You could hear the loud barks from the neighborhood dogs and the chunking sound of metal. Living in the downside of Breton was not something Anne-Marie was proud of but it was what she could afford. At least she had a roof over her head, she couldn't say the same for a few other kids in that environment.
Survival was all she knew. To live. Anne-Marie had dreams, huge dreams, some she had to let go the moment her parents died and she had become the breadwinner of her family and some she had to give up on the moment her brother was diagnosed of cancer. Dreams like going to school, to med school, dreams of owning her own hospital.
It had been about two years since Anne-Marie dropped out of high school just so she could work harder and make more money for her brother's treatment. She knew she couldn't be able to do any of that and still be there for him if she was going to school every day and coming home late.
Abel was the only family she had left, and even though he was sick most of the time and always in pain, even though it felt like her world had stopped, even though working all those jobs made her so suffocated and exceedingly exhausted, she couldn't leave him, she couldn't abandon him. She was all he had. She had to at least try to keep him alive.
"Thank God you're home."
Anne let herself smile a little bit the moment the older lady greeted her as she walked to the small old table and picked up her bag. "I was wondering when you'd come home."
"I'm really sorry Mickey," Anne let herself walk faster to the small but yet chubby woman that happened to throw her coat on.
Mickey, just as her name was, was named after the character Mickie the mouse. She was known for her tiny stature but yet friendly attitude and had a great spirit of community. Mickey was known to be one of the most popular and friendly neighbor in Anne-Marie's community. Thanks to people like Mickey, living for Anne-Marie was a bit easier since Mickey helped Anne babysit for a few hours every time she had to go to work and some days like this one, it took the entire day.
"I had a lot to do at work today."
"That's fine." Mickey assured her, leaning on the table. "I had the whole day off today and you know how I enjoy looking after Abel,"
"Is he asleep?"
She shook her head.
"He was the entire day but he's awake now." She lowered her gaze to the paper bag in Anne-Marie's hands. Her face brightened. "You got dinner?"
She exhaled weakly.
"I figured he must be hungry since he didn't really eat much all day." Anne-Marie placed her hand into her pocket quickly and got out her white envelope. "I made some money today."
She opened it and got out a few notes. She stretched it to Mickey,
"It's not much but I just hope you could take it, it's for helping me babysit Abel."
"What?" Mickey pushed her hand back to her, she was rejecting the money. "You know you don't have to pay me for any of this Anne, I enjoy looking after Abel, he's a sweet kid."
"I insist." Anne-Marie pushed the notes back to her. "It's all I can do to show my appreciation, please take it."
"You can show your appreciation to me some other time," Mickey placed her hand on Anne's. "When all this is over and you go back to school and be that doctor you always wanted to be, who knows, you could get to work at the royal infirmary one day and catch the attention of the prince, you can pay me in ten folds when you become the queen of Breton."
Anne-Marie scoffed.
That was one thing about Mickey, she had a weird sense of humor and spat out a lot of impossible things. That was why everyone thought she was always crazy. Anne-Marie didn't picture herself the way Mickey had just explained in years. She was going to save herself the stress of thinking about things that were never going to happen. She could never be the queen of anything except worries and pains talk more of the queen of the entire country.
"Keep your money Anne-Marie," Mickey pushed her hand back to her. "You and Abel need it more than I do."
Anne-Marie exhaled. What on earth did she do to deserve her?
"Oh, and your landlady stopped by again for this month's rent and last's, she looked really angry. She said she wants her money ready by Thursday."
"Oh." Anne had almost forgotten about her really creepy and scary landlady.
"Now, I'm just going to get myself out of here before you try to convince me again." Mickey picked up her umbrella from the table and started to head towards the front door. Anne-Marie turned.
"Thank you so much Mickey, I'm really grateful!"
Mickey waved her hands and walked out of the house, the door closed after her. Anne-Marie let out a really ragged breath, taking off her jacket and throwing it on the table. She was exhausted.
Stretching her arms one after the other, she started to find her way to the only bedroom in the house, the floor making creaking sounds with each step she took. Everything in the house creaked at every small movement anyone made. That was what happened when you lived in a house as old as that one. Anne-Marie pulled her hair up in a ponytail the moment she got in and knocked slightly on the door.
She poked her head inside immediately just to be sure it was okay for her to get in. Not like she needed his permission to be in her own room.
There he was, sitting comfortably in the small bed with his eyes focused in the last week's edition of the royal magazine. Abel loved the royal family and he made it a hobby to collect every weekly issue and edition of the royal magazine even if it meant he had to be an issue late. He always had the same concentrated and excited look on with a really bright smile whenever he saw or watched anything about the royal family. If there was one thing Anne-Marie was grateful to the royal family for, it had to be that reason. The reason that they gave her brother a reason to smile again even amidst all that pain he felt every now and then.
