KEEPER OF THE DESERTED ISLAND

CRUEL

“what did you just say?” she slowly asked her again as the bowl she was wiping dropped from her hand and got shattered to pieces

She ran as fast as her feet could carry her with tears falling down her face, she finally got to where her mother’s dead body was laid. She cried hard as she stopped in her tracks to see and understand the situation right in front of her, her legs were very heavy as she managed to carry them so she can close up the distance between her and her mother

“Mother, it can’t be true, why are sleeping out here in the cold? That is bad for your health” she said bending down to touch her

“How come you are so stiff? Won’t you wake up and tell me all that is happening right now is a prank? This is too much for me to handle so please enough of the prank, you should get up now because we need to talk” she blabbered on as she shook her mother’s cold body and got no response from her

She sat on her behind and was gazing into space because she didn’t even know how to react, the sadness was too much for her to handle

“How can I finally meet you yesterday after all these years and the next news I am getting this morning was of your death? Why are you always leaving me alone? All I wanted was you being there for me but you just died like that instead of fulfilling my wishes?” she muttered with silent tears flowing down her cheeks as she held unto her mom’s hand

“you really can’t do this to me mother, please wake up, this should be a dream” she suddenly shouted running after one of the doctors that came to see her corpse

“Please do something, please wake her up! Please don’t just stare but do your best” she yelled holding the doctor’s cloth but the doctor calmly held her hand to explain what he had in mind to tell her

“She has been suffering from high blood pressure because she must have been thinking about something huge for a long time, we also detected that she took primrose extract, freshly extracted one at that and you know how fatal that can be for someone like her, there was nothing anyone could do to save her when we found her” the doctor explained

“but primrose is one of the deadliest things to us so why did she consume something like that, in a large quantity for that matter?” she wondered to herself

“There was no sign of struggle or her being forced to drink it so it is safe that she purposely drank it and gaged her mouth so she would not draw people’s attention to her” the doctor explained further

She cried bitterly in front of her mother’s dead body while other maids began to sympathize with her since the queen was a wonderful woman before the prime minister’s craze happened. Convel who heard about the news came quickly to join her and was the one to console her aching heart with the right words. He was still trying to pet and beg her when a familiar person approached them and she lifted her eyes up to see Jerrick standing in front of her

She glared at him for a very long while before she finally ran up to him and held him at his ankle to prevent him from going

“Please, help me! I want to bury my mother at the royal queens’ yard, please at least give me the permission” she begged as she held unto him tightly but he just stood still there with his eyes faced to the other side

“No need to cry so much, I will not be the one that but the king so you can complain to him directly. If you don’t mind you can follow me to visit him at the hall” he replied before removing his leg from his grip

“Jerrick! Jerrick!! Please don’t go” she cried as she ran after him but she was made to fall back when he pulled out his sword and pointed it on her neck

“Jerrick? Do you know who you are talking to? You are my slave! What gives you the audacity and permission to utter my name like that?” he growled at her making her shudder in fear

He motioned for the maids to come closer and she saw how they dragging another person who was tied helplessly. It turned out to be her father, she looked around shifting her gaze from her father to Jerrick who was leading the people tying her father

“Father! Father! What is happening? Why are you doing this?” she asked with fresh tears flowing out of her eyes

“What do you think? He’s on his way to receive his judgment from the king” Jerrick replied before signaling for the men to take her father away

“Why are you doing this to us Jerrick? Why are you acting this way? This is not my friend that I know” she said holding unto the hem of his cloth, he stopped walking and turned to look at her

“Were we ever friends? I don’t think you treated me like one so why should I consider our friendship now? I have so many things to take care of so if you will excuse me” he replied flinging her hand away from his cloth before walking off

She left her mother and ran towards the hall where the officials and the king was waiting for him to be brought, he was brought in and tied like a criminal, he was thrown to the middle of the meeting hall to receive his said punishment

The officials were murmuring and talking among themselves when they saw the state of their former king but no one was bold enough to challenge Avery, the prime minister turned king

“The former king here has led us into drought and famine because of his selfishness, he restricted the use of power and even married his daughter off to the werewolf who are known to be our enemies, he brought upon us sorrow and inflicted pain upon us during his reign. He even tried to have me killed because I was always against his rule and suggestions but thanks to my years of experience and the love I have for our dear kingdom to make it a better place for all, I was able to stop him from doing so. So I have brought him in front of you all today so we can all discuss his punishment” Avery announced to the court and the officials began to discuss between themselves

He saw that the court was moving in his favor and gave out an evil smile to the former king who was just staring at him silently from below where he was forced on his knees. Shirley burst into the court and knelt down beside her father, she started to beg on his behalf and rubbed her hands together to plead for her dear father

“Please have mercy on my father, everything he did was because of me. I was the disobedient one who got myself pregnant for a werewolf and even chose to abandon my position just to be with him, all that has happened after then was because of me, you can punish me instead, please have pity on my poor father who knew nothing but he was only protecting his child” she begged vigorously

“If I can understand you, you mean he did all because of his daughter’s foolishness, so are you admitting that we let someone so incompetent lead us all these while? That because of his foolishness and selfishness of not being able to separate official matters from personal feelings, we had to suffer all those? This is the reason why we have to punish him more and even greatly to serve a lesson for the coming generation that the kingdom’s seat is not for the weak, we have to be selfless and put the people first” Avery declared yelling on top of his voice and the hall was silent as a grave yard

“what do you all have to say to this?” he asked the officials and they replied that they had nothing to say giving him the go ahead to pronounce his judgement

“Now I will deliver my punishment to the criminal” Avery continued but Shirley cried out to stop him

“Just punish me instead, my father didn’t even have the time to mourn his wife who died this morning, how can your majesty not tamper justice with mercy? That will be too cruel” she said bowing her head to the ground

“Dear Shirley, just let this father take his punishment, do not interfere and ruin your life. Just stay alive for the sake of your daughter who will be waiting for you somewhere, do not beg anymore” her father gently said to her while patting her back

“Drag her out” Jerrick commanded and the guards grabbed her, she was crying and begging as she was being dragged out but no one listened to her

“Because you have led us astray, you are hereby banished from this kingdom. You are no longer a member of our community and you are not to ever step in this kingdom for whatsoever reason for the rest of your life” Avery pronounced his judgment

“Furthermore, because you were once an important part of our kingdom, we will be merciful enough to grant you food grains that will serve as a compensation. You will be given some amount of money to start a new life somewhere far away from here but on no account should you come back here or come in contact with any of us, the day you do and you are caught, you will be put to death immediately” he added before motioning for the guards to drag him out

He was taken out of the hall and led to the gate where he would be transported out, Shirley was waiting for him in front of the hall and ran to him

“Do not be too sad, I will be fine. Just make sure you say a proper goodbye to your mother and apologize to her on my behalf because I was not able to send her off well, please be well my darling daughter” he said to her as he stroke her cheek

“why is he doing this to you? Why is all these happening to us?” she cried holding unto him

“It has been written that way, fate will surely play its way out and it will work out fine, please be strong and stay hopeful till you are able to leave this b*****e and don't worry, your baby is surely alive because it is what I know and I have confirmed, you will surely meet her someday” he replied hugging her closer before a voice cut through their sobs from the back

“Why are you still waiting here? Don’t you know you should be carrying out the punishment already?” Jerrick yelled and she removed herself from her father’s embrace to look at him. She felt like drawing the sword out of the closest guard’s hand since her magic has been stripped off but Jerrick caught unto her

“Don’t try it, it’s a waste of time” he said to her and motioned for the guards to take her father away before marching out with them while she just fell down on the ground crying hard