SORRY

My story was rushed.. the end is quite bad so i was hoping someone would help decide de new end.
I know it's not that goos but i could use the support :D

7 (:

‘Sarah is this really necessary?’ I said looking at the dress I was supposed to wear.

‘Of course it is’ She replied. Sarah was of the few people I meet my first month that still liked me. Her husband was the soldier that had helped the week I had announce myself and he liked me as much.

I looked at the dress I had to put on. I really didn’t have a problem with wearing a dress, the problem was the dress. I hated it, it was pink. Not the Screaming vivid fuchsia. Not the soft baby pink. It was just a plain pink not to soft but neither a attention calling one. I hated it.

‘Could I use the dark blue? Pleeeasee’ I loved that dress. I was totally dark blue and the shape was just cool. It was long and had a v-cut in the upper part and in marked the waist really good. It was the most comfortable I had found in the entire kingdom.

She looked at me with one eyebrow raised.

‘It is comfortable and that helps me… be flirtier’ my mind was racing looking for reason I should wear it ‘with my skin, hair and eyes that dress is perfect’ I saw my plan failing ‘please please please’ I put on my puppy eyes.

‘Ok. But if someone asks you nearly killed me when I said no’ She was teasing me.

I took a shower (I was the only one in the castle with an actual shower) and got dressed.

‘You were right, that dress suits you’ Sarah looked so proud that a knot formed in my throat ‘Where did you get that dress?’

‘I saw someone with one that looked like it. I didn’t like the sleeves or the neck part so I just looked at it and then I told one of the designers in the castle how I liked my dress and he did it.

‘If no one falls for you in that dress then you are completely screwed’ She said.

‘Sarah everyone falls for me’ I tried to keep the sad note off my voice.

‘What is it that bothers you? Everyone wants a perfect body like yours and all you do is complain about why everybody likes it’ There was real curiosity in her voice.

‘I love my looks, trust me’ The next words were hard to say. Only Arthur and Josh had heard them and understood them ‘I just wish people will look first at my personality and then decide if they like me or not. Most girls say they don’t like me but the true is that they are jealous. Most boys just decide they like me because I look good not because I am nice or anything’

Saying it out loud made me wonder if it was just that that bothered me. I felt alone all of the sudden. The ball wasn’t going to be as fun with those thoughts in my head. I shook my head as if wanting to erase the thought.

‘Are you ready?’ Sarah asked pointing to the door.

‘I’m always ready’

6 (:

‘You really are making me mad’ was all I could say when my horse didn’t catch up with Arthur’s horse.

A year had passed since I had met my family. I knew all my brothers and sisters well but the only one I talk to was Arthur, the only one who understood my fancy for drama.

Weeks after the meeting day I started having classes, in dads study, I practiced, again, horse riding and most of all; I meet people.  Almost everyone in the kingdom knew me just a few were my enemies and most of them were my friends. After a month of being here I started re-practicing something…

Fighting.

All types of fighting; with swords, hand to hand, on horse, with crude weapons, with guns and magic fighting.

That last was the trickiest because I really didn’t know it existed at the start. All everyone would say to me was ‘your eyes gives you power’ with a knowing voice, some of them would simple stroke my cheek like if they were giving me comfort. After sometime I discovered that the eye color did matter in this place.

The people with honey-brown eyes could control earth. The people with the light blue eyes could control air. The ones with the reddish eyes could control fire. The ones with the green eyes could control water. The ones with the brown eyes could do… nothing.

Then the dark blue eyes, my eyes. I could do everything; earth, air, fire, water and mind. My only problem was that I needed to be trained and there were only a few who actually knew how to do it. That’s why my power was still wild, except for the mind. I discovered in one of my castle rounds that I could easily train my mind power by myself.

I gave a little sigh. Then I looked left and right in case anyone was looking. Just as quickly I put my hand on the horses head and whispered encouraging words. The horses eyes seeming to grow twice their size as he heard my voice in his head.

The horse started to go twice as fast and soon I had caught up with Arthur. He gave me a very disapproving look.

‘That’s not fair’ was all he said. I gave him a smug smile.

