Forgotten Memories

Chapter 10

Copyright ⓒ 2017 by NEVERENDINGMIND (of Wattpad)

All rights reserved. No parts of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author.

The number of days before verification day were growing smaller with an expeditious and almost angry pace, making Charlotte feel like her hands were slipping from a rock climbing wall, seconds away from falling to her doom.

Nerves wracked her stomach as she fought to keep her breakfast from making a second appearance. She'd had no idea how nervous she would be despite all of the hard work and practice she had put into preparing for this very nerve-racking day.

Verification Day, it sounded terrifying even in her own mind.

Even after all of the training and the hours she spent trying to perfect the turns, steps, and leg flicks of her dance routine, and memorizing her country's historic leaders for the verbal test; she still didn't have faith in her ability to pull this off.

How was she supposed to prove to her father and the rest of the country that she was fit to be queen, when she herself wasn't convinced?

She glided into the library with newfound grace and took a swift survey of the room. Her breath quickened and her heart pounded in her ears. Charlotte forced her eyes closed for a second trying to gain control of her racing mind.

She told herself there was nothing to worry about but her stomach felt like it was dragging on the floor and she had a dreadful feeling clawing its way to the heart of her brain. Where was Sean?

She knew he had the right to be late but Sean was the kind of person to get somewhere ten minutes early just in case, especially whilst on duty.

She tried not to let this get the better of her, but her brain was already in overdrive and her imagination was running wild with extreme possibilities.

Instead of focusing on Sean's abrupt absence, Charlotte forced herself to take a seat in one of the library's massive selection of chairs. She then turned her attention to her studies, so as to not get off track from the detailed calendar Sean spent hours constructing.

She let the minutes fly into hours as she followed Sean's strict outline for the day. He had made sure to make a very structured calendar to prevent procrastination on Charlotte's part.

After sitting in the library chair for several hours she finally finished everything on the calendar for the day and looked up at the clock. Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest when she realized how much time she had spent studying, she needed to be ready in just a few hours and she had a lot of preparing to to do.

***
Charlotte peeked her head around the curtain of the stage and scanned the audience for friendly faces. Her nerves plummeted as she came to the conclusion that she didn't know any of them. Her heart was beating a mile a minute and she was scared out of her mind. To top it all off Sean was still nowhere to be seen.

She didn't know if she could do this without Sean, he'd been her rock ever since that night at the stairs. Just thinking about it gave her that feeling that she was forgetting something, that she didn't belong.

Before she could get to immersed in her own
thoughts, someone came up behind her and hugged her. She turned around surprised hoping Sean turned up at last.

"Carson?" She stuttered out in shock.

"What? You're not happy to see me?" He asked jokingly.

"No, no that's not it. I'm so glad you're here. It's just, Sean hasn't shown up yet and he was supposed to meet me to study hours ago and..."

"And he isn't the type to be late let alone not show up at all." He finished her sentence.

"Yeah..." She responded unsteadily. "Have you seen him?"

"Not since last night."

Her brain automatically started going into over drive but Carson realized this and wrapped her into a hug.

"Don't worry Charlotte, he's amazing at his job so trust that he's okay. He'll show up."

"But what if he doesn't." She pushed farther, "What if he's in trouble."

"If he is in trouble, he knows what to do to get out of it. He's the best soldier in Trordon, don't forget that. Now get out there and show your soon to be kingdom who's boss." He said with a smile just before the King stepped up onto the stage with a microphone to announce the beginning of verification day.

The King announced Charlotte and she stepped up to the stage to accept the microphone and begin the testing stage. She answered question after question and the audience didn't laugh at her stupidity so she took it as a sign that she was getting them right. Finally, after what felt like hours of daunting questions the King announced that it was time for the second stage of the day, the dancing.

Carson stepped up to the stage and took Charlotte's hand to begin the routine they had been practicing for the past few weeks. Just as she was starting to doubt herself once more chaos erupted in the audience and men wearing all black crawled onto the stage. Carson shoved her off of the stage and shouted at her to run.

She dashed into the surrounding woods and ran for several meters before climbing behind a tree trunk. There she sat for several minutes before she heard voices and the sound of footsteps headed towards her.

"We must find her, but under no circumstances are you to hurt her. Understand?" One of the many voices, the leader shouted out at the rest of them.

Her pounding heart edged is way up her throat and echoed in her ears. Her eyes widened in terror as she saw someone come around the trunk she was hiding behind.

She forced her brain into overdrive thinking of a way to escape. She lunged towards the vastness of the forcest but the woman that had found her was too quick and grabbed her wrist, yanking her back.

"What do you want from me?" She she asked as fierce as she could without breaking down into tears.

"You'll see." The woman in all black responded calmly.

"Who are you guys anyway?" She asked figuring that if she was going to be kidnapped she should at least know who she's being kidnapped by.

The woman laughed and pulled out a cloth and put it over Charlotte's mouth. "We are the rebels." And then everything went dark.

***

As she woke up her eyes felt heavy and swollen and her throat felt like it was closing in on itself. Her brain felt lazy and foggy. Suddenly she remembered what had happened and sat up with a jolt.

In front of her sat the woman from before. Charlotte glanced around the cramped, dark room before the woman noticed she was awake.

"Oh good, you're awake. We have a lot to do and not a lot of time. My name is Scarlet. Now let's get started."

She pushed her brain to come up with a something to say but all it could come up with was "wha-?"

Scarlet walked over to Charlotte and laughed. "You should be back to normal in a few minutes. Now stand up and follow me."

"Wh- Why the hell should I follow you?!"

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way."

Charlotte scowled with her nose scrunched up and with a huff she managed to stand up and wobble after Scarlet. "Where ARE we going?"

"Listen honey, that attitude is going to get you nowhere. We are not the enemy."

"Not the enemy," Charlotte scoffed, "You literally kidnapped me during my verification ceremony, so yeah you pretty much look like the enemy from where I stand."

"Just shut up and follow me, he will explain everything when you get there."

"He?" She muttered, "Who is he?"

"He is much closer to you than you'll expect."

A/N:

Thats all I have for today.

See ya soon loves!