Innocent Times

by Gemma Owen-Kendall

  “My lord, my lady, I ask of your forgiveness.” My hair was still the colour of pink, the Queen noticed and instantly knew straight away. She got up off her chair and approached me. She held out her hands for me to take them and help me to stand up. She stroked my hair, took a whiff of my essence, and smiled at me.

  “You are in love with my son.”

  I turned to look at Dominic who then looked away from me but towards the direction of his father.

  “Is this true?” the king questioned me, he stood up from his throne and joined his wife gazing down at me.

  “Yes.” I whispered with teary eyes “It is true.” I could not hold back the tears anymore, I dreaded Dominic finding out about this, I did not want him to know I had fallen in love with him.

  “I love her.” I was not expecting Dominic to say this. “I have loved her since the day she was born, I love her to watch over her and see her grow to blossom into a beautiful young lady that she is right now.”

  The king walked over to his son and placed his hand onto Dominic’s right shoulder.

  “I am sorry I can’t allow you to be together, this kills me to say this but Dominic you have to make a choice. You can either choose to be with Grace and be banished from the kingdom or you must end this affair with Grace and choose to never meet her again unattended.”

  I did not like the sound of this, but I sort of hoped Dominic would follow his heart and live a life with me. We could have run away together to live in the mortal realm, away from everything, and start our own lives living as normal people. I could have seen it happening right now until what I heard next broke my heart.

  “Grace I love you but I am so sorry, I have chosen to stay with my father and my people. Please forgive me.”

  I crumpled to the floor crying my heart out, my hair turned all black. That had only happened once before when I was very young and losing my mother. I heard footsteps trying to approach me coming from Dominic’s direction, but then he was held back by his guardian, Michael. The Demon Queen went over to me and kneeled by the beside me. She brushed away some of my tears and held me for a moment.

  “I am so sorry Grace, remember I love you but we can’t be together.” Were the last words I heard Dominic say to me, Michael released him and the Demon Prince left. It was the last time I saw him until now, two years later….

  My bodily urges took control upon me, telling me to go with him and be under his command. Charlie, bless her, tried to protect me, she tried her hardest to keep me safe and sacrificed her soul to not let any harm come to me but he was too smart and cunning. His friend and guardian Michael removed the soul from her body, I remembered vaguely her silhouette drifting to me on her last ounce of power and strength but she had to let go. Charlie was no longer my protector, my best friend gone, forever.

  Now I was here with him and we were alone, he kidnapped me and took me away to his bedsit. Dominic unbuttoned his shirt revealing a toned torso. He knelt over me on his bed and kissed me passionately. All the anger for Charlie vanished as soon as his lips touched mine and all the hate I had for him released away from me. All I wanted now was to enjoy this moment with him, sparkled and changed to pink, my powers for love for him revealed once again.

  He stopped kissing me, gazed into my eyes and stroked my brightly lit up hair. I knew what he wanted from me but I wasn’t sure if I was ready to go on to this, my first time. What would everyone think of me? The chosen unicorn girl with the demon boy. Good and evil together.

  Charlie.

  It honoured me the day when the king of the Unicorn People requested that I, Charlie, would be the protector of his daughter Grace. We were of similar age so as children we had often played together in the palace court yard, the kingdom of the Unicorn People was always so bright and a haven to be. Our allies were the evil ones known as the Demon People but we had a friendly truce with them and once you got to know their king and queen, they were friendly. Their son Dominic however, I was just unsure about him, there was just something about him I felt was not right. I noticed how he always looked at Grace like he was a predator stalking his prey until that very moment he would attack. I knew he wanted her but he could not have her, it was forbidden.

  The two kings always got on so well every time they visited each other and they both could put on a right party and feast. His highness,the Unicorn King wore a wondrous crown, it was golden and glittery and in the middle where it all joined was the Unicorn horn. The horn was a symbol of our sacred being, the animal of the Unicorn herself, who could transform herself to become one but also be a person to. However, there has been no-one else able to do this unless you were the chosen one. I believed it worried the king that his daughter could do this someday, that she was the chosen one.