We kept going till we reached the forest. He gave me a questioning look and then pointed to the trees, he asking me if I wanted to go in. And like most days I said yes.

‘We better leave the horses here’ an alarm went off in my head; this meant he wanted to talk to me. I looked at him from heads to toes trying to find out what was wrong. I got off the horse and started to follow him.

We walked for half an hour and just as I started to get worried he spun around and looked at me with troubled eyes.

‘You can tell me’ was all I said.

‘It is not about me’ he looked down ‘It is about you’

All I did was to lean on the nearest tree. I looked around. All you could see were trees and a little flower now and then, In close inspection there was a trail, the trail we had come.

‘A year ago you came here and you were just fourteen years old. You were very mature and intelligent’ he started ‘you are nearly fifteen years now and one of the most wanted people of all the kingdoms’

I gave him a smile. He was right; I was the most wanted, many people wanted to marry me and the other part would just love to kill me. I tried not to scowl.

‘You will be fifteen soon and there is something you need to know’ he seemed speechless for just a moment ‘we keep old costumes and one of those says that you need to …’ the last part was too low for me to hear.

‘I didn’t hear it’ I said. My curiosity was awake now.

He gave me look that said he didn’t really wanted to say that.

‘You need to marry someone before you turn sixteen’ He said in a rush ‘This year you must meet man who wants to marry you and then, a month before your birthday you must decided’

He looked at me waiting for me to say something.

Rage filled every single cell on my body. A metallic taste was in my mouth and my hands were looking for something to hit. I turned around and started hitting the tree was leaning before. When I grew tired I drew back and looked at Arthur.

‘I’m a princess’ my voice was low and dangerous. Arthur took a step back when he heard my voice ‘I control all the elements, I have learn to master one of them by myself, I am one of the best fighters in the kingdoms, I am the best spy of all and I am treated like and object?’

Arthur just stared at me. And like that another thought struck me.

‘Marianna and Elizabeth are not married, are they?’As soon as the question leaved my mouth the answer was clear. They were married.

Haven’t I seen them with a man following, talking, laughing, eating, and kissing them?

‘You have to wear a nice dress tonight’ Arthur said out of nowhere.

‘Why?’ I was still angry but not enough to shout at him.

‘There is a ball tonight, is a way of showing that you have to start picking someone now’ He was the old confident man I knew.

‘Are you married?’ I asked.

His face turned gentle all of the sudden and he looked older.

‘Yes, I am, dear sister’

‘Who?’

‘Charlotte’ And then again his face turned gentle

I felt completely stupid. I had lived for one year in that place and I really had never realized that everyone was married except for me and John. I looked at Arthur fingers and saw the ring. I felt stupider still.

I sat down rained of all energy.

‘Do I have to?’ my voice sounded like the small girl I was. He seemed startled to hear me talk like that.

‘You have faced an army of men, you have been in places that have no right to exist outside nightmares, you are one of the most beautiful woman in all the kingdoms and you are afraid of getting married?’ I gave a small nod. I hugged my legs and started thinking that that was one way of putting what I felt. ‘What are you afraid of specially?

‘Lose my freedom’ I said.

He gave a short shaky laugh.

‘You won’t lose your freedom’ he said ‘look at charlotte; she is completely happy and free’

‘That freedom you are talking about is yours to give or take’ I said. And all of sudden I felt strong. ‘You are twenty-one years old and you still don’t know what freedom is’

He seemed to sense the change in me. And his features turned hard and cold.

‘You are just fourteen and you are telling me what I should know?’ his voice matched his face.

‘I have live more than you. I have passed through things you could have never endure and on top of all I was taught a different way’

We regarded each other with hateful expressions. A smile started to play on the corner of his lips.

‘You have quite modesty’ was all he said.

And with that my bad mood was gone.

‘Let’s go. I need to tell dad I won’t marry so soon’ I said with a really big smile.

‘Please tell me you won’t start a fight’

‘Who? Me? Start a fight? You must be kidding me’ I tried to make my voice sound as innocent as it could.

‘Yes, you’ he started chuckling ‘by the way, there are going to be loads of kids looking at you today, next week… and on and on till you get married’

I tried to wipe off the scowl that was forming on my face.

