So, I know I have started about a ,million different stories, but I really love the idea of this one. I actually first wrote part of it for an English assignment and fell in love with the idea of it. I really don't have an updating schedule, but I update pretty often. I would really love some feedback on any of my stories. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone.
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Ailey stepped into the batter's box and time seemed to slow around her. She raised her bat to about ear level and the pitcher began her wind up. The yellow-green ball came spinning, heading for the inside corner of the five-sided plate . With a step, Ailey brought the bat around hard, sending the ball flying back out towards right field. That was enough to bring Christyn around and all the way home. That girl could run.
Time caught up with Ailey as she rounded first, knowing she was going to have to slide if she was making it to second base. She glanced at the third base coach who was screaming as much. A smirk pulled the right side of her lips up as the center fielder threw the ball to the covering baseman. Too slow. Ailey was down, dirt flew as the baseman turned, ball in glove. "Safe," screamed the umpire.
In a matter of seconds, Ailey was back on her feet, her cleats positioned on the base for the best push off. Soon, the next batter was swinging away and Ailey was running full force. She rounded third and with a wave of her coach's arms, she kept going. She picked up on the ball's position as it flew towards home and the awaiting catcher. Again, Ailey was sliding on her hip right through the catcher's legs and across the plate.
Again, she was safe. Her heart raced as she got up from the red dirt knowing full well that she was covered in the stuff. Her white and red pin-stripped pants were a testament to that, but right then it didn't matter. Her run had just won the game. They had been one run behind before the inning and it was the bottom of the last inning. She pushed her helmet from her head just as she was tackled by the rest of her team. That made them state champions.
The team celebrated and cheered. It was everything they had worked for all season. Summer was starting, and Ailey was going to start college with a big state ring on her finger and a scholarship that allowed her to go to her dream school. For one moment, she was thrilled. She was actually happy.
Her coach gave her a bear hug and a single tear fell from Ailey's shocking eyes, leaving a clean trail down her filthy face. "They would be so proud," Coach Coffey whispered. He was right, of course, her parents would have been thrilled.
Three years ago, her parents had died in a fatal car crash on the way to a softball tournament. Ailey had been in the car, too, but she had recovered after a few weeks. She had a scar on her forehead to prove where the glass had nearly split her skull. Her parents hadn't been so lucky. Since then, she had been living with her aunt - who was only eight years older. The two had managed pretty well so far, but it was hard. Every day was a challenge. Coach Coffey had been a big help. Her father had always coached the team, but when he stepped up he did a fantastic job.
Once they were all through celebrating, the girls shook hands with the other team. Coach Coffey told the team they would be eating at a local restaurant to celebrate. Ailey smiled but she wouldn't be going to eat with the team. She wanted to, but today was the day. The sun was setting and she needed to hurry if she was going to make it to the cemetery before the gates were locked tight.
The girls understood and with a few more hugs and cheers, Ailey changed out of her cleats and into a pair of worn Chuck Taylors. She threw her bag into the bed of her old pick up and hurried down the familiar roads. She spotted a few cars at the entrance and knew her family was waiting on her. She reached the mausoleum that housed her parents remains a few moments later. Tears still threatened to fall, but she wouldn't allow that.
Jenny, her aunt, smiled and wrapped her in a warm hug not minding all the dirt she was covered in. Her uncle, grandmother, and cousin were there too. Her mom's family. Ailey grabbed the lighter and the tea lights from her pocket and lit them, placing one each on the stone coffins of her parents. The group hung around for a bit, remembering the couple that had died so young and so tragically. It was weird to think they had been gone three years today. As if it knew as well, the scar hidden beneath her bangs began to throb.
Too soon, the sun was disappearing behind the trees that lined the cemetery and night began to take over. The gates would be locked soon. "We better go," Jaime said with a few tears of her own in her eyes. Ailey nodded, and the two said their goodbyes to both the living and the dead. They left the candles burning.
Jenny climbed into Ailey's truck having ridden with her brother to the cemetery. "I guess you guys won? I forgot to ask." Jenny worked a lot. She was a teacher at the local middle school and a bit of a space case when it came to anything other than work. She had been a little lost since her sister and brother-in-law had passed. Ailey couldn't really blame her.
"Yeah! Ash hit me in, and I scored the winning run. I can't believe we did it!" Ailey smiled faintly.
