Elizabeth Rose woke with a start. She relaxed as she remembered where she was. She was at her Aunt’s house for the weekend. There were going to be fireworks the following night, or was it tomorrow? She had spent her Julys here for the past few years with her family. In fact, her mom was sleeping in the bunk bed above her with her dad and Wade in the one across.
She wasn’t sure whether it was still night or morning. Rousing again, she felt something strange. Could it be a slight pressure on her arm; or maybe her waist? Doggedly keeping her eyes clamped shut, Elizabeth Rose awoke yet again. She studied the amount of pressure trying to determine where it was coming from, who it was coming from. She peaked open her eyes, raptly staring at his arm. She studied the nails on the hand, grubby and unclean. Whoever it was suffered from heathenism, it was barbaric; yet disgustingly familiar.
In her futile attempt at escape, she began to inch away from him, sliding one vertebrae forwards at a time. However, it was useless, he kept inching himself closer, closing the small division between them. She felt dirty under his touch, she knew this was wrong. Unable to breathe she focused on a tree just outside the window. It had a small trunk that branched off into five separate branches. The leaves were small and oval like with a sharp tip at the point. The veins were distinct and Elizabeth Rose felt as if she could feel her blood pumping through the tree. Almost as if she was grafted to the tree, it was easier than being her.
Yet she could not be the tree forever, she must return to her body. She pretended to awaken saying “Wade, why are you in my bed?”
Wade whispered, “My bed was too hot, yours is right in front of the fan.”
Shocked she replied, “Go back to your own bed!”
“Wanna wrestle?” the voice called to her. It was a disgusting call; the kind that made the hair on the back of a person’s neck stand up. She had no idea what he could mean. They often wrestled as children however, he was bigger than her, and she never won. Was he still implying their child’s play game? Or was it something much darker. She felt her self being assimilated into another world, a world where no was safe or could be trusted.
“No, go to bed, your own bed.” Elizabeth Rose said weakly, as her vision began to flutter and then disappear into a world of blackness, a world of numbness.
She dreamed she was in a castle gazing out over the bastion that protected her castle from evil doers. Yet the evil prince’s soldiers kept trying to knock down her door. She could do nothing about it but pretend to still be in control. How could she even know if the soldiers were acting upon orders or whether the prince was just neglecting his duties, dozing rather than ruling? She would barricade herself within her chambers. If no one could enter, then no one could do any harm. If her subjects knew, it would destroy her kingdom. There would never be peace again. The Princess was not a vain girl. She thought that by detaining her worries within herself they might eventually disappear as long as no one found out. The attacking army would never have to be vindicated and Princess Elizabeth Rose’s kingdom would always remain pure and whole.