‘That has an easy solution: I’ll break their necks’ but then I wondered; was it so bad? I really like boys looking at me and wanting me for them. I always said no but it was still a good feeling to feel wanted.

Yes, it was that bad. I answered myself remembering that these boys weren’t there just to look or doing their job, those boys wanted to marry me.

He just shook his head and started walking towards the castle.

5 (:

A sort of servant told me I could go inside now. After I said goodbye to the soldier I put on the coats hood and went to the servant who was supposed to announce me. It had taken him half an hour, when he came back his excuse was: ‘my lord and my lady were still eating’.

I knew the hood covered my eyes and my hair. My mom’s necklace wasn’t in sight, either. That’s why I was surprised when the instant I came in everyone shut up.

The room was bigger than my room, it was more like 20 classroom put together. The main table was higher than the others and it was at the front of the only door in that room, at the center of that table was my dad, at his right my mom and at his left a black  haired man. At the right and left front side of my dad’s table there were other tables. This ones were full of people and form the look of their expressions they were rich, too.

The tables at the right and left made an aisle through the middle of the room, connecting the door and the central table.

Everyone was staring at me but I didn’t care, I was used to it.

I started walking through the aisle my focus on my mom. When I got to what I considered a casual space from my mom I stopped.

I hadn’t notice but the servant that had made me wait half an hour outside had come with me.

‘A young girl with information for you, my lord and lady’ said the servant after kneeling. He looked at me with an expectant expression. After some minutes I realized he was waiting for me to kneel. I shook my head.

A collective gasp was taken. Some soldiers came forward with their sword out. My muscles tensed ready to fight. I scanned the area looking for something that could be used as a weapon. I know what everyone else saw; a little girl looking around with a calm face, not worried about 5 gown-up coming at her with their swords out.

‘Don’t harm her’ my mom’s voice said. Like my dads, I could recognize that voice anywhere.

The soldiers stopped almost instantly. Mom turned her eyes towards me. I flinched. Her eyes were hard and cold.

‘Why didn’t you kneel?’ her voice no different from her eyes.

‘You will find soon enough, my lady’ I turned to my dad ‘I have information for you, but I think the whole court should hear it’

Everyone started whispering and murmuring at the same time. I didn’t get it at first, but a pity look from one of the few women that were there told me everything.

I shouldn’t have said that. I was supposed to be another girl at the moment.

My dad made a gesture that made everyone shut up.

‘I agree’ he said. His faces telling me I was doing this way too difficult. ‘What’s the information about?’

‘Before I start you and your court will make a promise to me, my lord’ my voice filled of power. Dad just nodded eyes still hard. ‘None of the people in this room will interrupt me before I’m finish’

 ‘I promise’ dad’s eyes were focused on me. He seemed to remember something ‘Anyone disagrees with me?’

Every single person in the room shook their heads. An old man in the right side of the room looked angry at doing that promise. I turned towards him my face a mask of serenity.

‘Please go outside, my lord.’ I asked him in a very polite tone.

Without saying a word he left the room muttering something about being the last of a royal family.

‘I told him to go outside because he looked mad at the promise and I think it really uncomfortable to have someone that hates you when you are trying to explain something’

‘What’s the information about?’ my dad asked again. He looked excited and happy. We shared that liking of doing a show of things.

‘The third daughter’ a heavy silence hung in the room. After some minutes some noises started. Some women started crying, others had their eyes wide in shock but the worst look was my moms.

She was trying to keep a straight face but her eyes were fighting against despair and tears.

The men had all frozen. Slowly, very slowly, everyone started to regain the composure. I waited patiently while all this happened.

‘How dare you?’ cried a nearest woman. It took all my self control not to scream when I saw her. She looked exactly like me, maybe older, with the blond wig on and brown eyes.

‘I’m telling the truth, plus, you promise not to interrupt me’ I remind her. Everyone was looking with anticipation at me ‘I know where she is’ I finally said.

‘Where?’ My mom’s voice asked. Her face was filled with hope.

Slowly I took off the necklace. I walked to her table, give it to her and then backed off. She looked at me with confusion all over her face.

