“In the middle of a lake behind the tall thorn bushes lay a small village. The village is dark and full of shadows, but it wasn’t like this at all when the villagers first found this place. It was once bright and full of color, until one day a terrible storm hit the village. After the storm, what used to be a village with happy villagers now became a dark village full of shadows and big, ugly, and violent trolls. Many died too, because of that storm, but few managed to survive. Some believes that the rain is poisonous and some thinks that they are cursed. The answer remains a mystery, no one knows what happened, no one but the few survivors of that storm still hiding from shame of their ugly faces. That’s it.” My dad says. The story made me wonder since our kingdom is coincidentally also in the middle of a lake and, has been surrounded by tall walls for as long as I remember.
“Come on, there’s gotta be more!” I whined.
“You’re right, there is, but look”
I looked, like my dad instructed me to and there I see all of the rest of the pages ripped off from the book. The rips didn’t look neat but rather random and violent. The little crumbs that got left in the spine of the book looked burnt rather than old and musty. I flipped the book to it’s front cover but nothing was there. No name of the author or a title of the book. This made me wonder even more.
“Dad?” I said. “Do you think that this place or these trolls still exist? And maybe right here in the kingdom.” I ask.
“Oh Anabel,” he said nervously stroking my silky blond hair. “don’t be silly. How could this be true? Remember,” He said to me seriously. “ you have a greater task ahead of you than to think about these silly stories. When you grow up, you are going to take over the throne after me and the responsibility of ruling the kingdom. Your mother died for you. You can not disappoint her.”
It’s funny, the way he said it, since I’m already sixteen and have heard the story since i was six.
“But dad, I…” His ocean blue eyes looked right into mine. It made me hard to resist. And so, I looked him in the eyes, and said what I knew he wanted to hear. “ I’ll be ready when the time comes.” I said with a voice so sure, it’d even make a witch hard to notice that I was lying. Maybe I shouldn’t of lied, maybe I should just tell him how I truly feel. Maybe I should just tell him how I don’t want to be queen and most surely don’t want to rule a kingdom. I just want to have a free life, like people in the villages, but I can’t. My parents have just worked too hard these years raising me up to become who they think the perfect princess I am now, but the truth is, I’m not.
Two years has passed. Today is my eighteenth birthday. I should be happy, but somehow, I’m not. I pleaded my dad for two years since the day he read me that story to just tell me if it was true. I just need to know. I want nothing more than just to know if it’s true. Why can’t he just tell me? I’m all grown up now. I’m eighteen, but somehow in his mind, I’m still a little girl that’s weak and needs protection from her dad and the whole kingdom. I sat in my bed thinking about it all morning and this is what I came up with; something’s wrong. I mean, he’s trying to hide something from me, I can feel it. Everytime I ask him something about the story, he’ll always get nervous and tries to change the topic. Even if he answers my questions, he’ll always be really careful of what he’s saying trying not to spoil anything, not even the tiniest clues.
After thinking about all that, I decided to give one more shot at it.
“ Hey, dad. By any chance do you think that the story…..”
“ Good morning sweetie, want breakfast? We have oatmeal, french toast,...” He said
interrupting my question.
Once again, he tried to change the topic. I got severely angry and stormed off to my room.
I ran upstairs and packed up for my journey. I brought clothes to change, food for three days, money, and a compass and map to find my way back to the castle. Within ten minutes, I was on my way.
I rode for exactly three days and two nights around the walls when I finally came to a small village covered in moss. It was dark and cold, just like the book had described it. I got off of my horse and the instant my feet touched the ground, I was left alone, in the middle of a village. I heard the last struggling cry of my horse and within five seconds, he was gone. I called for him but I hear no answer. I was out of food and starving. It was a while before I decided to walk through the village. As I walk, I can see people beside me trying to hide their hideous faces. I can see people talking about me and pointing fingers at me. I was on my foot for a while before I finally came to a house that didn’t look quite as scary as the others. I knocked on the door and out came a beautiful woman standing in the doorway greeting me and looking puzzled.
