The Tangled Princess

Chapter Twelve

(Warning - This chapter will touch upon sensitive matters such as mental health in the form of anxiety attacks. If this subject
triggers you, you should skip this chapter.)

Daniel and I were walking towards the forest, a sour feeling settling in my gut when I saw a group of wolves patrolling around the borders close to the forest. They all were around the same height, tall with athletic bodies, marching towards the woods to shift into their wolf forms. A young brown haired boy, appearing to be in his late teens, caught my eye. He looked at Daniel and grinned before starting to walk towards us. We were standing close to the group, so I decided to wait for him before searching the forest.

A gust of wind blew past me, chilling me to my bones, and shivers ran across my body. I realized that something was wrong; the wind warned me that something was going to happen. I looked at the young boy with suspicion when suddenly, his eyes widened, mouth half-opened in a silent scream, and his body jerked forward. He fell down, face planted in the dead, dry soil, a large gaping hole clearly visible in his back. A shrill scream left my mouth when I saw blood spilling out of the gaping hole like a waterfall.

I heard a hiss and looked up to meet a set of cold, dead blue eyes. That black haired devil had a sinister smile on his face, and his body reminded me of a glacier, pale cold white. y magic boiled inside me, angry. Bloodlust must have been evident on my face as his smile widened, and he turned, running through the woods. I focused on burning him down, willing the protection spell to do its job—it had already failed as it should have never allowed his intrusion. I focused on tracking him down, on willing the protection magic to capture him. I willed the roots of trees to entangle him before he could escape. Nothing! Nothing worked. The protection spell wasn't working against him. I was confused and frustrated as there was no way he could have entered without an invitation of a pack member. I couldn't stop him! I couldn't do anything, and he was right in front of me.

I turned around, and my heart broke at the sight of the dead young boy. Daniel had turned his body with his head laying on gamma's lap. I bent down a little to look at the little boy, a light dusting of freckles which I wasn't able to see from afar making him look younger than I’d initially thought. After my mother's death, there wasn't much that I cared about. Everything I did was what she would have wanted me to do, but when I came with Conrad, I vowed to protect this pack. Every member was under my protection, and I thought by our protection spell, we were successful in doing so. I didn't realize that I could be so wrong. My eyes witnessed the scene before me with horror painted on my face but my brain couldn't believe what was happening. A woman pushed me away from him, and I stumbled back in shock. I could only see her back, which was covered in a yellow shirt with her brown hair flowing down her shoulders.

"Gamma!" the woman cried. "What happened to my son?"

His mother. She was his mother.

Her shoulders shook as sobs left her mouth. "Weren't you supposed to protect him?" she cried at Daniel, then turned towards me with accusation heavy in her brown eyes. "You were supposed to protect us!What kind of Luna are you?" she asked, derision heavy in her voice. The broken mother turned towards her dead son, cradled his head close to her chest and wailed. Her cries echoed around the forest. Even nature seemed to stand still to offer condolence to the mother who would have to bury her young child.

"You were supposed to protect him. You had powers… " she whispered, still cradling her child. "You had powers…." she trailed off, her haunting whispers surrounding me. A heavy feeling settled inside my gut, and I staggered back. Guilty. I was guilty.

She was wailing again, her painful keening tearing into an otherwise silent afternoon.

The blood rushed in my ears, the rapid thumping of my heart was making it hard for me to breath. I tried to inhale deeply, bringing my hand against my heart, desperately trying to slow down its incessant beating. It wasn't working—the painful cries of a mother triggered a part of me I had deeply buried inside my heart. My hands were shaking, and a tingling sensation shot through my feet, making it difficult for me to stand. My vision was starting to get hazy, but I could still hear her crying, her painful, heart-wrenching cries that reminded me of my father's cries, and how I was still the same worthless girl who had power but couldn't use it to save people that were close to her. I had to get away from her; I had to close the pandora box of feelings that had opened without my permission.

I ran towards Conrad's house, wheezing. My mouth felt dry, the overwhelming emotions choking the life out of me. I reached his house and went to our room.

"You're worthless!" my father's voice rang inside my head. "You should have saved her!"

I furiously started shaking my head, fisting my hair with both of my hands. "No, no no, no," I chanted."No, no, no, NO!" My whispers were turning into screams, my heart refusing to slow down, negative thoughts running rampant in my mind. I could feel an ache in my chest, my stomach churning, bile rising up my throat when, finally, my eyes dripped with tears. My walls, the walls that held me up for years, that made me strong…  just collapsed, and every feeling that was suppressed came rushing out of me. Drop by drop, they fell, salty drops from my chin, drenching my shirt. I pressed my head against the wall, pure white, so innocent, unlike me. I was unable to stop trembling. Even when I pressed my hand against the wall, it shook. It was raw, everything, raw tears, raw emotions. I couldn't make myself stop. Why?

Why couldn't I stop crying?

I wondered as sobs racked my body, ripping through my bones. I pressed my forehead against the wall and cried, feeling hollow, my life crumbling in front of my eyes.

I hope I did justice to her emotions.

Thoughts? Did you feel her emotions?