Things were a little fuzzy. I heard a man call out while I was laying in the tub of water. He had said my name and sounded so worried. I didn't know if it was the prince, Jake, finally coming for me or not.
I had hoped that it was him. The sooner that I got out of here and into the castle, the sooner that I would be out of this story. Right? That was going to be the next step, wasn't it? Wasn't that where the Cinderella story ended. The prince came for Cinderella and took her away from her horrible life? Where else could it go from here?
I was drifting in and out of consciousness as I heard someone talking. They sounded so far away that I didn't know if I was dreaming it or if the words I was hearing were real or not.
"Don't be too harsh with them." That sounded like my brother. Wait, was he my brother? Did I have a brother? No. I was Alex, and I didn't have a brother. But that wasn't true. I was Ashenella and I did have a brother. And two sisters as well. And a mother that hated me.
"You…know…crimes…not…restate…you two…guilty…servant…remanded..castle…lucky…dragged…children…killed…fiancé…death…execution…dungeons." that manly voice from earlier was talking again. I felt like I knew that voice but in my current state I couldn't place it. Why was I not able to open my eyes? I swear that I should be able to see and know what was going on. Instead, my eyes felt heavy and crusty, and my body was weak. I also felt like I was burning up and everything around me was just really super cold. It was an odd feeling, as well as one that was scaring me. I had never been sick like this in my entire life. Not as Alex anyway. Had I been like this as Ashenella? I didn't really remember since I only remembered back to when I first got here. It wasn't like I had all of this life's memories.
I felt like someone was carrying me. The arms around me felt warm despite the fever that I knew that was coursing through my body. Why would he feel warm? I mean, he should feel cold unless he was hot himself. Was it just because I was in the cold water and now the air was cooling my body? I didn't know for sure, but I guess that was the case. I had no other ideas at the moment, so I wasn't going to dwell on it for the time being. I needed to focus on getting better and getting out of here. I wanted to go home. I wanted to be Alex again. Being in a story like this was so hard.
"Don't worry Alex, not all the stories will be this hard. I didn't know things would get this bad." That was the voice of the Keeper. I knew that. I recognized it since it sounded like many voices talking at once.
"You could have saved me." I called out to the Keeper, but they weren't the one to answer me.
"I did save you. I am taking you to the castle. You are safe now, Ashenella. I promise you." That man spoke again. My mind kept getting all fuzzy. I still couldn't tell if it was the prince or not. I hadn't talked to him enough to be able to distinguish it from the others in this story. For all I knew it was just Jannick talking to me. That was the more logical answer to this situation.
"Th..th..thank you." Whoever it was, thanking them was the best thing to do right now. It's what my story book character would do anyway.
"Don't worry about it, Alex." Maybe it was the keeper. They were the only one that knew my real name. No one else in this story would call me Alex. Just the Keeper. Too bad. I thought I was talking to an actual person for a moment.
"I have always loved you. Since I first met you. You're so amazing." Why was the Keeper suddenly professing their love for me? That was just strange.
After that, I seemed to lose consciousness completely. I was drifting from dream to dream with dizzying speed. And each of the dreams had one thing in common. They were all done in different styles, depicting different versions of the same story, but they all ended in the same thing. Cinderella was marrying the prince at the end of the story. She was becoming a princess.
That was when my brain finally made a connection. The end of the story wasn't just making the prince fall for me. It was getting him to marry me. And that meant, no matter the shit that I had already been though, I was not done with this story yet. I was not done here.
How long would it be before the prince married Cinderella? How long would it be before I could get out of here? Would he take years to marry me? Would he marry me right away? How much longer was I going to be stuck in here? Was I going to be in this story for so long that I aged and died in the real world before I got out?
And speaking about that, what was my father doing without me? Was he flipping out that I wasn't home? Was he thinking that I was kidnapped? Was there a search being conducted for me? Was anyone looking for me at all? Did they think I just ran away? What was really happening with me being gone?
There was so much for me to think about that it actually made my mind go blank. I stopped dreaming. I stopped thinking. Everything in my head just faded to black. For a while, I don't know how long, I was just sitting there staring at the blackness of my unconsciousness. There was nothing else for me to do since I was not dreaming anymore. Though I seemed to know that I was asleep.
Suddenly, there was a bright, shining light blazing in the room that I was in. I was laying in a very soft, and very warm bed. I felt like I was hungry and thirsty, but otherwise I was doing just fine. And sure enough, just before I opened my eyes, my stomach growled. I was very hungry.
"Oh. You're awake." I was looking around a bright white room with lots of natural light spilling in from the large windows.
"Wh..wh..where am I?" It took a moment to make my throat work. It was so dry that it hurt.
"You are in the castle. The prince brought you back here. He says that you are to be his wife. You were quite sick when he brought you in though. You have been asleep for three days." The woman that was talking was slightly older. Her blonde hair was turning gray and there were wrinkles beginning to line her face. Her eyes were green and friendly though, and they were staring at me with concern.
"I..I'm so thirsty." I felt the dryness of my throat like it was sandpaper rubbing inside of me.
"Oh yes, here let me get you some water."
The woman, whose name I still didn't know, brought a small silver cup to my lips and helped me to sit up just a little. She tilted it just a little and gave me some of the delicious water. I instantly felt better, but I was still very hungry.
"C..can I get something to eat?" I still had to force the words out.
"Let me help you sit up, Miss. Then I will go and get it for you. By the way, my name is Ophie. Would you like me to fetch the prince as well? I am sure that he would like to know that you are awake."
"I don't know if I should see him like this." I looked down at my body then. I was wearing clothes that I had never seen before. I was clean, having been bathed, and now I was wearing a white nightgown that was worthy of a story book royal family.
"The prince comes to see you often, Miss. I am sure that he will not be bothered by your appearance. I will let him know that you are awake as I head to the kitchen. I will return shortly with your meal."
"Thank you." I was still in a daze when she left. I needed more water. I needed food. And I needed to get out of this story. Those were the only things that would make me feel better. That and maybe knowing what actually happened to me. Honestly, I couldn't remember anything other than being in my room. Nothing that didn't seem like a dream anyway. Was any of that real? Or was it a figment of my imagination?