Lifes Fate

1

The curtain scratches my skin as I keep it wrapped around me. Hearing the running feet in the hall. Don't make a sound! I keep my breath. Not daring to breath! If the curtains move, if they hear. Its game over! 
Once the footsteps turn distant and quiet, I dare a look. Looking down the empty long hall... Right, go the other way! I turn to head the way they'd come from, hearing them shout in the distance, but I ignore them as they get quieter the further I move. 
I run in the kitchen and shut the door silently. I look at the pots and pans everywhere... Oh god! Where can I hide?! Trying under the table, but its too obvious! I open the cupboards and crawl in, shutting the door behind me.
Hearing claws tap the ground... oh no!
The door squeeking as it opens, hearing the sniffing. Not the dog! Not the dog! A loud bark has me jumping, but I hold my mouth not to make a sound. 
"Frank?" ... Be quiet! "What boy?" 
Stupid dog! Please! Please, just be confused and go away! 
I look at the shadow at the bottom of the cuboard and close my eyes. They've found me. Light floods my eyes and I scream as the doors swing open "Got ya!" My arms grabbed and I'm pulled out the cupboard "Well done little princess!"
I look up at him and pull my arm free "And you wouldn't have found me if it wasn't for the dog!" Frank wags his tail and nudges my hand looking for attention... I cant deny him anything! I stroke his ears and the tongue coming out of the staffies mouth makes me laugh "Good game! But, I think I'm done with it now"
He laughs "Alright, then what would you like to play your highness?" To start with, Toby was just a butler in the castle, your usual serviceman. Then one day when I was alone in the library, he found me crying over a book that my father had started to read for me. And never finished, as much as I'd asked him to. He never had the time. I tried to teach myself words, make the letters fit. But I could never finish the page he'd left it on. And Toby found me. He didn't finish the story like I'd hoped. He's taught me how to finish it myself. And before the book had ended, I was reading it to him. 
So, when mother and father had heard my tutor praise me on how fast I'd picked up reading, they asked me how I'd learned. From that day. Toby became my tutor, my teacher and my friend. He's the closest thing to a friend I've ever known. And when I was younger, I hated him for it. I couldn't have friends my age, who I chose. And I blamed him for refusing me that freedom. Now, I understand he, never, had to be my friend at all. He wanted to be. And it wasn't his choice that I couldn't make friends with just anyone. Putting up with every argument I gave, every fit, every hit. And wouldn't leave me until I forgave him. Of course, now, I understand it was me who should have begged forgiveness. I now understand. 
"I think I'm just going to go into the garden Toby... Do you want me to take Frank out?" 
"If you want. Do you want some company?"
"No, it's alright. I'm only going to go to the swing" 
"Alright. Well, don't forget that your mother and father want to see you before dinner" 
"Yeah, I know" I tap Franks head "Come on boy" 
I have a pretty good idea of what my parents want to talk to me about... Well, no, that's a lie. It's either one of two things. Their either having a baby or their preparing me of a proposal. Neither is something I'm overly excited for. But if I had to choice, it would be a sibling. I never had anything against having a brother or sister, but the idea of the castle having another brat run around terrified me and the staff!
Frank runs on through the green, rolling around in the flowers. If there was adults around, I'd have to tell him to get off... But you know... I couldn't care less.
"No... bad dog... off" Well, I tried. 
Frank stops rolling and looks at me... what? 
Something grabs my waist and I scream. Hearing the laugh behind me "Chester!" I hit his chest and push him "You stupid boy!" 
"Princess Patrisha?! Are you alright?!" 
I look up at the guard on the wall, arrow drawn towards Chester "No! Shoot him for my sanity please!" The guard looks at me unsure and Chesters eyes go wide, looking back and forth between us "Actually, don't waste your arrows! I can handle this little pip!" I turn away from  him and head back to Frank whos tails going mad as he pushes into Chesters legs "So Pip! What do you want?" 
"Nothing, just saw you out here. You're in a good mood today?" Note, the sarcasm. I wonder what gives him that Idea?
"I'm fine. Really" I sit on the swing and just let it sway. He leans against the tree that holds the rope and stares⁰ at me "I am fine!" 
The way he looks at me tells me how much he believes me. Standing there all skinny and dirty! Uh! I once thought this little pip was handsome. Watching him work with his father in the stables. His brown messy curly hair covered his eyes and his dad was always cursing them as he had to keep stopping. He ended up tying his hair up on top of his head making him look like a plant. It always made me laugh. Now, he's just an irritation. I believe he's 13? maybe 14 and all he does is mess around. Stealing a horse once in a while. Just for the day and he always brought it back. It makes me laugh when his father scolds him and slaps him around the head though.
"You know I don't believe you" He jumps up on the swing I'm sat on and stands above me. Making me grab the ropes, nearly falling off "What's wrong princess?"
"What makes you think I'd tell you?" 
He smiles down to me, bending his knees, making us swing higher "Why wouldn't you?"
I suppose he has a point. But that doesn't mean I'm going to talk to him about my parents "I don't want to talk about it with anyone. So, if, your going to continue pestering me. Talk about something else" 
He laughs and swings us higher "Alright. Close your eyes" What? Close my eyes? But he just raises a brow at me waiting... uh! I do as he tells me and I feel him swing higher and higher "Just imagine that your not a princess"
"Why?" 
"Why not, be free of it all for a minute" 
Be free from it? Not a princess? 
I'd go far away, anywhere... Nowhere. Meeting different  people. Learning ways of life. 
"If you could be anything in the world, what would it be?" 
If I could be anything? "A bird" I hear them tweet and it makes me smile. Flying free where ever they like. Never being tied to anything. Just flying. And for a split second, the swing takes me there. The wind brushing my hair back, my legs pushed forwards and I'm just flying... This is silly. I open my eyes and jump from the swing. The weight loss causing him to fall on his back . He groans and looks up at me "I'll never be free of this place... Theres no point in believing" I turn away from him and head towards the castle "Frank!" 
"Patrisha? Trish!" I ignore him and just walk in. His father smiling down to me as I head past and he just nods to me. I like his father, he's a good man. 
"Your majesty" 
"Good afternoon"

I sit in the dining room, looking between them reading some sort of letter... If I knew they hadn't planned on actually talking at this gathering, I would have brought myself a book. So I just push around whats left of my dinner. Their's untouched. To be fair, I'm surprised their even here for dinner, so I suppose that's actually something "So I was hoping on going to bed this evening"
"That's nice dear" My mum says without even looking over to me... Nice...
"And then I was hoping that maybe I could have a glass of wine in bed" 
"That's a good idea"...
"I thought so, then maybe I could scale the castles wall and go hunting" She still hasn't looked up from her papers! A cough makes me look at my father who has a brow raised at me. Well at least one of them heard me! 
"Catherine, this can wait" He takes the paper from her hands and sets them down in front of her. And mother just stares at him bewildered...
"So that hunting trip?" 
She turns to me shocked "What hunting trip?!" 
My father smiles, but quickly wipes it off his face, coughing and sitting straight "Patrisha. I suppose you have an idea of why we wanted to talk to you?" 
"A vague idea, yes" 
They look between eachother "The south are rising up against us... I've talked to king Alfred and the only way he'll stop his advances is with a promise that you'll marry his son, Justin" 
"But..." I knew it was one or the other, but not to prevent war! "I... when?" 
My father sighs, my mother refusing to look at me "As soon as possible... I've convinced him to wait for you to be of age" 
Convinced him?! Convinced?! "You've already agreed?" Their both silent... No... "When?"
"A while back" 
... "How long?!"
My mother looks up at me, her eyes watering "Since you were 4"