11 A DAY LONGER

I was lost in thought, analysing and interpreting the vision l had and the impact it will have on my life going forward. All these new developments brought forth a feeling of discomfort and were troubling. When l woke up in a foreign land surrounded by unfamiliar faces, l had not in my wildest imagination imagined so much unravelling within a short period of time.

Rose had yet to make an appearance after her abrupt departure from my room. The gravity of the situation was daunting and there was no way to make sense of the recent events due to my memory loss but Rose was adamant about the danger lurking in the shadows. The eerie silence of my room and the loss of human activity right outside the corridor of my room caused fear to engulf me, leaving me a shaking mess

It was in this moment that the door handle suddenly started shaking startling me leading to my fragile body kissing the ground beneath my feet. The red flower that sat pretty, mocking me began to grow in size causing my eyes to grow to the size of saucers

"Rose?" l called out to the woman l had started to consider as a mother figure hoping she would make a sudden reappearance to rescue me from the horrible feeling growing in my heart. This couldn't be real but it was happening right in front of my eyes

The petals expended to the size of the doorway keeping everything and everyone out leaving me stranded and fearful, with nothing but my thoughts and the sound of my belly groaning in hunger. Like the sound of lightning, the petals opened up creating a doorway that revealed nothing but a dark corridor that was clothed in spider webs and dead insects, others alive crawling the length of the corridor

The sudden feeling of curiosity hit me like a thousand bricks and l found myself walking closer to the opening anxious to see what it would reveal, the possibilities were endless but it didn't take a genius to know what would lie behind the dark corridor.

I could hear voices around me with no way to recognise them blasting through the walls. Not wanting to alert anyone of my presence, l tiptoed my way through and came to a sudden halt when l was faced with a dead end with no way to continue on my unsuccessful endeavours

Just as l was beginning to lose hope, the ground opened up dropping me on the cold hard floor causing my bones to scream out in pain at the sudden impact. I was hidden from plain sight however the sudden commotion caused by my unintended landing caused a few heads to turn in my direction. However none of them ventured in my direction to see what had happened which was a win for me, unless they already knew that l was here

"what are we going to do about the girl?" one of the voices asked, a voice l was unfamiliar with

"There is not much we can do but suppress her memories, King Ryden said she is suffering from amnesia. We can use that to our advantage. If she doesn't remember anything and no one else known who she is it shouldn't be a problem" the only voice that l could identify that haunted my dreams spoke with so much hatred l found myself shaking in fear, Prime Alove. Could that mean there was truth to my vision?

"That will be a rather difficult thing to pull of, Ryden and his help are adamant on gathering trustworthy troops to help the girl, does that mean he knows who she is?" another voice asked the group

"Impossible! no one has ever seen her. Everyone knows she died and we need to keep it that way otherwise all our preparation will be in vain" Prime Alove said

"Tongues have been wagging that Queen Manila is back, it will be difficult to convince them otherwise. We can't just make her disappear like last time. And keeping her memories suppressed will be hard if they get to the witch they are looking for. We all know she despises us and will love to take us down, how are we going to deal with that" the first voice that had spoken shared his thoughts on the situation

"That is why l have requested for my witch to come and do some damage control. We just have to make sure we delay their trip by a day or two, can you do that?" Prime Alove asked his companions

"King Ryden will be hard to convince, he wants this situation dealt with as soon as possible. How will we pull that off, not forgetting you two are not on the best of terms, he will need a lot of convincing to stay around and accept your help"

This would explain the look on his face when he heard that our plans had to be delayed to accommodate a surprise visit from Prime Aloves witch

"That's your job Alfred. If you are serious about taking over the Kingdom then you will keep your end of the bargain. We need to get back before someone finds us. Tonight same time?" he asked and they all shouted a yes in agreement before filing out of the room in a single line like a bunch of pre-schoolers

I waited a couple of seconds before quietly making my way out of the room. I was in a part of the castle that l was unfamiliar with and l didn't know which direction to go but the sudden sound of footsteps heading in my direction made me spring into action as l threw myself into a nearby room

"Akia?" Ryden asked as soon as he saw my body leaning against his door

"King Ryden?" l asked in surprise and embarrassment

"what are you doing here?" he asked pushing a figure deeper under the sheets obscuring them from my view

" I apologise for my sudden appearance, l just came to ask when we would be leaving, it is almost noon and l wanted to prepare myself" l said the only excuse that l could come up with that wouldn't cause any suspicious eyes to question me

"We will be staying an extra day, all you need to worry yourself with is resting. The journey ahead is still a long one. Would that be all?" he asked silently looking back to his bed and l knew then that my presence was not wanted

"No my King, thank you" l said bowing my head and heading out onto the unfamiliar hallway

"Akia?" the man l was dreading seeing said as soon l closed the door to Ryden's room