"You keep failing."
"I have a backup plan this time, and it is already in motion."
"…..If you say so…..then so be it…"
The school bell rang and the front doors swung open as students from the elementary school flooded out into the streets on their way home. After everyone else was gone, a small girl, a fifth grader, with long green pig tails, slowly walked down the front steps, bag in hand. It was finally the end of the day, and the girl couldn't wait to get home and hide herself in her room. She had no friends and her family hardly noticed her. Her big sister was almost never around. She worked in an office building that was open all day every day. But her sister didn't need to worry; she had the night shift, so she could be home in time to tell the girl good morning and good night at the beginning and end of her shifts.
Reaching the front door of her house, the girl half heartedly pushed it opened and walked inside, closing the door behind her. As usual, her parents weren't home and the little yellow sticky note was on the dining room table. She picked it up and read what it said out loud.
"'Out to dinner with neighbers. Do your chores and homework and no TV.' Oh mother, you always spell neighbors wrong." She said, crumpling up the sticky note. She didn't need to do her chores, her father always did them for her. Her father loved her too much. She walked into her room and changed out of her school uniform into one of her best dresses, it matched her hair and made her look cute.
She walked out the front door, locked it behind her, and went across the street to see Clair. Clair had a sister, but she was more of a big sister than her own sister was. She knocked on the front door and was immediately brought inside by Clair's mother.
"Thank god!" she exclaimed, hugging the girl like she was her own daughter. "Clair could use your company right now." She said, standing up straight and leading the girl into Clair's room. "The cat ran away and now - is missing too." The girl didn't hear the name of Clair's sister, and they hatred each other, so she really didn't care all too much. She walked into Clair's room and sat down on the bed beside Clair.
"What's wrong?" she asked. She had never seen Clair cry and it worried her deeply.
"- is missing." She said. Now the girl thought it was odd. Why couldn't she hear the name of Clair's sister? She couldn't remember it either.
"No one can say her name…" the girl muttered only loud enough for Clair to hear it.
Clair looked up. "They say that weird boy is also missing. The one who sings all the time." She said, trying to stop crying and wiping the back of her hand over her eyes to remove the tears that had gathered there.
"-?" The girl said, or rather, didn't say. 'You can't say the name of anyone who's missing?' she asked herself, then stood up. "I've got to go, Clair. See ya later." She said, and almost flew out the front door, down the street, and up to the house of the boy. His parents told the same story.
She couldn't believe it. Why would people suddenly go missing and you not be able to say their name? It just didn't make sense. When the girl got home, her parents exploded in her face about chores and homework. She didn't reply, only walked away to her room and slammed the door, locking it in case her parents wanted to come in.
She woke up and, realizing she was late, grabbed some toast and ran out the front door. She was almost at school when she realized she wasn't wearing her uniform. 'Oh well. They can deal with it.' She thought, running to get to the front gates before they closed. She was at the front entrance when the bell signaling the start of classes echoed. Sighing she pushed open the door expecting a hall monitor or the vice principle to be standing there to bring her to the front office.
But no. No one was there in that gold lined hallway that was not her school. It had to be a dream, her school wasn't covered in gold. She turned around to see if she had the right building, but when she turned around she didn't know where she was. Stone buildings much like her own town, but not. They were made of large, white stone blocks like those in a castle, and the streets weren't paved, but rather marked with dirt. A forest to her right and left, and the city in front of her. No, not a city, a kingdom. She was standing at the castle.
She dropped her school bag and walked inside, gazing around in awe. She saw a small table with a metal tray. On that tray was a single apple, bright red and one of the biggest apples she had ever seen. Only, there was a green clover on it. She tried to pick it off, but she couldn't. She shrugged and decided to eat around it, but she only took one bite.
She felt like she had a mask on covering her left eye, but when she looked in the mirror she was just her normal self. Half her face was tingling, like there was something invisible covering it. She almost clawed at her face, trying to rip off the invisible force she knew had to be there. After a few seconds of reasoning with herself, she decided the best thing to do would be not to think of it. Looking back in the mirror, she almost jumped back, thinking someone else had stepped in front of her.
The person in front of her was her height, but she seemed taller somehow, had long green hair down to the floor, and smooth tan skin. She had bright green eyes, and she was smiling. The woman was also holding something in her hand. A playing card it looked like: the ace of clubs. As the girl was about to touch the mirror, a sound caught her attention. Turning around sharply, she almost tripped over her own feet, which, surprisingly to her, seemed farther away from her face than usual. Putting her thoughts aside, she searched the room with her gaze, staying in place. She could've sworn she heard someone laugh, like a little kid who had played a prank on someone and was waiting for the funniest part; a small, subtle, quiet little giggle. Turning back around, the girl almost tripped, again, as she searched the mirror for the woman who was there earlier. Finding no sign, she turned her attention back to the playing card. What had it meant? Where was it?
