A Change in Time

We all sit in our chairs, waiting for the time to pass. Minutes feel like hours, everyone is anxious. No one knows why the Queen has sent us to wait in the church.  The guards came to the main square, where most of the children were, and told them the Queen wanted us all to go to the church as soon as possible, telling us that our parents would meet us there. I bend my neck to see Joan next to Malachi. I’m alone on the bench, none of my friends chose to sit next to me, knowing that I’m terrible at comforting them. I tilt my head up to stare at the ceiling. It’s painted dark blue with white little specks that are very small, compared to the size of this whole church, it seems that they were trying to make the picture seem like the night sky. We only come in here for public announcements, nothing religious is taught in here.

The banner goes off and everyone goes silent suddenly. Everyone stands up as the Queen walks down the aisle. The Queen’s posture is straight, as she has been taught to do as she walks. She dresses it a light blue, like the color of a cloudless sky. Right behind her is Kele, the young princess, in a light pink dress; the color almost looks faded.  Kele is the Queen’s daughter, she’s about 7 years old. Everyone sits on the benches as Kele takes her spot at the top post next to her mother. 

“The Queen has some news,” a loud voice boomed through the room. “The Queen has some very sad news, all who rebels and tries to harm to the Queen will immediately be taken away.” The Queen nods her head at the soldier. I notice that her eyes are red, as if she had been crying. The Queen takes a step forward and smiles sadly.

“H-Hello. I have some terrifying news to tell,” she pauses, takes a deep breath and continues, “The prince was killed. He was on his weekly hunt with guards and had wandered off by a noise, telling the guards he’d be back soon.

“But he took too long. The guards went to check on him to find his body lying in the grass, the horse he was riding was gone. He had a slit throat and-and…” She looks me straight in the eyes and turns away. Kele looks up at her mother, twirling her blond hair. The princess took most of the features of the King, with her blond hair, chubby cheeks, flat chin. The Queen looks back at me and dabs her teary eyes.  

“Kele is too young to take the crown and I need someone to take control, to rule quickly, I want the public to vote on who should be the next princess out of the following: Joan Nice, Genesis Whig, Summer Shay, Destiny Ourchander, Leia Charge and Vivian Carter. These girls have been chosen by the Royal Ballet. But it’s not just a princess we need, we also need a prince. Jace Desfroy, Chase Change, Kohhan Lemon, Lennon Gredert and Wilson Walt. These men have also been chosen. The vote will be later today, my guards will come and will ask for your opinion on who should rule you next.” She looks at me dead straight in the eye. “And make a good choice, you don’t want to have the wrong person to make a great decision.”

The Royal Ballet

“The results are in! Everyone get in the main square!” Whatever the rest of the soldier said was muffled out by the young women screeching hoping they got the results right, hoping they voted for the right person. I run into the alleyway and take a few turns to make it to the edge of the main square. Bad memories have happened here for many families, whipping, beheading, and cuttings. Kele is posted by her mother, as usual, but she looks at her mother differently, like she did something sneaky. 

“Earlier I had made an announcement that the prince was killed in a hunt. I also said that we would have a vote for the next prince and princess. The results have come in and I will be telling you now,” she pauses and takes two notes from her daughter. She opens one and looks up at the crowd. “I would like to say first who the new prince is. The new prince's name is Kohhan Lemon. Kohhan, please come up, show your face to your people. Make them know that you're their new prince.” She smiles as a boy with blond hair and brown eyes walks up to her side, smiling shyly.

“I would also like to say who the new princess is, I don’t want to waste any time. The new princess,” she pauses and looks straight at Destiny and smiles, “I would like to say the new princess is-” I block out the name, knowing it was not me. The crowd goes silent and then I hear Malikai clap profusely and very loudly, staring straight at me. Then the Queen speaks again. 

“I said that the new princess is Vivian. Can she please come up to me and face her people or-” She breaks off as I slowly take my way up the stairs, face down, ashamed of being called twice. I get up to the stage and I look up to see the whole town staring back at me. Demetrius, Malachai and Joan staring back at me. I start to smile, my shy, pathetic, smile and the Queen gives me a disgusted look. Joan gives me a thumbs up and Demetrius shrugs, noting that I’ll be fine. Kele walks over to stand next to me. The Queen was about to say something but notices that the princess has moved spots. Kele looks up from her thumb that she was sucking up stares at every girl that had not been chosen to be princesses.

