Change of Heart

I was awoken by a large clattering noise, my vision blurry and my body feeling too heavy.  I laid on the cold, wet floor of my jail cell, my silver hair released from its usual tight bun, my locks draping over my shoulders and floor.  A shadow was cast over me, and a figure came into my view.

“Princess Tianshi of Haiyang-Shui, Prince Saqr demands your presence.”  The man said to me, and I let out a heavy breath.  He opened my cell and walked in, grabbing me roughly by the arm and hauling me to my feet, then pushing me out the door.  We walked down the hall, up the stairs, out of the dungeon, more winding hallways, then outside into the blinding light.  We walked across the hot sand, my bare feet burning as I stumbled along.  For being a neighboring country of Haiyang-Shui, although my country is an island, Arvin is dry desert.  How an empire was able to flourish here was beyond me. 

My guard pushed me along, until we finally came to the palace, where I was sure to meet my enemy.  More walking and we finally entered.  The cool, marble floor was haven to my feet, and it gave me goose bumps.  We walked into the throne room, sitting in his lavish throne, was the prince.  I tried to give him a hateful glare, but I doubted he saw it.  We approached the prince, and my guard forced me to my knees.  I stumbled to the floor, my dirtied robes pooling around me on the marbled floor.  I looked up, before me was the Prince of Arvin, the country that had just conquered my own. 

The prince stood up, the guards bowing and backing away, to give him room.  He approached me, a playfully sly smile on his lips, his golden eyes observing me carefully.  “So, you’re the princess of Haiyang-Shui?  When my warriors told me about you before we attacked, they described a fragile little girl who was rather skilled at healing, however…”  He said to me as he circled me slowly.  “On the battlefield, my soldiers described something of a demon to me.  A girl with silver hair, absolutely slaughtering my men.  You cannot possibly be the same girl.  You are… Much too feeble.”  He said with a chuckle, and he knelt down in front of me.  “But this hair color is not common for your people, isn’t it.”  He grabbed my hair roughly and I let out a whimper involuntarily. 

“How sad it must be for you.  To be a descendent of the angels, to be worshipped all your life, only to have your own people turn their backs on you.”  I glared at him, and then I saw it.  His hair, from afar, seemed black, but up close it was a dark purple color, like plums.  He was a descendent of the angels as I was!  “My people didn’t betray me!”  I shouted at him.  He laughed, a warm, lovely laugh, and let go of my hair.

He stood up walking back to his throne, inspecting the swords hung up beside the seat.  “Yes they did.  After I received word of a single force about to obliterate my army, I rushed in.  I found you easily, standing in the middle of a war zone, covered in blood, laughing hysterically, not in your right mind… But that wasn’t you, was it?”  He questioned me.  “I have no idea what you are talking about!  I set up defenses to protect my people, but after doing that for several days, I…” I hesitated; I did not want to admit that I had passed out after several days of no sleep, barely eating, to protect my people.  I was so ashamed of myself.

The prince waved it off.  “Yes, yes, of course.  But I believe you are something not human, and something not angelic.  That person I saw, it was your body, but not you.  And never before had I had such an epic battle!  You even forced me into flight, forced me to use my angelic powers!  No human has ever forced me into such a position.  And for that, I suppose I’ll have to kill you on my own.”  He said casually, stretching out his arms.  I reeled, my blue eyes growing wide, mouth gone dry.  Kill me?  No, no… I refuse.  “If you intend to kill me, then release me from these ropes!”  I shouted, my mind rushing, thinking of an escape plan.  “Ah, yes, but see, what I have learned in my hundred and seventy years of life, is to not toy with your enemy.  It may not be honorable, but it gets that job done quicker.”  He said as he drew his curved sword.

Panic grew inside me, my heart pounding, and cold sweat running down my back.  He walked towards me, and I attempted to stand, but only ended up pushing myself down back to the floor, scooting back on my behind.  Gaining on me, gaining on me, he stalked towards me.  Running out of ideas, I rolled over, to try to push myself up to my knees, but I realized that my wings were completely unbound!  I untucked them, and began to flap them as fast as I could, kicking up wind and dust within the room.  The prince began to laugh.  “Try to fly away, little bird, you will not get far!”  He shouted at me.  With my arms bound, I wouldn’t be able to fly away from him for very long.  What would I do, I’m going to die here, but I can’t… I can’t, I was going to take care of my country, for centuries upon centuries, until my death.  I can’t let it end here!