  I remember when Grace was sixteen she had come home one night very upset, I knew there had been problems with her father as he wanted her to have an arranged marriage to a nobleman but she was not having any of it. Her parents fell in love off their own back and that is what Grace wanted to do, but unknown to his daughter, the king was worried that she would have the same fate as her mother. So, he wanted to ensure, Grace was looked after and cared for by someone of noble birth. Not by someone who was too focused on ruling a kingdom like himself as he could not fulfil being a husband. No one knew who or why the queen passed away but the king felt so guilty about this.

  Grace had told me about her encounter with the Demon Prince and how she had fallen madly in love with him, even two years later I knew she still cried for him and struggled to get over him. When Grace was eighteen, the king finally gave me the role as her protector, I had been training up for this moment since I was a child. We were already friends but yet, inside I loved her and wanted to be the one to protect her, we were like sisters as she was an only child. This very night I couldn’t save Grace, I tried so hard but Dominic was one step ahead of me, I knew he had still been stalking Grace. This very night I had taken her out to the mortal realm to dance the night away and to forget all about the Demon boy. He crushed her heart by choosing to serve the Demon King over his love for her. I was appointed by the king of the Unicorn People to protect his daughter at all costs, even if that cost me my life. Now here I was, stuck in the spirit world until they have granted me the chance to live again. Dominic’s protector Michael, another Demon like the prince was too strong and powerful for me, he completely ripped my soul from my body and all I could do was sacrifice myself as he would have killed Grace. Luckily my soul struck down Michael before I drifted away into the spirit world. Please forgive me my king and my princess, we will meet again.

  Dominic.

  I have been watching her for so long, the only girl who I have ever loved, but I betrayed her. I chose to serve him, the demon king, my people were once at war with the unicorn folk until my father and their king put a truce together. Our fathers wanted to keep the balance between good and evil together in a peaceful harmony. How could I, the son of the demon king, fall for the princess of the unicorn people? I know I had broken her heart, but I could not help but follow her as often as I could. Although my male ego got the better of me, my head and my heart could not stop loving Grace.

  She was on a night out with her best friend Charlie and to not make it look obvious I was following her, I asked Michael to accompany me to the club. Charlie spotted us straight away and instantly I realised that tonight was a terrible idea, we should not have come here and pretty much we should have stayed outside and watched the girls from a distance. Angrily Charlie slapped me across the face, Grace tried to reason with her, it was obvious she still loved me just as much as I still loved her. Michael triggered automatically to my defence but before I could stop him he tore away Charlie’s soul out of her body. However the spark from such a murderous act destroyed Michael, Charlie sacrificed herself for the princess, her best friend. This was the same bond that I had with Michael.

  I looked over at the princess. She was shocked and numb by what she had just witnessed, her best
friend killed right in front of her. All I wanted to do was hold Grace and make all of this go away, but I wanted something else from her too which urged me to carry out my next plan, I wanted to take her innocence from her. I took Grace by the hand, she was reluctant to start off with but as to not cause a scene in the club she surrendered herself to me. My plan was already starting to work.

  My bedsit was not too far away from the club, Grace slowly walked behind my pace but I would not release my grasp, I could sense she was crying but I was too ashamed to stop and look at her. I could not bear myself to look her in the eyes whilst she was crying. We entered my bedsit and straight away I dragged her to my bed.

  The Imposter

  The sunlight shone through my butterfly patterned curtains as I slowly woke up from a wonderful dream; I rubbed the sleep away from eyes and slowly sat up. There he was, sat at the edge of my bed, someone I did not know personally but knew of very well. I did not understand how he got into my dorm, never mind my bedroom and watching me sleep whilst sitting on the edge of my bed. I heard him breathing slowly, like his focus was just fixated on me and the smell of his aftershave lingering through the air.

  He moved more onto my bed, trying to get closer towards me, but I hunched myself into a ball and held on tightly to my duvet. I could see on the expression of his face what he wanted to do to me, he smiled whilst gritting his teeth, his brown hair was gelled back smoothly, whereas normally when I have passed him on the street his hair appeared to be untidy. Now I had a closer look at my imposter, he was about the same age as me, nineteen maybe a year or two older and his eyes had a look of evil in them.