“Hi” She said
“Hi” I said back
“Would you like to come in?” She said
“Umm... sure” I said sounding unsure
So, I went in, not sure exactly what to do next.
Just by standing there, I can feel the warmth and coziness of this tiny house. I see branches and trunks of trees cris-crossing through the inside out. The house had a fireplace, a couch, a coffee table, a small kitchen, and two hammocks hanging between two trees.
After standing there staring at everything for a while, the woman sat me down and handed me a cup of warm tea.
“What’s your name?” She asked me.
“Anabel. W-What’s yours?” I said nervously.
“Could it be…” She whispered. “Elizabeth, my name is Elizabeth.” She said smiling. “Don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you.”
“Can you tell me where I am right now?” I asked.
“You’re in Lakeside village” She answered.
“What happened to this place, and how are you not like the others but, here?”
“The villagers were once like us, you know. Well, at least until a storm hit this place. I remember that night clear as if it happened yesterday. Twelve years ago, I was visiting this place with my six years old daughter and my husband, and then halfway through our visit, grey clouds covered the sky. The wind is blowing, strong. Lightning stroke. The people are running out of control. The only thing that came into my mind that moment is that I have to save my daughter. I handed her to my husband and the last thing I said to them was go. I was blown away by the wind and when I woke up the next morning, I found myself lying down on a bed. I felt something cold on my neck, looked down, and saw something that wasn’t there before. I saw a three dimensional candlelight-cut diamond necklace. It’s a symbol, but I don’t know what of. A while later, a man with a hideous face walked into the room and told me everything that happened that night. He told me how everyone got turned into hideous monsters but me. He also claimed that during the storm, a man appeared in the clouds. He said that that man is the one that cursed them. I stayed in his place for a while. The man eventually found me a house, this house, to stay in and I’ve been here ever since then.” Elizabeth told me.
“Wait, if the necklace wasn’t there on your neck before...that must have been the thing that maintained your look and prevented your face from turning into a hideous monster, since nothing and no one else was there. So maybe, we can recover the other people’s face if…”
“It’s impossible. Believe me, I tried, and nothing happened.” Elizabeth said interrupting me.
“But…”
“Enough. You should take some rest now.” She said as she stands up and turn around.
“Wait, can I ask you one last question?”
“Go.”
“Can I know a little bit about your husband and your daughter?” I asked. And out of my expectations, Elizabeth turned around and the next thing I noticed is that her arms are wrapped around me.
“Oh, Anabel. You’re alive” She said unwrapping her arms around me. “You’re alive. You really are.” She said tearing up.
I didn’t know what was happening for a second but eventually figured it out. “No. This can’t be. Mom? is this really you? We all thought you were dead. Me and dad and all the people in our kingdom, we thought you were dead.” We hugged again and this time, tightly.
“Mom, can I take a look at the necklace? You know, the one that you found on your neck when you woke up”
“Oh, I lost that a long time ago.” She said
“Why didn’t you keep wearing it?” I asked
“Oh, It gave me nightmares. When I was wearing that necklace, I would see this man every night in my dreams. All I hear every night is this man telling me to give him back something, but I just don’t know what. And so, I took it down and put it somewhere. I forgot where.”
“Maybe he was trying to tell you to give him back that necklace. Maybe It belongs to him and he wants it back.”
“Why didn’t I think of that earlier?” She said while tapping her head with her wrist. “Now I can’t find the necklace!” She exclaimed while searching all over the house for it. “There’s no hope. I’m not going to find it.”
“It’s OK, I can help.”
After hours of looking in drawers and on top of and under furnitures, I heard a loud squeal coming from my mom. I ran as fast as I can to her and looked down in the direction she’s pointing to with her pointer finger.
A three dimensional candlelight-cut diamond necklace, shaped like an unknown symbol lay in front of the moved couch in the shadows of Lakeside village.