Romeo and Cinderella

Chapter 19
Cinderella

I walked alone outside. It was a cold night. A crescent moon hung limply over my head, shining silver on the branches of the dead trees. I could barely see anything on the path in front of me. Strange with all of this light… Say, didn't these trees look familiar? Remembering one sunset around a month ago, the silhouettes of trees outlining a red sky, I realized where I was—at Miku's manor. How did I get here? Wasn't I on a carriage earlier? Perhaps that was all a dream.

I knocked on the door and it opened by itself. They must have not shut it tightly enough, I thought, trying to explain the phenomena. This was just like some of the scarier plays I'd seen.

I entered the lonely house. It seemed a lot like when I first came here, except there was nary a warm body next to me. I went toward the light at the end of the hall. Of course. They must be relaxing in the Lounge before bed. That made enough sense.

Pushing the door open lightly, I drank in the scent of many burning candles. I saw a girl with two long, teal pigtails sitting in a chair, staring out at the stars through the large window. It was open fully, letting the breeze tease the drapes.

"Miku!" I called to her cheerfully.

She paused for a moment, then turned around and smiled. "Hello. Might I ask what brings you here?" she queried with a small tilt of her head.

"Miku! I knew it was all a bad dream!" I sighed. "I'm so glad you're okay." I ran up to Miku to give her a hug, but when I did so, I passed through her. "What?" Miku still looked backwards, smiling. She can't even see me…

Suddenly, her expression changed to one of horror. "What is…?" She gasped. "No. Stop!" Miku stood up and started backing away. "Don't come near me!" She started trembling and backing away. She covered her mouth with one hand and pointed shakily. I followed her finger and stared at the man standing there.

It was…

No, it couldn't be.

But it had to be.

"AAAAAAAAHH!"

Her scream… It felt like needles pierced my heart.

I stared down at her body on the floor. Motionless. Miku's teal dress slowly stained red.

"Miku…?" I whispered. I could barely move my mouth to talk.

"Rin? Is that… Is that you?" Miku murmured.

I rushed down to her side. "Yes, Miku. It's me! I'm here. Don't worry. I'll get you to Luka and she'll fix you right up, okay? It'll be okay." I held her head in my lap and stroked her beautiful hair.

Miku beamed weakly up at me. "I'm so glad you're here," she sighed, her voice cracking a bit. She tried laughing, but it gurgled into weak coughs.

"Come on, Miku. Hang in there. Just for me. Just a little longer," I pleaded.

Miku kissed her hand and placed it on my cheek. I held her hand there, knowing she wouldn't have the strength herself. "You're the nicest person I've ever met," she breathed.

"No, Miku." I shook my head, blinking out the teardrops and squeezing her hand lightly. "Don't leave. You have to stay here for me."

"I'm not leaving, Rin," she told me. Genuine happiness was all that was on her face. Her smiles were always contagious. "I'll be right there." She tried to put a hand to my chest. I held that there for her, too. "In your heart." Her eyes closed and her hand went limp.

"Miku!" I screamed. "MIKU!"

My sobbing resonated throughout the empty house. A gust of wind blew out all of the candles, but with it was carried a voice. Someone needs to tell you what's right from wrong.

"But I want you here. I want you here, Miku." I sobbed again. "Why couldn't you stay here?"

It was then that I made up my mind. I could never let him go without my revenge.

.

I woke up with a start. Where was I? Was I on a ship? Why was I on a ship? I hate ships! Oh yes. I had left Constantinople with Haku about a month before after riding in that awful carriage another month on its own. It took a while to get from Germany to Turkey. Then we would have to make a stop in Athens to restock and for traders to both come in and leave before actually making it to Cairo.

"Rin, are you awake?" I heard Haku ask me. "We've made it to Athens. They'll stay docked for a while, if you'd like to get out and stretch your legs."

I stood from my cot and began looking for wherever I had stashed my clothes the previous night. I found a dress and fit it over the gown I had slept in. "Will you lace me up?" I requested. Haku got up and worked on the laces. "Not too tight," I warned.

I looked into the mirror hanging from the wall and watched Haku work the laces. She smirked at me. "Precious cargo, right?"

