The Mysterious Town Called Locurhts

Louisa was one of the 100 single women in Locurhts. She had one big difference between them and her. She did not want to be the one marrying the prince. This year Prince Alec would be in line to marry and take the throne to become the new king. All the single women would be forced to take part in the Marriage Trials. The Marriage Trials were a series of tests that the single women in Locurhts had to take when their prince was to be married. Most women swooned and fell for the prince trying their hardest to become his wife, but Louisa was different. Louisa wanted to be single and get away from her small town by traveling the world. She was going to leave the year after she graduated from high school, but her father had become ill. Louisa and her father had a special connection. Her mother died from leukemia when she was only four. Her father has been raising her as a single parent since that day. After she graduated high school he was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma which is a type of cancer. She has stayed by his side ever since. It has been four years since he was diagnosed and her father is on his deathbed. Knowing her only close relative was about to die was very hard on Louisa. To make matters worse she had to compete in the Marriage Trials. The town of Locurhts was a very traditional town they did the same Marriage Trials as were made over 500 years ago. Louisa was a modern girl living in a traditional town. To her and the rest of society, the Marriage Trials were a sexist and demeaning game that they used to make a fool of women while finding the prince someone to marry. Louisa was trying to find a way out of it and that's why she was headed to the town officials house today. The town officials were also known as Betty and Jacob Livehorn. They were in charge of the Marriage Trials in Locurhts. Louisa lived a block away from them and was heading to their house before she had to go to work. Louisa started politely thanking them for taking the time to talk to her. The conversation started great and everything was going well, so Louisa was sure they were going to allow her to not participate in the Marriage Trials, and when Louisa was done they thanked her for her time and walked her to the door. The response to her question they gave flabbergasted Louisa. They said no! Louisa's face was as easy to read as a terrible poker player's face. She screamed at them," What do you mean!" Betty told her that it wasn't up to them whether or not she had to attend and that it was law. Louisa left their place fuming. How dare they waste her time just to tell her it was the law to attend. On October 13 like the other 99 women that were single, Louisa went to the palace at 8:15 sharp. At the beginning of each Marriage Trial, each woman is sworn into secrecy. This is why most people outside of the town, Locurhts despise the Mariage Trials, but can't do anything to stop it. Once you are sworn into secrecy you are not allowed to talk at all about the Marriage Trials. On this October 13th, it was chilly and Louisa remembered vividly there was a light rain and the sky was pitch black. Louisa felt like she was walking into her death. Most of the women were wearing their finest dresses made of silk, but Louisa decided to wear a plain blouse and skirt. After they were sworn in they entered the common area. The knight named Leo would be their guide and host during all of this. They weren't allowed to see the prince until the final rounds. The first round of the Marriage Trial began the very day she entered the palace. Before they started the round Leo told them the rules and what all was going to happen. There would be ten rounds and once you made it to the eighth round you would meet Prince Alec. Each round tested you on things that are needed to become a future queen. The first round was all about manners and how to be a woman. When Louisa heard this she scoffed in her mind and thought," What pigs these people are." Each rounds time varied and ten people were cut each round. You were not allowed to leave the castle unless you were cut. Louisa thought this was a bit extreme, and now seriously worried because she knew she needed to see her father. It was now her mission to get the hell out of this place. The first round was about manners so she decided she would just not have any manners. Secretly the prince was the judge which none of them knew. He watched them in disguise since nobody knew what he looked like. This was another weird law in their town. The prince was not allowed to be seen or known until he becomes the king. Well, Prince Alec has always hated being a prince. He didn't want them picking his bride he wanted to, and he wanted to fall in love not have some woman picked from the Marriage Trials. When he saw Louisa he realized she was different. During the manners portion, all the girls were on their best behavior, not speaking unless spoken to and all that jazz. Except for Louisa. Louisa was talkative and to the prince didn't seem to care about the rules. It was a surprise to the king when Prince Alec chose to have Louisa pass the round. It was a surprise to Louisa too. Louisa was confused as she had acted like a terrible guest on purpose. That's when she realized that someone was watching them. When she figured this out she snuck away from the group and found him. She upright asked if he was the judge. Prince Alec liked how upfront she was and decided to tell her he was. Louisa asked how in the world she was still in the competition. Prince Alec was a little surprised and said," Don't you want to compete." Louisa laughed she then explained how her father was ill and she wanted to see him along with the fact she thought these competitions demeaned women in general. Prince Alec agreed with her which made Louisa confused. Prince Alec told Louisa that he was not allowed to pick who could leave ( this was a clear lie) but that he would try and help her see her father at night. Louisa wondered why he would help her. The truth was Prince Alec wanted to help her but he also thought she was an amazing girl and wanted to marry her or at least date her. Louisa asked if she could leave and never come back. At this moment Prince Alec did something a little selfish. He told her that she needed to stay if she wanted her dad to stay at the hospital for free. The truth was it didn't matter once she escaped he could have told everyone she was a random cut. The truth he later found out it was dangerous for her to be in the palace. That night they came up with a plan for her to leave the next day without being caught. She was going to dress up as one of their maids picking up groceries and leave the castle when she got to the hospital she would say that her dad was a family friend of the king and she was supposed to give him a gift. Once she got in she would reveal herself to her father and stay with him for a little while. Then she would head back to the palace and they would keep doing that every other day. The next night Prince Alec gave her the maid uniform when he handed it to her she realized something. She didn't know his name. When she asked him Prince Alec thought quick on his feet and said, Thomas. Louisa thanked "Thomas" and quickly changed and got ready. She passed the guards with no problem and headed to the hospital. The people at the hospital bought her story and she went to see her father. It was a beautiful moment and even though he could no