A Pearl Of Wisdom (#Wattys2016)

Chapter 30: Painful Truth

Roze comes up from behind the bush.

"What are you talking about?" Roze asks and grabs my hand.

"Well, I have been having some flashbacks of some memories that I don't remember" I say looking down at the ground. I leave his grasp and go and sit on the bench.

"Anise I am wondering if you saw your father on the ground dead, and maybe because it was so painful that you just erased everything from your memory" Sage says.

"I think you are right, that must have been my father, it was so scary to see him lying on the ground lifeless with his eyes open" I say and shiver. Roze comes over and grabs me and hugs me, I feel tears pricking my eyes.

"I didn't want you to have to remember that scene again." Roze says quietly. I push him off of me and look him in the eyes.

"What are you talking about? Where you there with me? Did you know this about me?" I ask almost angry.

"I had some suspicions about you, but when I overheard you talking about it all, it made sense to me and I realized that my suspicions were correct. I didn't know that your full name was Anise. We only called you Anni when we knew you, and that is what your parents called you." Roze explains.

"So you knew me and my family really well? When did you have suspicions about me being Anni?" I ask.

"Well, I felt like I knew you from the moment we met and I felt like I wanted to take you with me. I only came into a realization when I saw you wearing that bracelet and I recognized it from your father. I always had liked that bracelet." Roze says sighing.

"You knew my family well then?" I ask.

"Not that well, we would come out and play with you occasionally because there was no children in the palace and you were the only other child.  We would play in the garden and visit with your parents occasionally" Roze says.

"I am still feeling sick, I think I need some water or something" I say.

"I think you should go in to the infirmary and we can talk more about this another day. You are overwhelmed with all this information currently" Sage says and he helps me to my feet.

"I will take her" Roze says quickly and picks me up and carries me in like a child. I am feeling tired and completely embarrassed I want him to put me down, but at the same time I feel a bit comforted. I close my eyes and bury my face into his shoulders. I don't want to talk anymore and I feel Roze's heartbeat beating fast carrying me. We reach the room and he puts me down on one of the beds and helps put the covers over me. He sits down on the bed next to me.

"Anise I am sorry that I didn't explain my suspicions earlier, but I didn't really want you to remember some of those details" Roze explains.

"Roze it is fine that you didn't tell me, It is not your responsibility to know that about me.  I am fine right now, I just need to digest some of this information before you tell me anymore" I say.

"Okay then go to sleep" Roze says and grabs my hand and gives it a squeeze. Sage comes in a few minutes later and gives me some water and lets me go to sleep.

I sleep through the day and night and wake up the next morning. I get up and see that  no one is around. I just feel sad today and don't really feel like talking with everyone. I feel like all the walls are closing down on me so I decide I need to leave for the day. I leave a note for Sage telling him I needed some time alone and to help cover for me by telling Jack that I was still sick and was going to stay in for the day. It is early enough that the staff haven't gotten up yet.

I put on a light dress without any of the extras, it feels like I can breathe again. I leave the palace and head out and decide to go to the only place that I know of and go to the ocean. I walk the distance and all my thoughts are still swirling around my head. I find the ocean and sit down in the sand. I shrug my feet down deep into the sand. I then start releasing my anger and start screaming since no one is around.

I feel so much anger bubbling in me, I think mainly about the fact that I never got to know my parents, that they were taken from me. Anger that I was never told about them and lived ignoring their presence in my life. The anger then turns to tears and I just feel so sad that they never got to know me and I them. I then feel so alone and lonely that maybe I have never been able to fit in anywhere I go because I don't even understand where I come from. I sit for a while in the  sand and I wait for the tears to stop rolling down my cheeks. I keep waiting and the tears keep coming, I don't even know how long I have been sitting here but it must have been a couple of hours. I hear a sound behind me and I just want whoever it is to pass quickly by me and ignore me and my tears. The footsteps get louder and I feel someone sit down next to me and tap my shoulder. I turn to look and it is Prince Ren.

"What are you doing here Anise?" Ren asks gently. I stare at him for a bit and he wipes a tear away.

"They just won't stop coming" I say and start crying harder. Ren then pulls me into him and holds me so tight that I start sobbing even louder and eventually I relax my muscles and just completely surround to his embrace.

"They will stop, I know they will" Ren says.

"hic, how, hic, do you know?" I say childishly.

"I came to check on you in the infirmary and Sage tried to cover for you, but I eventually got the answer that you needed some time away and figured this was the only place that you knew of around here" Ren says.

"Oh" I say. Ren starts stroking my hair and I finally am able to calm down and the tears eventually stop coming. Ren then pulls me away and looks into my eyes.

"I think they have stopped now" I say looking down and away.

"Have you calmed down enough to tell me what is going on?" Ren asks curiously looking at me.

I explain to him that my father was a gardener here at the palace and that I used to live here with my mom and dad, and that my mom died of disease and my father died in an accident with a ladder. That I was adopted by my mom's sister and I never knew about this until Sage pointed out that my hair color was strange, and my mom had to tell me the truth. That recently I started having flashbacks and remember playing with two boys and then coming across my Dad after he fell off his ladder. That I had forgotten about everything because it was so traumatizing.

"Does that mean that the two boys from your memory was me and Roze?" Ren asks in disbelief.

"Yes! Roze came across me and remembered calling me Ani and that I played with the two of you quite a bit?" I say.

"Of course, this makes sense I remember the gardener and the accident and the little girl Ani" Ren answers.

"Yes, so I just needed some time away to process this all and that is when you came across me" I say.