Stolen Princess

Movie Night

M

"M....."

"M....can you hear me?"

I don't know where I am.

"M....?"

There's a distant voice, one that sounds vaguely familiar.

I can't see anything, but then I see a woman, Mal-my mom. She walks towards me with her hand reaching out.

"M, take me hand"

I hesitantly look at her.

"Take my hand, it's okay"

I gently take her hand, and I notice it is soft and warm. It gives me warmth.

She holds my hand.

"Baby it's okay, open your eyes"

She whispers in my ear, "Don't be afraid"

I gently start opening my eyes but quickly close them, noticing bright light. I inwardly groan.

Mal

I gently grasp one hand as Ben grasps the other. We are in the hospital waiting for M to wake up. She blacked out at the party from stress and just everything that happened. Dewy has been right beside her the whole time, making sure she's okay.

"Ben,"

"Huh?"

"Do you think she'll be okay with all of this? It's a lot of change"

"She'll be perfectly fine. She has us, her siblings, aunts and uncles, as well as my parents and your dad."

"I just want her to be happy. I also want to be a part of her life."

"We will,"

We then see M try to open her eyes before shutting them quickly. I notice the room is pretty bright, so I quickly run to turn the lights off.

"M?" Ben whispers.

"Be-n?" She squints. Dewy is now nudging her and giving her little hugs. Honestly, he is so cute.

"Dewy," she smiles widely.

"Yes, I'm here, we both are, Mal and I" Ben smiles sadly.

"What -apphened?" M asks, as Ben and I help her sit up.

"You blacked out. We were on our way to come back, and everyone was crowded around. We tried to get to you but then you fell. Luckily, Sawyer and Aaron caught you" I explain.

She slowly nods her head.

I slowly grab her hands, making her look at me. She looks so small, and it breaks my heart.

"M, we can't imagine how new and scary this is. We want you to know that you have us, your friends, and all of your family behind you"

Ben continues, " We want you to be a part of our lives. We've missed 15 years of your life. Now I understand it may be custom to pass the crown at 16, but I-we don't want you to worry about that, okay?"

She shyly nods, making Ben go to kiss her on the head like we do with the other children, but she suddenly moves back like she's confused.

"Oh uh we just kiss our children on the head and stuff like that. It's our affection" I explain, disappointed that she must have had a life that lacked it.

"Speaking of which" Ben says, "We were thinking if you were up to it, we would invite maybe your friends over tonight for a low stress movie night."

"Okay" she smiles hesitantly.