A gargled scream erupted from my throat as a great pain struck through my skull, like my head was being ripped open.  I fell to the floor, the coldness soothing me in some way, and my vision went black.

                A laugh, cold and cruel, escaped Tianshi’s lips.  It grew louder and louder, the prince gripped his sword tightly, readying himself for the demon’s battle.  Shifting and struggling, the girl stood to her feet, flames erupting around her, burning the ropes that bound her.  Her arms fell to her side, and looked around herself lazily.

                “Ah, I see I’m in the palace of,” Her gaze fell on Prince Shaqr.  “Prince Shaqr, how nice to see you again after you rammed that sword into my lower intestines.  You must have been very merciful to take me into your care and allow my other-self to heal our body, but trust me, I won’t be.”  She stalked around the prince, never breaking eye contact.  The prince stood ready for an attack, ready to defend at any moment.  “My weaker other-self would probably fight you if she could, but she’s too soft.”  She grabbed a sword off the wall.  “You’ll find that we are very different, she and I.  I’ll make sure to completely crush you, and hold your head to your subjects and reclaim my country from you.”  She took her stance, lunged, and red blood was splattered across the marble floor.
Based off a dream I had a while back.

Made for a Modern Princess

Every morning, I wake up to the twinkling tune of my alarm clock.  I swipe my phone, turning off the alarm.  I sit up, stretching, my long, light purple hair falling over my bare shoulders.  I turn and nearly throw myself out of my bed, heart beginning to pound from being asleep to suddenly having to get up and walk around.  I stood up, pulling down my shorts that had ridden up my waist as I slept.  I walked out into the kitchen, the wooden floor cold against my bare feet.  Still very groggy, I pulled out a bowl and filled it with bran cereal and filled it with soy milk.  I ate quickly, I still had to do my hair and makeup, and then finally get dressed.  I finished my breakfast and put the bowl away.  I went to the bathroom, straightening my hair and applying light makeup.  I always felt better after putting on makeup, it seemed to make my face look softer, more gentle, and much less rough and manly.  After a final look, I left and returned to my room.  I waded through the cloths hung up in my closet, and since it was Monday, I decided to dress up rather nicely.  I pulled out a nice light pink dress and laid it on the bed.  I removed my pajamas, and put on my fabric bra, stuffing it with gel inserts, making my flat chest have some feminine curve to it.  After some adjusting, tucking and pulling, I finally got myself to how I wanted it; I grabbed the dress and pulled it on.  Pulling my hair out from the inside of the dress, I fluffed it up, adjusted my dress, grabbed my brown suede shoes and pulled them on my feet.  I grabbed my backpack and walked out the door to my car.  Opening up the back seat door and threw my backpack in side, closed the door and climbed into the driver’s seat.  I started up the car and pulled out of the drive way.  The first day of school was always fun for me, all the new students staring at me, wondering if I was a boy or girl.  Jokes on them, I’ll never tell them, because I never stay one gender for very long. 

Connecting Lines Story

To my love, Violet

I write this to you sitting in the kitchen sink.  Whose sink is it?  I wish I could tell you.  I wish I could.  But that person is dead now, dead in his own room.  For now I am staying at his house until the Corporation picks me up and takes me back to the Base.  I miss you so much, even though I have no memories of you.  I know I probably say that a lot in these letters, but I wish I could meet you.  At least once.  But it would be useless, wouldn’t it?  I would meet you, only to have my memory wiped by the Corporation for my next job.  I keep all of the letters I write to you, the letters I receive from you along with anything else on the Online Storage System.  The OSS is very convenient, isn’t it?  Whenever I wake up, knowing only my job occupation, waiting for them to give me another name, I see my arm, and the scar I carved into my own flesh.  “Go to the OSS” it reads.  I go and open it up, only having to go through so many, many letters, carefully organized for my new self to read through our history, and to fall in love with you again.  A copy of this letter shall join the pile as well.  Please write back as soon as you can.  I love you, for now, for my past, and for the future, for always.

With Love, this week’s name,

Amelia

P.S. Sorry I forgot to give you the mayonnaise.

