Journey for the Unknown

A Beginning

A cold breeze blew through the open window. Vesyira groaned and rolled to the side, yanking the blanket over her head. The room was unbearably cold and she could feel the freezing air seeping through her hand-woven blanket.

Angrily, she rolls out of bed and a gasp escapes her lips when her bare feet touched the cold stone floor. She hops to the window and quickly closes it and leaps back into bed, sighing loudly .

"Ugh another sleepless night!" I groan, pinching my eyes shut. "If this continues I'm going to go mad".

I throw the blanket off and muster the courage to get out of bed and prepare myself for the dreaded day.

The cold floor sends tingles through my legs as I shuffle to my wardrobe to find an outfit. I stare into the wardrobe for a minute before deciding, "I'm not doing anything special...as usual so I might as well just pick anything " I grumble sadly, as I throw on some rather baggy clothes I then shuffle over to the broken mirror in my room and my attempts to fix my disheveled hair brings no success.

I make my way down the elegant wooden stairs and down the corridor to the dining hall. I can hear my drunk father yelling at the servants that his Haggis was undercooked. I roll my eyes and plop down into a chair on the other end of the grand table.

'I feel so sorry for the people that work here...by choice or not. I don't understand why anyone would want to work HERE of all places, I mean there are- '

My fathers yelling interrupts my thoughts. "Vesyira! Why have you slept the day away?! You should being doing something productive, not wasting your life away" he slurs, his sentence sounds like one long word.
I nod,
'Maybe if you weren't such a drunk loon you'd notice I didn't sleep at all. And maybe if I was allowed to actually do something I would',
i scream mentally.

I hated this place and I have no escape but my room and my fantasies. I wanted nothing more than to leave this wretched place and never return. My father is just a mean drunk and the servants here are mindless slaves, this place is like a prison cell.
I wonder what it would be like to have a different life, one without him in it.
My father pipes  up loudly once again "Off with you, no food until dinner since you think it's ok to be such - such a slob and a lazy sack" he pounds down another pint. That seemed to be the last straw for me. All he does is abuse me and make me feel worthless! Fuming, i slam my chair back and angrily walk back down the corridor to the stairs. I can hear his chair screech across the stone floor and fall backwards , making a loud thump as it hits the ground. I turn around to see he's stomping quickly towards me, face red.
He grabs my arm and squeezes, pulling me in. His grip turns the area white.
I can smell the rum on his breath and it makes me nauseous.
"Don't have that attitude towards me or you'll regret it. Now get!" He screams, shoving me forward. I fall hard onto the stone floor, scraping my knees and palms.
"Another pint!" He screams at the servant standing near the table. She flinches and hurries off towards the kitchen.
I collect myself and anger courses through my body but I don't say a word. I wipe a tear from my cheek and quickly run down the corridor and up the stairs. The stairs creak loudly with each step. I reach the top of the stairs and turn around, "I hate you!" I scream then I slam my door shut and lock it.
I throw myself onto my bed and weep loudly.
17 years I've had to deal with his drunk , abusive tendencies. Anger fills my heart and more warm tears stream down my face onto my pillow, soaking it.
After a minute I collect myself and take a deep breath and wipe the tears, anger never helps me feel better. I grab a small key from under my pillow and unlock the top drawer of my small end table. A small leather book hides under a cloth. I carefully grab it out and take a seat in the window.
I open the book and gently touch the pages, running my finger over the words. Reading is my escape but it's one thing of many that I'm not allowed to do. The maid, Derza often sits with me and talks to me about fantasy books and Prince Charming. She gave me this book as an escape.

I take in the beauty of the pages and begin reading where I left off, enchanted by the story. I smile and immerse myself in the book, imagining it's real. Hours pass and I hardly notice it's starting to get dark out. "Good, I missed dinner" I whisper as I lock the book back in the drawer, safe from my father. I light a couple candles and set them in the window. I always thought maybe someone would see the dim light and rescue me like a prince, I chuckle. But that only happens in fantasy books.. and that's exactly what it is, a fantasy.

