Princess

“Sir, um, we’ve encountered a small problem.” The small voice came from a small, stout man. He was standing in the doorway of a dark room and was shifting from foot to foot, nervously. 1

“What is it?” Said a deep voice. The small man jumped at the sound of the voice. A very tall, old man walked out of the darkness and into the pale moonlight. He was looking out of the fogged window where raindrops were starting to gather. The small man seemed too frightened to respond. “Well?”2

“Well, we, um, sort of, lost the princess.” He cowered as if the tall man was going to strike him.3

“Then, the only solution would be to find her, correct?” The tall man said, coolly. The little man looked surprised.4

“Yes, sir, of course, I’ll get right on it.” 5

“NO!” The tall man turned around and his face was illuminated by the glow of the hall light. He was old and worn. There was a long diagonal scar on his face that stretched from his forehead, through the bridge of his nose, and across his cheek. It gave him a menacing look. He had jet-black hair with a stripe of gray. He was trying to regain his composure. “I mean no. I will get my best man on the job. I will not trouble you with this.” He turned back around and said under his breath, “ I do not trust you.”6

“Of course, sir, goodbye.” The little man ran out as fast as he could, almost tripping over his own feet. 7

“He must have hidden her. Ah, well. My accomplice will find her. It will be easy. Besides, I have other things to worry about.” He took out a vial of silvery blue liquid from his jet-black trench coat. He looked at it and laughed.8

Dear Gabriella,9

How are you doing sweetheart. Everything is fine here. The kingdom is doing very well, considering the war and all. Although, I have grayed some hairs since you were here last. This job becomes very stressful sometimes, as you know. I remember some times when your quick thinking got me out of some sticky places. Anyways, I have sent your birthday gifts by express mail, you should be getting them soon. I just wish you could be here for your birthday. You would have had a big birthday bash. It’s not everyday your daughter turns eighteen. But, alas, you can’t come here. It is too dangerous. Your uncle hasn’t shown up yet and I hope he never does. We will be together again soon, I promise. Write back and have a happy birthday.10

Love always,11

“Father,” Gabriella sat in her small New York apartment looking at her letter. The presents sat on the bed beside her, still unopened. Her father, the king of England, was fine. She let out a sigh of relief as she reached underneath her bed. She pulled a small box out from the dusty mess underneath. The box was filled with pictures, letters, and jewelry. She looked down and became immediately suspicious. It looked like someone was looking through the box. They left everything scattered about the bottom. She also thought something was missing from the box but didn’t bother to check. She looked down at the mess and the pictures immediately caught her interest. She smiled as she looked down at them. The pictures were of an old man, her father, and herself riding horses around a castle. Some pictures were ripped at the edges. These ripped scraps were kept on the very bottom of the box. They all showed the same person. A very tall man in a black trench coat. He had a large scar across his face that gave him a very menacing look. She placed her father’s letter on top of the others. As she closed the box, she heard a small knock on the door. She quickly shoved the box back under the bed and sat up. 12

“Come in!” She yelled. She straightened out her softball visor and looked at the door as a young man walked in. He was tall and very handsome with brown eyes and messy light brown hair. He was wearing a blue shirt over khaki shorts. His signature look, he would often say with a smile. “Hey, Leo!” said Gabriella as she stood up. She hugged him and sat down again. “You didn’t tell me you would be back from Georgia this early.” He looked at her for a long time before he answered.13

“Yeah, well, we had a last minute change of plans, um, and I, uh, decided to come home.” He looked away as he said this and she knew he was lying. She didn’t say anything though. She didn’t want to make him upset. That was what was strange with Leo. When Gabriella first met him, he was very nice and shy. But know he got angry easily if you questioned his decisions. She loved Leo but didn’t know what was wrong with him. Leo plopped himself onto the couch and put his head on the pillow. 14

“Hey, Leo, could you hand me my shoes? I’m late for work. I really need to go. Why’d you come over?” Gabriella was waiting for an angry outburst from the couch but all she got was an unenthusiastic,15

