• Tragedy and Dark Comedy: SHORT STORY

    Tragedy and Dark Comedy

    A short story.
    By: Leslie Abrams









    “Every pain we have endured until now, is meaningless, for I have you. Even though our pains may differ we are the same.”

    The child sat heartless and cold on the ground. In one hand she held a sharp blade, in the other a small music box that was playing. It had sounded to her like little sprits dancing and reminding her she wasn’t alone. Of course though, she was alone. No one wants a freak child. She had often hurt things and scream in her sleep. With her nap pack tightly applied onto her back, she got up and started down the well known path into the woods. Her mutti had never ever let her out of the Kingdom until now. She traced the lace of her dress slowly pushing out the soft wrinkles. Then every so slowly she took off her ring. It had her family crest on it. She had chosen a rose colored stone to be placed into it. She stared at it a moment, then kissed it before fastly placing it into her small pocket.
    Step after step, she became farther and farther away from home. Until she had approached a small sapling of a tree. She started making a small bed there for the upcoming night. She got into her bag and placed her robe on over her clothing, and then proceeded to put on her night cap. She then continued to use her other shirt to make an awkward stuffed pillow. She then lied down upon the soft ground, tightly grasping the knife and placing the music box in such a way that it was by her head. She turned it at least seven times to ensure she had time to think before she fell into her horrid sleep. She sat staring at the now darkening sky.
    She placed one hand into her mouth and felt her sharpening teeth. Mutti had always said she had the sharpest teeth she had ever seen. When she was only a babe, she wasn’t even aloud to be breast feed. She twirled her darkening chocolate brown hair. She pulled out her knife and slowly sliced open her hand. She didn’t even wince. For she had felt nothing. She never felt anything. She in her whole life had never felt any pain. If she got cut, burned, or even clocked in her head like her sisters would threaten, she would feel nothing. If she was hugged, or kissed, still not a thing. Even after her Mutti had forcefully made her leave. She still felt… nothing. No feeling, no emotion, other then her primal “ what I need to do to live” She watched the blood slowly trickle down her pale white arm. She could not feel the warmth that it would have normal bought someone. She licked it a bit, cleaning her arm off. She could infact, taste the salty metallic taste it had to it.
    She closed her eyes, at the 4th time the music had start over. She thought back to a memory that had rang in her head. The Kingdom calling her a violent wrench, after she had stabbed Victor for licking her hand like a pervert, he was suppose to kiss it. She had got him perfectly in the shoulder. His blood started spurring out fastly as he called her a “Stupid Whore” How was she suppose to know of the pain it would bring him? For all she had thought it was a small hurt. She wasn’t even sure what “hurt” was. But apparently it was such a big deal that she had paid him back, that she was forced to leave. Oh it could have been worse, if her Mutti had not been the queen. She could have been killed. As the music slowly stopped she stared up into the darkened sky. She took a deep intake of breath wondering if her body was warm enough. For all she knew she could freeze to death in the night. Then she fell into the best sleep she had ever had.
    She awoke bored with her content, as children tend to do when they’re lives are full of toys and pleasure. She quickly became bored with every day treasures. When you have everything you strive for what do you want? What is a life without want? Her new favorite thing, was human flaw and error. Her hand had heal over the evening. She started placing everything back into her bag when she noticed something was wrong. She forced a frown upon her face like her Mutti had taught her. She reached down and felt for her knife. It was simply gone. She searched franticly for about 10 minutes before her assailant showed himself, for the top of a near by tree. He calmly hopped down. He had watched her the whole night.
    “ Look” He paused looking at her robe and hat. Other then her odd looking clothing, she was quite clean and nice looking. She rolled her eye’s quickly taking them off and placing them into her bag.
    “You shouldn’t be wandering around at night with knifes and such” She looked at his attire, wondering why he would have placed that odd look upon his face when he had saw her. It wasn’t quite disgust just something she’d never seen before. It was a happy blank stare. He had peasant clothing on, they even looked new. He had quite dark eyes, she could barley make out his pupils in the darkness. He had just as dark hair. He had very warm and nice looking lips. It suddenly hit her with appall that he had spoken to her in such a way. She oddly liked it. Someone telling her what to do. That had never happened before, normally people where afraid of her.
    “People such as yourself should not steal from young ladies.” He smiled and red appeared to his cheeks.
    “ Yeah well, how about you just let me take you to where ever your going?.”
    “ What if I do not know where I’m going?” She wanted to be nice to him, she had never really wanted anything. She forced a vivid smile to her face. She also tried to force some emotion in her voice.
    “ Would you like to come with me then?” He said gently, raising an eyebrow.
    “Where would you be going?” She asked quietly.
    “Tom Marzes” He said offering her a hand. She took it, nodding at his common first name.
    “I’m-” She paused fastly thinking.
    “Ginny Greenly” She said slowly trying out the words.
    “ Anyway Ginny, I’m off to Fairbanks to see the princess Lily” He smiled a tad as he said her name. She froze her insides turning. A new feeling occurred, to what she believed was fear. She checked her symptoms: sudden increase or heart rate, shaky insides, sudden cold chill, loss of movement. You can probably already assume, Lily was her real name, and Fairbanks was indeed where she was from. At that moment, she took a very sharp in breath and started to fall over her own feet. He fastly grabbed onto her arm saving her from hurting her bum.
