Gazing Out of a Window - Short Story No.2

Short Story No.2- Gazing Out of a Window

The ceiling. The first thing you see when you wake up. But what was the point of even doing that? Today was going to be the same as yesterday: wake up, study and do nothing. Freda was especially good at that. Doing nothing whatsoever. She had been practicing for the last 12 years.

"Freda," her father would say regularly, "you must understand. No one must know of your existence. You are a secret. The secret princess!"

The king would say the last bit happily and freely as though this were something every girl would love to be. This wasn't the case with Freda. Her parents were a bit too protective. The only window she could look out of was the one showing the beautiful lawn around the back of the palace, always looking its best.
So this is how she pictured the world. Colourful and happy. Freda would spend hours at this particular window (mostly because this was the only window she was permitted to look out of) gazing at the perfectly trimmed grass, impeccable flower beds, and yet she could not leave the safety of the indoors. Someone might see her.
Her mind took her to the land of imagination, full of other children to play with, to be free and dance around, to feel the grass inbetween her toes, to be normal. But she knew that this was a dream, and nothing more.

                             *

The front door of the dilapidated cottage opened with a creak.

"Hey! Eddie! Guess what?"
"What is it, Dad?"
"I GOT THE JOB!"
"No way. Are you serious?
"Yup. We move tonight, Eddie, tonight!"
It was as if all his dreams in the world had come true all at once. He knew that they had been  struggling with money problems, even though his dad had never said. He often saw him in his bed at night - which wasn't that far as they shared a room together - worrying, reading letters which looked like they were from the bank or the landlady, so it wasn't a surprise that he was estatic.

"We're moving into the palace gardens, obviously because I'm now their gardener, and the rent is actually affordable! The king and his wife are very merciful."

                            *

Freda was sat by her window, as usual. She was gazing out at the new gardener moving in with his son.
"He knows what the outside world looked like," she thought, "Lucky him. Maybe he could tell me."
"FREDA!"
Freda jumped and bumped her head on the window.
"GET AWAY FROM THAT WINDOW IMMEDIATELY!"
She stared, shocked by her father's words, but knew not too argue back. Silently sliding off the windowsill, she took one last glance at the only child she had ever seen, not counting the one she saw in the mirror every morning. As Freda did this, a folded paper aeroplane glided through the open window. Being quite surprised, she stopped and looked out the window. Her crystal blue eyes met those muddy brown ones of the boy's. They both stayed like this for a couple of seconds. Then the boy winked and and melted into the bustle of the early morning.

Freda ran up the twisting staircases, not caring if she bumped into anyone, which she did, and locked the door behind her.  Flinging  herself onto her bed, she breathed out slowly. It was still early afternoon, but she didn't care. The paper aeroplane was still clutched tightly in her hands. Lying on the bed, she carefully examined the folded piece of paper.
"What- how is this..."
She carefully unfolded the paper aeroplane, although she didn't know what it was, and saw a letter on the inside: d. Hastily, she completely unfolded it, and this is what she read.

Dear girl i saw at the fancy window,
My name is eddie. U look about the same age as me. Its really bbboooorrriiinngg out here with only dafodills to play with. Are you aloud to come outside and play? Im the new gardeners son, and ive only been here 10 minutes to realise theirs no other children. Ill be in the garden
From eddie

"Oh my goodness. His grammar and spelling is appalling!" A smile slowly spread across her face and she laughed out loud, quite surprising herself. She liked it.

At the window. Watching. Not watching the garden though. Watching, waiting until the room was empty. Maids, butlers, cooks and cleaners all passed through the room. Eventually no one was there. Her time to strike. She opened the window carefully, not making a sound. One leg through. Two legs through. Head through. Soil. Plants. Colours. She wiggled her toes slightly and felt the lovely feeling of a mixture of soft grass and mud. Freda danced, elated by the fact she was in the garden at last, her dream place. Her happiness took control of her. She was so happy, she didn't know that the king had called an emergency meeting of everyone in the palace. She was so happy, she didn't know about the ransom letter her father had received.
So happy, she didn't notice the shadow creeping up behind her. Her happiness, however, was not strong enough to hide the face she saw in front of her for a millisecond before a bag was pulled over her head. The face of the new gardener.