“Because”.16

“Well, I’m sorry I can’t stay and chat, Leo, but I really need to go. I’ll see you.”17

“Oh, O.K., no problem, Lillian. I’ll go then. Well, good, uh…”18

“Luck?” Replied Gabriella. She was really worried about Leo now. 19

“Bye.” Leo walked out and left Gabriella to gather her things herself. She walked out to the car with her purse over her shoulder. She did not know it but someone had gotten into her small box of treasures. Someone knew her secret.20

“So, she’s going by the name Lillian. Very creative to think of using an alias. Her mother’s name, though? I mean really. I expected more from such a smart little girl. Don’t you think, Jack?” Dr. Skinner turned around to face his accomplice. He turned so fast his scar was only a red blur. He was looking at a cloaked figure that was leaning against the wall. The figure’s dark brown hair stuck out of his hood. He seemed to blend into the wall. They were standing in an empty warehouse. The site of Dr. Skinner’s temporary headquarters.21

“Of course, sir. How silly.” The cloaked the figure had a raspy voice that seemed like it hadn’t been used for centuries. 22

“Too bad my sister-in-law didn’t live to see the demise of the world. Did you know she died when my niece was only ten? How tragic. Well, she’ll soon join her mother and father. Speaking of that, where is the boy?” Skinner looked at the door, as if waiting for something.23

“I told you, you shouldn’t have trusted that boy. I knew he would be too scared. He has grown too attached.” Just as Jack finished his sentence, a dark silhouette of a tall, young man appeared in the doorway.24

“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!? YOU ARE VERY LATE!” 25

“I was held up. I see you have been expecting me. And you invited Jack. How marvelous.” The figure stepped into the room and turned into a young man wearing a blue shirt and khaki shorts.26

“There is no excuse, Leo. We were afraid you wouldn’t come.” Skinner looked away from him with a look of disgust. 27

“Well, I’m here aren’t I?”28

“We were also afraid that you had gotten too attached to the girl.” Jack replied sneering at Leo. He had taken off his hood and his features were revealed. He looked much younger than his voice. He was very pale and his eyes gleamed red. The blood of his victims reflected in his soul, he would say. 29

“Put that hood back on. I can’t stand the sight of you.” Leo looked away, mirroring Jack’s sneer.30

“You have no right to tell me what to do. I’ve killed stronger men then you!” Jack’s eyes glowed as his temper rose.31

“Now, now, gentlemen. I do not want any blood on my nice clean floor.” Skinner said sarcastically, pointing at the filthy ground. Jack looked menacingly at Leo before pulling on his hood. “ O.K. now that we are friends again,” Leo let out a small ‘huh’, 32

“We can talk. Have you found the girl? And are you sure it’s her?” He looked at Leo, questioningly. 33

“It is Gabriella. I took a letter from her father. She also has a small box of pictures under her bed and it shows her and the king. I’m certain it’s her. Now as for the deal, you promised me that if I told you where she was, you wouldn’t hurt her.” He looked at Skinner in the eye and became suddenly uneasy.34

“Of course, why would I harm my own niece? What kind of uncle do you think I am? So, where is she?” Skinner looked greedily at Leo. 35

“She owns a little apartment on Fifth Street. You’ll find her there. Remember our promise.” Leo looked at his feet as he said this, almost ashamed.36

“Jack, you know what to do. Leo I want you to get her in your car and Jack will do the rest.” Skinner looked very pleased.37

“Of course, sir,” said Jack, looking at Leo, “Let’s go”. They walked out. Skinner turned to the window as he said, “ I had my fingers crossed, Leo”. He chuckled.38

There was a knock on Gabriella’s door. She went to open it but tripped over her little box. Everything fell out and she scrambled to put it all away. There was another knock, harder this time.39

“Coming!” She yelled. She shoved the box under the bed and ran to the door. She threw it open and was surprised to see Leo standing there. 40

