My Cracked Mirror

9 Lives

Camilla watched with frightened glassy eyes as a man roughly tightened the noose around her beloved's neck.

There was nothing she could do. She had fought her way out of her castle, going against whatever nonsense her father said just to save her lover's life, and yet, standing beneath the platform, there was nothing more she could do.

She was being held back by two other men. They were wearing the same uniform as the guard spitting into the face of Ernesto. There was a sense of helplessness that circled Camilla.

She screamed until her voice cracked and gave way. She cried at the injustice and inhumanity of all of the people standing around watching with glee in their eyes. Camilla seemed to be the only one crying for mercy for the sake of Ernesto's life.

"Please, release him!!! Have mercy!!!" She exclaimed, tears pouring from her crystal blue eyes. The guards holding her laughed at her wriggles to be freed.

Ernesto's eyes fell upon hers for the last time before being sentenced to his death. His hands were tied behind his back as he stood there smiling down at his beloved who stood amongst the crowd of treacherous civilians. He was accepting his fate and wished Camilla would too.

"Ernesto!!" She cried still trying to get to him, ignoring the pain from the grip on her the guards were maintaining. Her vision became blurred, but she's seen his face more than enough to know exactly what his famous smirk looked like.

She didn't know why he was smiling at her like this! It was almost as if he knew a secret that she didn't!

"You, Ernesto D'Anjou, are being indicted for the theft of the King's crown, assault on of the King's guards, and of course, harassing Camilla L'Enfant, the daughter of the King! The King has come to the conclusion that he will have you hanged." The guard standing on the platform with Ernesto proclaimed pacing back and forth, but looking to the crowd for their approval. To stay loyal and show their support to the King's wishes, the crowd cheered as Camilla cried in agony.

He has never harassed her, he has never stolen the King's crown, and the guards were the ones assaulting him! They are liars and were killing an innocent man. She would never forgive her father.

This was her man, her love, her life. She had never once imagined a day with out him. His laugh, his smile, his soothing calm and collected voice... the way his French rolled off of his smooth tongue... she would miss it all. She would miss seeing his face when he woke up next to her in her chambers, circled by messy satin sheets from last night's events, she would miss his witty remarks he made every so often just to see her get all riled up, she would miss the kisses he would give her-- her Ernesto kissed like no other. It was very... distinct and passionate. No one could ever measure up to his kiss. But what she treasured most about her one and only true love, was something not even her father knows about, and that was the way he told her stories of the unknown. Had she mentioned this to her father, he would assume Ernesto was playing with black magic and he would have been hung a long time ago for the practice of witch craft. Ernesto's mother was a secret witch. No one in town knew about it except Ernesto and Camilla. She would go to his place every now and then and his mother would teach her spells and how to cast them correctly without upsetting the "Master".

But that would only soon be nothing but a memory that could never again be resurfaced.

"Any last words, Ernesto?" The man asked with a smile on his face. Ernesto had never once taken his eyes from his love.

"Camilla, my beloved, stay strong for me. Remember that I will always love you. This will not be the last time you see me, you can be sure of it! Camilla, look at me," He called out to her in French over the loud crowd begging the guard to hang the man already. No one else in town had perfected their French enough to know what he was saying. Camilla stared deeply into his eyes silently, but the tears still pouring. For the first time since he's been up there on the platform did he let a tear fall from his dark brown eyes. "I love y--" The man pulled the stick cutting Ernesto off before he had a chance to finish his sentence. Camilla screamed out loud and collapsed onto the ground the same time Ernesto's neck snapped. The sound was too real... too... gruesome. The guards released her, laughing, as the crowd cheered. Camilla held her stomach, crying out to God, not sure why he was putting her through so much pain.

He knew she loved him dearly.

He knew Ernesto was the only thing that ever mattered to her.

He knew how taking away Ernesto's life would make her feel...

Like a God didn't even exist.

And if he did, then he hated Camilla, and in return, she would hate him back.

The guards cleared out the common area telling people the show was over. Everyone was soon back to their original posts, working, shopping, doing what they normally do.

Camilla, on the other hand rushed over to the platform and slid the pocket knife she hid in her boot out and cut the rope that held Ernesto's lifeless body two inches from touching the ground. She cried as she cut him down.

She caught his body as the rope broke and gently laid him down in her arms. She pulled his face into her breast crying. She didn't want to let him go-- she had let him go for two minutes and look what happened. He was dead.

She felt that if she let him go again, he would then vanish into thin air and she'd have nothing left.

"Ernesto, my love!" She cried touching his face ever so lightly. His face was lifeless, but in a way, it appeared as though he were sleeping.

A memory surfaced. She remembered when she woke before Ernesto in the morning, she would sometimes just watch him sleep. His dark brown hair would be sprawled out across her pillow, his eyes lightly flickering from the dreaming. The way he looked so lost in his dreams, she had wished to be there with him to know why he continuously furrowed his eyebrows.

But now he was not dreaming and his eyebrows were not furrowed. Still, however, she wished to be with him.

She stared down at the sharpened knife in her other hand then back to Ernesto's sleeping face. She pursed her lips together and sniffed.

She let her rosy pink lips touch his. The taste of his lips was no longer there, only the realization that her Ernesto was not kissing back. Just as she pulled away slightly, she whispered into his lips with the French words, "I love you,". She placed the knife to her throat. Someone saw and screamed for her to stop.

Before anyone had a chance to reach her, she slit her own throat tilting her head back facing the blue cloudless sky. She stiffened as blood seeped from the slit she made in her own throat. Her frail body fell limp onto Ernesto's, her blood staining his face, and her blond curls no longer bouncing with life.

The King's daughter had killed herself for a beggar boy who would only come back to life in three days, for his mother had hexed him as a new born with 9 lives.