Secrets (Swept Saga)

by Nyx, Becca Lee

  The prince set off for the dragon’s cave, it took him a week to get there. He snuck inside and saw his love with chains on her ankles and wrists. Her clothes were torn and she was dirty. He watched the dragon growl at her and blow smoke at her and he became angry. He wanted to charge in and kill the dragon right then, but he decided to wait. If he wanted to rescue the girl he loved, kill the dragon and survive then he needed a plan. He needed to wait until the dragon was vulnerable and unaware.

  For three days, the prince watched the dragon and found that he had a regular routine. Finally, the prince found his chance while the dragon was sleeping. He crept towards the dragon, careful to not make a noise and watched as the dragon’s chest moved up and down. Then, the prince held the sword up, tip down and plunged it into the dragon’s heart.

  The dragon let out one big terrifying scream that was heard all over the world and died. The prince then pulled his sword out and chopped off the dragon’s head to make sure it was dead.

  The prince carried his love out of the cave and returned to the village. They shared the dragon’s hoard, which was massive, and they all lived happily in peace until their days were over. And that is the story of Dragon’s Head; the trail that the prince took to the cave is the very same one we’re going to take today.” I say as I finish the story.

  “Are we going to go in the cave?” Caden asks eyes wide.

  “I don’t know if we’ll make it to the cave today, but one day we will.” I answer. I don’t have a lot of time today with Caden. I wish it were more, but I do have other things to do. I pull into Prince Victor’s Park, and park my car at the beginning of the trail.

  “Are you ready?” I ask Caden.

  “You bet!” He answers and we both get out of the car. I lock the doors and we walk to the path. It’s a colder day today and Caden and I are both wearing jackets. The wind blows and leaves scatter across the path peppering it with an array of colors. I see a few squirrels run into the middle of the path looking for a nut or maybe a dropped crumb from other hikers. Caden runs towards them and chases them away and laughs.

  “How is everything going?” I ask him.

  “Fine I guess.” He shrugs.

  “Well you told me that you can now write with your right hand, and that’s great! Does your dad know?”

  “He hasn’t called me or my mom.” Caden says and hangs his head.

  Caden’s dad moved out of the house shortly before I started mentoring him. His mother was worried about him having a positive male influence in his life without his father around and asked me to step in. I was flattered and more than happy to do it. Caden’s father drinks, like my dad except Caden’s mother made him move out. She’s supporting herself and her son on her own and gets no help from her ex-husband. I wish my mother was as strong as Caden’s mother, but Caden misses his dad terribly. I think he always looked up to him despite his flaws.

  “I’m sorry,” I say to Caden and put my hand on his shoulder.

  “I just want to know if he ever thinks about me or if he cares. I think about him a lot. I wonder what he’s doing, where he’s going, or if he’s even alive. I know he wasn’t good to my mother, but he was good to me.”

  “I know, Caden. If there was a way I could help you with that I would.”

  “I know.”

  “Hopefully he’s getting help and you’ll hear from him soon.” I tell him hoping against hope that it’s the truth. It’s so hard to be supportive of their relationship when I’m not so certain that it’s good for him. Of course a boy needs a father in his life, but does he need his biological father? I didn’t, and I hope Caden will see that, too.

  We walk in silence, apart from the chatter of squirrels, chirping of birds and the crunch of the leaves beneath our feet. Sometimes walking is a good way to work out your thoughts, put them in order, and clear your head. I know that I’ve gotten a lot accomplished mentally while walking. There’s something about fresh air and nature that helps repair the soul.

  I think about my own father, and begin to feel angry. Why does his memory still continue to hurt me? I remember Justin telling me that it was important to not let anyone hurt me. He said the oddest thing that I’ll never forget, “To move on you must forgive. If you don’t forgive, you continue to hold on to the hurt and continue to be a victim. We forgive, not for them, but for ourselves. It is only in forgiveness that you can begin to heal.” His words have come back to me over and over. I have tried to forgive my father, but there is something there that keeps me from letting go. I still wonder why he is the way he is. I’m hoping that one day I can forgive him for who he is, but right now I guess I’m not ready. At least Caden is spared the hurt that I’ve had to face, but then again I guess he’s hurting too.

