When you believe

Chapter II: "The dream of a queen"

A wave or realization washed over Bridget as she was looking at the ivory item her mother just gave her. Looking at that horn changed everything. Holding it in her hands. Seeing it made things real, it was a living proof that everything her mother ever told her about Narnia was real. Narnia really existed.

But how could any of that be true? It was simply impossible, illogical, that her mother once lived in a magical land and ruled there for years as a queen alongside her brothers and sister.

It was so hard to actually start thinking any of that could be real. Was real. When she was younger she believed in Narnia, of course. But she'd also believed in the stories of Cinderella, Rapunzel or the Sleeping Beauty... But she was very, very young when she believed. She was around eight years old when she refused to keep thinking talking animals, a majestic lion and a land on the other side of a wardrobe could be real. According to her it was plain stupid to believe in any that.

"Do you remember I once told you in one of the stories that Father Christmas gave that horn to Queen Susan the Gentle?" her mother suddenly asked, bringing Bridget again to reality and away of her ponderings.

Her daughter only nodded, still too stunned to articulate words.

Bridget also knew that same horn took the Kings and Queens of Old out of their world and back into Narnia when prince Caspian blew it, in need of their help.

"I left it in my saddle the day we came back for the first time. But on our next journey to Narnia, Caspian gave it to me again."

Bridget thought it was quite weird to hear mother talk about that story not as a narrator anymore, but as part of the story, as one of the characters in it. She was no longer saying 'Queen Susan', this time she started saying 'me' instead.

"I left the horn in Narnia that second time as well. But something really strange happened on the night I found out my family was gone."

- - - - - -

She had been crying for the whole day. Never in her whole life had she shed so many tears. She was clutching a letter strongly in her hand, holding it tightly inside her fist. The paper was all wrinkled and partially ragged now.

That damned letter.

Her family was dead and she found out through a bloody letter.

Susan was regretting so many things now that she was lying on her bed and thinking of all the moments she spent alongside her family, next to her dear siblings. All those beautiful memories.

But what was really killing her from the inside was that on the last few years she had been very distant to them. All that time she could have shared with her family and instead she had kept them away from her...

And now it was too late.

Oh! Poor Peter! So determined, strong and caring. He was her older brother, who always made sure she was fine. Always looking after her as her most loyal friend. He even was a bit of a father figure to her, because after her father left, Peter took that place for the rest of the family, to protect them, to make them know there was someone there for the rest them.

Edmund! How she missed her dear Edmund! So smart, brave and loyal. He as well as Peter, always had been there for the rest of them when they needed him. He was the most loyal man she had ever known. He was somehow shy and quiet, but inside him there was so much joy and he always brought it out when being near his siblings.

And Lucy! Her little sister! She was the sunshine of the family, always lighting the faces of everybody just when they looked at her. So cheerful and innocent. Her dear Lucy was very close to Susan because she was her older sister and there was a deep connection between them. She loved Lucy's light, shining always as the brightest of stars.