“Well, this is a surprise. What are you doing here?” She smiled at him and he looked at his feet. 41

“Hi, Lillian. I just wanted, uh, to see if you, uh, wanted to, uh, see a movie.” He kept looking at his feet. Gabriella looked at him, quizzically. 42

“Sure, um, let me get my sweater.” She looked around trying to find it. “ Why is Leo acting so strange?” She asked under her breath. 43

“Did you say something?” asked Leo from the door. 44

“No, nothing. Let’s go.” She grabbed the sweater and walked out the door. They walked to the car in silence. Leo held the door open for Gabriella as she got in. He looked like he was about to cry. When he got in he held onto the steering wheel, but did nothing else. “ Well, come on then.” Said Gabriella, anxiously. Leo did not look up but said,45

“Gabriella, I’m so sorry. I really am.” He looked at her and a single tear ran down his face.46

“Leo what are you talking ab-?” A sack that was tossed over her head muffled her screams. Leo looked out the window, unable to watch. More tears streamed down his face. Jack emerged from the backseat and yelled, 47

“Well drive, you idiot. Before someone hears her screams!” Leo punched the gas and they were off. 48

A few minutes later, Leo’s blue Ford Mustang was parked outside of the warehouse. Inside, Gabriella struggled in her chair. She was strapped to it by ropes. Jack was standing next to her with a long sword. Leo looked around, obviously scared. 49

“HMM!” yelled Gabriella, who was gagged with a cloth. Leo looked frighteningly at Skinner than to Gabriella.50

“You said you wouldn’t hurt her.” Leo now looked mad.51

“ Hmm?” Gabriella looked surprisingly at Leo.52

“ Oh, you don’t know, do you? Well, Leo here was nice enough to help me find you. Of course, he was reluctant to do so, but I persuaded him. You see, he has a little secret too. Don’t you, Leo. Well, I never break my promises. That’s why I won’t hurt her. Jack will.”53

“NO!” yelled Leo, taking a step forward. 54

“Restrain him!” As if out of nowhere, a man jumped from behind Leo and grabbed him.55

“Kill her.” Said Skinner to Jack and started to walk out of the room. Jack laughed and looked at his sword.56

“Gladly.”57

“No! Stop! Don’t touch her!” Jack looked around to Leo. He was struggling and was about to get free of the henchman’s grip. 58

“Jack, take him downstairs and lock him up, then you can kill the princess.” Skinner looked at Jack.59

“Why can’t he do it?” Jack pointed at the henchman.60

“I don’t want to face the possibility of Leo getting free. Now go. And shut him up. He’s giving me a headache.” Leo had been yelling things at Skinner in another language. Jack walked over and hit him in the head. He fell, unconscious, onto the floor. Gabriella, who had gotten free from her gag yelled,61

“Leave him alone!” Jack was lifting Leo onto his shoulder. He walked out the door, smiling all the way. Leo’s head bobbing up and down on his back.62

“Ah, so I see you have feelings for the little coward.”63

“He’s not a coward! And you wait until my father hears about this!”64

“I don’t think he’ll be able to hear you. You see, I saw in the newspaper that he died of mysterious causes the other day. I wonder what happened.” Skinner took a vial of silvery blue liquid out of his pocket and twisted through his fingers. “Tetrodotoxin. Comes from a pufferfish’s stomach. A rare delicacy in Japan. It’s for those who want to brave death. Hmm. Apparently, your father never stood a chance.”65

“How…how.” Gabriella was at a loss for words. “How could you do that to your own brother?”66