Her question was answered when her eyes caught the small playing card resting on the reflection of the table where she had found the apple. She reached up to touch the glass, but her fingers flowed right through it, as if it were water, not glass. She reached out and took the playing card from inside the mirror. Unsure of what was going on, what choice did she have but to follow the instructions given to her.
The girl sat, clothed in long, elegant, beautiful gowns, her long hair flowing down her back, and her bright green eyes closed. Like most, if not all, queens, she didn't like listening to the complaints of her subjects, thought she probably only heard about ten a month. Unaware that the last person had left, she was startled to hear a different voice, one in a higher octave then the last of her subjects that was here. Opening her eyes, and looking down slightly, she saw a small child, it's bare skin white and looking sewn together, almost like Frankenstein's monster. It had no eyes, only black holes. At once the queen knew that the voice matched the same one that had laughed back when she first came here.
"Queen Alice the third," the child said, as all of the Queen's subjects did when they wanted something. The Queen rolled her eyes and shook her head slightly, but she didn't ignore the child. "I have watched your kingdom, and I am here to give you news."
"Good or bad?" she asked, waving a hand to shoo her guards away. Reluctantly they left and closed the large oak doors to the Queen's throne hall behind them.
"The latter." The child didn't move, but by its voice, the Queen could tell that this 'news', whatever it was, was meant for her ears only, and it was undoubtedly something she would not like hearing. "Though you wish to rein for centuries, though this is your world…" the child paused, and the Queen sat up, no longer resting her cheek in one hand, leaning against the arm of her throne, and paid close attention, feeling this was one of those things that would only be said once.
When the child decided to speak again, it took a step back toward the oak doors. "You will die." The child said, waiting in silence for the Queen's reply.
"But…" The Queen shook her head, baffled and bewildered. "I'm in perfect health, there hasn't been a thing wrong with me since I've been here."
The child shook its head. "No. This world is what you want it to be, not what it is." The child waved a hand around, and suddenly the whole world flashed into view. The walls crumbling, the windows broken, the sky red, the sun black, and the only clouds were clouds of blood. Outside was no city, no kingdom, only a crumbling shell of the kingdom she once knew. Skeletons lay on the ground, all over, everywhere. Awe struck and even more confused than before, the Queen reached up to hold her head in her hands, but one glance, and the Queen froze. Her skin was a sickly pale with a tint of teal, cyan, light blue, lime green, whatever color it was. Little black flowers were covering almost every inch of exposed flesh she could find on her hands, arms, feet, and legs. Trying to shock herself into thinking it wasn't real, she picked a mirror off the wall and looked into it. Her bright green eyes were now dim and faded pools of a dull pine green. Her skin was still smooth, but it was also covered in little black flowers.
Her dress was tattered and ripped up to her knees. Her high heel, silver colored shoes were now stripes of cotton fabric wrapped around her feet. Her beautiful jewelry was gone. Her long hair was dirty and matted, tangled from root to tip. The only thing remotely beautiful was the crown that sat on her head. A stunning gold now tarnished, and sparkling emeralds now covered with dust and dirt and cracked.
When the Queen sat on the ground, hunched over holding her stomach as if she was sick, sitting on her feet and her knees pulled up to her chin, the child started walking away.
"Oh." The Queen said. The child stopped, but didn't turn around to look at the Queen. "Be a dear and…" The Queen turned her head to look at the child. Her left eye was covered with a white mask, the only thing in perfect shape on her being. She was smiling, a little white crescent smile that spread from cheek to cheek. Her right eyes was a clover, a solid green the color of her hair. "Lock the door on your way out."
As the big oak doors closed and the lock clicked into place, the Queen turned her head to look over at the broken window. She saw the crumbling remains of her kingdom in front of her, but past that, she also saw the ship yard she had wanted to build. She hadn't known why, she just wanted to build something. Skeletons were crawling all over it, still building it as if they were construction workers. Skeletons dangled from planks of wood that still had to be sawed. They leaned against the frame of the building that was next to it. It would never get finished at this rate. The queen was silent for a few minutes, still smiling, unable to change her face. She was no longer a beautiful woman, but rather a rotting child, she told herself.
"But rot is pretty in this world, no?" She asked to no one, as if someone was in the room with her. Still crouched on the floor, she sat, waiting. Eventually, as blood red rays from the sky reflecting the darkened light of the sun hit her face, she saw how this world perfectly suited her. Her head fell onto her shoulder, her white smile never changing, her clover eye, and her mask. She sat there, for a long time, unsure if she was even alive anymore. She tranferred herself to her throne and sat, starring out at the ruined kingdom.
