Heartless Revenge

Prologue

Watching my brother train always made me think of my own mission. His was to make our kingdom a better place and I agree, it's a hard job. But mine is harder. I couldn't let anyone know what I was up to, especially not Abbad. He would kill me if he knew. Literally. He'd choke me to death.

"You did great Abbad," My sister-in-law praised. "Thanks, Iman," He thanked, almost out of breath. "Hey, Atika! What are you doing?" Iman asked me. "Me? Oh, nothing. Just thinking," I said. "Thinking? About what?" Abbad asked. "Nothing special," I answered. Abbad was about say something but Iman interrupted him. "Um, Abbad, I think you should take a bath now. So shoo!" She shrugged him off. 

He just frowned at her, then left. "I know what you're thinking about, Atika," She said. "Really?" I questioned. "Yeah. You're thinking about what you'll do to avenge your parents," She stated. I stared at her in shock. "You- I- Huh!?" I couldn't make up words to say. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone," She paused, but spoke again after making sure that no one was there, "Not even Abbad." I sighed in relief. "Atika? Would you mind if I helped?" She asked. "W-What? You wanna help me?" I asked. "Yeah, your parents treated me like their own daughter. Why wouldn't I want to take revenge for their murder?" She explained.

"But it's not even confirmed if it was a murder," I protested. "But you and I know better than that," She furrowed her brows. "Fine, you can help me, but you'll have to listen to me," I sighed after a long moment of silence."Yay! Thank you, Atika! I promise, I'll listen to you! I'll help you!" She exclaimed. "Help her with what?" Abbad asked, entering the training room after his bath. "Uh... In..." She stumbled on words. "In... Cooking dinner," I finished for her, "Yeah, we're going to create a special dinner tonight!" "Yeah! A special dinner!" She exclaimed. We both laughed nervously.

Abbad narrowed his eyes at us, suspecting us. "Okay then," He hesitated, "I'm going outside for a while." Once he left the room, we both sighed in relief. "That was close," Iman tried to calm down her racing heart. "You're telling me," I agreed. "Ugh! Now we ACTUALLY HAVE TO make a 'special dinner' for tonight!" Iman groaned.

"Wait! It's still 1PM! We have enough time to make something that looks as amazing as it's going to taste!" I realized. "Oh, you're right. Let's go then! We have a lot to do," Iman lead the way. First, we went to the grocery store and bought some necessities. Then, we went to the mall. Yes, the mall. I'll explain later. We had what we needed a while later. Finally, we went to the Pharmacy. How did each of our destinations get weirder and weirder?

Once we had everything we needed, we went back to the palace. "Dinner's at 10, so we have... 5 hours!" I exclaimed. "Is that enough time?" Iman asked. "Yup! More than enough time to cook, bake and decorate," I paused, "I hope." 

We started with the baking. I prepared the ingredients, while Iman mixed them together. I preheated the oven and prepared the frosting. Iman put the batter into molds and placed them into the oven. We had asked all the workers and chefs to stay outside the dining room. Since the dining room and kitchen were connected with a separate door, we only had to lock the main door of the dining hall.

"Should I start preparing the dining room?" I asked. "Yeah, sure," She replied. I took out what we bought from the mall and decorated the dining room. "Here. Take the new sets," I said. She took them and finished frosting. Then, she started cooking. "What do I do now?" I asked. "Have you cleaned up the place?" She questioned. "Oh. Okay, I'll do that," I answered. "You were supposed to do that BEFORE decorating, not after," She frowned. "Deal with it," I vaguely answered, before she rolled her eyes and continued cooking.

After a while, I finished cleaning and she finished cooking. We put everything on the new plates and trays. Next, we prepared the glasses and utensils. I set up the table and set the lights. "What time is it?" She asked. I looked at the clock. "9:55," I answered. We just turned off the main lights and after a few minutes, unlocked the door. Abbad entered the room and his eyes widened.

"You guys did ALL of this? Yourselves!?" He gasped. "Mhm!" I exclaimed. "Sure did!" Iman agreed. "Well, then. You did great, Iman," He said. I frowned and looked offended with sarcasm. He laughed at my reaction. "You too, little sis," He corrected. "Nah! I'm just kidding! She did most of the work, anyways," I shrugged. "I couldn't have done it without you," She smiled. I smiled back at her.

"Great! You're friendship and sisterhood is amazing!" He exclaimed with half-annoyance. "Very funny, Abbad," Iman rolled her eyes. "Anyways, who wants some dinner?" I asked. "Let's eat!" Iman exclaimed. We sat down and started eating. I suddenly started laughing.

Iman and Abbad looked extremely confused. "What are you laughing at, Atika?" Iman asked. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It's just-" I burst out laughing again. "What?" Abbad questioned. "It's just that I can imagine if the goats saw this all," I laughed. Iman tried to contain her laughter after processing my words into her head. I tried to hold it in too. 

We both stared intently at Abbad. He sighed. "Fine," He gave in. We both started laughing hysterically. He just laughed softly with us. "You know, this dinner reminds me of the last one we had with the king and the queen," Iman frowned. The happy mood suddenly changed into a sad one. I looked at Abbad. He looked... Hurt. He didn't cry, but I knew that he was silently dying on the inside. "Another reason to plot my revenge," I thought.

I just looked back down at my plate. Abbad chuckled. I looked back up at him. Why was he happy? "You remember the goose chase?" He asked. "Oh, yeah. Mom let them all loose, while dad scolded her and we chased them," Iman replied. Then, they kept on talking about more moments with my parents. It made me sad. Extremely sad. Not just sad, though. It also made me angry. Upset. Determined.

I tightened my grip on my fork, trying to hold my anger in. Iman noticed and changed the subject. "So... Atika. How's school?" She asked. "Where did that come from?" I questioned. "Oh, you know. Just wanna know how your studying is going," She made plain excuses. "It's going great. And for the record, I'm in college. Not school," I said. "Oh, really? Well, haven't you... grown," She laughed nervously, saying 'grown' as if it was a question.

"Nice pep talk," Abbad spoke. We both stared at him for a while. Then, we went back to eating our food. "I meant that changing the subject won't make the situation better," He corrected. "Hey, at least we know that they're happy. Wherever they are," I said. "I truly hope so," Iman sighed.

I may have not been able to bring them or the good times back, but I could still bring justice to them. And I knew that I would do it. I had waited for that day my whole entire life, yet when it finally came, I almost wished it hadn't come so soon.