Chapter Four

Chapter Four

 

The 6th month without Grace was proving to be no different than the 5^th for Arden. He was on his bed trying to study. He was reading a history book, and no matter how many times he reread the same page, he just couldn’t figure out how it mattered, or why it mattered. To him, it wasn't important. Not much mattered anymore. He looked up from his book and stared out of the window. The night looked so comforting. He hopped off of his bed and put on a hoodie. He walked downstairs and opened the front door immediately in front of him. “Where are you going?” Vanessa asked from the living room.

“I’m going to get something from the store.” Arden said.

“Wait a minute, no you’re not.” Vanessa exclaimed. “Your uncle is going to be here in a few minutes.” Arden ignored her, and walked out the door. He was half way down the front steps when he heard the door open behind him.

“Arden, come back inside please.” Vanessa said, barely controlling her annoyance.

“I told you, I’m going for a walk.” Arden all but yelled to her without turning around. Vanessa ran behind him and grabbed him by his hoodie and swung him around.

“Arden, I know you’ve been through a lot, but I have had it with your attitude. You ignore almost EVERYTHING I say. I told you you’re not going for a walk, and so you’re not.” Vanessa declared, pulling him back.

“Let go of me!” He yelled.

Arden yanked his arm away from her. When she didn’t let go, he pushed her away. Vanessa nearly lost her balance. When she regained her footing, she looked up at Arden in astonishment.

“What is WRONG with you? WHERE IS MY SON?” Vanessa shouted. “Do you even see yourself?”

Arden groaned in frustration.

“Your old son is GONE, okay? This is what’s left of me. Now, excuse me if what I am not isn’t to your liking,” Arden spat. “But I’m trying to put myself back together.  And I CAN’T DO THAT with you wanting me to be someone who’s DEAD!” Arden yelled. He turned and walked away, leaving a very frustrated and hurt Vanessa behind him.

Arden walked down the neighborhood street. He found himself thinking of Grace, and wondered how long he had been. Had he ever not been? He now hated thinking of Grace, but that’s all he could think about. He hated his own thoughts, his own head. He hated how much he missed her. He was even now hating having ever met her. To him, it would have been better if they had never known each other at all. He couldn’t stop missing her like a heartbeat.  He couldn’t stop thinking about her. He couldn’t stop seeing her in everything everywhere he went.  What was worse was that he felt her absence, he felt so lonely without her. The only remedy to that was to think of her. But when he did think of her, it made him remember that she wasn’t there.

 

There was no relief.

 

It began to rain, so Arden put his hood over his head.

Everything reminded him of her. As the small droplets of water sprinkled the pavement, he was reminded of every time he’d been with Grace when it rained. As he walked he remember Grace’s shoes, which shoes did she like? Which did she wear the most often. Her sneakers. He remembered the time she was running with her shoes untied " she tripped and skinned her knee. He had felt it on his own knee. He ran up to her and helped her up. This reminded him of the fact that he could no longer feel her. He only felt his own pain. He began to quietly cry as he walked. As he cried, he remembered when he’d hugged Grace as she cried over a movie they’d both watched together.

 

“Ahem,” He heard. Arden had mainly been watching the sidewalk. He looked up to see if anyone was there, but the sidewalk, and street, were both empty. He turned and looked all around him, but no one was there.

Across the street was a small convenience store. He felt through his pockets and found that he had some change left . He crossed the street and went inside the store. There was only the clerk there, the one he’d seen several times before. The clerk waved at him and Arden nodded back. He walked along the aisles looking for something. He didn’t know what he wanted - a drink, maybe, or a snack.

Arden found himself in front of a shelf of books. He eyed them all briefly, and then he noticed a small section of romance novels. His skin suddenly paled. Stories, some happy, some sad, about fictional characters getting the romance, and love, they want. Stories about people being with the ones they love.

“I love you,” came a female voice on a speaker. Arden looked up and saw a TV mounted on the wall. It was a romantic movie.

“you’re my everything.” The actress finished. She was blonde, like Arden’s Grace. The scene changed to the man, who had dark hair like Arden.

“I know, and I’ll always be here with you. I love you, sweetheart.” The actor said.

Arden’s hands began to shake.

“I know. And it doesn’t matter if you can’t afford a ring. Your love is enough.” The actress said lovingly, wrapping her arms around the man.

“If I love you, I need to take care of you. One of these days I’ll get you a real ring.” He said fervently, leaning down to kiss her.

Arden watched the scene, wondering why they got to be together.

“I’ll always be with you, my love.” The actress said.

