Not Our Plan

Chapter four

Trigger warning for this chapter, darlings. Mentions of sexual assault. Love you!

One more day. That was all Elizabeth asked for. She just wanted one more day of peace before she was swallowed up by this cruel world and forced into marriage for being rescued when she didn't need to be.

She squinted at the camp outside her walls, straining her eyes to see the people. Standing in front of the gate with a blonde girl was a handsome man, his arm protectively around the younger person. He was probably the prince, and the girl beside him must have been either a princess or perhaps a girlfriend of his.

Elizabeth, or Liz, as she preferred, wished with all her heart that the small blonde could rescue her, instead of the big buff man.

But that was not the way life was. She couldn't have everything she wanted-She knew that from experience.

And she had been such a lovely girl. So kind, so sweet, so beautiful. She laughed a lot, giving everyone a fair go, but that was not the case. Every time she got out of her tutoring classes, every time she crawled into her bed at night, there he was.

Her father, smiling. And he did things, terrible things that Liz couldn't get out of her head.

Liz pulled her mind away from the memories that were already beginning to pull her back into the past and instead focused on her carvings. There was one small bear cub on the table, curled up and sleeping. Though it took Liz hours, she managed to carve a mother bear and a father bear, setting them down beside the cub. She stared at the father, her lips curling into a snarl as she studied the creepy grin she had given him. She picked up a small wooden crown, barely fitting over her little finger, and placed it on top of his head, accidentally turning the father to stare up at her. He was still smiling, his wooden lifeless eyes burning directly into hers.

She screamed and picked it up, clutching it tightly in her fist. "You do not control me any fucking more!" She screamed, throwing open her window and throwing it as far away as she could.

The mother bear was still calmly sitting beside the cub when she returned. The princess picked up the mother, licking her lips as she studied it. "I didn't want it, you know." She whispered. "But he did it to me. He took me. He claimed me. If you had only listened, if you had only heard me crying. Then you wouldn't have done what you did. I know it wasn't your fault, it was Father's and... And this stupid prophecy." She dropped the mother bear onto the ground, tears streaming down her face as she kicked the bear away.

Some would say that the princess was insane, talking to wooden bears in her empty room. This was the truth. She had gone insane years ago, and it was all because of the way she had lived. All because of her loneliness, of her past. All because of the people she knew once.

"It wasn't you," Elizabeth said as she leant on the window, still talking to the wooden figure on the ground behind her. "It was never you, Mother. It was this prophecy. This..." She looked outside at the camp. "Stupid..." She picked up the bear and stared at it after ripping her eyes away from the window. "Prophecy." She finished.

Insanity and loneliness was eating away at her. Yet, here she was, not wanting to go back. Going back meant seeing her father, and she knew if she did, then she would kill him.

So here she stayed, never attempting to escape, never even thinking about going back. Because who would want to go back to the man who broke her?

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It was the middle of the night, yet Ethan couldn't sleep. He was too busy wondering-Why? The question tugged him back into consciousness every time he started to drift off. Why was he here, why was this his destiny? How did people know it was supposed to be his? Why couldn't anybody rescue her? And most importantly, did John like him?