‘Where did you get this?’ she asked in a careful tone. I looked at my dad waiting for the signal.

He nodded.

I took the hood off; my hair framed my face and I knew mom could see my dark blue eyes. I knew I was quite beautiful; I was tall and slim, I had long legs and some really nice features. My hair was straight and jet black. And on the top of things my unusual dark blue eyes made me look different form the others.

But with all that the big gasp that went around the room made no sense to me. My eyes remained on my mom; she looked at me like if I was a science project. When the court had gone quiet she stood up.

Step she took towards me, step I took backwards.

‘Why don’t you want me to be near you?’ her voice sounded almost hurt.

‘If I’m your daughter then you must feel it not see it’ it was so obvious to me, why wasn’t it to her?

I had recognized her voice in an instant and she wanted to take a look at me! It didn’t seem right. I kept looking at her, that’s when I notice that she had already recognized me but she wanted to take things slowly so the court could understand what was happening.

I sighed. I liked to make a show of things, what I did not like was when I was not the one in control of it.

I took a step forward. My mom’s face was no longer cold and hard, It was now full of life and happiness. She came to me almost running. When we were a meter apart she stopped. We faced each other for a long moment.

I looked at her face and discovered we had the same mouth and eye shape. Her eyes were a kind of blue, I couldn’t decided if it was light or dark. Her hair black as mine but wavy. She was little taller than me. She wore a dress similar to mine but blue. I remembered I still had that long coat on, the coat covered my dress. I thought that if they could see the way we looked alike they would accept me. I opened the clasp it had and the coat fell from my shoulders.

I was right.

There was a moment of silence. Then slowly they started to cry in joy or to stand up to get a better look.

My mom’s eyes filled with tears her face a place full of joy. my lips went up in a smile. She held her arms up. I took two more steps and then I froze. Panic washed over me, the last person I had hugged had died three years ago. She saw my expression and surprise shone in her eyes.

‘I don’t remember how to hug a person’ my voice barely a whisper. Celebration was going on around us. Seven people were coming toward us; my dad, the black haired man and other five I did not recognized.

‘I will remind you how’ she shortened the space between us and took me in her arms. For the first time since I got there I felt like if I belonged.

Other people joined the hug. I felt something I hadn’t felt in a long time; I felt home.

I kept the hug going to till I realized that I was hugging unknown people. I drew a step back and everyone looked at me with a worried expression. I took another step back.

‘Is everything all right?’ dad asked

‘No’ I said. My voice sounded innocent like if I was a little girl. I change my tone quickly; I made it strong like if I knew what I was doing ‘I don’t know who you are’

‘oh, that’s a good question with an easy answer’ said one of the older boys while he winked at me ‘this is dad’ he pointed ‘that’s mom’ he pointed ‘that’s Josh, the third son’ he pointed ‘that’s Gregory, the first son and dads heir’ he pointed to the man that was sitting next to dad ‘that’s Marianna, the first daughter and the grumpiest person in the world’ the girl he was pointing at gave him a dark look ‘that’s Elizabeth, the second daughter’  she pointed at the blond girl that had cried before. She didn’t look as scary now; I could see she was older and real happy ‘that’s comes little John’ he pointed at a boy who had at least 10 years ‘and finally the best of all: me’ he held his hand out and I took it with a little too much force ‘Arthur’

‘And we are all siblings?’ it seemed impossible to me that my family could be so big.

‘Yes’ Arthur answered again ‘Gregory, Marianna, Me, Elizabeth, Josh, you and John. In that order we were born’ he gave a little wink.

 I gave him a little smile. It seemed he liked to leave a good first impression and I really liked that. I liked the same and I thought we were going to get along well.

‘Nice to meet you’ I said in a very mocking polite tone ‘I’m Mary Shadow but I think you already knew that’ I gave them a big smile.

4 (:

‘Are you ready?’ Josh asked.

I was in a forest near the castle.

I had been a week in the castle. No one had seen me or heard about me except a maid, called Sarah, that had helped me to dress and taught me some stuff I could do and say when I was in front of people.

