Facade

Chapter 4

     It had been a week since I had seen the heartbreaking scene, but I still hadn't brought it up to my mother. I hadn't done anything but think about it, and slowly I was growing insane. Insane because I felt useless and selfish.

    I should have told Mother a long time ago, but I was scared to for some reason. Probably because Mother wasn't the most kind person. Her heart could be cold sometimes and she was all facts and perfection. No one was allowed to make mistakes or they would face her wrath. I had many times, so I didn't want to risk it by telling her about the townspeople. Knowing her, I had a bad feeling she wouldn't help.

    But I had to try. Being as useless as I was, there was nothing I could do for them. Mother was in charge of our entire kingdom. She held the ropes to everyone - including me in our region. If anyone could do anything, it was her.

    Deciding I needed to be brave, I took a deep breath in. Flipping my long, wavy brown hair away from my shoulder, I stormed out of my room and walked to Mother's lone room down the hallway. In the hallway there was only two used rooms; mother and I's. So, I knew we could have the personal talk I needed.

    Walking up to Mother's closed door, I knocked on it. Hearing something shift inside it, my heart froze for a moment. All of my confidence I had a second ago vanished, leaving me holding my sweaty hands together.

    "Come in!" Mother shouted.

    Taking a deep breath in, I knew I had to convince her. I needed to win her over and to do that, I needed to be confident. So standing up straight, I opened the door to her room and marched inside.

    Mother was sitting at her large, brown desk. She was wearing her reading glasses and papers were scattered around her. The creases on her forehead were evident and I knew she was stressed out. That was already not a good sign.

    Walking up to her desk, my hands squeezed each other. My gut tightened as Mother looked up at me, frowning as if I bothered her. I hadn't spoken yet, and she was looking at me like that.

"Hello, Mother," I said, forcing a smile.

"Hello Diana," she said, her glasses slipping to the edge of her nose. "What is it?"

    Here goes everything, I thought as I took a deep breath in. Wiping my hands on my dress, I thought about my people. The sick, poor people, and that gave me confidence.

    "We have people living in poverty," I said. "We have sick and injured people living in our town."

    Mother simply blinked. "So?"

    I faltered at that, but told myself to relax. Mother needed to realize how serious it was, and I would show her through passion.

    "Our people are not living life to the fullest. They are living life terribly and it hurts me to see that," I said, staring at Mother's brown eyes.

    "Your point is, Diana?" Mother said, not bothering to hide her annoyance. "What are you trying to say?"

    "We need to help them. We have to help them."

    Mother stared at me for a moment, her eyebrow furrowing. She then sat up straight and took off her glasses. Setting them on the table, I gulped as her eyes hardened when they landed back on me.

    "We should help them?" she asked, voice clipped.

    "Yes, we should," I answered.

    "And how would we do that?"

    "We can donate money to them. We could fix their houses." My eyes brightened up at those ideas. "Maybe we could give them free health care."