Impossibly Normal [Book 1 of 4]

(4) Wake

Michael

I roll over on my stomach and stare at the clumped dirt beneath me.

Darkness has fallen over the kingdom. Tomorrow is the biggest day of the year- for many years to come. There is a lot of work to be done tomorrow to prepare for the coronation of the new queen.

It is a day where everyone has one goal: to make the new queen feel as comfortable as possible with her transition in to rule. We want to show her, as her loyal subjects, that our lives are devoted to her eternally.

And then after that we wait for the wedding. Everyone in the kingdom is invited to watch the union of the queen and her husband, whomever the lucky man may be. It is a magical day, or so I have heard. I was not alive for the last wedding but my mother said it was the most beautiful thing she has ever lived through or seen in her entire life. She desired such a beautiful ceremony for her own wedding.

She missed my father dearly on that day. A wedding day is one of those days where those single people feel worse about themselves being single.

Maybe I won't be single for this wedding. I met a girl today.

Rae.

I look over to my left, finding she is not there anymore. She left the bracelet I gave her.

Why would she leave it? I gave it to her as a gift. Did she not appreciate it?

I spent the whole day with her and now she just vanished. She did not even say goodbye. I do not even know where she lives. How am I supposed to see her again? I need to see her again. I can't live without her heart in my hand.

I stand myself up and begin replacing the layers of clothes on my body.

Maybe I will see her at the princess's coronation tomorrow. Then we can properly talk about what happened today and what we want to do about it.

I grab my things and walk back through the forest to get back to the village. Mother is going to be very angry with me for leaving the shop so abruptly. She has probably had to sell our product by herself all day because I was not there for most of it. Either that or she did not many any sales after I left because she is, to be frank, a terrible saleswoman.

Either way, she will not be pleased with me.

I walk through the maze of shops, tired owners closing up and packing up their things for the night. I walk in to my shack and set my shoes down on the chair. Mother turns around and lifts her hand upon seeing me, slashing it across my face, leaving a stinging feeling of pain on my cheek. No matter how many times she does it, I do not think I will ever get used to the feeling of her skin connecting to mine so violently.

"You left me to sell alone!" She shouts, threatening to smack me again. "You can sleep outside tonight!" She points to the door. "Again!"

"Momma," I protest. I do not want to sleep outside. It is cold out there. And the ground is too hard to get any good sleep at all. I will just toss and turn all night, like every night.

"No arguing!" She lifts her hand and smashes it on my other cheek, leaving the same horrible stinging feeling on both sides of my face.

I grab a thin, torn blanket and walk back outside. I set it down on top of the worn out towel I usually sleep on when I am outside. Curling up inside the hole in the ground slightly under the house, I try to keep myself warm.

A small family of rats pass by my face, scurrying in to another, smaller, hole underneath my shack. At least their mother let's them sleep inside. They have a shelter to sleep in for the night.

I envy them.

Though I am sleeping out in the cold tonight, and may not live to see the next sun, all I can seem to think about is Rae.

Why did she just leave like that? Did she not enjoy my company? Did I do something wrong? Why?

I hope I can see her again.

Deep down, I know that someday I will.

Someday.

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