‘I’m always ready’ which wasn’t a lie.

I had a horrible itchy green dress on, a long coat that looked more like a cape and some horrible high heels shoes. I was wearing my mom’s necklace and my hair loose; we wanted me to be as recognisable as possible.

I was now on one of the castle horse. Somehow I manage to stay on the horse instead of falling off.

‘You know what you got do?’ I saw concern and guilty in his eyes.

‘I do’ hard not to when you are the one that came up with the plan ‘I made the plan, remember?’

‘That’s why I’m worried’ he was serious but something in his eyes told me he was amused.

‘How old are you?’ Sometimes he looked at least 15 and the other he looked 20 or something like that.

‘I’m 16’ He was 3 years older than me.

‘OK. I’m ready’ I said wanting him to stop looking at me so intensely. ‘Just little question’ I said remembering a doubt I had about the plan ‘How will I get inside without getting delayed?’

‘Oh, that’s easy. I paid a guard, he would guide you to the dining room’ He gave a lazy smile ‘You ready?’

As an answer I took off towards the castle. It took me fifteen to get there, in just those the fifteen minutes my butt was aching from the movement of the horse. I found the entrance pretty easy, It was giant with long turrets at each corner and at the front it had a huge, wooden  drawbridge, the kind you see in movies, when it came down the paths on the inside were all cobbled.

A soldier came forward; he had a coin in one hand and a paper in the other. He looked me up and down before giving me the paper without a word.

The paper said:

“Mary, this man will guide you to the dining room with the excuse of you telling him you knew information about the third daughters place. All you will have to do is say that you are the third daughter, I know you don’t understand about the third-daughter part but you will soon. Take care.

P.S: This man doesn’t know the coin is for him. Tell him to keep it”

After reading that I turned to the soldier, he just nodded and started walking.

‘Hey! Wait’ I shouted. Some heads turned to me, including the soldier; I just gave them a calm smile. I got down the horse and walked to the soldier, he was waiting for me.

When I got to his side he put the coin in my hand with no words.

‘It’s yours’ He gave me a bright smile when I said that.

‘Thank you, my lady’ his voice was deep, he sounded at least 30 years old.

‘Will you please guide me to the dining room?’ Something I knew from my running experience is that you needed to be friends with everyone.

‘Yes, my lady’ I could see in his eyes that he was starting to like me, shame it wasn’t to last long; I always did something, accidentally, that make them hate me.

He took me through some smelly road and after that he just following a small path that lead to a shortcut to the dining room. I didn’t realize we were in the castle till he told me.

‘We are inside the castle now’ he explained ‘I had to take you through the shortcut because if I didn’t the others soldiers could notice you before time’ after a few minutes he spoke again ‘you will enter the dining room through the main hall so everyone will be able to see you’

I nodded. I knew the rest of the plan. We kept walking till he lead me to a big garden after that he just gave me some instruction of how to get to the dining room.

‘Not all royals are open minded’ he warned me ‘remember that’

I nodded, said my goodbyes and followed his instructions without looking at him again.

3 (:

Something or someone was holding my hand that was the first thing I felt when I woke up. I left my eyes closed; I wanted to see if I could hear anything about where I was. I kept doing this for at least another 15 minutes. I was going to open my eyes and see when I heard footsteps.

I heard a big door open and then closed, then came more footsteps. Someone was coming towards me. It sounded like a man; a woman couldn’t make so much noise when walking.

‘How is she?’ unquestionably a man’s voice.  I knew that voice, it was my dad’s.

‘Sleeping’ was the answer. The pressure on my hand decreased. It was josh’s voice.

Without noticing I pulled my hand out of that hold. I was disgusted; the same hand that killed my aunt was now holding mine.

‘Mary? Mary! Mary?’ Said my dad’s voice.

Lucky for me I was good at acting. I groaned and then yawned opening my eyes very slowly. They bought it.

In less than an instant they were hovering over me asking if I was all right. I didn’t pay attention to them; I was looking at the room I was in.

In the room I was in my boarding room could have fitted at least four times. To one side there was a big balcony, to the other side a looking cathedral door. In front there were closet door and at the back a normal size door.

