Romeo and Cinderella

Chapter 14
The Difference Between Desires

Have you ever wished you could jump up to the stars and dance with them, just to say that you did? Have you ever had the desire to dream something so beautiful there was no way it could be imaginary? Have you ever wished there was someone there lying next to you just to be there, so you wouldn't be alone? I have. Sometimes I wished these things to myself, even though I knew you weren't really listening.

.

I woke up. It was Sunday, January 1st. My father didn't take the family to the special church service today, claiming he wanted more family time. Of course, he never sent in someone to retrieve me for said family time, much less come up here himself. I found myself half dressed, staring out the window at the clock tower's shadow. The clock chimed six o'clock, its shadow nearly invisible behind the building that bathed in sunlight. It was like a flipped clock with the shadow as the hour hand and different places on the ground hours as the hand slowly made its way counterclockwise, taking it's time to visit all of the town before disappearing to sleep until it got to visit again.

After staring at my window and only my window for the entirety of the morning (the shadow had fallen in the direction of the jeweler's cart which marked about noon), I decided it was time to do something productive. Though, that idea quickly crashed and burned seeing that I was too lazy to get anything useful done. Thus, I began the search for Luka. I hadn't had a deep, down-to-earth conversation with her in a while. It was high time that I make up for lost time.

First, I checked inside the kitchen, a place she was often stationed, especially on holidays. No luck. Next, I searched the servant's halls and got the same result. I even asked the staff. They hadn't seen her. Perhaps she had stayed in her room. She, being so hard working, had every right to stay and rest for the day.

I made my way to the Grand Staircase and crossed behind it to a hall containing the servant's dwelling. Luka's room was the first to the right. I knocked first then waited a moment. When no one answered I let myself in quietly, in case she was taking an afternoon nap. The room was cold and empty. The thick drapes covered the window except for one sliver of light trickling down the room, casting itself over her full size bed. All things in the room were precisely placed. The room seemed nearly unused. Luka obviously hadn't been in for a while. Feeling slightly defeated, I started to turn away when something caught my eye. There was a box underneath Luka's bed. It seemed careless and hastily placed compared to the composure of the rest of the room. I knew I was being nosy, but I simply couldn't resist.

I took out the box from beneath the skirt of Luka's bed. It was black, made of stiff cardboard and was labeled "Memories" in English. The writing had faded over the years; it was probably from when Luka first came here after the tragic incident of her parents' deaths. Expecting to see family pictures and things of that sort, I opened the box. Inside was something wrapped in leather then a stack of lined paper with English writing. I took the items out. Under them were a few folded articles of clothing. I took them out and unfolded them. It was a rather skimpy outfit made of leather and studded in many places and looking to belong to a younger girl. Something about it seemed oddly familiar.

I turned my attention to the lined paper. The words on it were also old and written in English. I made out the words on the first paper:

Name: Luka

Ethnicity: Caucasian

Country of Origin: United States

Sex: Female

Age: 10

Height: 4'6.5"

Hair: Pink

Eyes: Blue

Occupation: Student

It seemed strange to me that one would keep identification information such as that in a box of memories. The next sheet seemed to be a story of some sort, though it was very short in length:

The opposite wall burst open. Dust filled the room where my family and I resided, making my eyes water. Strange fear coursed through me, though I didn't know why. I knew who the people were. I knew why they were here. Alas, our secret had been discovered.

There was no year where I lived. People had long since stopped keeping track of that sort of thing. Only about half of those that I knew even had birthdays. It was a hassle to hang on to something as obsolete as age. To most. I personally liked time, though it was merely a man-made measurement.

Five men appeared amongst the rubble and dust.

The head of the group stated something into a radio in a low voice then spoke to my parents: "Many of your neighbors have reported you for suspicious activity. You two have been confirmed as foreign spies. The penalty for invading the U.S. is death." He did not go into further explanation.

The speaker held up a hand and signaled. Three… two… one…

Bang.

A pang hit me with the last word. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes, though I wasn't really sure why. I took out the last item in the box, a leather casing. I opened it up, undoing the snaps. I pulled out an object with resemblance to a revolver, but much more intricate. Holding it by the handle, I felt my hand start to shake. I had seen something like this before. Not just like it, I had seen this very object before. And I had heard the story. Not just heard it, experienced it. The clothes, I knew I knew them. Not just knew them, worn them. This was—

Right on cue, Luka walked into her room.

"What are you doing?" she asked accusingly.

"Ah-ah… I… I'm…" I said, lost for words.

She hurried the few steps over to me and "helped" me up before grabbing the interiors of the box and quickly replacing them to their rightful position. "You're so nosy," Luka muttered as she did so.