“Easy. He never told you how I got my scar? Well, it’s a very interesting story. You see, the young prince was with his, what’s the word? Oh, yes,‘buddies’ and they were playing at Gordan’s Ridge. Yes, I believe that was the name. I was about ten years old and he fifteen. Well, he and his friends were playing around and I walked up. He yelled at me to go closer to the edge and being the younger brother, I looked up to him. I listened. I walked to the edge and looked over. It was a very long way down. The next thing I knew, I was holding onto a branch growing out form the side of the cliff. Your father had pushed me. There was a rock jutting out of the cliffside and I thought I could land on it so I let go of the branch. As I went down, my face hit a very jagged rock. I hit the rock and a fierce pain went through my leg. I had broken it. There was also a lot of blood around me and I knew I would have a very gruesome scar. I fell unconsious and when I woke up, I was laying in a hospital. As you can see, your father was never a very nice brother and he never apologized.” Skinner seemed to have drifted off as he told his story. His eyes seemed distant.67

“You killed him because he gave you that scar?”68

“Of course not! I would never had killed him because of that. That’s the reason that I felt no guilt doing it. I killed him so I could capture my rightful place on the throne. He was never good enough to be king.”69

“And you think you are? You killed your own brother. He would have never done that to you and you know it!” Yelled Gabriella, on the verge of tears.70

“Yes, well, that is all in the past. What is done, is done. I have more important things to do. Like making sure you don’t get in my way. Anything you would like to say Gabriella?”71

“Yeah,” she said, “Say goodnight.”72

“What?” Skinner looked around and saw Gabriella standing right in front of him. She pulled her arm back and punched him with all of her might. He staggered backewards, holding his face, his nose was bleeding.73

“That’s for my dad. And this is for Leo” She punched him again and he hit the wall. He slid down and fell unconcious. She turned around and came face to face with Jack. 74

“O.k. little girl. This is the end of the line.”75

Meanwhile, Leo sat up, holding his head. 76

“Where am I” He looked around and saw that he was sitting inside a small jail cell. “I’m such an idiot! How could I not have known about this? Hello! Evil bad guy. I trusted him. If Gabriella dies, it’s my fault.” He sat down and put his head on his knees. All of a sudden he heard a scream from upstairs. “GABRIELLA!” He yelled. He jumped up and ran to the bars. He looked around, anxiously. “ I’ve gotta get out of here.” His eyes came upon a little hat stand by his cell. It had the keys on them. “Well, hello, my friends” He said, and smiled.77

“Stop your screaming. No one can hear you in here.” Jack was smiling. He had his hood pulled back and his eyes were glowing more than ever. “I’ve never killed royalty before. It’ll be fun.” He lunged at her and she jumped out of the way. He hit the floor but was right back up. He thrust the sword at her and he missed. She kicked him and he fell onto the floor, his sword skidding next to the still unconcious Skinner. “Why you little brat!” He lunged at her. His red eyes were gleaming like rubies. She jumped out of the way but he grabbed her leg and dug his sharp nails into her soft skin. 78

“AHH!” She got lose and fell to the floor, holding her bleeding leg. 79

“Now I’ve got you!” yelled Jack and jumped at her again. She ducked and his head hit the wall. There was a sickening crack and he fell, crumppled onto the floor. Gabriella was lying on the floor in agony. Now that she saw her leg up close, it was much worse than it felt. Behind her, Skinner was waking up. He saw the sword and picked it up. His face was crusted with dry blood and he looked like a deformed monster. He saw Gabriella on the floor and smiled. He walked over to her and kneeled.80

“Say hello to your mother and father for me, Would you?” He stood back up and lifted the sword high over his head. Gabriella winced, waiting for the sword to fall. All of a sudden, Skinner stopped. He dropped the sword at his side and held his chest. Something shiny was sticking out of it, covered in blood. He coughed and then Skinner’s eyes closed. He staggered forward, finally falling onto Gabriella. She screamed in pain as Skinner fell onto her injured legs. Someone was pushing Skinner off of her. She fainted and Leo picked her up. He ran to his car and drove her home.81

When Gabriella woke up, she was laying in her own bed. She tried to sit up and realized she couldn’t. The pain her leg made it impossible. She threw the covers off of her legs and saw that one was splinted.82