‘Where am I?’ was all I could say. I already knew but I had to confirm it.

‘You are home’ was all my dad said. I groaned out loud, that was the answer I was afraid of.

‘You ok?’ it was Josh this time. He had a concerned look.

I was going to say I was fine but then I remember who I had in front of me.

‘No, I’m not ok’ my voice going cold ‘not since you killed my aunt’

He winced when I said that. He threw a worried glace at my dad. Dad looked lost.

‘This is a joke. Right son?’ was all he said.  

WTF? Son? That was a joke, right?

‘She’s doesn’t understand some stuff, dad’ was his answer.

‘How about you explain then, bro’ I suggested.

He looked both surprised and embarrassed. His face started to grow hot as the minutes went. When he was a tomato colour he spoke again.

‘You see’ he paused looking around ‘I wasn’t the only person in that little room’ He shoot a doubt look at my dad. I cleared my throat in a continue sign ‘I was just trying to make her crack up, you know, to make her tell me where you were’ he let his head drop ‘There was someone else with me’ he looked at my dad again and stopped.

I wasn’t known for my patience.

‘Who was it?’ They just shook their head. That spoke volumes to me, they didn’t want me to know. ‘Why?’

‘You will kill that person’ was all dad said ‘and we don’t want him dead’ he explained.

‘I will find out soon enough’ why did they have to make this so difficult? All I wanted was to kill my aunts’ killer.

‘Till then, could you please change into woman clothes?’ said my dad pointing to my black shirt.

I realized that I had gone up in a sitting position. My black turtle neck black shirt and part of the short skirt I was wearing were visible.

‘Woman clothes?’ I was wearing a skirt, what else did they want? ‘I’ve got a skirt, and that is enough for me’

They looked like if my skirt wasn’t enough for them.

‘You need to put a dress’

I nearly chocked out my guts. A dress? Did they think I was Princess Elizabeth?

‘I’m not princess Elizabeth’ I said ‘I won’t be staying long here so I don’t think I need to own a reputation’

‘You have to stay’ Dad almost sounded angry ‘please’ he added in a softer voice.

‘Why?’ I wanted a good reason, if I didn’t get one all I would do was ask for a way to get back to normal world.

‘You are home’ was josh answer.

That was a good answer. I was finally in my place not in a temporary place or someone else’s. But I had a feeling, like if I knew something was going to go wrong.

‘I will stay here’ their faces lit up with hope. Weird ‘but if something goes wrong you must promise you will do as I say, Got it?’

They both nodded. Now what? Did they have a plan or something? Unluckily I didn’t know the play rules in that zone so I was just going to go with their plan.

‘So, what is your plan?’ the look that crossed their faces made me uncomfortable.

‘We were hoping you could help us in that part’ Dad said. Josh just kept silence.

Now I was regretting all the history classes I had skipped.

‘Do you have a sort of court or something?’ Let’s start for the place of my apparition. They nodded with a confused expression. ‘Am I allowed to go in?’ they kept nodding ‘if a guest comes the first places that person goes is that court room or whatever it’s called?’ they nodded.

I already had a plan and it only took me a few minutes.

‘It’s ok. I know what to do’ and the scheme started.

2 (:

Dark. Light. Dark. Light. Dark. Some light bulbs weren’t working so some part of the tunnels were dark and muddy, and the others were light and normal.

I was in one of those city tunnels. This one went to an old forgotten ballroom; I had been here before following other clues but had never gotten anywhere. The shoeprint I found in the principal office was made of the same reddish sand the ballroom had.

I was dressed in all in black, if someone saw I wanted them to think I was some gothic girl. I had the blond wig just in case someone knew my real hair colour. These were stupid but necessary precautions.

The light started to grow stronger. I put a scarf around my head so my blue eyes were the only thing visible. I kept going. In the entrances I stopped to look at the room.

It’s grandest never failing to take my breath away. It was one of those old ballrooms that were surrounded by columns, each column with a different kind of decoration. There was another entrance at the top of some stairs that led to a little room with a big wood table. But the really extraordinary thing was all the light this room had, it looked like if the room took the light it was given and multiplied at least three times more.

