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"Dread it, run from it, destiny arrives all the same." — Avengers Infinity War, 2018 

Word count: 1793

I sat with my dead friend's body for a while.

I wanted to savor this time I had with her. I knew I'd never get a moment with her again. We'd never laugh about something silly, and never eat scraps again. I'd never hear her tell me about how amazing and special it was. 

That sent a wave of pain into my heart. Sadness lurked in the corners of my mind, threatening to plunge me into a sea of loathing and loneliness. It was my old friend. Forever haunting me, reminding me that I was one step closer to losing myself completely. To becoming an emotionless zombie like my parents. 

It hurt to leave her body. I didn't want to leave her alone but I had to get somebody. Jared was upstairs, blissfully unaware that the love of his life was below him, dead. He was going to be devastated when he found out. He loved her so much. This would destroy him. 

Wiping away the remaining tears on my face, I mustered up as much strength as I could manage and walked away from my close friend. I would miss her deeply. I would always remember the brief, happy moments we had. She didn't deserve any of this. 

When I needed it, Harriet managed to bring a smile to my face. She was a good person despite her faults. I'd remember her positively. I owed her that much. 

The large room was full of people. Banging music bounced off the sturdy walls, vibrating the foundations. People swayed, dancing. 

Numb from the emotional pain, I pushed my way through the crowd, oblivious to the shouts of protests I received. They didn't matter. None of it mattered. They were insignificant at the moment.

I searched for Jared. Since he had a tall stature, it would be easy to find him. Normally, he lingered in the back, talking to someone. For him, this was one of the few times he could socialize with people. Normally, he'd have Harriet hanging off him, singing to herself in the wrong pitch. That would never happen again.

No, not now. I blinked back my tears.

Sure enough, he was having an intense conversation with a familiar man. I had seen his friend once or twice. He was nice enough but had a serious drinking problem.

When I came into Jared's line of sight, he asked his friend to leave. His friend—who was called Apa—fled the moment he spotted me. 

Jared had his eyes on me, assessing my form. Whilst I had wiped away my tears, my puffy red eyes shone with sorrow. He was very good at reading people. He'd know something was up immediately.

"Aurora?" He asked over the pounding music, uncertain and nervous. 

My stomach churned as I stopped in front of him. Craning my neck upwards, I locked eyes with his dark orbs. The light that was in them started to fade. It was as if he could read my mind.

"W—What happened?" He stuttered, worriedly.

I opened my mouth but no words came out. They were clogged in the back of my throat. I couldn't say them. Saying them made it real and final. 

"Aurora, tell me what's going on," He demanded, his eyes pleading with mine.

Once again, tears brimmed in the corners of my eyes.

"I—"

Jared's worry turned into irritation at my lack of reply. I tried to not take it personally. "Aurora, tell me what the fuck is wrong," He snapped, his voice growing louder by the second. He had never snapped at me before. It was a shock. I flinched, stumbling back.

Noticing my fear, he forced himself to control his emotions. "Sorry," He muttered, cupping the back of his neck. "I—what happened?"

I wanted to say I knew. I knew and understood. But, I couldn't speak. Not to him.

Like a coward, I was afraid to tell him what had happened. I didn't want to watch this good human being break down crying. I didn't want to watch his world fall apart. I had seen it happen to my parents. Even Ash. It destroyed a part of me, watching people I cared about lose a part of themselves. 

My parents had lost everything, including each other. And it turned them into walking vessels. Any emotion they harbored had gone. The world had swallowed them whole, leaving them for dead. 

I couldn't watch as the one thing he cared about was ripped from him. It would be another blow to the heart.

The moment Jared knew what had happened to Harriet, he would crumble.

Life wasn't fair. Not for the people in Sadorna. In fact, not for anyone living in the South. We could never catch a break. Just when things got brighter for someone, it was snatched from their grasp.

Death, loss of possessions, famine, and poverty was a daily occurrence. We were used to it. We had to be in order to survive. There were so many people that couldn't deal with it. They were the ones that perished.

Harriet was unfortunately one of those people. To escape the pain, she took drugs. Those drugs were not only the cause of her death but they were the reason that the people around her were affected.

I had never hated the people in the North as much as I did now. They had the power, and the money to do something about it.

Especially King Elon.

He had been the King for years and had never done anything for us. He didn't care. As long as the people in the North were settled and happy, he could sit on his expensive and comfortable throne and live happily. None of them cared about us. We were expendable. We were nothing to them.

I prayed with every fiber inside of me that we got some kind of justice for our pain and misery. I hoped that one day, they would experience what we experienced.

If I could, I would kill them. All of them.

To me, it was the royal family's fault. They were the reason we were in this mess. They were the reason Harriet was dead.

I wanted them to pay.

"Aurora?" Jared called my name again, knocking me out of my thoughts. There was hate in my heart, brewing. The more I thought about the people from the North, the angrier I felt.

Instead of wallowing in my grief, I decided to take it and use it as motivation for a bigger cause. To hate the citizens of the North.

Shakily, I took the note Harriet had left for me and handed it to him. Confused, he glanced down at the worn-out paper, flickering his orbs back to me.

"What's this?"

I didn't give him an answer. My feet swiveled around, moving away from him. I knew he'd need some time alone to read the note. 

Finding Apa, I tugged on the sleeve of his shirt. He glanced over his shoulder at me. His onyx orbs flashed in recognition and he placed a small, dazed smile on his face.

"S—" I had to clear my dry throat to speak properly. "Stay with Jared. He'll need you."

Apa furrowed his brows together, concerned. He glanced over to where Jared stood and then back to me. "Why? What happ—"

"You'll find out. Just go." I begged him. He hesitated but eventually relented. My shoulders sagged in relief. Even though Apa was drunk, he would take better care of Jared than I would.

I needed to get out of here. The music, the people, and the looks of artificial joy planted on people's faces were too much. I couldn't breathe.

Stuffing my hands into my jacket pocket, I pushed my way through the thick crowds to the exit. Not once did I realize there were eyes on me, watching my small form.

The moment I stepped outside into the cool air, I let out a sigh. It felt like I had been holding in that breath from the moment I saw Harriet's dead body.

My wrecked shoes crunched on the gravel. Too absorbed in my thoughts, I failed to notice people following me.

Lifting my gaze up from the ground, I came to an abrupt halt when four tall and well-built men stood twenty meters from me. Something about their stance—the way they had their shoulders squared back—rang alarm bells in my head. 

Figuring it would be best to lose them in the warehouse, I turned around quickly. That was when my eyes landed on three more people.

In the middle of the three was someone I knew. Well, I knew of.

He stood at an impressive six inches at least. His outfit was a typical Southern outfit. It looked so wrong on him. They were loose in the wrong places and didn't match anything about him. He looked so out of place here. He was born to wear fine royal, luxurious clothing. Not ripped, dirty clothes. 

The King was here in the South. At Harriet's place. The bastard that showed no interest in the South was here.

Flocking him were two people who looked vaguely similar to him. I figured they were his siblings—Princess Zara and Prince Cale. Unlike him, they had vibrant green eyes. His were pitch black, like a dark night without any stars.

I recalled the speech he made and the moment his eyes laid on me. A spark had ignited in his eyes. He looked hungry like a predator. Gulping, I stumbled back. 

Harriet was right...he was after me. 

It made King Elon step forward. Instead of the bored expression he usually had on—there was not a single painting that showed him smiling—he looked relieved. Maybe even happy.

"Aurora," He called my name. If I wasn't so deep in my thoughts, I would be startled by the fact the King knew my name. "Finally."

END OF PART 1. 

And this is where the real fun begins. 

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