The Empress Wears Gucci

15

        "I don't understand, Your Majesty! I haven't done anything—"

        "I am under too much stress to be doing this right now. Rest assured, Han Ying Yue, I will find out who you are working for and eliminate them," the Emperor yelled. Before he walked away from me, he turned his head to look at me once more. "Your betrayal sickens me."

        He flicked his sleeve and walked away. I could hear the fury in his footsteps, and I was still oblivious to what was going on. I could barely think in this cell because of the white noise in my head. My heart was still racing, and my heartbeats were quickening every time I thought about his words. 

        You deserve a hundred flogs and sixty slaps to the face.

        The Emperor is against me, therefore the entire Palace is against me.

        Everything was going great until this. I crawled back into the corner of the cell and hugged my knees. The musty ancient cell made me want to puke. My hands were dirty, my feet were dirty, my hair was tangled. I looked like a hot mess. The prison seemed empty, surprisingly. It felt like I was the only one in here. I could hear my heart beating rapidly. Deep breaths, Carmen. Deep breaths.

        It's over for me, isn't it? I'm never going to see my family, never going to see my friends, I'm never going to graduate university, and I'm going to die a virgin.

        No.

        I can't die a virgin.

        I wept louder into my arms. The emptiness of the cell amplified the noises I made with my sorrow, yet it comforted me as I was alone. The noises I made comforted me, knowing that I was there for myself. 

        I got too tired from crying, so I fell into a deep sleep.

        "Carmen?" I woke up to a familiar voice, the voice I've never heard in ages. I groggily got up from the warmth surrounding me.

        Mom?

        The setting of a hospital room was in front of me. My mother, my father, my little sister stood to the left of me, all of them raised their eyebrows in concern. Cherry turned around frantically and gasped. They all had glossy, bloodshot eyes.

        "Carmen!" everyone squealed in unison. 

          The happiness illuminated the room and had me soak up the energy from everyone around me. As I was in the middle of all of the kind embraces, my loved ones' voices were muffled. I was too baffled to hear what anyone was saying, and while the nurses began to check my health, I still couldn't believe it. Everything was just a coma and I was okay. A smile subconsciously played on my face and I threw the blanket away from my body to leave.

        "You're good to go!" the receptionist said with a grin. She signed off the papers with ease and handed them to my mother.

        During the whole ride home, I stayed quiet.

        "How long have I been gone for?" I asked when I reached my room.

        My sister Cara sat in the corner of my bed. I missed seeing the iconic red ribbons she had when she styled her hair. At thirteen, Cara was still wearing ribbons but it suited her. She grimaced. "A month..."

        "We really thought you died," Cherry whispered. "We're glad to see you. Everyone was bawling their eyes out even more on the second week of your coma. But you know what? We're all very grateful it had only been one month. Can you imagine if you were gone for a year? I don't even want to imagine it."