Be a (blog) Reader

My partners were Cora and Emmi.  I read Cora's color story, Old Farmer Red’s apple orchard, Complimentary Coral, and Danger Zone.  I read Emmi's Feeling Yellow, Believe and 

I really liked Cora's Complimentary Coral poem, as I feel like it can grow into much more than just a poem.  I feel like it can easily be written into a full story.  I feel like the person who is sitting at the beach longs for something else, and finds solitude at the ocean.  Perhaps he/she is from the ocean, and wishes to return, but can't?  But these are just my interpertations, and what I want this poem to grow into.

I loved Emmi's Believe story, as I think it clearly captures a teenager's fears, fruitless attempts, and struggles.  I understand these feelings, these feelings of helplessness, of trying to please everyone and attempting to find something you don't even know what it is.  It's very deep and somewhat saddening.

Famous First and Last Lines

"I write this sitting in the kitchen sink."
I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith.  Born  May 3, 1896.  Died November 24, 1990 (aged 94).  She was born in n Whitefield, near Bury in Lancashire, England.  Her father died when she was two, and she and her mother went to go live with her grandparents at Kingston House, 609 Stretford Road.  I Capture the Castle was published in 1948.

The novel takes place in the 1930's, and the story is told by a series of journal entries.  Cassandra lives in an old castle owned by her father, who is a writer suffering from writer's block.  Her father bought the castle in hopes of curing his writers block.  Eventually, two young men from America move in close to Cassandra's home, Neil and Simon Cotton.  Cassandra's sister, Rose, becomes interested in Simon, due to him being wealthier.  The two eventually create a scheme for Simon to propose to Rose, but ends up proposing to Cassandra instead.  Time passes, and Rose and Niel fall in love, while Cassandra falls for Simon.  Before Simon leaves to return to the United States, he visits Cassandra for the last time.  However, she believes that he is in love with Rose, and closes the conversation early.  The book ends with another declaration of her love to him.

I would not like to read this book because there isn't any action.  I enjoy books that have adventures or fantasies in them, not pure romances where the plot is driven by the romance.  I understand that it's written as if someone was experiencing
this particular situation, but I wouldn't want to read that either.

Inspirational Quotes

Writers as Readers

Whenever I read, it usually depends on my mood.  Sometimes I read in the tub, sometimes I read while eating dinner, about to go to bed…  Other times I read in the middle of class when I’m bored/don’t want to pay attention.  I can never plan to read, you know?  I just have to pick it up and start, I can’t think, “Okay, when I go home, I’m going to read!”  I can’t do that.  Because then it’ll feel like a chore.  I only read when I’m in the mood to read.  Or if a new book has come out that interests me.

My favorite genre is fantasy/adventure.  I love reading about adventures in far off places, or about things that wouldn’t normally happen.  I think I like this genre so much because I actually crave an adventure, away from home, and doing something extraordinary.

The first time I had ever been so excited to read a book was when I first heard about the Gone series.  The book was so big to me, but I wanted to know so badly about what would happen.  I think I even began to admire the characters, or pity them.  They were in such a horrible situation, with children dying and becoming scared and violent.  But the children were also very strong, attempting to move forward with the horrible hand fate had dealt to them.  The book on the total opposite spectrum on this scale would be Twilight.  I had to do those stupid reading logs in middle school, and no books were interesting to me at the time, so I read it.  It was a daily 30 minute torture.  I had to sludge through half the entire book until anything got interesting.  It was just awful to me.  Needless to say, I never did finish the series.

I don’t remember the first book I ever read, but I do know which books I read the most.  When I was very small, I had many books with fairy tales in them, so I would read those a lot.  I read The Little Mermaid a lot when I was slightly older and could read better, because the writing style was more difficult.  I also had this book of fairy stories with beautiful illustrations of fairies.  I loved the book so much and read it all the time.  I want to read the rest of Hans Christian Anderson’s stories, but I don’t know where to get copies of his stories… 

My favorite book series really depends upon my mood at the present moment.  Sometimes Harry Potter is my favorite, then it’s Maximum Ride, then it’s the Gone series.  All these book series are my favorite because they deal with high impact adventure and themes that aren’t always human.  I’ve always wanted to go on a dangerous adventure with dragons and magic, or being able to fly, so I read these books to try to live through them.