Twelve

After doing my work a few days after the hallway incident, I decided to take a walk. I put on a knee length dress and a jacket considering it was a bit chilly outside.

Behind the palace, there was a forest half a mile away. I saw it only a few days ago when I wasn't busy. In between the palace and the forest was plain grass. The place looked good for horse riding.

I thought about taking a horse down there but I had nothing to do later on so I chose to walk the distance. I figured it would be best to stretch my fatigued muscles and also try to think about, well, everything.

I had never been in love with anyone and I'm not exactly a virgin. I had been raped in sophomore year at highschool. That automatically made me hate all the male of the human race. Except for my dear brother of course.

I could tolerate them though. So what's different about Prince Alexander? I doubted neither his handsomeness nor his physique attracted me. I had seen men who were like him but I didn't see them as anything more than just men.

I had this strong urgent force pulling me towards him like a moth to a lamp. I wanted to see him every time I got. I wanted to be close to him each and everyday, be in his arms. I wanted a whole lot more. Was I in love, by any chance? No. I doubted it.

I did not know when I entered the forest but I found myself surrounded by trees. I looked back behind me and realised I had walked some distance from the edge of the trees.

I continued walking deeper, listening to the soothing sounds of nature. I squatted down to pick up an injured bird. The poor thing had a broken wing. I realised it as it tried to fly away from me, probably thinking I were a predator.

I still picked it up anyway. It was so cute that I thought about keeping it. I was interrupted from my admiration by a noise I did not understand. I listened closely but nothing came up. A false alarm, I hoped.

Against my better judgement, I walked deeper into the trees, trying to find a spot I could sit and help this little bird. I looked down at it to find it's eyes half closed. I wasn't paying attention when I stumbled into a clearance.

I looked up and found a cottage standing in front of me. There was only a stone path that led to it, though you could walk among the grasses surrounding it.

"Who could build a cottage out here?" I asked myself. "Is possible there are werewolves and vampires living here?"

From the way it appeared, I could say it was unoccupied. I knew I should probably leave but my curiosity got the best of me. So I walked to the door and without so much as manners, I opened it without knocking.

It cricked open and I let myself in. The bird tried again to flutter its wings to fly away but I held on tight, careful not to hurt it. The flutter actually gave me tickles that I had to suppress a laugh.

I found two black sofas in what I think was the sitting room. There was a wood slab that represented the table. The floors and walls were made of wood. I looked to my right and so a kitchen.

I decided that that would be my station for the next hour of my working on this bird. I was starting to walk towards it when I was interrupted by the sound of a cold deadly voice behind me.

"Do not move or else I shoot," it said.

'Oh God, I'm going to die today! If only I had listened to my brain. Now, I'll never see Alexander again! Nor my mother, Bobby, Jennifer.'

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" it asked again.

'I don't want to die.'

Everything happened way too fast for my muddled brain to catch up. One moment I was holding a bird in my hand while being questioned by a man I didn't know, and the next someone held me by the neck and pushed me face first into the wall.

I hit the side of my head but my attacker did not release me. I did everything to protect the bird. I felt it flutter and it started hooting. It had to be as scared as I was since my tbeat escalated tenfold.

The man tried to take it away from me but I refused, "P-p-p... please don't hurt him. Let me go and I promise we'll never return," I begged.

I felt the man's grip around my neck slowly lessen. He brushed a few strands of my hair and I involuntarily closed my eyes.

"It's you!"