Robin's Song

I Never Liked the Back to School Season

"I would like you to go to this school for young royals." My Father strictly tells me.

Ah, so this is about the school. But now I'm even more confused. I open my mouth to protest and he holds up a single finger to silence me. My mouth shuts immediately.

I'm not a prince or any sort of royal. Why would I go to this royal school? How did I get accepted into the school? Before I try to argue again, he answers the questions for me.

He stares deeply into my face. The intense eye contact makes me want to squirm. Anger burns in my eyes but behind my father's cold ones, there is amusement. Amusement in my confusion.

"The reason why I want you to go to this royal school is so you can be my mole."

He's not kidding. I wish this was one of those cruel pranks but not in a million years would this be a joke. Sadness replaced my anger because I knew he wanted to use me for something. I'm not ready to hear what for, though.

"I need you to collect insider information," He explains, "To give it to you straight, I'm going to capture these young royals. It's a great money opportunity.

Sickness comes back to me. This man is insane thinking I'm going to go pretend like I'm some fancy prince just so he can kidnap a bunch of children for money.

I don't say anything at all. I wish I could argue with him. Scream at him. Do anything to fight back, but I can't do anything to get me out of this. My skin itches and crawls from these overwhelming feelings he has created within me. I squeeze my hands into fists. My forearms tighten but I keep them at my side.

"It sounds impossible, I know." He adds. Insanely evil more like. A small smile plays on his lips as he looks off to daydream about his terrible plans. "We will make it work, though." My father ends confidently. The 'we' in that sentence stings me. I don't want to be a part of this. The thought of doing this with him disgusts me.

His head tilts down; the circles around his eyes begin to darken. "You know, ever since your Mother passed away a few years ago, money has been tight." His tone drops as he announces this.

I almost lost my sanity here. No way did he just say that. This news is nonsense to me. Our money is perfectly fine. We live in a nice house with lots of well-paid servants. What angers me is he is using my Mother's death as an excuse. We don't need money at all, he's the one who is hungry for it.

"What if I don't want to go?" I finally say. My fingers have found themselves. My nails dig into the skin around my right thumb. The skin is toughened from clawing at it over time.

My mind warns me of all the things that could go wrong. I don't want to go to this school at all. I would rather not be involved in my Father's plans.

"What if you don't have a choice?" He shoots back. His eyes widen but drop them to a glare. It's like he can look into my soul. He knows I can't refuse him; I have no choice. His eyes finally come off of me when I don't crack. He throws his hands in the air and slams them back down on the table. I do my best not to jump at the noise.

"You are going to this school, Son, I was hoping you would make the choice of wanting to go on your own." Venom is laced in his words as he uses them to bite at me. Insanity paints his face as my body presses against the back of my chair, trying to put as much space between us as possible.

"But," he continues, "I guess I have to play the bad person card by forcing you to go."

Either way, I find him a bad person. A bad person who won't hesitate to make my life terrible if I don't agree to go. He's the only one that makes me feel this miserable.