Royal Runaway

Chapter Seven

The wheels started to turn and she started to form a plan. Would she leave tonight? Yes. She didn't want to have to spend another day in this palace with The Waterstones or her parents. What sort of things should she pack? Almost everything she could carry in a backpack that would be useful. Food supplies, survival tools, clothes, and camping gear. Where was she going to go? Wherever the wind took her.

She immediately got to work. Madeline tore off her ball gown, leaving the blue dress hanging in the closet. She put on a pair of blue jeans, a thin gray t-shirt, and threw on a green army jacket. She tied up a pair of tennis shoes on her feet, before she started to pack. Madeline grabbed one of her old school backpacks (back from when she went to public school) and started throwing items into it.

First she packed as many clothes as she thought she would need. Then grabbed some toiletries. That was about all she could pack in her room. She needed to go to the kitchen and weaponry room for the rest of the supplies. She grabbed a pocket knife she had lying around, a map, umbrella, and a warm blanket. Already her bag was pretty stuffed and she hadn't grabbed food or weapons yet. She decided to lose some of the clothes and only brought a toothbrush and toothpaste. Madeline's hair would just have to do with out a come. Before leaving her room, she grabbed all the money she had, which frankly wasn't a lot. Being the princess of Osprey, she went to her parents for most of her money needs so she didn't have a tone of spending money on hand. However, it would just have to do.

Part of Madeline wanted to stay in her room, safe from the outside world. But a bigger part of Madeline wanted to run and to be free. And it was that bigger part, that caused Madeline to leave her beloved bedroom. She had no idea when or if she was coming back.

The palaces halls were dark and eery. She never knew when a servant could come around a corner and see her, sending her immediately back to her room. Luckily, she didn't run into anyone. Madeline's room was on the third floor of the palace and the kitchen was on the first floor, so she quickly and quietly made her way down to it. When she arrived, the kitchen was pitch black except for a small light above one of the ovens. Madeline knew the cooks kept that on all the time. She quietly crept into the room, trying her best not to make any noise whatsoever. One of Madeline's flaws, was that she was a rather clumsy person. She tended to fall and trip over nothing at the weirdest of times, she just prayed this was not one of them.

Madeline came to the large pantry, which was chocked full of food of all sorts. She grabbed a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter. She took two cans of beans, hoping she'd find somewhere to cook them. Madeline thought that should be enough, for she'd hope to get food on the road. She filled up a large water bottle with water, before shutting her backpack and making her way to the weapon room.

The weapon room was outside, near the gates. As she got closer, she started to think that maybe she shouldn't get a weapon. Sure it would be good for self defense, but she already had a pocket knife. Plus she knew that they always counted all the weapons each night, if one were to go missing there'd be a huge uproar.

Madeline walked towards the weapon room, but found a small bench along the path and sat down, trying to go over her plan. She had all she could think of and she hoped it would be enough. She should leave a note? No, because that would just give her parents something to torture her about. Madeline couldn't really think straight. She didn't know what she was forgetting, but all she knew for sure was that she needed to leave. And soon.

Madeline glanced around the palace grounds, taking it all in. She would miss this place, but she needed to get out. So she rose from the bench and made her way to the forest. She did her best not to look back on her home and only on what lay ahead.

~

The summer night was cool, just the perfect temperature for Madeline to be traveling in. The sky was clear, showing off all the little stars that eliminated the sky with the moon shining bright as well. Madeline found it very calming being in the woods. She had always found something peaceful and almost magical about nature, especially a forest.

Madeline had been traveling for what felt like a few hours. She was well away from the palace, but she wanted to give herself some more distance just for to be safe. Madeline still had no clue where she was going or what she was going to do. She decided that she would try and find a nice place to rest for a few hours, till it got to be early morning or so, then she would make her way into town.

It sounded like a good plan in her head, until she thought of the fact that everyone would recognize her. She was the princess of Osprey after all. Madeline didn't really have a face that stood out in a crowd, but she did not want to take any chances. She sat down on the side of the path and rummaged through her backpack, hoping she had packeted something that would help her with her deluma. Madeline found a pair of sunglasses, but that was about all she could find. She threw them on top of her head and hoped they would help.

~

Madeline stopped to rest a short while after that and slept quite soundly. She rested her head on one of her spare t-shirts and covered herself with her blanket. The night was not too cold that Madeline froze to death, but she certainly was a little chilly. Nevertheless, she slept well.

She awoke around what she thought was 8 o'clock in the morning. The sun was in the sky, but not high enough that it was hot. She sat up and rummaged through her bag. She tore off a piece of bread from the loaf and dug it into the peanut butter jar and nibbled on that. When she was done, she took a sip of her water.

Madeline hurriedly packed up her things and started on her way again. The trek through the woods continued to be full of no excitement, just her and her thoughts. She hoped that when she reached town, she could figure out some place for her to actual go. She needed a goal for all of this.

After about two hours of walking and silence, except for the occasional sound of nature, Madeline came to the outskirts of town. The town closest to the palace was called Sringwhich and it was a little country town, with not much excitement. Madeline hoped that would be a good thing, but also feared she would be discovered more easily.

She made her way into Springwhich, keeping her shades pulled over her eyes and her head down. Not that many people seemed to be up yet, except for a few shopkeepers opening up for the day. Madeline that it would be a good idea to check out a convenience store and see if there was anything should get before she went on her way. Luckily, to her left there was a local country store.

Madeline walked in, hearing the ding of the bell above the door chime. There was an elderly man, who sat behind the counter. He barely looked up when Madeline walked in, which she was very grateful for.

There were no people in the small store, at least from what Madeline could see. The store was your average convenience store. It had freezers and refrigerators lining the walls, full of drinks and assorted ice cream. There were aisles full of bunches of junk food. Food Madeline wouldn't be allowed to eat back at home, because they would "make you fat."

To be even more defiant (as if running away wasn't enough) Madeline made her way over to the candy section. She walked down the aisle and stopped dead her in tracks when she saw a boy standing in the aisle right in front of the sour patch kids.