The King

POUR MY HEART OUT

She's standing in court. Her tears streaming down her face.

"because of the crimes of committing magic, we herby sentence Bluebell to burn at the stake"

She gasps and looks over to Arthur but his face is rigid, unmoving.

"you kept it from me" he coldly says "you betrayed me"

Slowly the crowd around them starts chanting something over and over again until she can't hear anything else, until it's the only thing she can think about, until in invades her senses and suffocates her.

"Burn the witch! Burn the witch! Burn the witch! Burn the witch! Burn the witch! Burn the witch! Burn the witch! Burn the witch! Burn the witch! Burn the witch! Burn the witch! Burn the witch!"

Bell's eyes shoot open as she shoots up from bed. She gasps for breath, her heart beating out of her chest. She breathes heavily as she tries to recover from the nightmare. She sighs, covering her face with her hands. It was too vivid, too real. She wipes her tears and lies back down heavily. She covers her face with her hands as she tries to slow down her heart. She sits up and looks out at the sun shining from the window. It's dawn and Bell decides to start her day because there's no way she'd be able to sleep again after this.

Bell goes to find Maggie again. It's very early and she isn't sure if Maggie is even awake yet. She passes the kitchens to go to Maggie's room when she freezes by the kitchen door.

"woah" she says

There's a lot of food. A lot. Bell has never seen so much food in her life. Usually the workers in the kitchen eat the last and she never paid attention to the food before. She's been working here for 2 weeks now and she usually doesn't linger. She puts food in her plate and eats up in her room.

"Maggie" Bell says "you're awake"

Maggie is in the kitchen, watching over the cooks.

"Bluebell" Maggie is surprised "It's a bit early for you isn't it?"

"It is" she says "I... This is a lot of food..."

"we always cook this much" she shrugs

"They can't possibly finish all of this can they?"

she sighs "I don't know Bell. Sometimes they do"

"what happens if they don't?"

"It gets thrown out of course"

"thrown out?!" she asks "with so many hungry out there?"

"don't worry about it Bell" she says "you think they won't take the food out of the trash?"

"why don't we distribute it?"

"listen" she says "you've been here what? 2 weeks? I've been here all my life. Don't interfere with my job"

"no I wasn't-"

"what do you want?"

she stutters "well....I... the job position....his highness..."

"ahh" she says "you're asking if I landed the meeting with the king"

"well....I'm hoping you did..."

"I did" she says "later today I will knock on your door and take you to him"

it's at 7 pm that Maggie comes over to Bell's room "you've got it" she says when Bell opens the door. Bell stares at her for a second trying to comprehend what she's saying. She had been sleeping and a nightmare had shaken her awake brutally just as she heard the knock. She's still recovering from the images of herself burning alive.