Gold's Rule ✔️

Chapter 4 - Impossibly Possible

The room was still slightly spinning, but my eyes managed to peel open and adjust to the lights. The warm bed I was laying on felt like a coffin, and it was hard to move around. My arms felt like they were pinned to my side, and my chest felt heavy. Luckily, I was pretty sure I was alive.

After my eyes healed from the blinding ceiling lights, I realized I was in the hospital quarters. The walls were tiled a cream colour and the walls were a baby blue. There were two rows of beds lined to the walls on opposite sides. Two doors were to my right, which I knew were the ER room and the storage room. To my left was the exit and shelves of books. The room has all the shutters down and bright lights were on. My body suddenly relaxed and I found myself able to move again.

The storage door clicked shut and I turned my head to see Nurse Lilac come out. "Your highness." Nurse Lilac dipped into a curtsy and almost dropped the bottle of pink liquid she was holding. "Am I alive?" I croaked, sitting up in my bed. "What happened?"

Nurse Lilac smiled sadly, and took the clipboard at the hung on the foot of my bed. "A strong poison was found in you. It was so strong it probably would have killed you. It's a miracle you made it out alive." Nurse Lilac said, handing me some papers from the clipboard.

I was shocked. "How?" I asked, taking the papers and scanning them. "We traces the source to your water. Poison was found lined on the rim of your cup. Therefore, you swallowed it when you drank. I don't know how someone got their hands on this poison, but they did." Nurse Lilac explained, then turned her back to me and started screwing off the cap of the pink liquid.

The papers she handed me where full of information. What medications I needed to take, how long I was out for- hold on. "I was out for 3 days?" I said, looking at Nurse Lilac, who was now mixing the pink liquid with water. She nodded sadly, then handed me what she was mixing. "Drink this. It's your mediation dose for tonight." I hesitated, and Nurse Lilac laughed. "It's not poisoned, I swear." I laughed a little, then took it and drank it whole. I coughed. If only someone would invent medicine that tasted good.

"What time is it now?" I asked, after the taste of the horrible medicine had left my mouth. "Around 5:30am. You should get some rest." Nurse Lilac responded. "Sorry for being a bother. You should not have to stay up so long." I mumbled, running my hand over my nails, embarrassed. She smiled at me. "It's my job, this is not the first time I go a while without sleeping."

。。。

When I woke up, it was still early morning, though probably a different day. The morning light was peeking through the window shutters and hitting the ground with a glow. I pushed off the covers and found myself in a white nightdress, with lace on the rim. I wondered why my legs were itching several times during the night.

I looked beside me and saw Nurse Lilac asleep in the bed next to me. I smiled, it was hard to imagine 3 days without sleep. I would make sure to give her a raise in payment later. I slipped out of the hospital wing and into the hallway, barefoot. I made my way to the staircase, where I climbed up to my room.

My room was... messy. A bed stood in the corner with a brown bedside stand with a lamp that shone bright patterns onto the walls and a large golden "K". It had a big window with pleasant shutters. A glass case with some of my prized possessions stood in the far left corner, and my walk-in closet stood beside it as well. The walls were grey and the floor was a white carpet. I always complained that my room was the smallest, but my family said that it was not.

(Fun fact, I went back and watched the krew's house tour. This is my best interpretation of Gold's room. They really did not talk much about it at all.)

I got a black dress with yellow rim, a dress I wore often. After dressing, I pushed my golden hair back, tied it with a hairband and opened the curtains, letting the sunlight pour in. "I should go for a walk." I thought, smiling to myself. "Why not?" I grabbed a pair socks and runners, slipped them on and walked out. I met no one as a left the castle, which was funny, since there were usually 2 or 3 staff walking around at all hours.

I dipped my hand into the moat and shivered. The cold water was cold. (No way (ò_óˇ) I took it out and shook it. I then started walking through the village. It- it was like a ghost town. Since basically the whole village is living in the castle now, the town was empty. Silent. Dead. Vacant.

I entered the forest, staying to the path. Nature was beautiful; I could hear the wind whistling in my ear, a roaring waterfall could also be heard in the distance. The path crunched under me, and I saw a squirrel every once in a while. Flowers dotted everywhere and trees as far as the eye could see. A leaf flew down in front of me and I caught it, turning it over to admire it.

Suddenly the wind picked up.
I stopped and wrapped my arms around myself.
Then I looked up.
And screamed.

Something in the distant. Big, fast, brown, and running right toward me. I wanted to run, but fear froze my legs and forbid me to move. It was coming closer and closer. The steps sounded like thunder crashing in my ears. I managed to take a step back, and then started to run.

I had never ran so fast or so hard in my life. My feet moving in step in front of the other. Even though I was fast, I was not fast enough. I could hear whatever it was getting closer and closer. I heard it run right past me and stop in front of me. I froze, squeezed my eyes shut, and prayed.

"Please not like this. Please not like this. Not in these times. I can't leave them yet. They need me. I need them."

I opened my eyes. I don't know what made me do it, but I opened my eyes. I almost-
Wait.
A long, soft, brown face was in front of me. Soft gentle brown eyes stared right into mine. Sure, he was big, but he just seemed so... nice. I stepped back. He was a horse.

"Brownie?"

He let out a neigh. Brownie was the horse Funneh took when she ran away. After she fell, we never saw Brownie again. Until now. "Buddy, what's wrong?" I asked, reaching out to stroke his neck. He neighed again. Before I knew it, somehow, in someway, I was on Brownies back and speeding away on the trail. "Whoa! Buddy, calm down!" I pleaded, wrapping my arms around his neck. Unlike Funneh, I wasn't one to jump straight in the face of danger- or dirt.

We reached a pond with a waterfall streaming off some huge rock. Lily pads floated on the surface, and it looked pretty deep. Brownie stopped and I got off, slightly dizzy. I looked around the shore. It was really peaceful here. But why did Brownie bring me here? To show me the view?

Brownie trotted over and used his head to nuzzle aside some bushes.

I stepped around him to peek in and let out a half-scream half-gasp.

"Impossible."