"But we have to tell her soon. We can't keep hiding this huge secret from her forever. Tom, I can't live with the guilt of her not knowing."
"Yes, I understand, honey, but Marinette is going to get crowned Queen of Paris. Imagine how she would feel if we tell her now. We need to let her have her happiness now, before we come out with the secret."
"But what if she hates us for keeping it from her?"
"I'm not sure about that, but what I do know is that- oh, hey Marinette! I didn't see you there, haha."
My eyes blinked opened, and I moved my arms a little bit trying to figure out where I was laying without having to get up and look. Where I was laying was fluffy and soft. My back instantly ached when I lifted it up a bit. I must have fallen down hard. When I rested my back against the soft bed, my mind was brought back to the strange dream I'd had. Well, the thing was, it wasn't just a dream; it was the same exact event that had happened last week when I'd caught my parents talking about a secret. The only different thing about this dream though was that it was extended. Last week, I had only overheard Maman talking about how I needed to know the secret and I never heard the words Papa had replied her with. But in my dream, Papa's response was heard. Wait-
I could feel my eyes watering once again when my memory went back to the reason why I had fainted in the first place. I'd never thought I'd see such a horrific sight, and when that man had told me that something horrible had happened, I never expected that. It was just too much to handle, seeing them lying there on top of blood. I covered my eyes as I collapsed into tears.
The door opened, which got me to look up, and I didn't even bother wiping my tears off, no matter how ugly, disgusting and embarrassing I looked. The man from yesterday peeked in through the small crack of the door, and his eyes seemed to lit up when he saw I was awake. He looked to the other side of the door and I heard him say, "she's awake. You can come in now." I clenched my hands a little, not really appreciating him saying those words as I wanted an alone time. The door opened much wider and more people entered the room. The man who had invited them in walked up to me and said, "Your Majesty, there's something that needs to be shown to you right of now."
"Do you mind?!" I gritted my teeth a little, trying to look angry under all my sadness and grief. "I need to be alone! Can't you tell me later?!"
"Your Majesty, it's extremely important," the man pushed it. "It would help you understand more of the situation." When I didn't respond back to him, he snapped his fingers over towards one of the officers that had walked in. "Show her."
"Your Maj-"
"JUST CALL ME MARINETTE!!" I suddenly hollered, sending the others back. They all looked at me with such wide eyes, some of them even suddenly becoming terrified with how my tone had changed. "Stop with all this majesty crap," I said more lightly and calmly. My chest felt so heavy. It had happened so quickly and quietly while I was away, brooding over some unimportant business obsession. They had been my anchor when I started to drift. My friends when I had none. They had always been there for me with a smile shining in their bright eyes; and now they was gone. Forever.
My anger slowly dissolved to sadness as tears embraced my eyes, making the white bed wet each time a tear fell down and hit it. Waves of pain washed over me, and my body convulsed to meet each one. They was gone, their light consumed by death's empty darkness. All I had left of them was the fading image in my mind. I could still see them, sitting down on the couch in the living room, enjoying a show on TV, or busy baking in the kitchen. I never even got to tell them I loved them one last time. I didn't get to hold them close, before they slipped away. I never even got to look into their loving, beautiful faces, which always brought me so much happiness, before they died.
I looked up again, seeing that everyone were still staring at me. "What is it?" I said in such a low voice. "What do you have to show me?"
The officer then opened up one of his pockets and took out what seemed to be a folded piece of paper. He handed it over and I took it. I unfolded it and after he told me to read the note, my eyes scanned it. Each words I read was like another knife being pierced through my heart. After reading it all, I dropped the paper and felt myself passing out again.
˚‧º·(˚ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ )‧º·˚
My head was aching all over, and I didn't feel good at all. It was like waking up in a total nightmare. I groaned as I sat up and looked around, realizing that I was now in my room. When I looked over to the other side, I gasped a little to see that I wasn't alone in the room. Alya, Nino and Adrien all sat down on the other side of the room, and they all looked up once they heard me awaking. I waved a little bit towards them, trying not to look as tired and defeated as I was. Alya instantly stood up from her seat and rushed over to me, pulling me into such a tight hug that I didn't realize I needed so much. I could hear her sobbing on my shoulder. Alya was more than just my best friend; she was a sister to me, and always came over to the bakery to hang out. She got pretty close to my parents as well, so I knew exactly how she felt. My parents were like her second set of parents.
I recalled the note I'd read before passing out; that terrifying note that had made me become even more terrified than I had been before. I was sure my face had turned green then, and it was probably still green now. But why? How was it possible? I shut my eyes, the image of the note in my head. It was blurry, but for some reason I was able to remember every single words written down on that piece of paper.
"This is a letter I'm writing to everyone who ever knew us. I'm sorry to say that you won't be seeing much of us anymore, as we just couldn't bear the pain and guilt inside. We're deeply sorry to everyone we've let down; this was not our intentions, but we knew it was bound to happen. We decided it was best to end everything before things got worse. Please fulfill our last wish and bury us right next to each other. We're truly sorry for the horrific sight you had to see, but please forget us from now on.
Love,
Tom & Sabine Dupain-Cheng."
