I Gave You My Heart

Chapter 11

The crowd cheered. Hamlet threw up over the side of the tower. He turned away and sat down on his bed. He felt numb. He was shocked. He looked at his feet. He cried. He continued to cry. He fell asleep.

He woke up. He cried. He rejected the food he was brought. He fell back asleep.

He did that for the next month. He barely ate. He was weak. He slept and cried. He slept and cried for the next month. People came and tried to console him. He didn't pay attention to who it was, he assumed it was Francisco. He ignored Francisco.

He tried to throw himself out his window, the window was too small. He tried to look for something he could use as a weapon to end his misery. He found nothing. Next time a guard came up with food he asked them to stab him in the heart. The guard rejected. Gertrude came up and tried to get Hamlet to eat something, she bribed him with the offer of leaving the tower as long as he married Ophelia. He denied. He asked to be granted permission to see Horatio's grave. He wasn't granted permission. He was not well.

A few nights later a grave digger came into his tower, finding Hamlet yelling outside of the window.

"Uh, sorry sir, are you busy?" The grave digger asked from under his ginormous hood that hid his face.

Angry at the sky for not answering his calls, Hamlet turned around and snapped, "No. I'm not. What is it?"

"The queen granted you permission to see Horatio's grave."

"Lies," Hamlet scoffed, "She would never let me leave."

"Oh but Sir, she has. We only have until one in the morning though so we must hurry."

Hamlet sighed and he left with the gravedigger. They were also accompanied by Marcellus and Barnardo.

"Remember to be quiet, the entire castle is sleeping," the digger reminded the prince.

Successfully making their way out of the castle, undetected, they arrived out in the vast castle fields, on their way to the graveyard. The grave digger led Hamlet to the place Horatio's gravestone sat.

Hamlet kneeled in front of it, he whispered something inaudible to the others.

"So... Uh Hamlet..." Marcellus started.

"Theres kind of something important we need to tell you..." Barnardo continued.

"What is it?" Hamlet asked, turning his head to look at them, his eyes watery.

"Well um... There really is not way for us to be kinda subtle about this so... Um..."

"Horatio..."

"Isn't..."

"Dead...?"

"What?" Breathed Hamlet, "is this some kind of sick joke? Why would you say that?"

Barnardo awkwardly said... "Cause..."

"It's true," the gravedigger said as he took off his oversized hood. It was Horatio.

Hamlet fell back. "Is this a dream?"

"'Fraid not." Horatio grinned, stepping towards Hamlet, arms open wide, embracing Hamlet. Hamlet pushed Horatio back.

Hamlet fidgeted there for a second, he whispered something to himself then he started laughing crazily?

"No... No... This can't be true... How would you even be alive... I saw your head get chopped off! And if this is true, why did you leave me to think you were dead for a month!?" He got a paranoid look on his face as he yelled out to the forest, "MOTHER IF THIS IS YOU PLAYING THIS HORRIBLE TRICK ON BE I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL RIP YOU LIMB FROM LIMB!!!" There was so much rage mounted in Hamlet's voice, fire burned in his eyes. Horatio was scared.

Marcellus and Barnardo had told him about Hamlet and that he'd been acting strange since his death but he didn't know it was that bad.

"Please Hamlet... Just listen..." Horatio said as he advanced slowly.

Hamlet slapped Horatio across the face, "STAY AWAY!"

"Please..." Horatio started to tear up, "We don't have much time."

Hamlet laughed hysterically, "Sure, tell me the story," Hamlet then sat down and crossed his legs, looking very attentive, like a child listening to a story.

"The morning before Horatio's execution..." Barnardo started.

"No no no no no," Hamlet whined, "I want to hear ghost Horatio tell the story."

Horatio sighed as he began. He told the story of how the morning of his execution Francisco had switched with Horatio's spot. Barnardo and Marcellus didn't know anything about it until after Francisco was dead -he had left them a letter explaining everything, including the fact they had to tell everyone that he had left for England and want returning. Though they were desolate they still helped Horatio. Apparently they wanted to get Hamlet out of the tower as soon as they could but he had been being watched for the past month and this was their first chance.

"Francisco's dead?"

"Yes. You're sitting on his grave right now."

For a moment Hamlet looked actually sad. He had snapped out of his crazy daze long enough to send a silent thank you to Francisco. He really was an amazing friend. Hamlet Paul's never be able to repay him.

"Francisco died so that you and I could escape. He died so we could be happy. Barnardo and Marcellus have our things. Let's leave right now. There's a ship waiting to take us away. Come on Hamlet. We can go away and live together and be happy." Horatio smiled.

Hamlet looked unsure. "Do you promise me you aren't dead?"

Horatio was sincere, "I promise you, I'm not dead," then he held out his hand for Hamlet to hold, and to his relief, Hamlet hesitantly grabbed on to Horatio's hand.

The two guards handed them each a rucksack with some of their things in it.

They walked to the edge of the castle grounds and waved goodbye. They waved goodbye to the king, the queen, Ophelia, Polonius, the priest, the executioner, Marcellus, Barnardo and Francisco.

Their two friends waved goodbye to them. And Hamlet and Horatio started their walk into their new life.