Jenny nodded but didn't say much else. It was hard for her to come to games because she worked so much. Ailey thought it also reminded her too much of her lost family, but she understood. It was painful every time she stepped on the field, but it was a part of who she was. Her father had given his all to coach her and her friends. She wasn't giving that up for anyone.
The two lived in a nice apartment building on the other side of town. Ailey parked the truck that had been her grandfathers and the two climbed out. Slinging her softball bag over one shoulder, she followed Jenny into the lobby of the building. A few people smiled and greeted them on their way up to their apartment. Jenny hurried to cook something for dinner but all Ailey wanted to do was get her shoes off. Cleats did a number on your feet after a few years.
Deciding it was probably best to take a shower and wash off all the dirt and sweat before she sat on any furniture, she went to her room to grab a few things. She had just turned on the shower when someone knocked on the front door. Figuring Jenny would have her Ipod blasting in the kitchen, she went for the door.
"Hello. You must be Ms. Ailey," greeted a man in his mid fifties. He was dressed in a suit and spoke with a distinctive accent. Her father had had the same one. She would know it anywhere, although he never spoke of where he was from.
"Uhm, yes? Can I help you?" She felt kind of odd hearing someone speaking like her father.
"Yes. My apologies, Ms. My name is Leonard. I'm here on behalf of your grandfather. May I come in?" he asked politely.
Ailey's entire body tensed up, but she moved from the doorway allowing the stranger to enter. Jenny had apparently heard them between songs because she had come from kitchen, towel in hand.
"And you must be Ms. Jenny. It's so wonderful to meet you both."
"You said you were here because of my grandfather? My father's father?" Ailey's head was spinning. Her parents never spoke of her father's side of the family. Ever.
The stranger nodded, a polite smile on his face. He asked that they all sit down in the living room. The two girls followed him and took their seats on the sofa opposite him in a large armchair. "I'm here to invite you to visit for the summer. Both of you," he added looking at Jenny. He must have seen the curiosity and surprise in their faces. "I can tell you are both quite surprised. I cannot begin to predict what you know of your father's family," he said to Ailey, "but I imagine it isn't much. Your grandfather would have come himself to fetch you, but I'm afraid he had pressing issues that had to be attended to in the castle."
"Fetch us?" Jenny asked. Oh this was not good. She had on her teacher face and although she was young, that was not something you wanted.
"Pardon me, I didn't mean to sound rude. I only meant he was not able to come himself."
"Why?" Ailey asked carefully. If he wanted to see her so badly, why hadn't he come himself? Why now? He had never tried to contact her before. At least not that she knew.
Leanard smiled, apparently guessing at what she was thinking. "Well," he started. "Your father, Ms. Ailey, was a very important man before he came to America. He grew up in Elmira. It's a small country in Europe." The name sounded familiar but she couldn't place it. "He was a prince, Ms. Ailey."
Ailey stared, mouth open. Jenny gasped and shook her head. The appartment they were living in had been arranged by her father's lawyer. He had set up everything in case he died so that Ailey would be perfectly cared for. Her family had always been well off, but she never knew where the money came from. Her father also had quite a lot of old things he kept hidded in a box in the attic of their house. It made sense, but she couldn't believe it.
"You're grandfather is the king of Elmira. He wished to come himself, but there have been a few problems of late. Your father wished for you to grow up in a normal life, unlike his own. He wrote now and again, detailing you and your family here. Your grandfather wanted to honor his wishes. Now that you have graduated high school, it's time you came to learn of your family history." Leonard smiled.
Jenny was the first to find her voice in the silence that followed. "So, you're saying that Ailey is a - a-" she trailed of unable to finish.
"A princess," he finished for her. "Yes. In fact, that's where the problem has arisen. The king is not as young as he once was as his successor, Ailey must be prepaired should something happen to him. Our country needs its princess, my lady."
Ailey felt sick. This had to be a joke. This man was saying she was a princess of some country far away and she was sitting on a used couch in her apartment covered in sweat and brick dust. "That's not possible," she whispered too stunned to form a full sentence.
Leonard smiled agin, nodding his head. "It is, Ms. I brought a letter from your father." he reached into his coat pocket and brought out an envelop with Ailey's name scrawled across it. She would know that handwriting anywhere. Her father had beautiful penmanship, something she always found odd for a man. "Please, read it."
Ailey swallowed a lump in her throat as she carefully opened the envelope.