Emma: The Silent Queen

Chapter : 3. Wishing star..

My mom always used to wear this necklace that has a beautiful star pendent on it. I don’t remember much about her, but I do remember playing with that pendant whenever I was in her lap. She used to tell me stories about it. She used to say stars are the blessings of the goddess. Every time we make a wish by looking at them, one of them falls from the sky as a sign of the moon goddess accepting our wish. Until then, it stays in the sky, looking after us, protecting us from any danger.

She told me that her mother gave it to her when she came to live with my dad, and ever since, it has been protecting her by giving her its luck. But right before she was about to die, she tied it around my neck and told me that even if she can’t be around me to take care of me, her lucky charm would do that for her. Ever since that day, I have never taken it off of my neck because it was the only memory I have of her.

But that day I found someone and thought he needed the luck of that pendent more than me. I thought I would be okay without it. But I was wrong. I didn’t know that giving it up would be the biggest mistake I have ever made. I didn’t know that my life was about to change and I was never going to get that necklace back..

With a cheerful mind, I went back home right as the sun came down. I thought dad would still scold me for staying out the whole day and returning late. But when I got back home, I found him sitting in the living room with a worried face. The way he was drowned in thoughts, it looked like something really serious.

“Dad? Is everything alright?” He got startled to hear my voice, but quickly tried to fix his posture.

“Yes.. Yes my princess. Everything’s fine.”

“But you look worried about something? Did something bad happen?”

“Emma! You don’t need to know. You are too young to worry about things like this. Besides, it’s your birthday. Nothing is more serious than that. Most of all, I am not done with any of the dishes I promised to make for you. I have no idea what I am going to do. I should be worried about that. What am I doing? There’s so much to do. I am going crazy..” He quickly changed the subject and pretended to be funny. I also laughed with him, not caring about the outside world.

“Don’t worry. I will help you. Let’s do it together.”

That was the last moment I laughed from my heart. That was the last moment I spent with my dad. That was the last thing we did together. We cooked all the dishes together with laughter echoing through our house. Our lives were so happy and so amazing. Until it all changed. Everything I ever knew was gone before I can even understand it. My life turned upside down before the day could even end.

After making everything, dad and I sat together to eat. He was singing a happy birthday song to me when all of a sudden some wolves broke into our house. We were startled and scared. My dad snatched me out of my chair and hid me behind him to protect. Seeing the bloody face and the way the wolves were snarling at us, we were sure that they were rogues. But why would rogues attack us at night? Why would they enter so far into the kingdom?

“Dad? What is going on? Why are they here?”

“It’s okay, Emma. Stay behind me. Who are you and why are you here? What do you want from us?”

“Revenge. King Philip’s revenge.” I felt my body shake and breathing get heavy hearing the raspy voice of one of those wolves.

“King.. King Philip brought you into our kingdom? How could he? We were right to banish that murderer from our kingdom. We don’t need a king like him, and so do you. You don’t need to listen to him. You don’t have to do as that bastard says..”

A soon as he said that, a wolf jumped on dad, knocking us both over. He quickly got up and tried to shift to fight with them, but before he could do so, another one of them jumped on him, making him hit his head on the dining table and fall down. And to make sure he didn’t get up or try to shift, he stood up on him, biting down on his neck from behind. A loud, painful scream from my dad scared me to my core, and I started crying loudly.

“Please.. Stop. Let my dad go. Don’t hurt him, please.. Please let him go..” I started begging for mercy on his life. He is the only family I have left. I can’t lose him. I won’t be able to live without him.

“No one will stay alive who speaks badly about our king. Your whole family will die for going against King Philip. Kill her. Kill this girl.”

As the one standing up on my dad gave the order, another one jumped on me, making me fall down on the floor on my back. And before I could even try to get up, he bit down on my throat really hard. A sharp pain shot out of my chest and I couldn’t breathe properly anymore. I could feel his teeth sink even deeper in my throat and right as he was about to rip it out, someone pushed him off of me. With my hazy eyes and dizzy head, I saw my dad standing up and screaming something at me.

“Run.. Emma.. Run..” It was all I could make out before I saw a wolf bite down his neck and rip his head right off of his body.

All of a sudden, I gained my senses back and I let out a scream. But nothing came out of my mouth except blood. I saw my dad’s body fall down with a thud and his head roll to the other side of the room. There was blood everywhere. My dad is dead. They killed him.