“I would like to say that these two people-Kohhan Lemon and Vivian have been chosen for a reason, they have been good choices, from what you voted. I saw both of them doing good acts, Kohhan helping others and Vivian helping the old and incapable people. Be proud that these will be our future King and Queen.” She smiles and laughs to herself with the thought. I turn to look at Kohhan.

“What does she mean?” Kohhan Lemon shrugs his shoulders. Maybe Kele doesn’t understand what’s going on, what the situation is. Kele has gone anywhere her mother had gone, she couldn’t have messed up. Kele would be the Queen, not me, I can’t rule the kingdom, I would ruin everything. The guards take us away as the crowd is staring at us silently as we walk away. They take us into a carriage pulled by white horses. Only the royal’s and rich’s are pulled by white horses. 

“Ugh, I can not take this stress any longer. Now please sweet little Kele, go with the others in their cart for now, I don’t want to be near anyone on the ride home.” The Queen drapes her hand on her forehead as she climbs into the carriage. We get ushered into the carriage and Kele follows and sits down, the door closing and being locked. 

“They lock the door because one time I tried to jump out. Luckily, the cart wasn’t moving fast and I just got a little dirty.” Kele laughs to herself and I sneak a look at Kohhan Lemon, he shrugs. We sit in silence for a long time till Kohhan Lemon breaks it.

“Does the Queen usually get headaches like she had today? I never saw her act that way.” Kele tilts her head in thought. She frowns a smile that reminds me of her father.

“My mother is a very bad lair, isn’t she. I don’t believe a word she says. She’s always ‘sick’ or ‘busy running the kingdom’ but I think she’s doing something, something she doesn’t want her own daughter to know.” She stares straight into my eyes, “You know that you, Viv, weren’t really chosen to be the Queen. You got the least votes, Destiny was actually chosen but I changed the results so you would be the Queen.” She smiles. I look at Kohhan Lemon, who looks mortified.

“What do you mean you changed the results?” Kohhan Lemon looks down at his hands, twisting a silver ring on his hand. The ring has some sort of design my eye couldn’t quite catch. Anger starts boiling in my body.

“So you took me from my friends, my Family just to put me in place of you? Do you know that you just ruined my life? Now I won’t be able to see my friends because of you now.” I look out of the window, already homesick.

“You will see your friends, you know. I can request them to work at the palace whenever you want. They can live here if you want, but my mom can’t know that they're going to be here. She doesn’t really like visitors and doing this whole vote was like ripping something out of her body. She’s so dramatic.”

I see a small movement outside by a tree. As the carriage passes the tree I try to shift my body so I can see. The figure has a dark red cloak with the hood up. I couldn’t see the face. 

“What’s wrong Vivian? Is the seat too uncomfortable?” Kele looks at me and then looks out the window. As I stare at her, I notice her features. She has dirty blond hair that falls with perfect waves. She has nice rosy cheeks, on her very pretty face. She has this sort of feeling that she’s fragile, like porcelain. I also noticed that she seems to favor grey dresses. All of my friends would hate to have her so close to me, especially Malachi. I heard once that he tried to kill the princess. I’m not so sure though because he loves telling stories. Just thinking of his stories reminds me of my other friend, Demetrius, who always told Malachi to shut his mouth. Demetrius was also an assassin. When he was little his parents were killed. Since that day he declared revenge on whoever killed his parents. The last of my friends was Joan. She was a very interesting friend, and if I had to pick my favorite friend it would be her. Joan is a ‘lady’ of another kingdom. Although she doesn’t dress and act like she is. She knows how to hunt, write, dance, and read. I remember when we were young she would read me stories because I couldn’t read them myself. 

As the carriage passes by time, it rumbles on the streets. Our kingdom didn’t have much after the prince was killed: the streets were always filled with trash and guards, cobblestone roads chipping away, always closed doors. When the prince died, so did the life in the town.