Memories

Chapter 1



I ran through the courtyard as fast as I could, I was being chased but I wasn’t afraid. I was being pursued by something bigger than the likes of me, something that could kill me if it wanted to yet I wasn’t afraid. My feet flattened the grass, my dress swayed in the breeze, and my lungs were bursting as they struggled to gain air. I stopped for a moment to catch my breath and listen for my beloved predator. The only thing I could hear beyond the loud gulps of air I took was the even louder pounding of my heart drowning out other sounds. As I regained my breath, I heard it, the crunching of the grass under large feet, labored breathing and my own groan of surprise when I was knocked down. Wrapped in large muscular arms that broke our fall, I was not one bit frightened. Perhaps a little disappointed that I had been caught but this big friendly giant never frightened me. I squinted up to see the face of my best friend, “Your It!” he wheezed rolling off me. I had been tagged! Ignoring everyone’s stares as many 14 year olds do, I got up to chase him through the courtyard.

          Then things seemed to change. I was fast-forwarded to my fifteenth birthday. It was like I was an observing of events in my life I watched as the fifteen year-old me lay in my bedroom reading, the book I had gotten for my birthday. I glanced at a birthday card sitting on my nightstand; I picked it up and read ‘Happy 15th Birthday, Princes! Love Mother, Father, and Jonathon!’  I threw the card down in anger. I had asked for one thing for my birthday to be able to see my best friend but I had been denied yet again.

          Then I, the fifteen year-old, heard a knock at the door and pulled the covers up around me, I was about to ask who was there but was cut off by another sound. I saw something at my window but before I could scream the individual barged into my room. There stood a tall figure in a dark hooded cloak. Before I could let out that scream, a hand was clamped over my mouth. With their one free hand they pulled off the hood and made a gesture for me to be quite, they removed their hand from my mouth. “Aden” I half screamed then caught myself and finished in a whisper. “Happy Birthday!” he said grinning, he pulled his hand from his cloak and dropped a gift in my open palm, my fingers curled around a necklace holding on to it tightly.

I opened my hand to see a thin gold chain with a small gold pendent hanging from the bottom; it was a half of a heart. “I love it! But it must of cost a fortune” I said concerned. “It’s nothing,” he said beaming at me “Look I have the other half” he said pulling a thick gold chain out from underneath the cloak. The dainty little pendent looked wrong around his masculine neck, but I didn’t care, as long as it was there. Unexpectedly a loud knock at my door cut through our happy moment “Nichole is someone in there with you?” I hear my brother call out from behind the large wooden door.

“Uhhh” I said looking for a place for Aden to hide, without a second’s hesitation my brother barged through the door, what was with men and knocking. He looked at me horrified then turned toward Aden, “You” he accused, his voice full of anger. Aden began backing up slowly from my brother and his now unsheathed cutlass. “I told you to stay away from her,” he screamed as he walked forward swinging his cutlass carelessly. He pointed it directly at Aden’s chest, “But you just didn’t listen!” Aden was now backed up against a wall and my brother had his sword ready for the kill. “Jonathon, stop it right now!” I cried worried for Aden's life.  "Please don’t do this!” Aden begged which was very unlike him; he wasn’t the type of person who begged, but more the type who started throwing punches.

“Guard” My brother called out, I begged him not to do anything juristic as the two bulky guys in their full black armor ran down the hall of the castle. Jonathon looked at Aden "Your lucky I don't want to get blood on the floor" he said through gritted teeth then he turned to the guards and his sword still pointed at Aden “Dispose of this…peasant!” he said spitting the last word out. The two lunged for Aden but much to my surprise he went willingly, he must have known it was inevitable. I watched in tears as they dragged him out of my site, but it wouldn’t be the last time I saw him.

Then they disappeared and another seen took their place in my mind, the worst day of my life. I ran through courtyard searching for my family, people were dying and smoke clogged the air as fire blazed through my home. I ran in and out of rooms searching for my son, or my husband, it seemed impossible but I was not going to give up. I ran into my baby’s room, and that’s where I found them, my son crying from a small cut in his head and my husband battling the fiend who had caused it.

  I stood there helplessly watching my husband battle for our lives. My son's cries brought me back to my senses and I rushed over and plucked him from his cradle and then ran back to the entryway. I stood there in the doorway unsure of what to do next, take my son to safety and leave my husband, my best friend to fend for himself. "No " I wailed as I watched my husband jabbed in the chest with a sword, his blood spattering on the floor. I wanted to weep but there was no time for that as the beast of a man turned towards my son and me. I was frozen with fear, I knew I had to move, but I was so scared I couldn't, I turned away so I wouldn't see it coming. Another sword swooped in from beside me and shielded me from the blow that had been sure to come. The deafening noise jarred me to my senses, my husband had received a deathblow and my son's life was in my hands.  I ran off, never looking back for my savior.