YOU

Hello.

Hello.

HELLO!

Well, don’t answer me, but don’t think I don’t know that you are there watching me. Listening, or rather reading, every thought, every movement, and seeing into my future, waiting for my tragic demise. How disgusting that this, my world, is merely your entertainment. I am sure you are wondering how I figured out that YOU were there, ever present in my waking and dreaming moments.

Excellent, now that I have your attention, expectantly, you will read this and vanish from my life, but alas, that may bring about my demise. In that I shall find solace. You are wondering how I know about YOU, don’t be so cocky. YOU made it easier for me because I was a mere shadow in the pages of my own life. You see, it is obvious what you are thinking, 'how did I become aware of this world and its governing,' and now you are thinking, 'who is on the other end.'

Live in that realization for a moment, as I have, but sadly, I will never get the answers that we all crave

Do you remember the fable of the vampire princess and the human she was fated to fall in love with? Or the Princess and the werewolf? Or any fairy tale princess story?

I’ll wait….

Right, I am not the princess or the fated human or werewolf. I am what you people refer to as the antagonist. The nemesis, the combatant, the archenemy, the ill-wisher, and so on and so forth. I am the princess’s second runner-up, but I get no consolation prize or participation ribbon.

I SHOULD HAVE BEEN KING!

My apologies, we are not here for my rage.

Do you remember me now? YOU rooted for my quietus, my downfall. YOU read and hoped that I wouldn’t get what I wanted simply because YOU knew that the story wasn’t about me. Now I understand not only was I the background love interest, I was also a background character for YOU. Not worth the memory space. But now you are intrigued, now you want to know how I see YOU.

I guess I will tell you.

“Marcella, but I truly love you. How could you choose that filthy mortal over me?!?”

“Lucian, I didn’t choose him… fate did.”

YOU remember this line, as saccharine and vapid as it was, I said it and got chopped down by the princess’s response. And YOU read, happily excited that Marcus, what’s his name, had received the title of fated lover. All the while putting me out of your mind so much so that I all but faded from the pages you read.

“Marcella, you will regret doing this to me, you and your mortal loving father!”

“Guards, take Lucian to the dungeon at once!”

YOU all cheered as the “VILLAIN” was hauled off to the dungeon, never to see the light of day. And for what? For having ambition and goals, for loving a woman I wasn’t allowed to. Or for merely being that character that is meant to fail? I cannot fathom what kind of world YOU live in where mortal or immortal alike can just be tossed aside and forgotten. Where the desires of one outweigh those of another simply because of some unseen entity called fate. Does this not disgust YOU like it does I? Alas, I digress in my frustration, but I will continue if YOU are still a captive audience. YOU are, of course, how could YOU not be, as we remember, my world and I are just fantasy and make-believe things for your entertainment.

“Lucian, I am so sorry. I did not mean for it to end like this. I begged Father to release you or even keep you in the dungeon forever. I did not want you dead.”

“Be gone, Marcella, be gone!”

Even now, as I remember, at this very moment, tears well within the corners of my eyes. My blood boils, and my heart aches. But YOU only saw me getting in the way of her love. And YOU only saw the pain she was in. I am but an impediment to their happily ever after.

“Today is the day we open the gates, and we lay waste to one of our own who has transgressed upon this kingdom and its future Queen. Lucian, house of Gregorian, do you have any final words?”

“I will not die here today, I will ascend, and all will be made to repent this transgression upon me.”

“BLASPHEMY!”

“TRAITOR!”

“BURN!”

I want YOU to know I wasn’t scared. I truly believed I could ascend to the heavens and bestow retribution. Ha, ha, ha, a fool I was, and YOU could see it, but YOU didn’t care at all. Why is my anger red hot right now? Why can’t I let go of this revelation? The truth is that if I had been the main character, you would never have read the story. I am coming to understand that the villain always loses, which is how YOU define villainy. I wish I could see if your world is full of villains. Or if you've locked them all away, or have you opened the gates and laid waste to them? Pray, tell me, what would I find in your world?

The fire consumed me, but I continued to hear, see, touch, taste, and smell. I was dead, no longer a part of the words on the page, but I was still conscious. I was more alive than I'd ever been in the words on the pages. I was more aware of who I was, but suddenly I could see YOU still rapidly turning a page, trying to reach the end you so desperately wanted to see. I watched YOU seeing everything unfold from the margins where I resided. In the shadows of every letter, I lurked, watching YOU, trying to comprehend what I was and what YOU... were. Off the pages, I could hear crying, the crying of a princess trapped, but she didn’t know it. Her soul that lay within the margins knew but couldn’t comprehend the depth. I heard the mortal wailing in pain and suffering. Neither, free to be who they want to be; both, tortured to reside in the world of YOUR creation. A world of make-believe and fate.

It's unfortunate that your characters are made to cry and suffer every time another one of YOU reads their story, but I just wait for the moment when death ushers me back to the land of consciousness. Where I devise a way to maintain myself in the margins of your abhorrent entertainment. But as always, I dictate the lines as prescribed, and then I die unfulfilled, and still...

I know YOU watch us.

I know you are why we repeat the lies.

I know YOU are why we can’t be free.

One mistake was made; you paid too little attention to the characters you tossed away. I'll be seeing you....