Arden’s breathing became shallow. He rapidly inhaled and exhaled. He put his both his hands up to his head and pulled at his hair. He began to pant and groan, and finally let out an agonizing scream.  Tears dripping from his eyes, in a blind, painful rage, and forcefully grabbed onto the shelf in front of him and pushed it over " canned food flew onto the floor and rolled in every direction.

The clerk rushed over to see what was going on, and found a catatonic Ardent sliding down the wall to his knees, crying and yelling.

“WHY?” Arden blubbered. The clerk, shocked, apprehensively walked over to Arden.

“Hey, hey, what’s wrong?”

“She’s gone. She’s gone. Why is she gone.” He cried looking up at the clerk. Arden looked at him beseechingly. The clerk kneeled in front of him.

“Hey, it’s going to be okay.”

Arden grabbed the clerk’s shirt and gently shook him.

“Why was she taken away? Why was she taken away? Can you please tell me why?” Arden begged.

A customer walked in on the scene. It was a woman and she covered her mouth in shock.

“Please, can either of you tell me why she’s gone?” He cried, looking from the woman to the clerk. He put his arms around Arden, and Arden wailed and cried. “Grace!” He cried out in the clerk’s arms.

 

--

Luia Shai, upon realizing I had no idea how much each coin was worth, took the pouch of money from me and paid a coach to take us to the inner part of Taraelia City. We sat in the back of the carriage, the clip clopping of the horses’ hooves sometimes echoing off the buildings on either side of us. Much like a cab, we were separated from the coach by a wooden barrier with a small window in the center, from which I could see the back of his head. I noticed that the coach only went down prestigious, clean-looking areas and roads. I caught glimpses of alleys that were dirty, and had people dressed in rags. I looked at my own clothes, the black satin outfit and my thick fur coat. I guessed we needed to look clean if we were going to get close to the castle. One man, walking close by, had a ripped up top and his arms were exposed. He held himself and caressed his forearms with his hands to warm himself up. I considered giving him my coat " I wished I could. I wondered if Luia Shai, as the former ruler of Tarealia, allowed such disparity, or if it was post Naohin’s takeover. I thought about what I’d do if I was an impress, and how I’d prefer that everyone had something, that no one looked poor. I mentioned my thoughts to her, and she looked at me with understanding eyes.

“It’s not so simple,” Luia Shai began. “Before I came, this was how it was, but much worse, actually.” She nodded down another shabby road with two beggars standing in the way, reaching out with small cups, asking for money. “You can’t force a city to evolve before its time. You can only make nudges here and there. Otherwise, you can destroy the whole society.” She explained.

I wasn’t quite sure I understood what she meant, but I nodded all the same. After  twenty minute ride, we arrived in front of the center of Taraelia. It was a wide, open area, like the square of the center of a city, only circular. We got out of the open carriage " Luia Shai paid the coach, and with a ‘Hiya!’ he road away. There were people setting up chairs in the middle of the huge circular opening.  The castle was much more visible from where we were. It seemed to small, so far away, but now, it looked like hundreds of people could easily fit inside and live comfortably with room to spare. The towers were impressive, and from what I could tell, many of its windows were stained glass. Something peculiar, however, was the fact that some of the windows, which were on the upper part of the castle where the color was dark, the windows were black and shiny, like onyx. We walked into the center, keeping ourselves closest the buildings.

 It was surrounding by obviously highly prestigious shops, each one displaying something different: detailed, gorgeous clothing, weapons of all kinds made of luxuries metals with intricate designs, perfumes and makeup, accessories, ornate saddles and reigns, seeming to have actual gold and jewels on them, and a bookstore with a red sign in the center of the door.

 

“Where exactly are we going?” I asked. We turned down a road, moving away from the center.

“While you were taking your bath, Thurah and I talked about meeting someone. We’ll lie low there until this evening. When it begins to get dark, we’ll make our way to the castle.” Luia Shai said.

We made another turn and walked down a very tight street with red and blue flowers growing up the walls. It was a beautiful sight to behold.

“Who is this person?” I asked.  We stopped in front of a door with a small flower pot hung in the middle, which had purple flowers, similar to wisteria, drooping down the side of the pot.

“A friend who’ll help us get into the castle.” Luia Shai whispered, and then knocked on the door.

A woman, about Luia Shai’s age, wearing a gorgeous green dress opened the door. She had dark black hair, similar to Luia Shai, and a pale complexion.

She looked at us knowingly, and smiled.
“Come in.” She said in a low tone.

