After hearing three hours of crying, Lei finally lost it.
There was someone outside her window who was sobbing in soap opera style - loud, dramatic, gasping sobs, and after hearing three hours of it, Lei finally lost all her patience and got up.
She opened the door to her small room, which was set like a hotel room, and tiptoed outside, grabbing her cloak off the wall for some added warmth. The lousy soap opera continued, and Lei thought of plugging her ears. It was too late though - she was already awake due to the frosty air, which meant now she had to confront this mysterious midnight sobber, or she'd never be able to live with herself.
Finally, she found what looked like a dirty gutter, from which the sobs were echoing loudly. Lei tapped her shoes on the grass, waiting patiently until she was noticed, and the sobs suddenly stopped. Then, a louder sound followed - multiple desperate shouts.
"Get me out! Get me out of here!"
Long, bony hands reached out of the gutter to grab Lei's shoes. Lei, slightly disgusted, instantly yanked her foot back, but when she saw a face peer through the gutter railings, her heart almost stopped beating.
This person looked exactly like her - it was like a mirror.
Lei instantly dropped to the ground for a closer look. The person had tears streaming down their face, and they instantly grabbed her by the cheeks with those bony hands and shouted,
"I don't want to be here anymore! Get me out, get me out!"
Now that Lei looked at the room this person was in, she noticed it was her old room, the attic where she had been locked up for most of her life.
"You're not making any sense. Calm down and tell me what's wrong." Lei said calmly, trying not to flinch at the cold hands that were clutching her face. The person desperately reached for her hands when Lei shifted. "No! No! Don't go!" Lei frowned and swatted the frigid hands off. "I'm not going anywhere, my leg's just sore. Now tell me what's going on." The person seemed to calm down slightly at that, and she choked out, fingers, still curled
"Everyone here is crazy! Insane, I tell you! They're trying to use me as a replacement for Princess Lei!"
Lei frowned. This bag of bones? To give credit, she did look like a mirror image of Lei, but she was so thin she looked like she'd drop dead in the wind. "So, what's your real name then?" The person hesitated for a minute, then said, "They beat me if I say my real name. I'm only allowed to say the name, Lei." Lei rolled her eyes and said, "I won't beat you though. Tell me and I might be able to figure out how to get you back."
"Ah, it's… A-alderia," she said, and Lei smiled. "That's a nice name. Much better than Lei at least. I always think my name was quite plain." Alderia smiled and then reached out a hand to pat Lei on the head.
"You're such a good person."