message in a bottle | soudam

Day 01 : Waking For The Princess

A flood of angered beeping launched itself my way, twisting through my ears like deafening snakes to shatter my peace. I swung my arm over my body and brought it down hard on the source of the racket - my alarm clock - which stopped itself immediately. The small object residing on my bedside table was at once my savior and my nightmare; it had rescued me from my default lateness more times than i could count.

After a quick check of my phone, I decided I would obey my alarm today. It was a certain someone's birthday, and I couldn't miss that for anything. With a quiet groan, I slithered out from my sheets and rose to my bare feet. I switfly plucked my boiler suit from my wardrobe and flung off my boxers in a fluid movement, catching my naked body in the mirror for a split-second of posing. A smug smile curled my lip as I turned away, proud.

When I was fully dressed, I snatched a slice of leftover pepperoni pizza from the fridge, picked up my bag and headed off to school.

Crossing the river that cuts between the Souda residence Hope's Peak Academy had always been my favourite part of the relatively short commute to the school. The scenery was immaculate around the blue-grey scar and I often found myself lingering on the bridge, even at the expense of my punctuality. Not today, I reminded myself harshly.

On this October morning, it was on the opposite end of the bridge that I stopped myself.

A small, greenish bottle rested on the bank of the river, barely a foot from the bridge. There were often similar items on the water's edges, but this one's contents had caught my eye. Intrigued, I took it from its resting place and turned it in my hand a few times before reaching a finger inside and wrestling the paper inside free. It was a message bottle, like the ones used in pirate movies. Never would I have pictured myself coming across such a thing.

As i unfurled the scrap of battered paper, I considered what might be scrawled in its curls. A recipe for nice cupcakes? A map to unimaginable fortune? The key to attracting a princess?

What I found was a nearly illegible few paragraphs, complete with the disturbing addition of crimson spatters. I began to read.