Finding Freedom

Finding Freedom - Part 1 Chapter 1

Part one.

Chapter 1

The sun outside was a blinding yellow in the bright blue sky. The manicured square trees in the front garden moved not in the wind, but I could clearly see the tall dark trees of the forest sway slightly under the light summer breeze. Oh, how I wished that breeze was also around me in this stifling room! A short and bony man was talking to the blackboard in front of me, and as I could clearly see his balding head he did not notice how little attention I was paying to this history class. Unable to contain myself, I yawned. Why did they have to stuff all this useless information in my head so early in my short life? When I am queen, I thought, I will make it so that all 8-year-olds can go out and play, even princesses. I yawned again, but this time it did not escape the teacher’s eye.

            “Miss Heather!” he exclaimed. “Please listen to the lesson. Can you name me the kingdom north of the Golden Stream?”

            “The golden what?” I asked, impolitely, having only remembered one word of the question.

            “Have you not been listening to the class at all, Miss Heather?”

            I replied that I had not. He stared at me for a few seconds in disbelief, remembered that it was not proper to do so and soon dismissed class after explaining again that the Golden Stream was the frontier between Iryllia, my mother’s kingdom, and Northanger, the other kingdom. Not that I cared.

He escorted me to my room, where I was ordered to stay until he could have a word with my mother. I waited until his angry steps had disappeared down the stone hallway, then pulled my balcony doors open. The sun finally shined down on me, the warm air blew through my hair, and the slight breeze immediately brought the smell of wildflowers into my room. I quickly took off my over-ruffled dress to pull on one more suited to my tastes. I hoped I hadn’t kept him waiting for too long. After checking that no one was watching, I walked out on to my small balcony and climbed down the blueleaf vine growing nearby. By then I must’ve climbed down that plant over a million times, and the gestures had become automatic. I ran through the village of Lilyside, the main village of Iryllia, and joined my friend Lil’Billy near the brook.

            “By Lily and Dan, Heather! What took you so long? I was just about to leave.”

            “Just escaped from history” I replied, panting from my run. “And you shouldn’t be swearing like that.” Sure, I ran away from home and didn’t listen in class, but I had principles.

            He looked at me with round eyes, then shrugged. “I don’t think saying the names of our ancestors should be called swearing. Lily created Iryllia, and Dan made Northanger. You should know that.”

“Would you rather I spend time with you or listen to my history classes?” I said, trying to make my tone playful. Truthfully, I was surprised that he knew that much.

He asked me to follow him. I did, still wondering about how he knew the history of DiamondIsle. Well, I thought, there is a lot I don’t know about him. Lil’Billy wasn’t his real name. No one knew it, not even him. He lived alone somewhere in the woods. No one knew how he got there, or why. No one knew much about him, but I liked him; he was my friend. He was about two years older than me, or so he said, but he looked older. He had no family that I knew of and he could do what he wanted. I envied him for that. I often wished I could just spend a day without having to think of my social rank. I was sure it couldn’t be anything other than fun to be him.

On the last day I had seen him he had promised to teach me how to swim, and that was why we had settled to join at the little brook.

            “Here we are!” he said happily.