Keep

16

BEN POV

I had to get back to Auradon as soon as possible! I really want to see if what Mal said is right. I usher Evie and Carlos back into the limo and I tell Uma, Harry, and Gil that I'll be back over as soon as I finish looking at all the secruity footage. They nod and I quickly drive the limo back to Auradon. 

Evie, Carlos, and I run inside to the secruity base. I unlock the door and I type in the date I need to look for;7/17/17. Evie and Carlos sit down on chairs on either side of me and together we watch everything that happened from midnight to midnight on July Seventeenth of 2016. I don't really pay attention to anything until it gets to the part where an on camera version of me is pacing outside of Mal's room. She comes up with a smile on her face and then what catches my attention is when Mal starts shouting that she won't be able to come back after a week and that she'll get forced to marry Jay by the Island's Government. We then watch as a near crying Mal meets an injured Jay and then the two immediatly are put into a limo and are never seen from again. I shut off the video and Carlos is crying. 

"What wrong Carlos?" I ask. He looks up at me and says, "She was right. You sent Mal and Jay there and you forced them to get married and that's when I lost two of my best friends!" He runs out of the room and Evie runs after him. I sigh. Then the computer beeps. I sit down and there's a video that just popped up. It's from a couple of days after Mal and Jay were sent by me to the Isle. Mal and Jay are in a very large room and Mal is at the window seat and she looking at Auradon while crying really hard. Her eyes are all puffed up and her face and eyes are all red. 

Jay is sitting on the couch reading something and he's shooting Mal worried glances. Jay's face lights up and he stands up and goes over to Mal. He sits down next to her and he says, "Hey Mal. I was wondering since we have to get married by the end of next week, we should do something to get our minds off of it." He says awkwardly. Mal looks up and she asks,"Like what?" She resumes crying and Jay stands up and he takes Mal's hands in his and pulls her up from the window seat. "Mal all you've done for the past 4 days is look at Auradon and cry. We need to do something fun so you can take your mind off our situation." 

I puase the video. Jay actually cared about Mal before they fell in love. I couldn't even tell when Mal was sad but it was like Jay could read Mal's soul to feel all the pain she was in. I continued the video and Mal slowly nodded like she was afraid. Thinking back now, I think she was worried of falling in love after she got married. "What should we do?" Mal's squeaky voice asks. "How about we go on a picnic or something in the woods?" He suggests. Mal nods and that's when I see something. 

Jay slowly was wrapping his arms around her and it seemed like he was going to hug her. But he didn't. Instead he slowly pressed his lips onto Mal's. He pulled her closer and it seemed like Mal kissed him back. "Jay" Mal whispered as she leaned into him. "You know he's not coming back." Jay says into her hair. Mal clings to him and they stay like that until the video ends.

I'm in shock. As I'm locking up the Secruity room I realize I left the keys to the limo inside. I unlock the door again and sitting on the chair is a box. I look around in confusion. I would've known if someone had followed me in here or was here with me. I pick up the box carefully and open it. Inside was one of those small movie screens that pictures play on. There's a slideshow all prepared and a sticky note on next to it says 'play'. I press the play button and the slideshow starts. 

A picture of me and Mal kissing at the Cotillion flashes across the screen. Then words. 'I know you still love her.' "That's just wierd." I say out loud. Then a picture of Jay and Mal kissing comes across the screen. I growl and then I sigh. The slideshow is right. I still love her. 'Don't worry dude. We can help you. We have a few tricks up my sleeve to help get the girl you love back. Just come meet us on the Isle right as you enter the barrier onto the Isle on the right. You'll find us there.'

"That's even wierder." I'm supposed to meet Uma,Harry,and Gil right at the entrance to the barrier. I grab everything and I glance at the slideshow device still in my right hand. It's paused and that picture of Jay and Mal is still on the screen. Evie and Carlos somehow are already in the limo when I throw the slideshow thing through the window. Luckily it doesn't hit them. "Look at it if you want." I snarl. 

I grip the steering wheel, and I'm getting prepared to get my true love back!

MAL POV

Jay and I reach the edge of town, and from there we have to trust each other's senses. If we don't then we'll get lost just like Ginny Gothel and Anthony Tremaine did. That's how they died. Ginny had a bracelet that did the same thing as my locket, and they didn't want to be King and Queen anymore so they did the same thing that Jay and I are doing right now.

I take Jay's hand and he sqeezes it. I sigh and together we plundge deep into the woods where no one can find us. We walked for miles and miles until finally we stop. I can hardly breath and my voice is raspy. "Mal maybe we shouldn't have walked 17 miles straight off." Jay says. I look up at him and he looks really concerned. 

"Jay I'm fine. Don't worry about it." "You're lying." Jay says. I sigh. "I just want our lives to be normal besides the fact that we're King and Queen and married at 17. Oh well. Normal as it can get for us." I say. Jay nods. "I found a good camping spot over there." He points at a spot that's off to the side in a clearing. We walk over there and I spot purple flowers. My eyes widden and I kneel down and I start picking them. 

Jay laughs and he pitches our medium sized camoflage tent. We grab our sleeping bags and as soon as I unroll my sleeping bag I'm fast asleep. I feel Jay wrapping a soft polar fleece blanket around me. I can feel myself smile. One of the reasons I love Jay is because of his kindness. I could never see Ben making sure I came first even if it meant being cold. 

This is the most peaceful I've slept in a long while. I feel Jay laying down next to me sometime during my slumber and I curl up against him. He wraps his arms around me and I fall into a deep slumber. A long time later I feel myself being shook awake. My eyes flutter open and I see Jay and I are still tangled together. I can't see where I start and Jay ends. 

Jay's still asleep so I don't know who just shook me awake. I look around and I see a figure standing outside of the tent. Then I see five other figures join and they make a circle. I roll my eyes and I lay my head back down on Jay's chest and fall back asleep. I feel myself being shaken again but this time Jay is shaken with me. 

He sits up and I rub my eyes. "What the heck is going on?" He asks. I shrug. I wrap the blanket around me and I silently hand Jay a matching polar fleece blanket. He takes it and he's about use it when suddenly a whole bunch of cawing noises are made, like a whole flock of birds have been scared straight out of their trees. 

Jay stands up and he goes to open the tent flap and we both see it's already open. "Jay, someone's out there." I say in a whisper. I wrap the blanket around myself tighter and I curl into a ball. Jay steps out of the tent and he looks around. "Oh Come on!You've got to be kidding me!" He exclaims rolling his eyes. 

I cautiously unwrap the blanket from around my body and I step forewards and I lean my chin on his shoulder. "Look Lila. It's our old friend King Ben back with some gifts." He says in spitting anger. I look up and I see what he's talking about. 

"No." I say. I shake my head. "No. No. NO!" I scream shaking my head. My knees buckle and the world starts spinning. I place my hands on my temples to try to stop the world from spinning. It made me so dizzy I fell to the ground in a heap and I can't feel any of my limbs. What's happening? I hear people yelling but it sounds so fuzzy like someone talking to you from really far away. I try to move to stand up but all the events that just took place come flooding back into my memory. 

Ben's here. Evie's here. Carlos is here. Uma, Harry and Gil are all here. Ben displaying a huge billboard of him and me kissing at the Cotillion. I clearly remember screaming after seeing that billboard. A message under the billboard read, "I still love you! Please take me back!" There's no words to describe how angry and surprised I was. I loved Ben and then he abandoned me.