I heard footsteps but instead of running away I followed my gut feeling, I stayed.  I listened.  The footsteps were coming from the stairs.

I put myself between the entrances and the stairs so they could easily see me.

Two persons walked out of the table room. One was an old man and the other one a boy with black hair. Then the boy looked up and I saw what I had missed before. It was him. The murderer. The tall boy with green eyes and black hair. The boy that killed my aunt.

Without thinking I pointed the gun to the columns behind them, blocking the other entrance. If they wanted to go out they would have to pass by me first.

The old man took a gun out and the boy just started at me with wide eyes.

I ran to the boy, he was the weak point. I took him by the arm and put the gun in his temple.

‘Give me your gun’ was all I said. The old man looked like he was about to shoot me ‘just give it to me. I really don’t want to shoot him; it would make my new outfit a mess’ I had learn that if you talk like you don’t care for the person life they will do anything you want ‘come on, I’m losing my patience’

He put his gun down. His eyes never leaving my face. After he put his gun down he didn’t move, he wanted me to go near him, it was clear in his eyes.

‘How about you kick it?’ I said making my gun go to the middle of the boy’s eyes.

He did as I told him. I picked it up. It wasn’t heavy and it had some kind of decorations, a nice gun actually.

I let the boy go. This was the part I enjoyed, the little dramatic part. I made them stand apart pointing a gun at each one of them.

The boy looked like he was about to passed out. I put the gun pointing at him down; he seemed to relax before he saw my hand moving. I wanted them to see who I was. I took the scarf off.

The scarf fell to the floor and my black hair went loose. The boy looked at me with his eyes and mouth open, like if he was seeing a ghost. The blond wig lay at my feet.

The old man was petrified. His face just like the boys.

I hadn’t notice before but the man looked just like the boy only in an older version. His hair was black with some withes showing up. He had the same strong chin and nose the boy had. The only difference was the eyes; the boys were green and the old man’s were brown.

‘Who are you?’ they seemed to flinch when I talked.

‘Mary...’ The boy started to say. But I cut him off with a hand gesture. That was my real name, I didn’t know how he knew it but I wasn’t going to let him talk to me without drawing some lines.

The old man was still petrified.

‘Do. Not. Call. Me. That.’ I said it slowly to make sure he understood he was swimming in dangerous waters. ‘How about you call me Kat? And then tell me who you are’ my voice going from the I-don’t-care patience one to the I-will-kill-you cold voice.

That single name brought far too many hard times to my mind; my parents’ murder, my aunts murder, the crimes I had to make to get off the cops hands and worst of all: the happy times, the dinner party with my aunt, the park, my aunt’s house, my friends and all the good stuff.

‘Ok’ the man said. He started to speak but the boy cut him off with the same hand gesture I made to cut him off.

‘I’m Josh’ he said. He moved a step closer. I pointed the gun at him and he took the step back ‘Bet you can’t defend yourself without that gun’

‘Of course I can. I just wanted to show you that I kept the gun you used to kill my aunt’ I said with a fake sweet voice. He looked shy and hurt, again ‘Don’t try to be smart again and I won’t have to use words to hurt you’

‘I’m Josh’ He said. Every time he said his name some images tried to come back but when I tried to catch them they just disappeared. ‘That man over there is Jacob’

All the images the boys name brought came back to me with the man’s name. A stone castle, a bright blue lake, a black horse, my mom, my dad and a 3-years-old boy staring at me with wide eyes. There were more but they didn’t stay as long.

I dropped the guns. I felt weak, my legs no longer hold me, and I fell to my knees. The memories still going around my head. Half me said it was my past and the other part said they were just fantasy pictures.

Josh and Jacob were coming. They were talking but I couldn’t hear them. The images were still flashing. Then my mom image stood still and I knew that all those images were real. I lived in a place very far away from here. I was some kind of royal girl. My parents had a crown on their heads so if I was right; I was some sort of princess. Those images were my past and the people in front of me were my...

‘Family’ I whispered. I looked at Josh’s green worried eyes. I tried to beg him to explain but the darkness was fast, it took me in less than 30 seconds.

I fainted.