longer talk they smiled together for awhile. Louisa held his hand and kissed his forehead and then he smiled and took his last breath. Louisa cried herself to sleep that night but was thankful she got to be there for his last moments on Earth. The next day she told Prince Alec and thanked him for helping her see him. At this moment Prince Alec knew he could no longer lie to her. He told her he was the prince and his real name was Alec. Louisa was extremely shocked and could not believe this was true. She didn't know what to think and left him immediately. He called for her to come back but with tears welling up in her eyes she fled to her room. When she got to her room she was confused as to why she was crying. Wasn't this the same guy who helped her to leave? Why was she so upset? She then realized she was developing feelings for him. Feelings for a guy who was part of the awful way they treat women. Now she knew she had to get over him and try to escape again. She had made it to the third round and things were starting to get more intense. The only reason she had stayed was to keep her father in the hospital and to see Thomas. Now that she knew Thomas aka Prince Alec was a fake and a traitor she knew she needed to plan an escape. She hatched a plan later that night while everyone was asleep. The next night was when they would decide who the ten women that are cut would be. Louisa knew Prince Alec would keep her so she decided she would switch places with a woman that looked similar to her. By the time they realized she would be long gone from this twisted town. The next night she started with her plan. She convinced Sia a woman of the same age that looked similar to her to switch with her. Louisa was about to make her escape when a guard realized she was not one of the people who were cut. Her plan had failed and she wasn't sure how she was going to leave now. Prince Alec tried to talk to her, but Louisa refused. Later Prince Alec learned what happened to the women of the final five round. They were now on their sixth-round and the king told him what was to happen. The final five rounds revealed secrets abut the palace that could never get out. Therefore the final five groups of people that didn't make it couldn't go back into the public in case they revealed their secrets. Instead, they were all killed. When Prince Alec heard this he was torn with anger and fear. He screamed in rage at his father asking him why they couldn't just work at the palace or be sent to live in another town. The king sat him down and told him there were some things even Prince Alec didn't know and secrets that were too important to ever have a chance of getting out. Prince Alec asked him what these secrets were. His father sat him down and told him all of them and as Prince Alec heard him his face grew in fear and anger. Some of these things are too terrible for even me to know. Once Prince Alec heard all these things he knew he must get Louisa out of here. Not only are there terrible things to come or the final five rounds it wasn't Prince Alec's chose in the final round. He knew he couldn't risk anything happening to Louisa. He loved her too much so he decided to cut her off in the sixth round. When Louisa found out she was overjoyed but confused. She thought that Prince Alec would never let her leave and even though she was happy she knew she would miss him. As she was leaving she decided she would try to find Prince Alec and say goodbye. She saw him and thanked him for setting her free he told her that it was only fair. Louisa left but as she was leaving she overheard a couple of high-level guards talking about how there was a rumor the prince let go his true love because he didn't want her to die like the others. Louisa asked the guards what they were talking about and they told her exactly what the king had told the prince. Louisa couldn't believe Alec would do that for her. She knew she couldn't leave him so she pretended like she was leaving but snuck back in through the side door. While she was sneaking back in to find Alec she overheard the king talking to who she thought was one of the advisors. What she heard terrified her. The king was talking to a man named Emmanuel. They were going over a plan they had made. When it came to the final round Emmanuel was going to kill Alec. They were going to pretend it was someone from outside the palace who shot him. Pretend to be sad and then a month later announce that their younger son Jake would be taking over asking. It turns out that Alec was not the king's son. The queen had an affair and refused to give away the baby. Not wanting to look weak the king pretended Alec was his child but has despised him ever since. Not even Alec knows he's not the king's actual son. Jake was a kid that was the king's child and who he wanted to become the king after him. Not wanting to displease his wife he knew that Alec's death had to look like murder from outside the palace. Louisa could not believe her ears. She knew she couldn't let the guy who was willing to lose his happiness for her safety to die. She was also realizing she was starting to catch feelings for him. The only way to save Alec was to pretend to still be in the challenge to tell him what's going on. When Alec saw she was back in the area with al the women he was confused. He pulled her aside and asked her what she was doing here. She told him she couldn't explain it yet, but he had to trust her. Alec was worried for her but knew he just needed to trust her. Over the next couple of weeks, Louisa learned all about what was going to happen. There was a special place the prince was supposed to stand and a certain thing he was supposed to wear. Emmanuel had never seen the prince so he would kill the man in a purple jacket. Louisa decided it was too risky to explain what was happening to Alec. If she did it could comprise his safety. Louisa made it to the final round and it was the day came for the coronation. At the coronation, they would find out who the queen was going to be and this was when Alec was supposed to be killed. Louisa saw Emmanuel and knew what she had to do. Emmanuel had a dagger and was coming up to Alec. Louisa ran to him and passed through all the people. Right as Emmanuel was about to put the dagger into his heart Louisa pushed Alec out of the way. The dagger was lodged into Louisa side. Alec and all the guards quickly seized Emmanuel. At the moment the king was starting to make a run for it, and that's when Alec realized the king was trying to kill him. He screamed at the guards to seize the king. Both Emmanuel and the king were put in jail. Louisa was rushed to the hospital and she was losing blood fast. The doctors performed emergency surgery on her but it wasn't enough to save her. When the doctors told Alec he fell to his knees weeping. He was devasted the love of his life was dead. At this moment the queen spoke to Alec. She told him how she had an affair and that Alec wasn't the king's son. The queen said she didn't realize how much it had hurt her husband and how she was truly sorry. Alec now understood what had happened. He knew that they couldn't have these terrible secrets and things like this going on in Locurhts any longer. When he became King he started to fix Locurhts. He told everyone all of the secrets and the terrible things that had happened, built a memorial in honor of all the women who died for no good reason, and started Locurhts on the course to becoming a better town.