Soothing Comfort

I stood frozen in the middle of my bathroom, staring at those words that had ransacked my innermost thought and made a public display of what I desperately yearned for.

The scene before me made my stomach churn. my mind raced, trying to come up with a reason or an explanation for it. It just didn't make sense why the words would appear so suddenly after I had written the reply to the note I earlier found.

I quickly unfolded the crumbled notes on my hand, scanning through the questions over and over again.

There's no way someone would stalk me. As far as I could remember, the few people that knew of my existence were only those who lived within the royal palace. To the rest of the world, I was just a princess whose face or presence had always remained a mystery, which was told like the fragments of stories written on old paperbacks.

"Is this magic? or a ghost perhaps? I muttered.

my trembling hands took up the pen on the sink, writing out what seemed like a letter. My handwriting was shaky, and my penmanship was not great, but I managed to finish it nonetheless.

"WHO ARE YOU? I wrote.

I placed the piece of paper in the same place I found it earlier, hoping that this invincible entity or whoever left the note would eventually return and read it.

I desperately wanted to know who or what it is that has left a message that stirred turmoils of emotions within me.

After I carefully wiped off the words written on my mirror with a damp towel, I looked around myself one last time to see if there were any traces that indicated that my questions had been answered, but I saw nothing.

I decided to wait for a few minutes with the hope that the answer to my question would appear. All my expectations shattered when I realized my answers weren't forthcoming. When the wait became unbearable, I decided to exit the bathroom and check back tomorrow morning.

Maybe my question would be answered by then. I hoped they would.

As I was about to open the door and leave, something stopped me from walking away. I paused in my steps, glancing behind me. The small amount of light inside the bathroom illuminated the room enough for me to see the outline of my body and the silhouette of my surroundings.

I gently retracted my steps back until I was standing in front of the mirror again. After letting out a heavy sigh, I picked up the piece of paper and my pen and asked again:

"How do I escape from this hellhole that wants to consume my sanity?

After the sentence, a brief moment of silence passed as I stared intently at my question. I couldn't fathom what prompted me to ask such a question. Something within me had already started to take a little solace in this invincible being. No matter how hard I tried to remain skeptical about the whole situation, my body, soul, and heart said the contrary.

my heart had always known what I was searching for, and it was right here.

After that brief moment of silence, I finally left the bathroom and returned to my sleeping chambers.

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When I woke up the next day, the first thing I noticed was the bright sunlight shining on my closed eyelids and warming my cheeks.

I turned my head and buried my face into the pillow to hide the light from blinding me.

After rubbing my eyes a bit, I opened them fully. The room I was lying in was a bedroom that was located on the highest floor of the palace. There were two large windows and the curtains were slightly parted to allow the warm breeze to enter the room. A desk occupied most of the wall space beside the window, littered with papers and a half glass of water on top of it.

Forcing myself to sit upright, I stretched my arms above my head, making me feel satisfied and energized all over again. This was my first time sleeping comfortably due to last night's incident.

I hopped out of my bed and went directly to my bathroom. I couldn't wait to see if my questions were already answered or not.

Just as I thought my hopes might have been dashed, as soon as I walked into my restroom, I found the answers to my curiosity staring right back at me. It was written in the same pattern on my mirror like the one that was written yesterday. The letters were slightly bold characters written in blood.

I read out the answer to the first question aloud:

" I'M WHO I AM".

my expression contorted in confusion at that particular answer. I was expecting a vivid description of that person's identity, not a short phrase that threw me into confusion for the umpteenth time. I furrowed my brows as I read out the second reply;

" No I... You can't keep running away from your problems forever. You have to stand strong and brave.. RISE AND CONQUER".

Slowly, those words rendered me speechless. my heart became a tattered mess of raw emotions as I tried to wrap my head around the meaning of this response. A solemn tear fell down my cheek; my body looked calm compared to how tangled my mind was.

"Who are you? I wondered.

It was still surreal to me that someone outside this realm of possibility and imagination would ever notice my existence, especially since nobody knew I even existed.

With every determination that surged through my veins, I took the damp towel and wiped my mirror clean. I took up the paper and scrambled a new message.

"THANK YOU." I wrote.

A smile appeared on my face. The smile broadened, turning into a grin. From last night till now, an undeniable feeling of happiness coursed through my entire being.

I quickly tidied myself up and headed towards my closet to grab some clothes. After changing into more appropriate clothing I exited the closet. my gaze met the familiar door in front of me. With a deep exhale, I walked closer and stood in front of the door after several days of staying behind it.

A maniacal grin spread across my face as I purred sarcastically;

"I'm in the mood of chaos this morning. Isn't it appropriate to give them an element of surprise?