CHAPTER TWO
David woke up early. He was always the last one to get up in the palace, and he always missed breakfast. He washed his face, changed his clothes and went to the dining room.
"Good morning father." He said and sat near the table.
"Good morning son. I see you're up early today."
"I just got up. I couldn't sleep." David said and yawned.
"Is there something wrong?"
"No. I just couldn't sleep. That's all. Where's everyone else?"
"They'll be here in any moment. Anthony is awake, as well as Wolf and Virginia."
"What about Amanda?"
"She's still in New York."
"Yeah, I forgot about that."
At that moment Wolf and Virginia came in.
"Good morning!" Wolf said and rushed to the table.
"Good morning Wolf." Wendell replied.
"David, you're awake early today." Virginia said.
"I couldn't sleep Auntie Virginia."
"Is dad awake?" Virginia asked.
"He is. He'll be here in any moment now." Wendell replied.
"Father, can I start eating? I need to go out as soon as possible." David said.
"Where are you going?" Wendell asked.
"I can't tell you father. I'm really sorry. It's a secret."
"Alright, you can eat." Wendell replied and that's when Tony came.
"Good morning everyone." He said and sat in his seat near the table.
"How did you sleep dad?" Virginia asked.
"I had better nights."
"What went wrong this time?" Wolf asked.
"I couldn't sleep. I kept having nightmares."
"It seems that last night was a hard one for the both of you." Wendell said, then he ordered the servants to serve breakfast.
"I'm famished!" Wolf said.
"Do you ever get satisfied?" Tony asked.
"Actually, no." Wolf replied.
They ate, and David was the first to finish. He stood and asked for permission to leave.
"May I leave now father?"
"Of course. Wherever you go, make sure that you get back at eight o'clock. Amanda is coming tonight."
"Alright. Excuse me all." He said and left the dining room.
When he was out in the palace gardens, he headed to a small path. He walked until he reached a little cemetery. There were three graves there. Two of them were Wendell's parents, and the third was his mother's. Queen Melanie. She died when David was fifteen, because of a sudden heart attack. No body knew that she was ill. She never complained of anything. Since then, David came to visit her grave every week. It's been twelve years since she died, but he kept visiting her. He talked about what he has done during that week, what did his father do. No one knew about David's visits. He kept it a secret. Only Amanda knew about it, and she never told anyone, not even her parents.
Amanda is Wolf and Virginia's daughter. She's 27 years old. She lives in New York, but every weekend she comes to visit her parents in the Fourth Kingdom. Today she was coming back.
David stayed at the cemetery all day. Whenever he came here, he always forgot about time. There was so much he wanted to tell his mother. It was getting dark, but he didn't notice. He was deep in thoughts, when someone put a hand on his shoulder. He quickly stood and turned back to see who was it.
"Hi Dave!"
"Amanda! How many times did I tell you not to scare me to death?"
"Couldn't help it. Sorry." Amanda smiled.
"It's good to see you again kid!" David hugged her.
"How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not a kid?" she asked.
"I don't remember honestly. But you're a kid for me."
"You silly!" she hugged him tight and kissed his cheek. "Are you finished here? Can we go back now?"
"Yes. And you remember where was I."
"Yeah, how can I forget? On the road, examining some new kinds of flowers."
"Good. Let's go now."
They walked back to the palace. When they were in, Wendell came to meet them. He was angry.
"David, didn't I ask you to be back at eight?"
"Yes father. You did. I apologize."
"I told you that Amanda is coming, but you don't even care about your cousin returning. Do you?"
"Father, I do care about her. And will you please stop treating me like a ten year old child?"
Amanda thought that this was the time she should leave them to argue together. She walked slowly and went to her room.
"Look what have you done." Wendell said and pointed to Amanda's direction. "She must be upset of your behavior."
"She isn't upset father. You're making a big problem out of this. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go to my room."
"Where have you been all day?"
"On the main road. I went to the forest too."
"Do you realize that it's dangerous there?"
"No." David replied dryly and went to his room.
Wendell couldn't say anything more. He just threw his hands up in the air and dropped them. "You're hopeless son. I'm sorry to say that." He said in a low voice.
David went to his room and slammed the door close. "I hate it when he treats me like a child." He said to himself. He sat near the opened window and stared at the sky. "Mother, if you can hear me, please help me change my life."
Then the door knocked. "I don't want to see anyone now." He said.
"Dave it's me. Amanda."
"Come in."
Amanda got inside and closed the door after her. "What was that all about?" she asked.
"You know that father still treats me like a child. I don't know what to do kid."
"I'm sure that he's concerned about something."
"I don't know. But that's not a way to be concerned. He's getting so much aggressive to me. Like he needs a simple reason to start an argument."
"We'll think of something to change that. Now, about why I was here."
"Yes?"
"I need your help."
"Sure, what is it?"
"It's mom's birthday after four days and I don't know what to give her. I didn't bring anything with me from New York."
"How can I help?"
"There are no shops around the palace. Can we go to a village or a town and buy something together?"
"With pleasure! I wanted to get out of the palace too! How about leaving tomorrow morning?"
"At noon. I don't want to get up early."
"Alright. I don't like getting up early either." He smiled.
"OK, see you in the morning. IF you wake up early."
"Sure." They hugged each other and Amanda went to her room.
David changed his clothes and wore his nightshirt and went to bed. He couldn't sleep at first, but after a couple of hours of turning around, he finally managed to fall asleep.