Losing All Hope

Chapter 9 - Remember

I sit alone in the kitchen, my arms almost giving up with the weight of my sobbing, aching head on them.

I can feel my raw eyes swelling up with the threat of tears that I can not physically produce anymore and my nose is sore from all the rubbing, scratching and tearing as I blame myself over and over gain for what had happened.

I can still see the dirt and torn reeds in my nails from the side of the lake as I had struggled to cling to him; the thought of him makes me want to be sick but I have already been, too many times to have anything left to actually sick up.

"Alys?" The gentle voice from beside me send shivers down my spine aswell as making me jump. I had been sat it silence for a good hour and the sound of anything had disapeared from my memory.

"Alys, it's okay... It's not your fault Alys. Please just talk to me!!" I can here Ayden's voice growing in both volume and furiosity. It is a tone that I am not used to hearing from Ayden.

"Why..." The sound of my own voice makes me jump again. For a moment I couldn't believe that it was me talking, I had been sobbing for so long that now it sounded more like a mans voice. 

"What would be the point! It's not like, expressing my feelings or... Or taking out my rage is going to make him come back Ayden!!" My reaction is louder than my voice can take and it craks as I finish my sentence.

"Well. No Alys. But it would be nice to know that you care enough for me to tell me how you feel..." The sight of a single tear tumbling down Ayden's cheek is enough to fling me into a ful on bear hug around him.

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The sun blares down on my back as the moon begins to rise over the far horizon.

The heat of the rays aginst my face make my smile as I push aside a bright green passion-fruit bush and the sight of the huge east tower welcomes me home.

"Alswyre! The king is waiting for you! Where have you been!" The shrill voice of my nanny also 'warmly' welcomes me home. 

"Alright Nymphora! I'm coming!" I lay my bow and arrows along with my sword, dagger and small shield onto the kitchen table and gracefully snatch a sugar bun from a tray by the warm, open fire.

Tapping on the twisted vines that entwine over the wide, oak doors I can hear my father's voice from inside the great hall. The vines retract to the hinges and the great doors begin to creak open. 

"Alswyre! Where have you been! On the great Godesses' souls I thought that you had been kidnapped!" The sweat on my father's brow shows to me that he is being deadly serious! 

"I have just been out father. I went hunting in the woods, to get some peace and quiet..." The fury in his eyes makes me quiten my voice and slowly fade away.

His eyes are like burning pools of fire; his pupils are wider than I have ever seen and darker than the witches couldron.

"Where is mother." I begin, "She is normally sat on her throne weaving nature at this time of evening. Where is she..." but I can tell from the sudden melancholy in the king's face that something is terribly wrong.

"Father...?"

"I'm sorry my little Moonshine. Your mother has been kidnapped."

The feeling of loneliness washes over me and I can see the ground hitting my face only at the last moment before I am overcome by the pain and darkness descends.

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I suddenly jolt upwards, smaking my face against the bed post in the process and whining at the top of my lungs.

"Alys!!" I can hear Ayden's voice scream through the walls as the door visciously slams open. "What's wrong!"

"I remember..."

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Made this picture on Polyvore the other day and it reminded me of Alswyre!! Picture is at the side :P