Ch.3

Frederick's thoughts

Be aware for: Language and alcohol use.

When the people of the kingdom think of the Plaid Queen, the image that pops in to their minds is the dictionary definition of regal, poise, and grace.

These are not the words that Frederick would use to describe his mother.

The young prince deadpanned as he watched his mother try and fail to pick up her broken wine glass pieces with her body swaying from side to side; The sharp smell of alcohol rolled off her body in waves.

Frederick sighed which caused his mother to turn her head to the doorway. "Oh shit...hic*...not now kid. Mommy's having me time…." The queen slurred as she waved her hands, thinking Frederick would take the hint. The latter entered the room anyway and picked his mother from the floor and sat her on the bed. "I'll clean up. You just lie down." Frederick said in a disheartened tone. She's at it again. For as long as Frederick could remember, his mother only had a few emotions: indifferent, annoyed, and stupidly happy. The last one only happened when she had a few glasses of wine in her. His mother had started drinking back when they were small and now, even more ever since their father announced the engagement; The king and queen also started sleeping in separate rooms since then too. Not that it affected the boys all that much. Frederick felt like they all understood the relationship their mother had with them. She neither hugged, kissed, nor ever showed any affection to neither Frederick, his brothers or even the king himself;To the queen they were strangers that she had to tolerate. Most of the boy's care was done by the palace nannies and they were fine with that

arrangement. When Frederick was little, he thought that this estrangement from his mother was normal but as he grew up he realized that it was anything but. As Frederick stewed in his thoughts and picked up the shards of glass, he felt a thin finger brush his hair. He looked up into the eyes of his mom; her red and unfocused orbs stared at him like he was the worlds hardest puzzle. " Hey... aren't you…..supposed tobe...hic*... In class?" she asked, poking his nose with her finger. Frederick froze. A look of terror crossed his face. The queen then gave a big lopsided smile as she laughed aloud. " I'm fucking with ya, boy. You think… I give a damn about..hic*...gettin ya in trouble with that ol…. Meat headed dad of yours! Don't worry…" The queen put a finger to her lips and winked lopsidedly. " It'll be our little secret." The queen laughed again as she threw her upper body to the side of the bed. Frederick heard her rummaging for something under it. Then she pulled out another bottle of wine. She rips off the cork and raises the bottle in the air. "A drink for mother-son bonding….." she says before tipping the bottle and guzzling down the wine like water. Frederick gently clasps his mother's hand, trying to take the bottle from her. " Mother. I think you've had enough for today." he says in a soft voice. Her demeanor changed from chill to livid within the drop of a dime as his mom snarled and yanked the bottle back; A splash of wine spilled onto the floor. "Don't patro…. Patre…...patri… Ah,fuck it. Don't act all high and mighty with me, boy. I'm your mother and I've had enough when I say so. I'll stop when I forget whom I married" she snapped.

He winced.

Frederick had a feeling that his mother hated being with his father. Even though the king would do anything to make her happy, Frederick knew that no matter what, his mother would never be happy with them. The queen continued to drink as she scoffed and ranted about the king and her arranged marriage to him. Frederick opted to stay quiet and tune her out; a method that sometimes worked when his father was yelling at him.

But his heart still grew heavy, regardless.

"...look at me, trapped in this wretched shit-scum kingdom married to that old…hic*Ummmm. Goat….face…..ugh, forget it! And to top it all off I have to stick around for you lot…. Wait, which one were..hic* you again?"

" Frederick."

"Ah, right… The sickly one. Let me tell you Franklin...hic*...If I didn't let you three roll down the…tubes, I'd be gonzo. Vanished! Awol! hic* I'd go home, away from all of this…. (Sigh)..Why did I agree to have children?...If anyone were to find out, we'd…..all be dead."

His ears perked up.

"What?"

The drunk queen gazed over at Frederick, a sly smile on her lips.

" Hehehehe..hic* Thats right... Mommy has a little secret…(burp*) And its the only thing keeping us alive."

She leaned in close to him; His nose wrinkled at the boozy smell.

"Wanna hear?"

Frederick leaned away from his mother, feeling a shiver go down his back. Mom is being really weird.

"Your drunk, Mom. Stop…."

Suddenly his mom grabbed his shoulder, pulled him down to the mattress, and glared at him. "Listen, boy hic*... Your going to sit here and listen or else…...I scream for the guards."

Frederick felt his stomach drop. So he nodded wordlessly.