  My mind wonders back to the subject of Crystal. What am I going to do about her? As adventurous as I was with Emily, I had never taken her to the lake. Then again, Emily controlled most of the relationship. I’ve also never had sex in broad daylight in an open area. As far as I could tell, we couldn’t be seen and there wasn’t anyone else out there. I wonder why Emily never thought to do something like this. She’s not shy by any means. I just hope that I don’t have to hear from her or see her anytime soon. At least she’s out of Crystal’s dorm and the new roommate should be moving in soon if she hasn’t already. Too bad Crystal wasn’t in a coed dorm or I would have tried to move in with her. Then I could shove it in Ryan’s face every single day. Nothing would have given me more pleasure than that, except maybe truly having Crystal to myself.

  “Gabriel?” Caden asks, breaking my train of thought.

  “Yeah?”

  “There’s a snake.” Caden says, I can hear the fear in his voice.

  “Okay, don’t move, stay very still.” I instruct calmly and pick up a stick off the ground. I tip toe towards Caden, careful not to make any sudden movements. I look down and see a snake staring at Caden. Its forked tongue flicks out of its mouth as it smells the air.

  I’ve never seen a snake like this one and I don’t know if it’s poisonous, but I don’t want to find out either. I shove Caden out of the way and jab my stick at the snake. The snake strikes at the stick and clamps on. I carry the stick with the snake attached to the edge of the path and drop it in the leaves. The snake lets go of the stick and slithers off into the woods away from us.

  “Caden, has anyone ever told you that you’re accident prone?” I tease.

  “No.” He says his face is serious.

  I ruffle his hair, “C’mon let’s go back.”

  “But I want to see the cave.”

  “I think we’ve had enough adventure for one day.”

  “Oh.” He wines

  “I promise we’ll come back another time, when the snakes are hibernating!”

  “Okay.” He says and we walk side by side and I watch the path for anymore snakes that may be hiding.

  “Do you have a girlfriend?” Caden asks me.

  “Why do you ask?

  “Well, it’s just that…” He trails off.

  “It’s just that what?”

  “Never mind, it’s not important.” He says

  “It was important enough for you to bring it up, go on and ask.” I prompt him

  “Well, it’s just that this kid in my class, Jacob, he keeps telling me that I’m too ugly to have a girlfriend. He says all the girls think I’m disgusting.”

  “Caden, don’t listen to him.”

  “But he has girls around him all the time.”

  “I doesn’t matter if you have a girlfriend or not. Do you think you’re ugly or disgusting?”

  “No.”

  “Then there’s your answer. You’re still young. You have your whole life to have a girlfriend and let me tell you something about girls, sometimes they’re a lot more trouble than you want to deal with. You know, I didn’t have a girlfriend until I was sixteen?”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, so don’t feel bad, and don’t get in a rush. One of these da
ys you’ll find a sweet girl who will fall head over heels for you and then you’ll have to watch out!”

  “Watch out for what?”

  “She’ll want to be with you all the time, ask you where you’re going, who you’re with, and then she’ll want to marry you!”

  “I don’t think I’d mind being married.” Caden says.

  “You may say that now, but just wait! Once you start dating, you’ll never have any time to yourself or have any money either.”

  “Why won’t I have any money?’

  “Because, girls like it when you buy them stuff.”

  “Oh.” He says. “Do I have to buy them stuff?”

  “You don’t but you’ll end up buying them stuff anyway.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because they’re so pretty, you won’t be able to say no.”

  “I’ll be able to say no.” He says with determination.

  “Don’t be so sure.” I chuckle.

  “Do you think my dad bought my mom stuff?”

  “I’m sure he did.”

  “He doesn’t buy her anything anymore.”

