Trapped Beauty

Chapter 2

I'm not sure how long I dreamed for. One moment I was listening to the birds, and then I was walking among them, outside in the garden.

It was a strange dream, though even now it is disappearing from my mind. At some point I was flying with the sparrows away from the castle, which was now in the middle of a pond and covered in rose thorns. The land below was being covered by a black, buzzing swarm. We flew and flew as fast and as far as we could, and then I was so tired that I could not flap my wings anymore. I fell like a stone from the sky, and then I woke up.

Sadly, I still could not open my eyes, but voices nearby assured me that I was back in reality.

The door opened and I heard Flora clearly. "and I really don't know what those gardeners have been up to! Haven't you noticed how wild the garden beds have gotten recently? Just the other day I got my dress caught on a bush poking out onto the pathway!"

"Well it has been raining quite a bit lately, which has made all the plants grow well" Fawnia pointed out. "I heard to that a few of the gardeners hadn't been feeling well. Maybe there's a cold going around."

"Humph. Well I still would like the pathways clear at least so a person can get around."

They seemed to draw their attention back to me.

"Well good afternoon dearie. I have a lovely soup for you today." Flora was back to using her overly cheerful tone as she walked towards me.

Fawnia said nothing, but I felt her sit down next to my legs, and as Flora fed me she started rubbing my feet.

I wonder when it was raining. I can't ask though. Instead I listen, rolling my eyes mentally, as Flora begins talking about the latest in fashion trends. Apparently pleats are in, along with pastel colors, braid crowns, and satin slippers.

I'm rather happy when they finally leave, simply because I am no longer a captive audience for Flora's knowledge dump. Though I guess I should be happy to be talked to at all considering the fact that they don't know when I'm awake.

Grateful or bitter, which do I choose...?

After careful deliberation I have decided that I will try to bury my bitterness under my gratitude, even though my life is, well, what it is right now.

I am grateful that I'm still alive, that my servants are well, that the birds are singing again, that I am not starving to death, that people are looking after me...

I think I fell asleep again. It's been rather odd lately, my sense of time. I think I've been fading in and out of consciousness for a while.

For some odd reason I think I heard that my betrothed is coming to visit me. Did I dream that part? It seems rather odd for the man I've never met to bother coming to see me when I'm stuck in a half-life.

I must have dreamt it. The castle itself somehow does feel different, emptier though. I don't know how I could know the difference tucked away in my little corner, but I just have that sense.

Everything seems quiet and I think the room is dark. My body aches with the desire to move, so I try. I put all my effort into moving my toes. Then I try my right pinky, my lips, my eyelids.

I'm frustrated and mentally exhausted by the time my room begins to lighten.