It couldn't be. There was no way my parents would go all the way and do such a thing. They had always been against suicide, saying it was never the best answer to everything, but one of the scariest part of this whole note was that it was written in Maman's handwriting. How could it be that everything went downhill just as soon as I became Queen of Paris? They had always been happy, and even if something was bothering them, they always figured out a way to solve their problems.
I rested my back against my bed, wanting to fall asleep, but I knew that would be impossible. The only way I could ever actually fall asleep and forget about this for a while was if I passed out again, so instead, I just looked up at the ceiling. The four of us were all in the room, but none of us spoke, the room being filled with silence. My mind was suddenly brought back to when the announcement had been made throughout the entire Paris that Queen Audrey had murdered herself. No one really saw it happen except for her personal maid. The maid exclaimed that she caught Queen Audrey throwing herself off the balcony, and it had already been too late to save her. Queen Audrey had been lying at the bottom in her own pool of blood. I hadn't been there to see her lying there, but I had been at her funeral. After the whole funeral passed, Queen Audrey's personal maid quit her job and went to find another.
Everyone had all thought Queen Audrey had done it because she couldn't bear the pain of losing her husband, which made sense to everyone, but me on the other hand, being such an over-thinker, suddenly got this idea that maybe there could have been a whole other reason why the Queen had killed herself. Everyone all knew how much she valued her position as queen, and it had been stated that she got into a recent argument with her husband before he died in the car accident. Everyone all thought it was due to the argument that King Andre hadn't been paying attention to the road and gotten himself killed. I, on the other hand, had at first thought it was something more. There was just this tiny voice in my head telling me to investigate this, but after doing so and getting nothing, I gave up on it and came to believe what everyone else believed.
I sighed. Why was I even thinking about this at the moment? Maybe it was just because my parents' death was sort of similar. I sat up from my bed when the door opened and someone walked in. I noticed it was one of the maids only because she was wearing the uniform. She looked embarrassed at first, like she had this face as if she thought she was interrupting something. Her eyes then landed on me and she cleared her throat before she spoke. "Butler Romain has asked for a leave today, Your Majesty. He was actually supposed to leave yesterday as Tuesdays are always his days off, but he forgot to ask, and was now wondering if today would be a good day. He didn't want to ask personally because he was afraid you would yell at him." I noticed how she was now breaking eye contact with me.
I nodded my head anyway, not really caring. "Yes, he can take a day off today. I don't mind." I waved the maid off, and after she nodded in reply, she walked out the door, closing it behind her. I turned over to the others, just seeing how devastated they looked. "I can't believe this is actually happening," I muttered to myself, finally looking down at the floor. "It just feels so unreal. I can't believe this is how it all ends for them." No one spoke after my words. I turned my head, seeing my phone resting on top of the table right next to me. I picked it up and turned it on, checking the time. 11:35 P.M. Wow, I must have passed out for a while then. I groaned again as I rested my head back on my pillow and closed my eyes.
"The note!"
My eyes suddenly flipped opened as I heard this strange voice in my head. It was so familiar. . .like the voice I'd heard before. . .the same voice that told me to investigate the deaths of Audrey and Andre Bourgeois.
"Get the note back. . .!"
The voice came again.
"Read it. . ."
I couldn't stop feeling frightened by this. It was an actual voice speaking in my head.
". . .carefully."
Before, when the voice came to my head, I had pushed it aside as nothing, but now. . . I immediately sat up from my bed and started walking out of my room. I could feel the others looking at me as they watched me leave, but I didn't turn back. I stepped out of my room and started walking downstairs, looking around. Finally, I found the person I was looking for. "Officer!" I waved over at him, before walking towards him. I didn't know what I was doing anymore, or why I even cared, but there was just this feeling inside of me. Apart from my fear, there was something else there.
"Ah, so you're awake," the officer smiled a bit. "I was just about to leave. Is there anything you need, Your Majesty?"
I pretended I didn't hear what he had just called me, and I pushed aside my question on what he was still doing here in the palace. Those didn't matter right now. I looked up at the officer with a firm look on my face, before taking my hand out. "I want the note back."
"T-The note? B-But-"
"I want it!" I ordered with determination. He seemed hesitant at first, probably afraid I would pass out again, but he reached inside his pocket and pulled the note out, before handing it over to me. I took the note and looked at the words again, forcing myself to be strong and re-read every single one of the words.
"Read it carefully." I could still remember the words being spoken inside of my head, so I focused hard on the words, not really sure on what I was looking for. Suddenly, something weird started happening. Some of the letters written down on the note started becoming bolder than the rest. I scanned each bolded letter, trying to make a word out of them, and when I was able to make a whole sentence out of the letters, the note slipped out of my hands due to my shock.
"This is a letter I'm writing to everyone who ever knew us. I'm sorry to say that you won't be seeing much of us anymore, as we just couldn't bear the pain and guilt inside. We're deeply sorry to everyone we've let down; this was not our intentions, but we knew it was bound to happen. We decided it was best to end everything before things got worse. Please fulfill our last wish and bury us right next to each other. We're truly sorry for the horrific sight you had to see, but please forget us from now on.
Love,
Tom & Sabine Dupain-Cheng."
•~•
Word Count: 2472 {excluding this}
~ Edited ~