  “No, he doesn’t; but that happens sometimes.”

  “I wish my mom and dad were still together.”

  “I know you do.” I tell him and put my arm around his shoulder to comfort and reassure him.

  “If I ever get married and have a kid, I won’t leave them. I’ll stay right there with them even if they don’t like me.”

  “Caden, I’m sure you will and I can’t imagine anyone not liking you.”

  My phone buzzes, interrupting the conversation. I didn’t even know my phone got service out here. I look at the screen. I have a text from Crystal, she’s asking me if I’m busy and wants to talk to me. I tell her that I’m busy, but I can meet her somewhere and talk to her soon. My phone goes off again and she’s saying that it’s important. I text her back and tell her that I’m out with Caden. She’s asks me who Caden is and I text her back that I’ll tell her later. My phone goes off one more time and it just says, Okay. I put my phone in my pocket.

  “What was that about?” Caden asks.

  “Girl problems.” I answer and try to change the subject. “What’s your favorite TV show?”

  Caden smiles and shouts, “SpongeBob!”

  “SpongeBob huh? When I was your age, I liked watching Pinky and the Brain.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Only one of the best cartoons ever! It’s about two mice that try to take over the world.”

  “It sounds boring.”

  “It’s not boring, it’s awesome! I’m going to bring it over sometime and watch it with you. One episode and you’ll be hooked.” I assure him.

  We’re finally back at the car and we get in and I drive Caden back home. He doesn’t say much and waves at me from his door as I pull away from the curb and drive back to campus. I call Crystal and tell her I can head over, she asks me to meet her at the library. What is it with that girl and libraries? She’s always there; she might as well live there. I don’t have anything against books, but I’ve never got into reading them. I don’t even like the reading assignments that I have to do for my classwork. Most of the time I search what the story is about on the internet and take notes, and I do well on the quizzes and tests. It’s gotten me by so far, so why change that. It’s kind of ironic really, because I write a blog and I don’t read books. I’ve never said anything about it, but I wonder what my followers would think if I put it out there that I don’t really read?

  I stop at my dorm, make sure I look good, and drop a condom in my pocket. You never know when something may happen and I always try to be prepared. I should have been a boy scout. I’m sure they would be proud.

  Crystal

  Chapter Four

  Class

  I hang up my phone, drop it in my bag and leave for the library. I don’t know how long it will take for Gabriel to meet me. To say it’s been an eventful morning would be an understatement. Ryan has been texting me, or rather sexting me. He’s been telling me what he wants to do to me and asking me what I want to do to him. I keep changing the subject. I’m intrigued, but I’m bad at this. Ryan would be with me, but he’s with his debate friends, pre-planning or practicing, or something. I just know the club takes up a lot of his time. But that’s the price he has to pay if he wants to be a lawyer. Why he’s chosen law I’ll never know. As far as I know his parents haven’t pushed him into it. I’ve always felt that his time would be better spent learning a trade, or taking some engineering classes. He has a great technical mind, but law is the path he chose and I hope he can learn to be a good lawyer. I just worry that’s he’s bitten off more than he can chew.

  I’m glad that Ryan’s club has given me a way to spend time with Gabriel. I like getting to know him. When he dropped me off last night, he gave me a deep passionate kiss. I asked him to come inside with me, but he turned me down. One thing that I like about Gabriel is the fact that he doesn’t pressure me for sex. I know that he wants more with me than that, and I’m at ease around him. It was probably a good thing he didn’t come into the dorm, Tiffany was moving in and I’m not ready for her to meet Gabriel just yet. I sized her up again, really looking at her. She’s the same height as me. Her hair could be styled better, but it still suited her in a weird way. Her features were rather plain, and she definitely didn’t dress the same as Emily. Emily’s style screamed sex, while Tiffany’s style seemed humble in comparison. She was wearing a simple t-shirt and jeans, much like what I would wear. I couldn’t really tell much about her body. Her t-shirt was baggy, so it was really hard to judge, but she wasn’t fat and she wasn’t super thin. She looked healthy.

