Into the Depths

Chapter 31

Audrey sat on her bed, writing her latest entry into her diary. It was her last ditch attempt to feel normal, to have something to control in her life. She had even gotten into sketching, if just to see why Mal loved it so much. If Ben like artistic girls, maybe that could be a way in to talk to him. Tears slid down her face as she realized that she was truly alone in this fight.

Phillip had gone back to their castle, to help their mother look after their father while he recovered from his stomach bug. Her grandmother was somewhere, but Audrey honestly didn't care. If she wasn't in Audrey's room, trying to control every aspect of her life, Audrey was fine with it. Natalie had also disappeared but again, Audrey wasn't that chuffed about her handler disappearing on her.

However, Chad had also left. He had gone back to Charmington, after Lord Hades attempted to escape the Isle when Mal and the others were bringing the new batch of VKs over to Auradon. A small part of Audrey's mind couldn't help but wonder why Lord Hades had done that, after all he seemed pretty okay with everything in the last viewing. But a larger part of her mind was more preoccupied with what Chad had told her as he was leaving. He said that he would be back for Jane's birthday party at the Enchanted Lake. A party that Audrey had yet to receive an invitation.

I can't believe Jane! I mean, we used to be friends! Granted, not the closest of friends but friends nonetheless. Study together, eat lunch with and just generally spend time with each other type of friends. Though I guess now that she's dating Carlos and I'm single or at least in an on again off again thing with Chad, I'm lower in the pecking order than she is.

After all, future Queen's best friend as a boyfriend trumps King's former best friend as a boyfriend any day.

Not that Ben had ever let his friendship with Chad slip to the wayside the way Lonnie and Jane had with their friendship with Audrey, but after he became friends with Akiho and Emir when he was four...those two had become his best friends while she and Chad were only his 'friends'.

Sighing, she closed her diary and walked across the room to the mantle, picking up one of the photos that were on display. She normally loved looking at the photos she had of her and Ben throughout the years. Now though all they did was serve as a reminder to Audrey that her past with Ben was just that. In the past.

One of the photos had been taken when she and Ben were three years old. Ben and his family had been visiting for Phillip's first birthday and her grandmother had insisted on a small photo shoot. Ben would be standing while holding a crown and Audrey would be sitting on the throne beside him. Leah had wanted Audrey to be wearing the crown but in a rare show of toddler defiance, Audrey had said no. To this day, she couldn't remember why she'd said no but she had.

What she did remember was that the minute the photo was taken, Ben had handed the crown back to her mother and then ran off with Chad who had been visiting to find the biggest mud puddle they could find. She had been invited of course, because even as a three year old Ben had his manners, but she had declined.

Another photo was of her and Ben, Ben leaning against a tree while holding her in his arms. It was taken during their relationship—actually it had been one of the few Gazelle photos of Audrey that she had liked. They had been at a party for one of the guys on Ben's Tourney team, probably Brenden or Miguel. It was a rare moment when Ben and she could be a true couple rather than having to be 'on' all the time.

That all vanished, of course, the minute the VKs arrived and Ben saw Mal for the first time. It had been the collapse of their relationship.

Shaking her head since she didn't want to go down the rabbit hole those memories would lead to, Audrey smiled slightly as she looked at the framed photograph in her hands. It had been the last photo she had taken when her life had something resembling normalcy.