Solstice & Equinox

Dreary Skies and Teary Eyes

The sound of hard rain thrashed against the stone walls and strong roof of the Western Castle. The natural melody echoed off of the tall ceilings and drummed against the nearby window. She watched as water cascaded into ripples, dripping off of the thresholds and onto the wet ground. Gray clouds stretched across the horizon. There was no blue in sight. The sky mirrored the very color of her eyes.

Audrey sighed.

So much for summer...

Not that she was complaining. She loved the rain. But the rain seemed only to fit her current mood.

Dreary.

How she wished she could go anywhere but the very room she was in. Maybe read a book in her room, or more importantly, the documents she had stolen.

"Audrey." A stern voice spoke. She heard it, but she wished she hadn't. "Will you stop staring off into space and pay attention?" The voice was angry now.

The voice triggered a different feeling. Annoyance being a good word. She turned her gray eyes from the window and looked back at the figure sitting across from her at an over-sized gaudy desk. She crossed her arms and folded one leg over the other, remaining as stoic as possible. She hated for this man to see any real emotion from her, unless it was anger or sarcasm.

"Yes father?" She spoke in her own monotone voice. The man she called father, even if she knew he wasn't, was a tall man and had graying hair. He at one time had broad, built shoulders and a muscled body, but it was weighed down with age. Anyone could see that when he was young he was quite handsome, but Audrey knew better. Everything youthful and naive faded away at some point. Or in her case, were torn away when the harshness of reality settled it.

The same reality that led her to escape it with books and avoidance of her parents.

The older man grumbled in aggravation at her attitude, but tipped it off and continued on where he left off.

"Where were you last night?" He questioned, giving her a suspicious look.

"Here." Audrey answered abruptly.

Lies.

So many lies.

"Oh really?"

When the man gave a glare and scrutinized her, she stood up and moved to the very window she was gazing out of.

She didn't always lie. This was a new development for her, even if the very reason had been in her since she had her own mind to think with. Frankly, she hated liars and even more so when it was her own lies gracing her ears.  Gray gazed into gray, and her thoughts traveled once more.

Her lies were an unfortunate thing she did, but if she ever wanted to experience the outside world, she would. The gnawing feeling of freedom had never gripped her so tightly, but it was something she was born with. Born from. Born to have and to unconditionally seek.

Audrey looked out even farther, past the large capital city of the West and watched the gray clouds stretch into another gray structure. The one separating the known world of the provinces from the outside world. The main structure that she was sure led to her freedom.

What secrets do you hold? What lies beyond that wall?

"Dammit Audrey sit down at once! Maybe if you would listen to me for once in your life I wouldn't have to constantly treat you this way!" The man stood and moved a bit closer to her.

She desperately wanted to retort. All she ever had done was listen to him! It was time for her to make her own life with her own decisions and not be forced into some role that was never fitting of her to begin with. Instead she drew her face down and held her tongue.

"Why must I be in a cage?" She thought.

"I know you left last night. Tell me where you went." He commanded her.

Now there was no point in lying. Which sucked because the few times she did lie, it did fortunately benefit her. Now it would only ruin her. Not that she wasn't already ruined.

"No point in telling you anything of the sort. If you knew I left then why wouldn't you know where I went? You seem to think you know everything, don't you?" Audrey said, her voice stern and knowing. This would be the first major time she had ever so much as defended her self as disrespectfully against her father as she did.

"Audrey." He started, fury and anger evident on his aging face, "If you do not stop being disrespectful and start listening to me, I will prohibit you from stepping outside of this province for a whole year. he spoke quickly, and the doom begin to set in. Still, she would not relent now that she had started.

"All I've ever done is listen to you and hear every single insult you speak! You've done nothing but try to force me to be something else! Who even are you to say anything about listening when it's you who's never once listened to me!" She began, raising her voice.

"Now I--" He started again, but she quickly cut him off, raising her voice even higher.

"Who are you to command me when you're NOT EVEN MY REAL FATHER!" She yelled. Now she was done for, but her anger blocked out any sort of reason she should've had.

"THAT'S IT!" He cut her off, yelling so loud that the high ceilings that once echoed lovely songs of rain now reverberated scratchy and angry yells. "THAT IS IT. YOU WILL NOT STEP FOOT OUTSIDE OF THIS PROVINCE FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR..." he breathes heavily, and then continues, "Perhaps by then you will actually have a single suitor interested in you. You will be wed and take your rightful place as the wife of a Lord or a Duke by my choosing. 

Her eyes widened at shock at what just happened. She soon regretted everything, and a few silent tears blossomed in her eyes. Not only was he going to promise her to some Lord or Duke, but she would not be allowed an ounce of freedom from her own personal prison for an entire year. She wouldn't be able to visit the guildhall that resided in the Northern Kingdom... perhaps, ever again.

"Maybe that will teach you some gratefulness and respect. Biological father or not, you live an easy life because of me, and you will respect me." He sternly told her. He turned from her and marched out the door, slamming it on his way.

"How could I be so foolish?" She wondered.

She lowered her head sorrowfully and wandered out through a different door, to where her room was.

As she walked down the empty halls that glistened to a pearly white, she watched a tear drip off her nose and land in a small puddle on the floor.