The Ringing (Very Slow Updates!)

Chapter Five - Are you crazy?

“Why won’t you just give it a try; why won’t you just give me a chance?” He asked; he wasn’t begging, just questioning why I wasn’t interested in the concept of having a relationship with him.

“Because I find this whole thing disturbing and heartless! You do realize that you are going to have more than one of those girls fall in love with you over the next few months and one by one you’re going to have to break their hearts. How can you willingly go into this knowing that’s what’s going to happen; and if you fall in love with more than one girl too don’t you think your own heart will be broken when you have to let her go? I just find the whole thing sick and twisted and I don’t want to be part of it.” I laid it all on the line, no use beating around the bush about my feelings; if he wanted the truth about why I didn’t want to be here then I was going to give it to him. He was silent for a few minutes as what I told him was sinking in; I had to wonder if he even thought about that before he came here tonight.

“The Ringing has been going on for centuries; it’s a part of a tradition, it’s not like I had a choice on whether or not to do it. I know that some of the girls may fall in love with me and some hearts will be broken along the way but I didn’t come here to lead anyone on, I didn’t come here to purposely break anyone’s heart; I’m here because it’s my duty to find someone worthy of becoming my Queen, someone who people can look up to and count on to be there for them. If you think that this is any easier on me than it is on you you’re wrong; I have to live with all the broken hearts once this is over, I have to go on everyday knowing that I hurt people. Did you ever stop to think about my side, about my feelings?” He asked staring out into the dark night; I could tell that he really did think about this before hand and maybe I was wrong to judge him thinking that he didn’t care how many hearts he broke but it still didn’t change the fact that I didn’t want to be one of those statistics.

“I didn’t mean…” I was about to apologize for seeming so callous towards his point of view but he was quick to interrupt me.

“It was nice meeting you Shay and I look forward to seeing you again later tonight. You really should go back inside and meet some of the other girls; maybe you will change your mind about wanting to be here.” He held out his hand for me to shake and in my shocked state I offered him mine in return.

          How did this all of a sudden go from me telling him to fuck off, to me feeling sorry for him within a matter of minutes? I felt like I was in the interview all over again; I allowed myself to get sidetracked and didn’t stick to my guns. What did he mean change my mind about being here; did he really expect me to go in and make friends with a bunch of bimbos and fall in line with the rest in hopes of becoming the future Queen? Agh, I’m so confused and irritated right now and just to top it off I finished off the last of my platter of appetizers a few minutes ago and was still hungry. Who ever came up with the idea of serving appetizers in the first place; where’s the steak and potatoes? Don’t they know that girls get cranky when they’re hungry?