  I never understood why he stalked me, for the past year he would appear at most student parties where I was at and always stood a distance away from me, watching me as though I was prey for his predatory fulfilments. When I had spotted him at these parties or in the street, he would always come across as being a loner but as I tried to never pay much attention to him, I could not have cared more or less if he had any friends or not, I just wanted him to stop stalking me. I had reported him often to the university faculty and on site security but there was nothing they could do as he had not harmed me in any way and had broken no laws, until now that is, waking up to find him sat on the edge of my bed.

  “How did you get in?” I asked him.

  “That is for me to know and for you to find out. Now I have you all to myself away from your friends, I have made sure no one can get in to help you now.”

  Fear struck me hearing him say those words to me, a chill of ice froze down my spine and yet the feeling of expecting this to happen one day prepared myself for what my next course of action would be. I slowly reached for my knife under my mattress, trying not to make it too obvious to show him what I was about to do and in a rage of adrenaline pumping through me, I flew myself onto him…

  Him

  This short story is also in Monday At Six, first published in 2017. I also adapted this piece into a stage play that was performed at Louth Playgoers Riverhead Theatre in June 2018 by Hambledon Productions.

  When I was a little girl, I always dreamt of love and having my own fairy tale story, my mother would often tell me back then that there is someone out there for everyone but she didn’t mean from out there. My name is Kimberly and here is my story for what changed my life. You think boys during school are so complicated, well how about falling in with a boy who is not even from this world. The first day I started secondary school was when I first saw him, the guy I fell in love with that felt like it would be for all eternity, his name was Danny. He was always a few inches taller than the rest of the guys in our year, his chocolate brown hair was always spiked perfectly and often I was tempted to touch it to see how much gel he used to keep his hair in place. From time to time I often caught his eyes, those deep hazel brown eyes that developed butterflies in my stomach, causing me to stare at him for ages in class and because of this my grades at school weren’t always the best. He never seemed to be interested in dating any of the girls in school, just about nearly every girl in school had asked him out for a drink, cinema or study date but he always declined. I never had the courage to even speak to him, never mind asking him out for a date. Although I had long blonde hair and blue eyes, I did not think of myself as very attractive, I never seemed to have any guys asking me out. This did not help my confidence, I guess you could even say I was not very popular with the boys at school, hardly any of them asked me out and as for parties and hang outs, I was rarely asked. I was happy though, and all I needed was my best friend Jessica to talk about situations with; she was pretty much my sister but from another family. Without Jessica, I would have been eternally on my lonesome.

  When I started year ten, this was when I cracked on with my studies and forget all about Danny and boys in general. Of course, I would never be rid of him as he was in a lot of the same classes as me but I was just sick of my parents constantly nagging at me about low grades and the teachers continuously telling me to do better. The nail on the head was when my parents got called into a meeting with my head teacher about how low my grades were and that I would soon go on to take my GCSEs, if I did not improve I would have to re-take another year. This meeting took place right at the end-of-year nine just before the summer break so I made a choice to myself and with the guidance from Jessica that during the six week summer break I would study ahead and try to improve my grades. In September going into year ten I was determined to do well and forget all about Danny. But who would know during this year at school that it would change my life for all eternity and this event happened at the yearly Christmas school masquerade ball.

  My grades had progressed so as a treat to say, ‘Well done’ my parents let me attend the ball. The head teacher had personally hand delivered my invite to my parents, so they knew I was not making up a story that my grades had improved so well. I had gone shopping with Jessica to choose our dresses, it was a cool but dry day on that Saturday we picked our dresses, as an idea we visited the local bridal shop to see on the off chance there may be some bridesmaid gowns or prom dresses reduced. As luck would have it, I came across a silver ball gown. It was on display in the shop window. Silver was not a colour I would have normally gone for, but in the sunlight’s reflection it shone and reflected beautifully through the window. It was like the dress was out of this world and I don’t know what it was, but it drew me to it. Something made me want to enter the shop and check the price of it. It was as though I looked at it outside the shop in one moment and then the next, I was there standing right by it. There was just something about this dress that I could not get my head round but I loved it and I had to buy it. In my daze of excitement and confusion I reached for the yellow tag, it displayed reduced to £89.00. Mum had given me £100.00 to spend in town as a treat. I had seen a few CDs I wanted to treat myself to , but I loved the dress so much I sacrificed my treats and purchased the dress.

