Alone Together

...Stranger Happenings...

You will struggle to sleep, be scared of going outdoors and living in your own home, you'll never escape the grasp of her and her followers. She commands everything, has changed life to the worst it could possibly be. You'll never know what you'll have to do to get a simple errand done. You must slink around in the dark but also be wary of it, be comfortable in light but also hide from it. We don't have any control in this town, we all barely have our own autonomy at this point, the Queen is a cruel dictator and will not let even the youngest and most innocent of children escape her wicked grasp.

"Carter, what're you doin' out this early in te mornin'?" Asked Jacob Watermin, the town's blacksmith. "Oh, well, mother asked me to come and get some bread and cheese for breakfast" I say timidly, "Damn Kat, she knows better than te let ye out this early, she's lucky the guards haven't quite gotten 'ere yet, otherwise you'd most likely be apprehended." Once Mr. Watermin finished his worried rambling he told me to just head straight back home. He was an odd man, but he was incredibly caring and nice to everyone though he can be a bit brash.

     "Hey mum I'm-" I was cut off by my mother "Carter? What're you doing back already? You needed to get me that food, get back out there and get me that shit" she said, clearly frustrated beyond belief. "W-well, I know but.." I trailed off, "finish your sentence, what were you gonna say?" My mother was a kind woman, but she was stubborn and could be a bit rude, but she never meant anything malicious out of it. I just looked at her for a short moment and then continued "Well, Mr. Watermin got worried because it's so early, he didn't want me to get caught by one of the guards.." I finished, my mother looked at me, obviously puzzled "what?" Was all she said. I looked at her, now also confused "he said it was too early, the guards aren't out here yet" I repeated, but with a bit more hesitation. "They should be here by now, it's late in the morning" she stopped and paused for a moment before quickly walking to the back room where my father was.

    There's a strict schedule that the guards follow, they pretty much never break that regimen out of fear that she would punish them. The morning shift would come in and swap out with the few night watchers, they would come around 6:30 in the morning, but the night shift would leave around 6:00 am which obviously leaves a 30 minute gap for people to quickly retrieve and hide things that the Queen deemed unfaithful to her or disgusting and repulsive. It tends to be quite odd things, like cheese and bread, or birch wood and purified water.

    We have a clock in our small house, it was in the living room, it was small and difficult to read but it was one of the few clocks we had in the town so it was very much worth while. I walked over to the living room, quietly walking past my little siblings room, I entered the warm and friendly looking area, it had a fireplace and couches along with a few plants here and there, many books lined the bookshelves against the walls. Right above the fireplace was the clock, a rustic aesthetic to it and was made out of bronze, it was expertly crafted by Mr. Watermin himself. I looked at the clock in confusion and shock, it was 8:46 am, "how are the guards not here yet?" I questioned in my head, I continued to look at the clock, puzzled, when I felt my sister's small hand grab my leg which surprised me and made me jump forward a bit. "O-oh, hello Jaqlynn" I say quietly and slightly embarrassed. "Hi big brother! Whatcha lookin' at?" She asked me excitedly, she was always so happy and carefree and her twin brother Justin was the same, it was a given considering they were only 7 and a half years old. I wish I could have that back, just pure happiness and bliss to this hell of a kingdom that we "live" in. I can't even leave the front garden before I have to be on "excellent behaviour"... whatever that means, we've had multiple people who have supposedly stepped out of line be publicly executed in front of everyone even children, I don't understand how the Queen in still in her reign since she's so cruel to her subjects and she has no spouse or heir to even think of.