The Cunningham Saga: The Fate of Yesterday

Chapter 5- Waltzing in the Midst of Enemies

Elizabeth

It was time for the ball and I could feel the anxiety creeping up on me. I was in the kitchen waiting for the chef to hand me the food to be served. I've always hated hanging out with large groups of people unless there is alcohol in my system. I see all the maids gathered around the castle doors about to be opened to let all the eager aristocrats inside the castle. I grabbed my food platter to serve and braced myself for the stampede of people that were about to poor in.

All of a sudden I hear the maids that were standing by the door announce "Welcome" in unison.

I walk around offering the guests various veggies and fruits that I was assigned to serve that night. I made sure I was keeping a keen ear for any information I could find as to why I may have ended up here. After three hours of serving the guests, I had to take a break. I sat down on a railing just outside the ballroom so the maids in charge couldn't see me and get mad. As I sat on the railing for what seemed like an eternity I saw a familiar face come out of the ballroom. It was the prince of course. I began to feel an unprecedented sense of comfort whenever he was around, he was the only person who I've spoken more than a sentence or two with here. He came up to the railing and sat down next to me. For a moment it was a complete and utter awkward silence that was almost too uncomfortable to bear. The prince begins to speak.

"I'm not a complete jerk you know," the prince said in a strangely nonchalant tone.

I was taken by surprise by his response. He didn't seem to be the type to open up to just anyone so I let him continue without interrupting,

"Ever since I was little, I was the prince. Nothing more, nothing less. I never got the chance to explore other paths or discover any passions other than what a prince must be passionate about. Such as looks, status, and so forth. So one day, I decided to take ahold of my fate and before I could get even six feet out of the castle grounds my father, the king, had his guards capture me and lock me back up in my tower."

I am in complete awe, so much so, the only way I can think to respond is "wow..."

We sat there on that same railing, talking for about another hour until I noticed he suddenly had a shocked look upon his face.

"I must go!" He exclaims.

Before I can even respond he runs down the corridor and out of my sight. I shrug, assuming he probably forgot to give a speech or some other princely duty of the sort. I walk back into the ballroom to continue serving the food and eavesdropping into other conversations. I couldn't get much, other than one odd-looking man talking about all his money which was of no importance to me.

As I begin to ask a wealthy-looking woman if she would like a cucumber slice, one of my fellow maids runs in and screams "The Prince is dead!"

Suddenly, people begin to scatter like ants in the rain. While my thoughts are racing I try my hardest to get to one of the doors so I can have an easy way out if needed.

I begin to try and calm myself. "It's just a dream, just a dream."

I'm about to go run for help when I hear a loud crack of what seemed to be a tree branch. Not shortly after I hear a loud thump, as if something had just hit the ground outside. I run towards the noise whilst still taken aback by the recent events, in hopes of discovering answers. As I reach the source of the odd noise I see a familiar face standing next to me. could it be?

'AMELIA!" I shout.

"ELIZABETH!" She responds.

Amelia

As we came to the entrance of the castle door I tightened my grip on Torryn's arm fearing we would be caught, and to my surprise he gave me a reassuring squeeze back as he stepped up to the guard.