Stories for 100 Days of Writing

Jade

Who would have known that Princess Jade would have so many problems? In today's world of medicine, Princesses and Queens are supposed to be infallible. Jade was every bit a princess, that's for certain but in some respects she may have found herself with an attitude whether she'd been royalty or not, due to the problems she'd had to face in her life.

The Palace was preparing for Jade's 5th Birthday Party, rather a grand affair for a young child, with both of her brothers and numerous cousins invited, along with Aunts and Uncles of course. It was, Queen Beatrice wondered, perhaps going to be just a little too much for Jade. Princess Jade was fragile, not the rambunctious little girl you'd expect at the age of four, the truth was that she was unlikely to see her sixth birthday so she wanted this one to be special.

Nobody outside of the family knew that Jade was suffering from leukaemia; it had been so hard hiding her treatment, much of it done in the palace itself. They had all had hope of course, but their hope had now begun to fade. As Beatrice stood in the doorway of one of the kitchens, she looked at the cake, in a frame of dimming light, from a small lamp. Atop the cake was a swan, swimming on a beautiful blue lake, the swans in the parks were Jade's favourites, she just loved to go and feed them if she had a chance. Her nanny would sneak her out at times, wrapped up to hide who she was so she could go and feed her favourite ones.

Beatrice looked to the side of the lake and felt tears run down her cheek, there are not enough candles, she cried, there will never be any more! Her heart crumbled and the stoicism of a British Queen broke at that point and she wept for the little girl she was losing.