Royal (A Selection Fan Fiction) (Book One in my Selection Series)

Chapter 26

I slept for ten minutes probably until I woke up again. I was against something warm, that I never expected to be a person. Then everything came back in not a wave but a storm that didn't start with sprinkling.

"Shh everyone is asleep." Alex whispers in my ear. I nod and sit up a little. I rub my eyes which are for sure covered in makeup still. The room was a mess with people splayed out on beds and food cans in the corners.

"Are we able to leave yet? Like I really need to go." I ask. I didn't know what came over me but I needed to be in a room just somewhere with comfort.

"They haven secured the doors yet." Alex whispers.

"I can't stay here. I think I'm pass out." I hold my head between my hands then over my eyes and back.

"Charlie." Alex says grabbing my shoulders. "Char, look at me. Hey it's okay it's just the shock. You're not okay. You shouldn't be. But your trying to be." He runs his hands up and down my bicep but I was going crazy anyway.

"I can't be in here it's too much." I say looking away from here.

"Are you cold? Hot? You're shivering." Alex says.

"I just need to be somewhere else." I tell him.

"Okay how about this." He sits close to my face and holds my hands in his. "Close your eyes and imagine what I do. Your in a forest with the skies a light shade of grey. You can feel the rain coming but it's peaceful, not like a storm. The trees around you have trunks wider than five people could stretch around and only a little bit of grass and moss grow around the trunks."

And it's like I'm there. In some sort of magical way.

"It must be early in the morning because you can feel the mist in the air still. Also there are a few birds that you'd never know the name of that sing around you. You got this?"

I nod and relax my eyelids.

"You walk slowly and the dirt around you doesn't seem to have any roots or rocks poking at your feet. The dirt is fluffy and doesn't seem to be packed into the ground. And every time you take a step you leave a soft footprint." He stops talking for a minute but he didn't need to keep going.

I was there. Like actually there.

"Now just keep your eyes closed." Alex whispers. "Are you going to leave?"

"What?"

"Some of the girls have said their leaving. They feel like they aren't safe anymore." Alex whispers.

"Are we?" He doesn't respond so I fill in his answer for myself. "I can't leave, but don't trick yourself into thinking it's because of you."

"Why? Because if you don't think you can ever love me, I can't just keep people around who don't want this." Alex tells me. I open my eyes and I'm back in the room. The woods is gone and anything okay about the moment is gone.

"I don't want to be with someone who can manage to love a girl like that." I whisper putting my hands on my temples.

"I don't remember ever saying I loved Catastrophe." Alex replies awkwardly.

"Shut up." I whisper. What was wrong with the world? Why did everything waver? Like the world wasn't sure which way they needed to spin or which colors the walls should be?

"Charlie you really need to listen to me." He says putting a hand over mine.

"No. Stop Alex. Stop talking."  I whisper.

"What?"

I've never seen the world spin so fast.

•••

I don't wake up in the same room I had fallen over in but instead I was in a soft bed with grey walls around me. Two curtains stood on either side of me connected with poles.

"I don't think she wants to see me." I couldn't recognize the voice because it came with a high pitch buzz that kept me from hearing anything.

"Maybe you should stay and wait just to make sure." A softer voice said.

"What about you tell her I dropped by. If she asks for me come get me if she doesn't then don't mention it okay?"

"But–"

"It's an order." Neither of the voices talked afterward so I waited for the buzzing to stop before I opened my eyes.

"Miss?" It was Summer sitting on the edge of my bed.

I sit up and look around.

"Here." She stands up hurriedly and pulls an extra pillow out from somewhere and puts it behind my back to support me.

"Thank you." I whisper. "Water?" It comes out sorta like the croak of a frog

"Right here." She grabs a cup from on my nightstand. The water wasn't cold but it was replenishing enough.

The memories didn't have to flood back this time they were already there as I woke up like a the pictures has already printed in my mind before I'd woken up.

"The prince stopped by earlier today." Summer tells me and sits at the bottom of my bed. "I can go get him now that you've waken."

Did I want to see him?

Did I want to see the person responsible for Rae's death?

Did I want to see the one who loves the one I hate?

"No."