Ruby stood, a chill running up her spine as she awaited for someone to come. After about two minutes, a tall, lean boy with dirty blonde hair opened the door. Realizing she had been staring for way too long, Ruby quickly said, "Your majesty! I-I'm s-sorry to bother you, but I am a princess, and I need a place to stay for the night, and perhaps some dry clothes. Please,"
The boy's eyes lit up, and he responded saying, "I'll ask my mother,"
Crap, this is where she doesn't believe the girl, Ruby thought. A much older woman came into view, with mousy brown hair and little streaks of pepper grey hair dashed around her head. She was definitely shorter, and had a kind aura to her. "She says she's a princess?" She asked suspiciously. Ruby nodded. "Hmmm, well, I suppose we can't leave you out in the rain. You can stay for the night." "Thank you kindly,"
"I'll show you to your room, and there will be some dry clothes for you there,"
She was escorted to a smaller bedroom, with, as expected, a huge stack of mattresses. There was a soft baby blue nightgown that somewhat reminded Ruby of Wendy from Peter Pan. It was quite the climb to say the least—she almost slipped with the long silky fabric of the dress. That would have not been all to pleasant, falling on to the cold, hard unforgiving stone floor.
Her slumber was very divine, actually quite possibly the best she had slept in years, but, she remembered that the princess was a total brat about there being a tiny pea in the mattress. Rich people, Ruby thought with a scoff.
She wandered her way to the dining room, where the queen and prince sat. Coming to terms that she new absolutely nothing about royal etiquette, she stood in the doorway awkwardly. "Well, do sit down," the queen said confused. Ruby hastily pulled back a wood chair, it making a hideous screech as she did, and sat down. "So, how did you sleep?" She asked while raising an eyebrow.
"Horribly. I tossed and turned all night,"
"I was suspicious of you not being a princess, but only a true princess would know that there was a pea in between the mattresses," "Haha yeah...."
Quietly munching on the soft buttery pancakes, Ruby contemplated if this was a good time to bring up the fairy, Melisande. They had to know, right? They couldn't just not know about her. Clearing her throat, she asked shakily, "Do you two know anything about the fairy Melisande?"
"The fairy?"
"Yes,"
"Fairies do not exist. Melisande? Is that from some sort of story or do you need some more rest, maybe?"
"It's just...nevermind it,"
What a peculiar question, the Queen thought eyeing Ruby up and down. She knew she had heard that name before but she couldn't put her finger on it.
Disappointed, Ruby's heart fell to the floor, as she stared solemnly at her plate. Gingerly taking another bite, she felt as if she was going to throw up. The room started doing the somewhat familiar swirling, but Ruby, with food still in her mouth had to keep from completely hurling all over the place.
Which wasn't as easy as you would think.
She awoke on her bed, same as before, and it felt as if someone had gut punched her. Groaning as she held her stomach and her dizzy head, she blinked a few times to regain her vision. Tired and annoyed, she irritably shut the book, and laid back down on her back.
Ruby didn't realize it had been 40 solid minutes of her being deep in thought and daydreaming of her mysterious fictional world, and when she finally came to terms, her body shot up, remembering that she had math homework. Kill me now, she thought whilst internally groaning. Why can I not just drop the totally barbaric subject?
Her brain was numb and fried after so much thought. She would have gone outside to clear her mind, but alas, it started to rain. Really hard. The rain splattered and pounded against the small window, almost like in the story. Ruby decided to distract herself by listening to music, sketching, journaling her thoughts, reading, but nothing worked. Her mind always came back to that dumb book.
As she banged her head against the wall, Martha walked in. Clutching her sketchbook, she asked, "uhhh....are you okay there, Ruby?" "Just.....school is frustrating,"
"Not for you, Miss all A's,"
"You'd think I'm insane if I told you,"
"Tell me,"
"It's a long story....."
After explaining everything, Ruby sighed heavily as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "So the school legends are true,"
"What?"
"They're true," Martha said, going paler than usual, her face frozen and her eyes the size of saucers.
"What legends?"
"They're true," Martha repeated a nonchalant expression on her face.
"They're true...."
What's true?