"Hey," I hear a voice from afar but I'm too weak and reluctant to respond.
"Crystal." The voice comes again, closer. "You have to wake up now." He says shaking me lightly and I open my eyes slowly to see Sean sitting by me and smiling.
"I didn't want to wake you up," he says and I realise I actually slept. He put me to sleep, and it was a calm peaceful one. "I never knew it'd be fun watching a person sleep." For the first time, a compliment from him doesn't seem so strange, infact, it made me smile. Although, the sleep definitely wasn't enough to make up for all the lost ones, this definitely relaxed me, giving me back a bit of my sanity. Sitting up on the bed, I take his hand in mine and look him straight into his surprised eyes
"Thank you." I say to him. For what? I have no idea. Obviously, there's still a lot I don't know but what I know right now is Sean isn't who I think he is. Just like Dylan. I knew him for nine months and suspected nothing, knew nothing. I just thought he was a secretive person and I endured it because I never wanted him to get mad. I endured his mood swings as well because I loved him. I still do and I doubt I'm ever going to stop. I don't want to die anymore, I want to keep this brutalized heart of mine beating. Beating for Dylan.
I prayed for death a thousand times more than I prayed for life but it never came. Instead, I'm here in this strange place with this strange man, alive.
Just like Sean said, the universe gives us whatever the hell she wants to give us and all we can do is accept it and aspire for more. If this is the life she's given me, a second chance maybe, I'm going to accept it and make the best of it. I'm here for a reason, a reason I'm yet to know. But I won't waste away like I did with Dylan. I won't.
"Crystal?" Sean says bringing me back from my train of thoughts. "Who says thank you and zones out?" He asks smiling and I laugh a little, removing my hand from his before it gets awkward.
"Who doesn't?" I ask and we both laugh.
"You seem, " he eyes me while smirking, "different?"
"Is it a good kind of different or a bad one?"
"I don't know," he says in response "but I like it."
"Good."
"Since you're this way, I think it's time to pass a test." He gets up and stretches his hand for me to take. The test. The test to marry him and be queen, or to die and be forgotten.
Taking his hand and getting up, I notice I don't smell of sweat anymore, my hair is packed in a ponytail and I'm putting on a black long sleeved turtle neck with black skinny jeans that hugs my bum so tight and black stilleto heeled boots. All I need is a black mask and I'd officially be a ninja, a sexy ninja.
He's also dressed in a black v-neck, black jeans and boots. Damn he looks so hot in casuals.
"You done staring?" He asks smirking and my face turns red as I look away from his broad chest immediately. He chuckles and starts to walk towards the door but I touch his arm, making him turn around and look at me.
"What if," I ask, "I win?"
"You'll get to live." He responds with a tone that screams "duh" and I roll my eyes at him.
"And be a Queen," I point out the disturbing part, "your wife." He stays silent, looking at me with eyes that gives consent to continue which I do.
"I don't love you. I barely started talking to you and I'm not even sure I like you at all. Why would you want to get married to me?"
"I said it before," he says and I can already guess what he wants to say. "It's because I chose you."
"Did you kill Dylan because of me?" I ask the question that's been a thorn in my heart the entire time.
"Crystal," he takes my cold small hands in his large and comfy ones, "I killed Dylan for a reason. A reason that has absolutely nothing to do with you."
Every answer he gives births another question in my mind.
"Then, why did you use me?" I ask the question I ask myself each day but dread, as it brings back memories I wish to bury.
"They're waiting. If you're going to be Queen, you shouldn't have a single flaw to your name. Lateness, isn't something I tolerate so we shouldn't intiate it." He lets go of my right hand, holding my left firmly in his as he walks out of the room and I follow suit with my heart beating rapidly in my chest.
"Remember," he says lowly once we're outside the room, "it's not real." Not giving me a chance to say anything, he heads downstairs and I along with him trying to keep up his pace in these heels and my nervous shaky knees. It's not real? What is not real? What does he mean? No, I should focus. If I'm going to stay alive, I have to pass. I have to live, for him.
Sooner than I desire, we get downstairs and as usual, the same faces in the same seats.
"We're sorry for the slight delay." Sean says in a not so apologetic tone, but not rudely either.
"It's fine Sean," Joe says, "we didn't wait long."
"Shall we begin then?" Sean says.
"Ofcourse," Miranda responds with a somewhat happy voice, "I'm so psyched about it." The way she says it has a subtle evil in it that makes me look up and into her light brown eyes. Her lips curve up into a smirk and usually, I'd want to tear my eyes away from her but this time, I don't want to. I want her to see my determination to live in them so she knows not to underestimate me.
Before I know it, we're in an open field with short leveled grasses. The air blows at my hair and I realise how long it's been since I've been outdoors, it feels surreal to be right under the dark night sky with the bright moon illuminating us. I look around and see I'm standing in the middle of a large crowd rounded around me. Sean, Joe, Miranda and Adrian are all in front looking obviously powerful and dominating than the rest but that doesn't take away the fact that they're there. Who are they? Why are they here to watch me? I prepared for just these ones at the front, the others here now just wakes up the weak and scared side of me I so much tried to suppress. Sean raises a hand and everyone quiets down, Joe taking it as his cue to step forward.
"As you all know," he begins and I pray deeply for the ground to swallow me up now and hide me away from all these eyes. "We're here to test your potential Queen. A human." Immediately those words leave his mouth, growls and protesting voices are heard from the crowd scaring me to my bones but as expected, Sean raises his hand again and there's silence. They seem to really fear and respect him.
"No one is to come close unless you wish to die." Joe continues. "You have been given the privilege to watch and be witnesses but that's as much as you get. Watch, and do nothing more! This will determine the future of our kingdom. She loses, she dies. She wins, she lives and becomes Queen!"
He walks back to his spot beside Sean and I look at Sean in the eyes. He keeps a straight face but those eyes speak louder than everyone's voice right here put together. They give me strength, I can only hope they give me enough strength.
This is it. It's time.