The Dungeon That's Disguised as a Castle

A young girl finds herself regretting her decisions.

“The Dungeon That's Disguised as a Castle” (422)

 

My hair trails across the pillow and curls around the edge. I make sure none of the curls are tucked behind my head or under the pillow and then I pull out my makeup bag. With a few rubs of makeup remover, the black smudges disappear and with a few lines of eyeliner, I'm able to look pretty again.

 

The door creaks open and I push my makeup back into my duffel bag.

 

He stands in the door frame still shirtless and his blonde hair sticking up in the back. From here, his eyes look black and not the dark green I had found so attractive the other day when I snuck into the bar.

 

The sheets rub against my naked skin when I turn to meet his eyes and I smile at him when a part of the sheet moves down to reveal my breasts. He smirks at my nakedness and begins undressing again. I stop the urge to wiggle down into the sheets while he examines me. Even after the two days I've spent here, I can't meet his eyes when he's not covered up.

 

He moves into the bed and lays his body on top of mine and grabs my wrists, pushing them above my head. I turn my head as he buries his into my shoulder.

 

There's a window next to the bed and the first few flakes of winter are falling under the streetlights. Once upon a time, I would run out at night when there was a full moon in the field behind my house. I never needed a flashlight because the moon would be so bright on the white of the snow. I would build a snowman and call him my prince. There would be stories about the adventures we went on and then at sunset, how we fell in love. Even at that age, I thought about running away to fall in love, but I didn't want to leave my dad and step-mom. It would feel like hours before she would come out to call me in. I would sit in my snow cave giggling until she pulled on some boots to come find me and sit behind the lump of snow too.

 

“Come on Emiline, it's time to come inside. I have hot chocolate to warm you up again.”

 

He groans in my ear. I watch the snow continue to fall that will melt by morning. I only wince when he wraps his hand around the bruises on my arm.

Author's Note

A short piece I've been working on. Any suggestions would be helpful.