"Luka, where—"

"Get out of here," she commanded. "Don't ask questions and get out." Luka shoved the box under the bed.

"Luka, you're not—"

"No I'm not from around here." She stood and faced me.

"I've seen—"

"Leave!" she yelled, nearly shoving me out the door.

I took a few steps away then stopped and listened as Luka let out a sigh and slumped to the floor by the door. I walked back.

"Luka I have to tell you something," I informed through the wood.

"Go away!" she shouted back. She was acting quite childish for being ten years older than me.

"I had a dream," I continued, totally ignoring her instruction, "and I was you and I was wearing those clothes and I had that gun and I saw my parents die. I saw your parents die. Tell me something. Tell me something about that. Explain that to me." I felt irritation growing in my voice as I spoke. "I wasn't here, Luka. It was a different place. I was in a different world. And I thought it was a dream. I thought it was just a weird, vivid dream. Very vivid. So vivid it could have actually happened." No sound came from the other side. "Do you want to tell me about it?"

I heard Luka stand. The door creaked open and she let me inside, then closed the door behind me. Luka sat on her bed. I stood over her. She looked up at me with sad eyes, the face of a little girl that just overcame a terrible situation. She gestured for me to sit down and I did so a bit grudgingly.

"When are you from?" I asked her.

"I'm from the United States," she replied.

"That isn't what I asked."

Luka looked down and away from me. "A long time from here."

"How long?" My stern tone didn't falter.

"There are no years in my time."

"How did you get here?"

"A machine."

"What kind of machine?"

"A time machine."

That definitely gave me a bit of a shock. "What?" My voice cracked.

"I guess I should tell you the story. Well, here it goes. A long time ago, or ahead you could say, I lived in a world of technology…

"Nobody knew the day. Nobody knew the year. All that mattered was how high the sun was in the sky. My parents had kicked me out of the house; I still don't remember why. I started wandering the streets in the delusion that somehow everything would turn out alright. I had forgotten a lot about myself in that time of wandering, but I always told myself never to forget my age. Many people stopped keeping track of that kind of thing, but I remembered. I was ten years old.

"Every day I would wake up not knowing where I was, how far I had wandered, or if I had seen any of the things around me before. I remember one day as I travelled aimlessly down the streets I saw two people talking. It was so quiet I could hear everything they said even from afar, so I hid as they conversed. I was so tired, it was hard to walk anyway. There was a boy and a girl. And I say was with good reason. The girl was shot, then the boy came over to me and shot me as well—in the shoulder. I stayed there for a long time, writhing in pain. I don't know how long it was before my sister found me. Her name was Miki. She took me back home and tended to my wounds. My parents were so happy to see me. It was as if they had not thrown me out of the house just a couple weeks before.

"Then, some men came in through the wall. They said something about my parents being spies, and… and they shot them.

"For a while, my parents had been living in America working on a project—a machine. The machine would be able to reverse the world around it until the very beginning of 'time'. It was almost finished, but there were still kinks to fix. I didn't care. As soon as the guns fired, I ran to it. I set it to a random time and the first place I could think of that wasn't here. Yes, the machine also had the ability to transport one to any place they desired. It was a shame that it was never finished. So I happened to set it to this time and place and as soon as it arrived, the machine disintegrated. That would be one of the kinks. Then your father found me. I didn't speak a word of German, but he took me in and taught me.

"And now I'm here," she finished.

I stared at Luka. The first part of her story had been old news to me, but the second was a new world to me. I didn't really have anything I could say to her. It took a long time for me to process information, even tragic life experiences that I had felt myself.

"Rin, you're allowed to talk. It's okay. I don't bite," Luka said.

"Luka I have something to tell you," I said, not really knowing what to say so naturally turning the subject back to me.

Luka seemed to let out an internal sigh of relief, uncomfortable with talking about her past, err, future… whatever. "Yes, of course. What is it, Lady Rin?"

"I-it's…" I pondered the idea. Should I really tell her about Len? She was my friend. I shouldn't keep secrets from a friend, right? "It's nothing." I would tell her later. I swear. And I always keep my promises… always.

When did I ever have the opportunity to break a promise? I didn't have the guts to. After all, I'm just a stuck-up, selfish princess. Selfish people keep promises too, right?

.

"There's nowhere for it to go anymore, the heat of this love…"

His face… it was everywhere. Guns fired. Bombs burst. I could only stand and sing of this rage and confusion.

I screamed.

"The grey clouds, the monochrome clamor. The sunlight casts a shadow, the twilight changes color. The world blurs; even so, will I still love you?

"I know this—but what should I do? How can I, what should I... What an idiot... I am…

"Let's go, this is war. Just seeing you so happy! Passionate love… it's a sin. But I'll show you my feelings."

Love is war. War is Hell.