PANCIA'S POV
I closed the book and sighed. It was my nth time reading it. It was the middle of July and I could hear the heavy raindrops splattering on our roof and the cold winds banging the windows of my room. I checked my phone. It was almost midnight. I kept the book to my side, but something prompted me to pick it up again.
I opened the first chapter. My gaze lingered on the first word of the chapter and before I knew it, I closed in on the distance and kissed it. 'Gerald'. Written in big bold letters, typical of first words of chapters in a storybook.
I smiled to myself. That one gesture filled me with warmth and fuzziness. I loved that feeling.
I was in love.
I has obssessed over fictional charecters before, but Gerald, he made me feel like no one else did. I had truly fallen in love with him.
His beautiful sun-kissed skin and bright seafoam eyes that shone like jewels and his luscious carmine hair that would fall on his beautiful kind eyes softly just tk be blown away by the wind; His beautiful and kind personality had me swooning all over him. That's how he was described in the book and whenever I imagined him, I couldn't help but see a perfect figure of a man, majestic, brave, chivalrous, charming and lived for his people. He was the Crown Prince of his nation, the fictional world Sanhaina, crowned at the age of 17 for his worthy qualities. He was truly lovable.
My love for him always warmed me up. I never knew that a love so pure and true had resided in me before I had read that book at the age of 13.
I finally kept the book to my side and pulled the blanket over my head. I had school the next day and I needed sleep. It's not like I wanted to go, it's just that I had to. I wanted to leave this hell of a place as soon as I could and for that I needed to pass school first. I was already working on a lot of scholarships. If I left then maybe my mother would be able to leave too. The only reason she was putting up with my tyrant of a father was me; And that made me feel extremely guilty. That's why I just wanted to get of here for both of our good.
However, sometimes it was just too much to bear. My face was still bruised from today's beating. My father had gotten drunk again and beat me while my mother was at work. He was good-for-nothing, but we needed him. If my parents got divorced, my mother and I would be homeless for there would no place for us to go. My mother's earnings were hardly sufficient to run even this run-down house.
Sometimes, I wished that I just disappeared; that I never existed. I wished that Pancia Pieterson never existed. But most of the time, I just wished that someday Gerald would show up at our doorstep and take me away with him on his beautiful white horse. But that wasn't true and it could never even be. It hurt how much I loved him and how much I hated my life.
He was fictional and I was a real person.
I just want to cuddle up in his arms. I'm sure he'd sing me a lullaby if I asked him to fir that was just the kinda person he is. I wish he could just sweep me off my feet. I would happily elope with him on hus beautiful snow- white horse if I ever got the chance. He is fictional, but I love him. If only he could love me too. But that's not possible for he is fictional and, well, I had accepted that fact long ago. No matter how much I live him, he will always continue to be fictional and Mt love will always continue to be unrequited as it already has...
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I woke up to a frantic tapping on my window or maybe I just hadn't slept. I didn't know. I lazily moved my hand to grab my phone under my pillow when the tapping just grew louder. It didn't sound like the wind or the rain. I looked at my phone with half-closed eyes. Yup! Still dreaming. It was around 2a.m. I believed I might be hallucinating until I heard my name. I sat up on my bed with a jolt. The tappings became desperate. I heard my name again.
"Pancia!," it was pronounced pleadingly. The voice belonged to a man. It was the most desperate yet beautiful voice I had ever heard.
I buried my head in my pillow and pulled the sheets over me.
"I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming," I chanted the mantra as low as I could, but the taps just wouldn't stop. In the end curiosity got the better of me. I slowly rose from my bed and walked over the window. The darkness in my small room was just making things worse.
"Just a peek..." I mumbled to myself.
Just before I could remove the curtain the wind from the fan blew it away. My jaw hung as I caught a glimpse of beautiful seafoam eyes and tousled brownish- red hair.
I grabbed the curtain and yanked it away. There was no mistaking it.
The stunning man I saw fit the description perfectly.
Right there, outside my window, cramped and almost hanging on the small balcony of my room was the Crown Prince of Sanhaina. Gerald Brion Valkenstein. My favourite fictional charecter. My crush.
At that moment I was confirmed that I was dreaming.
If it's a dream, might as well see what happens next, was what I thought at the moment. I slowly opened my window. It wasn't raining anymore. And...
He was still there. Breathing. He looked so real, that I couldn't tell dream apart from reality any longer. I couldn't see well in the dark, but the only working street lamp on our street tried its best to assist me. Both of our eyes grew wide upon seeing eachother. I could somehow make his face out and the scene made me choke on air. It took my breath away.