"Wise choice…. I've waited...hic* years to get this off my chest." She took a long drink from the bottle. " When I was still young, I lived in a land far across the sea called the Valley Kingdom. Beautiful place, full of tall trees and flowers. All in gorgeous colors…. My father, the king, had always been disgusted by the practices of human enslavement. So he gathered a group of his strongest fighters and made his mark by intercepting slave ships and setting the captives free. Some would go back to their lands, others stayed and made their lives in my father's kingdom. My mother was one of the latter. She had skin as dark as the richest chocolate and hair that grew towards the sun; I use to believe that her hair drank the sunlight so it could glow. She ran a medicine shop in the village and treated anyone that came to her. You could even have no money and she would still treat you; That's the kind of person she was. My father and her met when he summoned her to treat his ailing mother. My mother tried her best but the elderly woman passed away a few weeks later. While the king grieved, my mother comforted him; That's when they fell in love. A love that I've so far failed to find. It wasn't until their wedding day did my father discover what my mother was."

"What...does that-"

"By this kingdom's crooked rules she would be considered a monster."

Frederick went quiet, clenching his hands into fist; The ache was back with a vengeance and it was rushing up from the base of his spine.

" My mother is a Boo-Hag."

"Huh?"

" A female creature that drains the life force or blood of the living, Or so the legends say. My mother once showed me that she only drinks enough blood to satisfy her but not kill the person. Despite her fearsome nature, my father accepted her as his queen. Their first decree as king and queen was to make the kingdom a sanctuary for all cryptids and human-like creatures and they came by the bunches to escape the persecution of the humans."

The queen reclined on her back as she looked listlessly to the ceiling.

"And then I came along. Apparently my mother's hag genetics skipped over me. So when I was 19 years old, visitors came to the island and your father was among them. He had just become king, so the poor fool was immediately taken aback by the kingdom's splendor. And by me. At first, I entertained the young king; Father told me to be polite to the guests, so I happily obliged. He made advances all through out his stay and but I just ignored them. Then one night, he came running back to his crew, covered in blood. He told his crew that he came across a vicious monster in the village that had attacked him. When we went to check out his claims, we found that he had stabbed one of the girls in the village, a werewolf, to death. My father, mother and the other cryptids of the town were furious. They threw the crew out of the castle and threatened to unleash all hell upon them if they didn't leave the Valley. But that bastard wasn't going to give up that easily. He sent a negotiator to make a deal with us. He said that if we didn't give up the princess then they would give the okay to the thousands of other soldiers, that had been hiding on the shores since they arrived, to attack. HaHahaahhaha to that old fool, I was the helpless damsel being held captive in a land of monsters. Delusional idiot…. My father told me to go with them and do whatever was necessary. It was my duty as princess to do what was best for the kingdom…best for the kingdom, tch… He sent me to that shit stain with a little present; A gaseous potion that would erase the memories of anyone who breathes it in. I held my breath as I opened that bottle; To both protect myself from the potion and to protect my nose from that barbaric ape's stench when he embraced me…I wish I did breathe in that potion…... As I sailed away from my home, my naivety led me to hope that I would only have to tolerate this for a little while; My father would come and rescue me; All would be well. A year past; Then 5; Another five; then 10; Another 10! No one came for me! They left me here…. They had planned to abandoned me here; To save their own skins! They didn't care if I was frightened by this murdering sociopath! They didn't care about what I wanted or had to say! Now, here I am with three of that ass's crotch goblins; Waiting either for him to die or my secret to be revealed!"

The queen stopped her ranting to take in big gulps of air; Her flushed body shaking with decades of repressed rage, her head down. Frederick, who had already gotten off of the bed, was staring at his mom in horrified fixation. His sore skin prickling; Even the natural act of goosebumps gave him pain. His mother looked up at her frightened child's face and smiled cruelly. "Awwww. Is the little prince disturbed? Well, you should be. Because like I said, my mother's genes skipped me, so-" She stood up and staggered over to Frederick; Her son backing up to the doorway, his aching body shaking with a cocktail mix of pain and fear.

" That means that either one or all of you are Boo-boys."

Suddenly the queen threw herself back on the bed and laughed loudly; A wicked edge lining her humor.

"Boo boy!? HAHAHAHAHAHA! What a stupid name! But if one of you is one, hurry up and turn already! It'll be the perfect ending for the rotten grim fairy tale that is my life; The Plaid Queen and Her Burning Boo-Boys!" Frederick ran out of the room as his mother's laughed behind him; Her echoing cackle drilled through his ears and into his soul.