Simple Awakenings

chapter 13

After finishing up my letter, I put it into an envelope and go out of my room to search for either Willa or Rosamie. I was calling out their names a couple of times, my voice echoing into the vacant halls.

"Why are you looking for my mother and that caretaker?" I hear a familiar voice behind me. I turn and of course, it's Atlas standing there with his arms crossed.

I turn my body fully around and cross my arms also, almost in a mocking way. "I wrote a letter to Servdon telling him that I am alright. Also maybe an update on my brother and friends because oh I don't know I won't be able to fucking see them again because some asshole ordered that I am to stay here for the rest of my life?!"

"I'm doing this on a good conscience." He counters.

"By taking away my life?!"

"Yes!"

"Then you admit it!"

"Admit what?!"

"That you truly are an asshole!"

"Do you want to spend a night in the dungeons?!" Oh shit, this is getting too real right now.

"Why are you saying that?!"

"Because you are treating your king like garbage!"

"You are not my king! You will never be my king!"

"Too bad, too sad!"

"Fuck off, Atlas!" After that, I stormed off.

That was the gunpowder to trigger the explosives to explode.

I'm pretty sure that he said something, but at this moment I wasn't in the mood to talk to him. Or really anyone. I know that Willa has given me permission to hurt her son if he treats me like shit, but I wasn't in the mood to hurt him.

I just decided to walk outside the castle and roam around the area. No, I wasn't going to leave the premise because I'm pretty sure that if I did, there would be a manhunt for me and my head would end up on the end of a spike.

I wipe under my eyes, because I am pretty sure that I began crying again for...I lost count now. I look out into the forest, maybe I could find an exit there, but I highly doubt it. However, I don't want to go back and face that monster of a king of this country so I just walk into the forest.

I was a very simple forest, of course. Lots of trees and dirt and...trees and dirt. I look into the distance, and see something glistening along the way. What was that? I pick up the skirt of my dress and run over. It was a little pond. What was a little pond doing here in the middle of a sketchy forest? I look over into the sparkling lake and then sit in the dirt. Then I put my hand into the water, the cold nice feeling against my hand. I swoosh my hand around it a bit.

Then, an image appears in the pond.

It was Josh.

I take my hand out of the water quickly and stand up suddenly. How did an image of Josh appear randomly in the water? Is the pond on some sort of magical spell?

"It's the Pond of Want." I hear a voice behind me tell me as I turn around, almost about to fall into the pond. But there was no one there. Am I hearing things? "When one touches the lake, it shows an image of the person or thing and it's position it currently is in right now."

Wait, so the image that I was looking at of Josh is where he is right now?

I look back into the apparent Lake of Want and see that he is in his work uniform with a somber look on his face. He's handing a customer what looks like it might be a blizzard. After he does that, he rests his arms on the counter putting his head in the palms of his hands.