I laughed at her remark. "Very precious," I answered. "Um, if you would be so kind, would you walk with me around Athens? I don't want to go out alone." I hadn't really been able to go anywhere alone for a while now. I felt unsafe. Exposed.

Side effect of being pregnant.

"Sure. I'd like to be on dry land for a while," Haku reasoned.

She and I stumbled off the boat together and entered the marketplace near the ports. All kinds of words were being yelled at us; it was like any other marketplace. Except everyone spoke Greek. So it was easier to ignore.

"Hey! Hey you!" I heard a woman call out in German. Not as easy to ignore.

I looked at her from over my shoulder and pointed to myself. "Me?" I mouthed to her.

"Yes you! I have just the perfect thing for you!" she yelled through the crowd. I knew she was just going to try to sell me something, but I shrugged it off and went over anyway. I was pretty sure Haku followed.

I smiled politely at her as her eyes trailed up and down my person.

"You… How could someone as beautiful as you be here alone?" she gasped. I guess Haku hadn't followed me after all. Without giving me an opportunity to respond she went on: "You must have a significant other somewhere, right?"

"He's… overseas right now," I explained. It was true. He certainly wasn't here.

I held my stomach subconsciously.

"You… You're a mother to be, are you not?" she pondered. I nodded my head slowly. Her accent was very heavy so it was pretty hard to understand. "Oh, I have just the thing for you." The woman crouched down below her stand and came up with a pen, paper, and a bottle.

"What's..." She didn't let my finish my thought.

"It's a message in a bottle," she told me, placing it into my arms.

"But… I don't have any money," I admitted. Haku had a small change purse with her, but she wasn't here, now, was she?

"Oh, no charge," the woman insisted. "I could never make a young mother-to-be like you pay to send a message to her beloved."

I smiled thoughtfully at her. "Thank you very much, Miss," I gratified.

"You are welcome." With that, I turned around and searched out Haku's white mane. Luckily she hadn't missed me and was admiring the rubies another jeweler was selling.

She turned around and jumped a little. "Oh! There you are. I had thought you'd gotten lost for a moment." Haku looked down at the objects in my arms. "What's this?"

"A kind woman gave them to me. She said it was for me to send a message to my beloved. Don't worry. It was free of charge," I elucidated. Funny how things work out the way they do, huh?

Haku grinned at me. "That was sweet of her, wasn't it?" As we talked, we had started moving out of the marketplace. We eventually made it out to the docks where Haku turned to me and asked me a question. "Well? Are you going to use that or am I getting a new whiskey bottle?"

I sighed and shook my head, a smirk playing on my lips. "I'll use it," I said.

"Then you better make it short and sweet," she recommended. "The boat is leaving soon."

"Okay, okay. I'm writing." I found a wooden post and made my note.

Dear Len,

I miss you so much right now. I'm in Athens, writing you this letter in the

hopes that you might find it someday. I have big news to tell you, but it would be

best said in person. Find me soon… I love you.

With all my heart,

Rin

Sighing, I rolled up the paper and placed it in the bottle, pressing the cork in tightly. Hoping the tide was going out, I threw the bottle into the water and watched it float for a few seconds before Haku called for me.

"Coming!" I yelled.

Please find my letter, I wished. My heart tells me that you will. Please prove it right.

.

Time on the ship passed by slowly. I remembered one day we passed another ship going perpendicular to our route. There was a little blond girl on that ship wearing a white dress. I looked at her and smiled, waving. She beamed back and waved then, hearing someone's voice in the distance, she ran below the deck. The girl strangely reminded me of myself. I couldn't help but wonder why that was. Maybe I've seen her before. I wasn't sure.

Another month passed and I felt like I'd lived on that ship all my life. Haku had said that Cairo would be just another day away, which meant only one more day on this floating piece of crap some people called a boat.

So I went to sleep, wondering about Len as always, hoping my worrying wouldn't give me nightmares.

.

I was in a garden. The sun shined very brightly there, turning everything beyond my initial eyesight white. I felt like I was in a storybook. I walked along the narrow stone path, admiring the colors of all the beautiful flowers.

The path went on forever, seeming endless, until I bumped into a wall.