"I'm jealous," she started to find her way into the room. If he wasn't going to give her a little bit of his attention, then she was just going to take all of it. "You pay a lot more attention to the royal family than you do to me."
She sat down right beside him and looked straight into the magazine.
"Hmm." She focused her attention on the picture of the prince. Anne-Marie never really gave much attention to the royal family unlike everyone else. She never really had the time to fantasize about the really strong and wise king, the beautiful queen and their extremely handsome prince like everyone else in the kingdom did but somehow, society still managed to shove them down her throat.
They were everywhere, there were pictures of them everywhere. On every currency, on every billboard, train, airport, front page of magazines, every significant nook and cranny in Breton upheld the honor of the royal family. If only the royal family cared more about the people like her and her brother, if only they did more to help people like them, maybe, just maybe, she'd have had a reason to be excited about their existence like everyone else did.
"Marie," the twelve year old, really skinny boy beside her with a scarf over his bald head said as he finally raised his hazel eyes to meet hers, he got paler and paler everyday but still managed to keep such a bright face and positive smile when he looked at her. Abel was strong, mentally, you'd barely know he was fighting for his life if not for how his physical appearance was. His smile comforted Anne-Marie more than anyone knew, it gave her more reasons to do all she could to keep him alive.
"Mnn?" She smiled at him.
"Did you know the prince is going to be giving a speech tomorrow at the graduation ceremony of the elementary class of the Breton school's for the gifted?"
"Really?" Anne-Marie pretended to be surprised. "He will?"
"Mnnn." He nodded, how could he be so excited because of a speech? But then again, that was how deep his love for the royal family was, he was excited about everything they did especially the prince. Abel was a die hard fan of the prince, he adored him and literally knew everything about him. His birthday, his favorite food, his favorite places, his favorite hobbies. He was the leader of so many fan clubs in the prince's honor, and never failed to tell everyone how proud he was of the prince even when there was no reason to.
His only dream was not to go to school or make new friends or get better, Abel always told Anne-Marie that his only dream was to meet the prince one day, at least before he died.
"I wish I get to hear his speech tomorrow, thinking about it now makes me wish I never stopped going to school. I can't believe all the other would get to see him tomorrow and I won't. Everyone has got to see the prince at some point except me, even you. I can't believe you got to meet the prince and I didn't."
"That was a long time ago Abel, he probably doesn't even remember. I forget sometimes too."
"You never did. You can never forget, I doubt he did too."
He clicked his tongue, disappointment evident in his voice.
He turned to her again.
"I'm disappointed."
Anne-Marie blinked. Why was he looking at her and saying those words? Did it have anything to do with her?
"Everyone is busy doing all they can to win the prince's attention and you won't even try. You don't even care about the royal engagement. You have no idea how much getting engaged to the prince could change our lives."
Anne-Marie exhaled. She was about to say something when Abel clicked his tongue.
"I can't blame you though," he continued. "You can't help yourself. It's not like the prince is ever going to notice you. You're unorganized, ugly, a dropout, have no interest in dating and we are extremely poor and below the Prince's standards. We can never stand a chance. You've never even succeeded in getting the attention of the guys in our neighborhood, talk more of the prince. We won't ever be able to be an inch close to the royal family, looks like I'm going to die a nobody."
Anne-Marie smiled. For some reason, she liked it when her brother teased her and made fun of her like that.
"What do you mean?" She asked him. "I can get the prince's attention, I can get anyone's attention. The prince is just not my type."
"Yeah right. You should have done that when you had the chance to years back."
"What's so hard about being queen? I can be queen, we can be a part of the royal family if I really put my mind into it. You know, your big sister is super beautiful and smart too, people say I look like one of the elites, I could pass for someone with elite genes, I've got good and tough skin too."
He turned to her.
"Go back to school first." He told her. "At least finish high school first."
Anne-Marie exhaled. She knew exactly where this was going. Once in a while, Abel brought up the subject of meeting the prince just so he could convince her into going back to school again. That was exactly what he was trying to do and she knew.
"It's been two years." Abel went on to say. "You should have been graduating next year if you still stayed in school-"
"Abel-"
"I know what you're going to say, the fact that you tutor yourself on your own doesn't make any of this okay, or better. You should go back to school now, live like everyone else your age, fail your tests, skip classes, get bullied, fall in love, just live and stop worrying about me, I'm perfectly fine now, I feel so much better, I don't feel pains or fall sick as often as I used to. you don't have to take care of me like this anymore."
Anne-Marie sniffed. She was forcing herself so much not to let the tears in her eyes fall, at least not in front of Abel.
"At least tell me you'd think about it?"
Anne-Marie slowly raised her hand to his head, she gave him a soft pat and then exhaled. Did such words come out from young kids these days?
"I'd think about it." She told him. "But first, let's eat dinner. I got your favorite."