  The lady in the dress shop was welcoming, she was an elderly lady but knew right away what I wanted but her welcome came across as though she knew who I was. She already had a few of the other girls from my school placing orders for dresses because of the ball, but not one of them wanted the silver gown. As it was on display in the window, the other girls had most likely thought it would cost a lot of money and not taken a second look at it. The dress was like it was meant to be for me. The lady smiled at me as she took my measurements and as a kind gesture, she let me have the silver eye mask with a butterfly on either side on it, free of charge that matched my new silvery dress. I was still not with it exiting the shop from my excitement about the dress, I walked straight into Danny who had been walking by, I lost my balance and began to fall to the ground. I closed my eyes as I prepared to hit the concrete paving from underneath, but I stopped in mid fall. A powerful arm had caught hold of me and then a hand stroked my cheek. The same feeling of the butterflies in my stomach happened again. I opened my eyes and was met with his gaze. We held each other for a moment just l
ooking at each other, although there were no words to say it was amazing feeling his embrace.

  “Erm sorry about that.” I said to him, feeling like a complete idiot. “Must have been in a world of my own.”

  I let go of him and stepped away, I had completely forgotten about my friend Jessica and sure enough I had walked out of the shop before she even chose her own dress. I turned to look for her and smiled nervously as she stood in the doorway of the dress shop. She smiled joyfully back at me and then walked over to me. I am sure she must have seen what happened between Danny and I. He just looked at me again for a moment, nodded then walked away, not quite sure what that was all about but I still really liked him a lot, I had avoided thinking about him during the last few months and everything had come flooding back to me. I watched him walk away, noticing he did have a slight look over his left shoulder at me and then the next moment he was gone and no longer in my eyesight.

  “What just happened there?” my friend Jessica curiously asked me

  “I do not understand, but whatever it was I loved every moment of it.”

  She playfully nudged me and I playfully pushed her back then we carried on strolling through town linking arms, giggling away and just talking about him. It felt good to talk to her again about Danny and how much I still truly liked him, those feelings from when I first saw him the day we were all starting secondary school in year seven. Nobody knew nothing about his past as he had not gone to primary school with any of the pupils at secondary school. I can remember during the school holidays that year when a U.F.O had been spotted flying over our insignificant town, it was some kind of flying saucer like object hovering above like it was observing the area. I saw this flying object myself, as I did a late evening walk to and from the local shop and I could have sworn it hovered over me at one point, it was like whoever was inside it wanted to take a closer look at me. I remember there being a green illuminated light glowing underneath the object, the saucer itself was like a dark gun metal grey colour with red flashing lights round it. There was a loud humming sound as it hovered over me and since then I have longed to know who was inside of it. As I witnessed this alone, I had not shared my story with anyone apart from Jessica, I was thankful she believed me when I explain what I saw that night and how it looked. Since then Danny appeared on the scene starting secondary school the same time as myself, no one knew where he lived and he was always dropped off and picked up from school in a black Mercedes-Benz SUV with tinted out windows. I knew this as I walked past this vehicle one afternoon from school and just had to observe the vehicle in all its details. This mysterious side to him is part of the reason why I was so attracted to him. Deep down I thought he might have been one of the beings in the flying saucer that evening but I hoped he wasn’t. The more I thought and spoke to Jessica about this, the more I thought how would an inter-galactic relationship ever work and then again, my idea of all this must have been my teenage hormones going into overdrive. Everything I spoke of this to was Jessica, she listened and often told me to turn this fairy-tale imagination of mine into a story about Danny being an alien and me falling in love with him.