The Golden Throne

Shattered memories

A five year old boy was playing with his toy cars in the living room of a luxurious bedchamber. He was fair skinned and had soft black hair. The irises of his eyes were a brilliant red and a smile was plastered on his face as he giggled while he pushed his toy cars around.

A door slammed. The boy jolted in shock and glanced at it, his tiny heart beating faster. There, leaning against it was a young girl who was barely in her teens. But despite her age, her hair was white. Her pretty face was soaked with tears as she whimpered and sobbed silently to herself.

The child calmed down a bit to see that it was only his sister. But.. something was wrong with her.

"Ripley?" He mumbled. He looked at her with curious, yet innocent eyes.

Ripley ignored her brother and stormed into her room. She slumped onto her bed and buried her face in her pillow to try to drown out the sounds of her whimpers. But it was no use.

The boy stood up and crept to her bedroom door. He peeked inside and saw his older sister on the bed. "Ripley, why are you crying?" He asked innocently.

Ripley paid no attention to him, and continued weeping.

"Ripley-"

"Go.. away, Florian!" Ripley said between sobs.

Florian was shocked at his sister's sudden hostility. He looked down sadly and left. He could hear his big sister's whimpers from out here. As young as he was, it hurt him to see her in so much pain. Then, he got an idea.

He searched his father's library for those coloured papers his father brought in the other day. They were for father's work, and he knew that he would get a good scolding for using them without his permission. But it didn't matter, he wanted to make his sister feel better, and this was the only way he knew how.

He carried three sheets of coloured paper- green, yellow and brown, a pair of safety scissors and glue to the living room. Immediately, he set to work. He remembered making one of these in the art classes provided to the children of the palace. After a hard 10 minutes, he looked at the finished product and felt a sense of pride in himself. To add a finishing touch, he found two googly eyes and glued it to his craft.

He crept back to her open door. She was silent now, but her face was still buried in her pillow. Florian nervously held his gift in his hand and he slowly approached his sister.

Ripley felt a tugging on her leg. She scowled and turned around, "I said, not-" she paused, seeing Florian and a crafted sunflower in his hand. Then, she noticed how messy his fingers and shirt were with dried glue. "Florian!" She grumbled angrily. This was seriously not her day.

"Look at the mess you've made!" She stood up and held him by the hand, "let's go get you cleaned up."

Florian tugged at her hand to stop her. "Wait."

"What's wrong?" Ripley asked. Florian was still holding the paper sunflower in his little fingers. At its center were googly eyes and a wide, drawn smile. "What's this?"

"It's for you," Florian mumbled. Ripley had a confused look on her face, and that made him hesitant to hand it to her. He was afraid that she didn't like it. "You were sad, so I made this for you. But it's ok if you don't like it..."

"H-huh?" Ripley was at a loss for words at first. Then, realization hit her and a sad smile broke out on her face.

"Oh Florian," she kneeled down to his level and looked him in the eyes. "I love it. Thank you," she kissed him on the head.