“Hello?” She said very quietly to the seemingly empty house. She heard footsteps coming from the living room. Closer then farther away, closer then farther. Someone was pacing. “Hello?” She said even louder. Then she heard running. Leo emerged into the bedroom and ran to her bed.83

“Oh, thank god your O.K.!” He yelled. He sat down on a chair that was put next to her bed and reached over to hug her. “I would never have forgive myself if you didn’t wake up.” He sighed and looked at her again. His smile faded as he saw the expression on her face.84

“How could you dare show your face here again?” She asked, letting all of her feelings out. Leo looked dumbstruck.85

“I guess I have some explaining to do, huh?” A weak smile emerged then faded again. “Dr. Skinner tricked me. He said that if I didn’t tell you where you were, he would take my kingdom. Yes, I’m a prince.” He added, after he saw the look of surprise on Gabriella’s face. “But then, once I got to know you better, I had second thoughts. I didn’t want to see you hurt and I made Skinner promise that he wouldn’t hurt you. Of course, I was an idiot for believing he wouldn’t but I did.” He looked apologetically at her. She had her eyes closed and seemed to be thinking. “ I’m so sorry. If you never want to see me again, I would understand. But I’m not leaving until your leg is healed.” He got up and was about to walk out when Gabriella opened her eyes. 86

“Leo, why didn’t you tell me? About being a prince that is.”87

“For the same reason you didn’t tell me you were a princess. I was in hiding.” With that he walked out, leaving Gabriella with her thoughts.88

A few weeks later, Gabriella was up and walking around. She hardly spoke to Leo. She was still angry at him and wanted him to know it. But, even though she ignored him, he never complained. He was always there to help her with something. Her anger slowly faded over the next two days. So did the pain in her leg. When Leo finally left, she felt really lonely. She never knew that she would miss him this much. After all, he did save her life. 89

Leo pulled into the garage of his apartment building. He sat in his car for a long time, just thinking. He was so mad at himself.90

“I had something good. I ruined it. She’ll probably never speak to me again.” He hit the steering wheel. The car honked like it was yelling at him. He got out of the car and walked up the steps to his apartment. He was about to open the door when he heard footsteps inside. He looked around and saw a stick laying on the floor. He picked it up and opened the door. Gabriella was pacing back and forth across the living room. She looked up and smiled. “Gabriella?” said a surprised Leo.91

“ Who else would it be?” She asked. He walked over to the sofa and sat down. He put his head in his hands. 92

“What are you doing here?” He asked, not lifting his head.93

“ I just wanted to say…” She walked over a nd sat down next to him. “Thank you.” Leo looked up and into her eyes. They seemed to sparkle and he knew that she had forgiven him. He laughed a little. 94

“Your welcome.” They looked at each other for a little while longer. Then, without thinking, Leo kissed her. 95

Ten years later, Gabriella walked through the halls of her castle. She entered her mother’s old room and looked around. She had brought all of her pictures from her small box and hung them neatly in a row on the wall. All of a sudden, she heard her baby crying. She walked into the lavishly decorated nursery and was surprised to see Leo, in a suit and tie, sitting in the rocking chair with the baby in his arms. He did not wake up when she put the baby in his crib. 96

“Shh, Aaron, go to sleep.” She looked at the baby and smiled. She walked over to Leo and shook him gently. He opened hid eyes halfway then closed them again. “Honey, wake up, you have an important meting at two, your going to be late.”97

“ Yes, sir. I’ll sign that document. Now let’s eat.” Leo mumbled. 98

“ Leo, wake up, you’re late!” She shook him harder and he jumped. 99

“Oh, it’s you.” He got up and said, “Must have dozed off. I heard the Aaron crying so I came in here to rock him back to sleep.” Leo yawned and strecthed. He looked at his watch and jumped again. “It’s almost two, I’m late! Bye, Gabriella.” He gave her a quick kiss and ran off. She could still hear his footsteps echoing off of the castle walls. 100

“ Bye.” She said and waved to him. “ I love you.”101