Then my eyes fell on the wolf who killed my dad. Blood was dripping down his teeth as he was looking at me with his sinister eyes. I knew his next target was me. He was about to kill me too. So, before he could reach me, I quickly got out and started running out of the house. Adrenaline kicked into my body and I forgot I had any pain. All I knew at that moment was I had to run if I wanted to live. I have to escape for my life. There was no way I would let them catch me.

In the blink of an eye, I shifted into my wolf and started running into the forest with no idea where I was heading. Especially when I saw one of those wolves chase me, I forgot all about direction and just kept running as fast as I could. I am young, but that rogue is not. I am an alpha, but he is not. I was running for my life, and he was running to take mine. So, there was no way he could catch up with me. It was about a few minutes later when he lost sight of me.

But even though I knew he wasn’t chasing me anymore, I kept running and running. The only thought that was going through my head was that I had to get away from that kingdom if I wanted to live. The wound on my neck was still fresh, dripping blood everywhere I went. I couldn’t even breathe properly, choking on my own blood. But it didn’t make me slow. I kept running as long as my body could take me.

I ran for hours and I had no idea how far I had come from home or where I was anymore. My vision is too blurry and my feet are now giving up. I think the lack of blood in my body was making me weak. My wolf accepted defeat, forcing me to shift back into my human form again. I ripped all my clothes when I shifted, so now I was somehow dragging my feet through the cold dark forest, naked.

But even after walking like that for a mile or so, I couldn’t see any lights or houses where I could go and ask for help. I was all alone in a creepy forest with no hope of getting any help nearby. And at one time, I just couldn’t keep standing anymore and fell down on the ground with a numb body. There was no pain anywhere. I couldn’t feel a thing except the cold wind touching my naked skin. I couldn’t see anything clearly. I couldn’t breathe normally and was gasping to get more air. I think I am dying.

In the last moment of my life, I couldn’t stop myself from imagining how my father died. He could have saved himself. He could have fought back if it wasn’t for me. He was only trying to protect me. What did he do wrong to deserve such a horrible death? What did I do wrong to see my father getting killed like that? We always helped others. We never wished bad for anyone. Then why did we get this punishment?

It was all his fault. King Philip. He did this to us. He killed my father. He took my life away from me. If I somehow survive this, I swear to my dead father’s soul that I will make him pay. I will take revenge for what he did. I will kill him the way he killed my father. He deserves to rot in hell and die a painful death, ever. And I will give it to him.

Looking up at the night sky, I could see stars glistening very far away from my reach, waiting for someone to make a wish so that they could finally get their freedom from this responsibility. I think it’s time to make my wish to the goddess and free one of them.

“Please goddess. Save me. Keep me alive so that I can take revenge of my father’s death. I want to live. Please..”

As soon as I made that wish in my mind, I saw a star falling down from the sky. I think the moon goddess accepted my wish. I think I am going to live and get my revenge. I think she gave me a chance to do what is right. A smile came on my lips and tears rolled down my eyes to get a hope of life, before everything faded away and I went into a deep slumber.

I have no idea what happened after that. I had been living in a dark place for quite a long time. But I think I heard voices echo around me. I think I felt a touch on my skin. I have no idea even if I was alive or dead. I didn’t even know if it was all true or it was just a dream until I finally woke up one day.

When I opened my eyes, I saw an old lady sitting beside me, caressing my hair. I don’t think I ever saw that lady before, but her touch and her face made me feel calm.

“Oh! You are finally awake. I thought you were never going to wake up.” My body felt really weak, but I still pushed myself up to sit and she helped me with it too. I looked around myself to see that I was in a very small room with several beds in lines. I had no idea where I was.

“Little girl? What is your name? Where do you live?”

I tried to tell her that my name was Emma. But as soon as I spoke up, I could make a sound. Instead, I ended up choking and coughing. I touched my throat, which was hurting really badly to find that there were bandages wrapped around my neck, and I remembered the incident I had been in before. I tried to speak up again or make a sound. But no matter how hard I tried, nothing was coming out of me.

“Oh! Poor girl. I don’t know what happened to you, but your throat was really badly injured. I think you lost your voice because of that.”

What? No. This can’t happen. I can’t lose my voice. I can’t be a mute for the rest of my life. This is not fair..