I lay in bed and stare up at the ceiling , my thoughts race.
Why is he so mean? Why does he hate me? Could I ever get away from this man? No.. he's to "protective " . "If only I could just get to-"
my thoughts are cut short when I hear a loud scream from downstairs. I jolt up in bed , eyes wide. "What the-" another scream follows and a loud thump that shakes the wooden door a bit.
I stand and timidly walk and open my door, I can hear loud voices and people begging. Confusion washes over me and curiosity takes over. I take a step out the door and try to peak down the stairs to see if I can see anybody. I can hear my fathers drunk voice echoing down the halls of the castle followed by a blood curdling scream. I flinch at the sound. Panicked , I run back to my room and slam the door shut and lock it. Thoughts of his brutal anger against me flood my mind, I slam my eyes shut and grab my head. No! Stop! Stop! Images flash in my mind. I pull the blanket over my head as the screaming in the background continues, matching with the images in my head. My heart races and Im dripping in sweat. It gets harder to breathe, I throw the blanket off me and sit up against the stone wall. Tears stream down my face, those poor people. I nearly fall out of bed as a loud knock on the door echos through my room, the doorknob wiggles a little

I scoot back in my bed, staring intently at the door. I stifle the words that want to come out of my mouth. The handle wiggles again and a small voice can be heard "Lady Vesyira?" I quickly hop out of bed and unlock the door. "Derza, you nearly gave me a heart attack!" I exclaim, gripping my shirt. Derza is a quiet old maid lady, who spends most her time upstairs in the west wing.
"Vesyira, your father is on a rampage. I wanted to see if you were okay. What have you done this time " she croaks.
I stare at her as my freighted look turns to disbelief, I pay no attention to the ruckus that is taking place downstairs. I make my way to my bed and plop down, defeated. "What have I-" I stutter, anger washes over me.
It's always me in this castle! I did this! I did that!
I could feel my face flushing.
"I haven't done a thing! Everytime something happens around here everyone is pointing their dirty finger at me" I get out of bed and stomp angrily towards my window. I stare out, thick forest spreads for miles, a slight fog hovers just below the trees, sending an eerie shadow over the dark forest.
How peaceful it seems out there.
Her voice interrupts my thoughts. "I'm sorry I upset you" her voice cracks, she coughs loudly and sits on my bed, she fiddles with the loose thread.
I sigh, I shouldn't treat her so badly.. after all she basically raised me. I sigh loudly, "I'm sorry, Derza. I shouldn't have taken my anger out on you. My father was very angry with my this morning and since then I've been in a rather sour mood" I sit next to her, leaning my head on her bony shoulder, relief and comfort courses through my body.
"Yes, child. Those are your fathers ways." She pauses for a second, staring at the floor then whispers "I must go now, he may need me " she slowly stands from my bed and gives me a half smile and hobbles out of my room, slowly closing the door behind her. The quiet creak is all I'm left with.
A loud sigh follows the silence and I plop onto my bed. My emotions flood over me and my mind race , this life brings me nothing but pain.

My thoughts wander to the forest and the animals and the images bring me peace and tranquility and I drift into a slow sleep.

October 16, 2020

I'm back and trying to be more active ❤️ I apologize if this chapter is a bit choppy and doesn't make sense i tried to edit it and add some more detail. I decided to edit the few chapters I have published already then start a new one so these are more rounded for my readers. Thank you to all have stuck with me.. I know I have way less readers now than I did with my last book so if anyone sees this please share and refer my book and account! I'm doing follow backs and shout outs! Thank you for your patience please leave comments for suggestions/ideas/ and fixes! 
        -Drak

Edited: August 5, 2021

Hi lovelies! I have added a bit more detail and tried to make it less choppy! I will be revisiting this chapter soon to add some more! Please tell me what you think 💕 thanks again for your support

-drak