The King's Remorse

It's All in Your Head... Could be a Tragedy

Reform

LUKE

Some say eyes are the windows to the soul, but do they know how eyes lie? How they're masters at deceiving? I'd say they're the doors to the soul; windows reveal, doors hide.

I lay on my back, trying to doze off for a little while before the morning. Even just a couple of hours of mediocre sleep is better than nothing.

My mind drifts to when I twisted my ankle. It was day 3 of Soldier training, something I'd been ecstatic about when I learned I was going to become a Soldier. I got the pain, swelling, tenderness, everything. I could barely walk on it for nearly 2 weeks.

The doctors said it would be better after 2 weeks, but that never happened.

After puzzling over it for another week or so, they said it was in my head. Just because it was a mystery and they couldn't figure out why; therefore, it's me, the patient, who's wrong. It would be horrible if a doctor wasn't sure or was wrong. Possibly a tragedy. Since it cannot be on them, it's all in my head.

In my head, yeah, right.

I wasn't imagining the pain or the tingling. Who would want that? What reason would I have to imagine it? What motive? But now, about 10 years later, the symptoms remain and I still can't walk how I could before.

Yay, me.

I've seen what happens to those who show any form of weakness, Guard or Soldier. I can't let that happen to me. After the doctors said it was all in my head, I vowed never to go to one again. They cannot know anything is wrong- I need to keep my position as a Soldier. It stung when the doctors, who were supposed to make you better, dismissed what I had said as fake, untrue.

It's all in your head.

Those 5 words stick with me.

Now, since I never go to the doctors who tend to the Guard and Soldiers, people see me differently.

They say that I'm strong since I suck up the pain from the injuries and deal with it on my own, nursing my own wounds or just ignoring them until I adjust to them or they go away. They say I'm a true Soldier, a model Soldier, one people should aspire to become.

But they don't know the reasons why I avoid the doctors at all costs. I can't hear them say that it's all in my head again.

"Soldier?" I'm snapped from my thoughts to see a lead Guard standing in the doorway.

"Yeah?"

"My Sovereign, His Excellency, His Honor, His Highest of all Highnesses, King Garonda XIV has requested your presence."

"I will go there immediately."

"Good." The lead Guard closes the door when he leaves.

I sit up and start pulling my armor over my clothes. I strap my sword to my side, holding back a grimace when a spark of pain lances up my leg as I walk toward the door and pull it open.

The walk up from the basement of King Garonda XIV's castle is relatively quick. The hallways are, for the most part, empty. A few small groups of Guard and Soldiers chat amongst each other, but I suspect most are already in the training grounds.

What is it that King Garonda XIV wants? Or, should I say, My Sovereign, His Excellency, His Honor, His Highest of all Highnesses, King Garonda XIV?

When I reach the huge double doors that signal my arrival at the Amethyst Throne and King Garonda XIV, 2 Soldiers cross their spears in front to block me from proceeding. "State your business with My Sovereign, His Excellency, His Honor, His Highest of all Highnesses, King Garonda XIV."