Coward Prince

Chapter One

        It's a windy night then, I was feeling great and all, strolling down the coast of Malisbury Beach with my mother, Stephanie Richards. You see, I'm adopted, but I'm okay with that. Stephanie is a nice mother, for the record, but I know she's not perfect, nobody is. She's a drunkard, a mess, and a gambler. Not your ideal mother to start with. She earned a living in the Dream Castle bar, she sings every night and her salary isn't that big. Anyways, I gotta learn how to be content. I don't remember my childhood and the whole story of the adoption thing because she never tells.

"Steph, why did you adopt me?" I asked her.

"Cuz you're cute and cuddly, cold gray eyes, auburn hair, and don't mention the bad attitude," she laughed.

"Hey! I'm not bad." I smiled. "You bit my finger the first time I saw you." she laughed harder.

We both started laughing hard and went into a silent mode again.

"Seriously, Steph, where do I come from?"

"Look, we've talked about this, and there's no point of doing this coversation again."

"Yeah, we've done this conversation and it is never finished because you never made anything clear." "Are you not contented with your life?" Stephanie asked irritated.

"Don't get me wrong because I'm contented and honestly happy with you, but-" I lied.

"You know what? I'm not feeling well. Let's go home." That ended it. Here we go again.

I held her arm when we're walking because she is drunk, again. Well that's what I think she is. A few meters away from where we are standing, Steph noticed a figure who "looked" badly hurt.

"I think that human being needs help." Steph ran and aided the guy.

"I thought you were drunk?" I scratched my head. Sometimes Steph is a bit weird.

     The guy is unconscious. He has this armor that's really bruised, got dark brown hair, well-rounded muscles, don't mention good looking. He is the definition of the term "hot" for the school campus girls.

"Hold him! Let's take this macho man home!" Steph blurted out.

"What? That's insane Steph, we don't even know this weird-looking guy."

"Hey, he got looks." Her eyes widened.

"Yeah? He's wearing armor in the middle of the night. Look! He even got a sword with him. Maybe, he committed multiple homicides and stuff. Look, we will NOT bring this guy home with us." Honestly, this is really funny, who commit homicides with a sword? You might want to use a knife instead.

"Chill. Maybe he's in some kind of Halloween costume or he's having a Cosplay then got ripped down the bar because he stole someone's girlfriend." she said, jokingly.

"Nice theory Steph, that sounds like it doesn't makes sense at all,  fine, let's bring him home, spend the night, BUT he should be leaving for tomorrow." I narrowed my eyes on Steph to make sure that she will keep her word.

"Okay Okay, I promise he'll be leaving for tomorrow." She promised. I can tell that she's not telling the truth. She always break promises anyway.

       The road is quite not clear and Steph is also a big cargo to me. I admit she's not that drunk at all she's just messing with me but she's still a bit dizzy from drinking gin. When we got home we laid the guy on the spare bed. I was so tired of carrying two "drunkards" on the way home and left to take care of one of them.

"You can do that while I'm taking care of myself because I'm kinda feeling unwell. Spare clothes in the cabinet there. Bye." Steph closed the door immediately. Sometimes I overthink if she's my mother at all.

       Okay. So, this is not fair. She's the one who insisted to bring this weirdo home and now I'm the one with the responsibility to take care for him? Good heavens, this sucks. I looked at him and I'm wondering if he is really hurt but it looks like his face is at peace, clam, and unhurt. I checked his pulse if I had mistaken that he's already dead. Luckily, he is still alive though. It seems very uneasy for me to take his clothes off. Better yet I'm a girl and he's a boy it's kind of wrong if someone sees us. But, I'm only helping okay?

"You think you can sleep with those clothes on? You can sleep with them anyways, right? Even though it's a bit messy, bloody, and... Great, I'm gonna get new clothes." Okay, I give up.

          I got a brand new t-shirt and pajamas, hot water and sponge upstairs. It feels terribly awkward while I'm taking off his armor and upper clothing. Okay, here goes nothing. I closed my eyes as I wash his upper body. I don't know what am I touching, most probably his abs but believe me I'm not having fun. I never did this ever in my life and it seems like pure madness. Stephanie suddenly opened the door that made me startled and fell on top of him.

"Whoa! Sorry kid, am I disturbing anything?" Steph have this shocked look on her face.

"No-no-no it's not what you think it is." I frantically said.

"I thought you're doing something and I'm kind of a disturbance-"

"Quit it. I'm a virgin, okay? Not like that. I'm not a rapist and will never be, but I still have doubts with this guy." I stood up and tried to convince Stephanie that we are not having "something". I'm afraid she will never wear this sight off her mind.

                     Stephanie just smiled at me sheepishly and I smiled back ironically. She's really irritating at times. She told me that I should've had invested a handsome and rich boyfriend right now. She said I got the looks and such but please even though I'm already eating soil, I will never be a gold digger. This mysterious guy is already twitching and I'm kind of startled.

"Wait. He's waking up." I told Stephanie. Now, she stopped teasing me.

The guy opened his eyes and immediately mouthed, "Where am I?"