We stepped inside, and I was amazed to find that the ceiling was painted black to look like the night sky " stars, the moon, planets, Saturn, or what looked like Saturn. She had chairs and furniture shaped like planets and stars as well, and the large knitted rug was dark blue in color. She looked at me apprehensively.

“It’s okay, Aura. She is a friend. We can speak freely.” Luia Shai said.

“I got your pigeon just in time.” The Aura said. “What is it you need me to do?”

“Aura, we need  to stay here for a bit, until dark.” Luia Shai said. Aura gestured for us to take a seat in her star shaped chairs.

“Of course, you can stay here as long as you need, Impr-“

“SHH!” Luia Shai hushed Aura as we all sat down. 

Aura covered her mouth, blushing.

“I’m sorry. And is there anything else?” Aura asked.

“Yes,” Luia Shai began. “I need to take your place as seamstress in the castle.”

Aura bowed her head.

“Of course, I’ll do whatever you need. What do I have to do?”

“Are you descended from sorcerers, too?” I asked Aura. Luia Shai and Aura both looked at me.

“Um, no, actually. It was my love and adoration for her” Aura gestured to Luia Shai. “That made me immune.

“Grace, please.” Luia Shai said to me, much like my mother would have.

“Aura, take us with you, and if anyone asks, say that we are your apprentices.”

“It’s that easy?” I asked.

“It’s not easy, but it’s doable.” Aura said.

“Yes, servants, help, maids, chefs, seamstresses " they all enter through the back.” Luia Shai said.

“But it is heavily guarded.” Aura said, looking down in despair.

“I know how to forge an official proclamation from the  Impress.” Luia Shai said. “I need parchment. I know what she wants.” Luia Shai said. “Could you fetch some, please?” Luia Shai said to Aura, and she got up to go find some, leaving us alone.

“What is it she wants?” I asked.

“Naohim loves magic, and power of any kind. I have that.” Luia Shai said.

“You have magic?” I said, my mouth opening in surprise.

“Yes, a little. I can make anyone who questions us believe Naohim requested us, personally.” Luia Shai said.

Aura returned with a roll of parchment and a quill. Luia Shai sat down on the floor and unrolled the parchment and began to write.

“How will you having magic, and being a seamstress ensure us?” I questioned.

“Because if I have the ability to manipulate fabrics, and show them, they’ll be more likely to let us through. And besides,” Luia Shai said as she continues writing. “No one really likes to bother Naohim. She’s got a nasty temper.”

“That she does.” Aura agreed. “She’s someone you’re happy to not see at all during your stay at the castle. She usually doesn’t go anywhere the help goes, fortunately.” Aura finished. I pursed my lips.

“And how will they know the parchment isn’t forged?” I asked.

Aura answered for Luia Shai. “She remembers everyone’s handwriting.”

 

 

--

The clerk had called Arden’s mom. Before she had time to arrive, however, Arden ran out of the store. He ran several blocks down the street, in the opposite direction " rain gently drizzling down. He didn’t want to deal with his mother, not right now. He didn’t want to deal with anyone. He knew what his mother would do. He knew that if she saw him like that, her heart would break for him, and not only that, but she’d look at him, he knew she would, she’d look at him with shame, disappointment, and again, wonder to herself what was wrong with her son, and that she wanted the old version of him back.

 

He did too.

 

But he knew he wasn’t going to get who he was back. He knew he wasn’t going to be who his mother, or anyone, wanted him to be. He knew, in some way, he wasn’t coming back. Not only was he not coming back, but neither was she. She was him, he was her. He thought it ironic. He left when she did.

He broke his sprint and walked down a dark graveled alley, surrounded by trees. It was a road he and Grace had walked down before once. She and he had walked down nearly every path, every road, every street. They’d explored everything together. It was dark, and somehow, the dark soothed him. As he walked, in front of him, in the darkness, he heard footsteps. He stopped and squinted his eyes, trying to see who it was. He saw the shadow of a person moving in a strangely fluid manner. Slowly, the approached, and came out of the darkest part of the alley, closest to him. It was a woman. She seemed to be wearing a long, black cloak. Something about it seemed liquid. Her whole body was covered in a tight, black dress, which frayed out at her feet. She slowly danced elegantly, rhythmically, coming closer and closer to him. He backed away, still unable to make out her face. He noticed her sleeves were long and reached down to her knee area, and flowed around her like water as she spread her arms out and danced. Arden felt so strange. Some odd, inexplicable feeling came over him. His surroundings dimmed until even the street lamps on either side of the street were but a faint glow.