Nothing Left to Burn [YoungWritersShortStory Contest Entry]

III.

Struggling was all that Erin was able to do. It wasn't anything that was going to change in a moment. She would have to build up on that for the possibility that she would even come close to the respect Hayley held in the family.

        Maybe in dreams it happened, but those things just fade in time while the sun rises. There was no need to dream in the morning of such a bright day. It would just fade in time.

        Erin tended to keep to herself  many thoughts of what should happen and what shouldn't.

        The war was getting bad now and at the moment, no one wanted to be involved. It's just a disaster, one that isn't even natural, at that. It's always mentioned that they couldn't beat a war from their ancestors; they have created the world before us and seem to be doing it again however ironic that sounded. We're running away from shadows was what was exchanged from ear to ear as people went  to the market.

        But King Augustine says that it's a need to win. "To conquer or die." He had never did anything optimistic: just threw commands out to people, expecting them to obey like lapdogs of the rich. All of this was being played out for no reason. Erin had no intention of listening to such crap for long. No one believed it and neither did she.

        As she walked to the division's high school with her hair tied up in it's signature braid, no one talked to her and she thought that it was perfectly fine. It's not like people really talked that much in the halls anyway.  But she couldn't ignore them. They gave no taunts as she walked down the hall. She just shuffled past people, shoulders hunched and head low trying to minimize her narrow but tall frame. They always kept on talking about the crown prince: how handsome and nice he was.

        This was another thing that Erin found fake. How could someone conjure up theories of how kind and gentle someone was without knowing them? Maybe it was a pretty boy effect. She had never cared much about anything really. It was no surprise that she could care less about Prince Jayson. Just another blonde like his father, surely to keep the throne after his old man. What was there to expect? It's a monarchy.

        She knew when she could get off of the couch next to Hayley during the mandated speeches by the King and she did after the main news was spoken out to the general public. That was how Erin never really knew what Prince Jayson looked like. She could try to conjure up her favorite fictional males, but was he really worth comparing that way? Nope, probably not.

"Hey, Erin?" Hayley called to me one night when I was walking towards the window. The brunette was sure it was just fitful dreaming and that Hayley was talking in her sleep. Erin turned to look at her older sister. "Where are you going?"

        "I was just going to take a walk, you can't let Mom and Dad know!" she said in the best whisper-shout that she could manage.

        "Bring me with you! I can't stay trapped in this place. I promise not to do anything to get you in trouble," her eyes were sincere and Erin was scared. What if this was a test? From who?

        "You know what? I'm thinking that I won't need that walk tonight. Maybe some other time, okay?" she asked. And there it was again. That void tugging at her.

        "But, you were just about to go!" Hayley protested against her lies.

        "I'm tired now."

        "But-"

        "Good night!"