  “It’s about time you showed up.” She said as I stood in the doorway.

  “Do you need me to help with anything?” I asked, when I noticed the stack of boxes in the living area.

  “I would love it if you could help me move the rest of the boxes into the room.” She said looking relieved.

  “Okay,” I answered, dropping my bag on the table I bent over and picked up a box. It was really heavy. “What do you have in here, bricks?”

  “No.” She answered and carried a box to her room and I followed her. “Just set the box down on the floor.” She said. I carefully eased the box onto the beige carpet that is the same color as mine and looked around the room. I’ve never been in here, but it doesn’t look much different from mine. The closet is on the opposite wall of mine, the paint is the same off-white color, and in the corner sits a bed that is identical to mine. There are boxes all over the floor, every single one is closed and sealed with tape. I follow Tiffany out of the room and help her move the rest of the boxes in one by one. They’re all heavy and I wonder what’s inside of them. Perhaps one day, I’ll know.

  “I hope you don’t mind, but I brought a TV and I wanted to set it up in the living room.” She said.

  “That sounds great.” I smiled at her.

  “It will take me a while to set it up, but when I do, do you want to watch a movie with me?” She asked.

  “Of course,” I replied.

  I picked my bag up from the table and went into my room. I heard a lot of banging, cursing and shuffling from Tiffany’s room. “Are you okay?” I called at her through the wall.

  “Yeah, I’m just unpacking.” She yelled back.

  “Do you need any help?” I asked

  “No, but thank you for asking.” She answered.

  I wondered what she was doing in there that was making all the noise, but I guess I wasn’t going to find out. My phone beeped at me. I had a message from Kelly.

  Kelly: So I’ve asked around, and nobody knows who Tiffany Price is.

  Me: Do you think that’s weird?

  Kelly: No, we probably just don’t know the same people.

  Me: Thank you for checking around.

  Kelly: No problem. Why did you want me to check up on her anyway?

  Me: It’s a long story. She’s my new
roommate.

  Kelly: Is there something off about her?

  Me: I don’t know yet.

  Kelly: I think we need to hang out soon so you can tell me all about it.

  Me: Sure

  I heard more banging from Emily’s room, her door slammed shut. Then I heard her in the living area, and it sounded like she was moving the furniture around. “Can you come help me?” She asked from outside the door. I didn’t say anything back, but I left my room. She was moving the chair away from the wall and trying to set up a flat screen TV on a stand. I helped her move the chair and lift the TV up. How she got it into the living room I’ll never know. It was huge and heavy, I haven’t seen a TV this big apart from the ones at Ryan’s house. Tiffany hooks up all the wires and brings out a play station three. She sets it up then goes into her room again. I sit there staring at the TV wondering what we’re going to watch, then my thoughts drift to Gabriel, and the pictures. I haven’t even looked at them! I take my phone out of my bra; I put it there sometimes when I don’t feel like putting it in my pocket, and pull up the picture folder. I scroll through them. They aren’t bad. The one that Gabriel wanted me to send to him has my face and my tits and I’m smiling at him. I’m not sure how I feel about the photo. I wish I looked prettier, and that my tits were fuller and perky. I’ve never thought of getting a breast augmentation, but for some reason I’m thinking about it now. I look at the picture I sent Ryan. It’s close up and my face isn’t in the picture. I can’t help but notice that one boob seems bigger than the other. Is it the angle of the picture? Is this how my breasts really look? I’m going to have to look in the mirror to know for sure. I enlarge the picture and turn my phone around looking for more flaws. Then I heard a loud “BOO!” I jumped, screamed and turned around; Tiffany is standing there in a mask that made the hair on my arms stand up. “Boogeyman is coming,” she said in a weird voice. “What?” I asked

  “The Boogeyman, don’t you recognize the mask?” She asked and pointed at her face.

  “No.” I answered and wondered where this was going.