"Oof," I grunted, falling backwards. "Huh?"

I now saw that I had walked right into a mirror. My reflection stared back at me with—wait. This wasn't my reflection. It was Len.

"Rin!" he yelled, pressing his hands against the glass. I did the same.

"Len! Where have you been?" I asked. Well, it sounded a bit more like pleading. I didn't need to sound so desperate.

"I've been trying to find you. I… I think I'm on a ship headed for Cairo right now," Len supposed. "And…" Len pulled something from his pocket. "I found this bottle. Was it from you?"

I gasped. "You got my message?" I breathed. "I can't believe it actually made it to you!"

Len's eyes widened. "It was from you? Really? That's amazing!" he exclaimed.

"When will you be in Cairo? I believe my own ship should make it tomorrow." My voice was drowning in eagerness. I could barely believe this was happening.

Len pondered the question for a moment. "I think our ship is about a week behind yours," he concluded.

I grinned in response. My heart fluttered. Only one more week. I only had to last one more week. "I'm so happy," I whispered. "Len. There's… something I need to tell you."

"Of course. What is it?" he asked.

I smiled and held my stomach. "I… I'm…"

The glass cracked.

"Wh-what's happening?" I stuttered. Another fracture. "What's going on?"

Pieces of the mirror began chipping away.

"Len!" I screamed.

"Rin!" His voice was muffled.

I banged my hand against the glass in frustration, letting out a yelp of pain when it cut me. The mirror shattered and so did Len. Before me I only saw the flower garden's endless path continue on and on until it faded into the distance.

"He was… so close, too," I said to myself. "I didn't even get to tell him."

.

I woke up crying. "So it was all a dream after all," I sighed to myself. I had long gotten used to dreams like this. They'd plagued my mind for months. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. You know how you get that annoying goopy stuff in them sometimes after you wake up. Yeah, that's what it was. I felt something wet on my sleeve and lifted my arm to inspect it. There was blood coming from a cut on the side of my right hand. I stared at it, baffled. "Or maybe not."

.

"Please, Haku. Just one more week here! I know that he'll come. He told me. I know it for sure." Did you hear that? It was the sound of me trying to persuade Haku into letting us stay in Egypt longer. "I'll find some way to pay you back for the cost of the Inn. Please."

Haku sighed the sigh of giving in. See kids? This is what repetitive pestering can get you. But don't use it on your parents, because they really hate losing.

"Fine," she huffed, "but start asking for candy and I'm shipping you back to your family in a wooden crate."

"Thank you Haku!" I squealed, hugging her as tightly as possible.

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

.

I essentially lived at the port every day. I never let my eyes leave the ocean. Haku even had to bring my meals out for me. I felt bad for making her work as my slave, but I guessed she didn't have anything better to do anyway. Else she would have refused to do so in the first place. I appreciated Haku's efforts. I hoped that I could repay her somehow someday.

The sky was partially cloudy, the sea was mostly calm, and the date was April 14. The air had started to warm a while ago. I remembered loving the weather in Germany at this time of year. A sense of nostalgia pulsed through me. However it was ever so rudely interrupted by someone sneaking up behind me and grabbing me in their arms.

Wait a second…

I turned around, expecting some creepy rapist attack until it was only Len.

"Oh, it's just youLEN!" I screamed. I wrapped my arms around him and attempted to squeeze the bujesus out of him.

"Rin! I knew that I would find you here," he heaved, out of breath from my monstrous bear hug.

"So it wasn't just a dream…" I mumbled.

Len inhaled sharply, pulling back from my arms. "You had it too?"

"Yeah. And I was going to tell you; I'm pregnant, Len." He stared at me wide-eyed for a moment. I smiled. "It's a good thing, silly." I batted him playfully on the shoulder.

"… Oh my God… Really?" Len questioned somewhat accusingly with his face brightening.

Duh. We had sex, like, nine times. I was pretty sure it was true. "Yeah I'm sure," I said. Len pulled me into his arms. "But I blame you if it comes out a genetic mutant."

Len smirked. "Yeah, yeah. Just let me kiss you before we have to go."

"Gladly."

I must admit. That had to be my favorite kiss.