    “What business do you have with Lily?” she asked calmly.
    “ I go in hopes of making her my queen” He said very properly. He ran a hand through his clean hair. She stared deeply into his eyes. She then understood at that moment who he was. He was not “Tom Marzes” he was “ Thomas Marshal” her first and only suitor. If he had not wanted her, then she was to live alone amongst the peasants with a peasant job and life. She infact was not a princess. Her mother had been a preacher’s daughter, and the king of that time was very religious. He had wanted a wife he could at least try to love. To his surprise he had found it, she already widowed and had bore a small child. He took her as his queen anyway, for he was also widowed and had a few children about that age. He tried his best to care for them as god would have wanted. Despite the kings tries, only one other prince would take the non-blood. He also had his other daughters and sons to worry about.
    This prince, that had promised to come and see her, also had the same beliefs, not of god, but of love. He was the youngest of 6 brothers, and his father had a quite wealthy kingdom.
    “ Why would you dress like that, with no horse mind you, or sword, in hopes of seeing Lily as your queen? Dear prince Thomas” Lily asked quite humorously.
    “ We all bear the same blood, if she is cruel to one man as he is poor, how can I expect her to love him as he is rich?” He said quite proudly at his plan. Lily reach forward and shoved him into the dirt, getting his clothes dirty. He grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it back at her.
    “Why would you do that? Get me all dirty? I now look and smell like I shat myself” He said laughing quite hard. She again forced a pleasant smile.
    “ I’m laughing but I’m serious” He said getting up with a semi-serious face.
    “ You wanted to look peasant, how can you when your all clean? You needed a mud bath, to look like you worked” She said quite frankly. He wrinkled his face up smelling himself.
    “ errr thanks then?” He reached forward and dusted her bosoms off a bit. It only made it worse. She laughed for the first time in her life. She just about choked at the sight of her chest rising and falling uncontrollable in rhythms. Along with the hiccupping sounds. She swallowed a mouthful of spit.
    “ How about I show you the way to the Kingdom eh? I know the way, I just came from there” She said with a smile on her face. She felt very warm on the inside it was choking her. Her brain hated it and wanted to get as far away from him as she could. But for some reason, she made herself stick around.
    “Sure, as long as you don’t blow my cover, at least then I could get you out of these bloody woods. How long of a trip is it?”
    “ About less then a day and a half” She said calmly. It was at that moment she had started to scheme. For she had liked this lad a lot, but she knew that if he got word that she was a “Violent Wrench” he surely would not love her. She placed her bag back on, and started to show the way back to the Kingdom. She also knew if they had made it all the way there, she surely would be killed. She had to make sure he fell in love with her before they made it there. That gave her a day and a half, possibly two if she forced him to slow down.
    “ so Tom, what do you want in a wife?” She tried asking innocently. He looked at her seriously, his tone caked and breeching with sadness.
    “Someone who will be kind to me, someone who will tend to me when I am ill, that’s down to earth, mostly someone who I can trust and will trust me. Someone who I can love and receive love in return. Did I every tell you I had a lover once, I wanted her to be my wife.” He continued walking straight not really looking at her.
    “She was a whore, and quite mean to me. She lied and quite frequently cheated on me. I thought if I married her, she would straighten up and be a proper and nice wife, maybe even someone I could have kids with. But nein, she continued her old ways then left me. She was beautiful and mean, but now I understand that beauty has it’s price.” He then brushed his arm against hers. She felt a burst of warmth, and felt a bit sick to her stomach as if some small creatures where trying to escape it.
    “Your quite cold would you like my coat?” He said frowning at her slightly. She looked at the poopie looking mud, and shuttered a bit at the smell.
    “uhmm sure?” He very smoothly took it off, and draped it over her shoulders. His arms were bare and quite tan, he walked briskly. She wasn’t sure weather he was cold or not. She felt quite bad for him but didn’t want to have to talk about it anymore, she said nothing and continued walking.
    “If your cold you should have told me” He said a bit annoyed. She laughed again, pondering how she would explain to him how she could not feel. She simply forced a smile at him. It was rather nice of him to be cranky with her because he cared. She could tell he cared. If he didn’t why would he have offered his jacket? Because it was poopie and he no longer wanted to hall it around and smell poopie? No, it couldn’t be. He’d smell the poopie on her anyway. He was a prince if he had wanted to he could have demanded her to ware it but no. She nodded at him trying to look happy. She wasn’t quite sure how to look happy, but she assumed it had to do with skipping and smiling so she did.
    “Your quite weird, you know that?” He said laughing. Lily then stopped and looked away feeling hot on her cheeks. She shook her head fastly. She never knew she was weird, how was she weird? She wanted to demand it from him. She knew she had to be nice, but even then, she had no desire to be mean. She liked him quite a bit.
    “ It’s what happy people do” She said as a matter of fact. He then burst into tears, he was laughing so hard. They then continued walking down the morning path. She had decided to take him into a big oval to get back to her kingdom. When it came to be about lunch time, they approached a small bank of a river. They sat under the shade of a willow tree. Lily began to unwrap her breakfast which consisted of a piece of toast and some ham. From the approaching rout they would be taking, a bear began crossing over. They stood up quickly and he took out her knife.
    “Yes because a butchers knife will kill a bear! Lets just climb the tree.” Lily said taking a step back.
    “Bears can climb trees to you know… just… Trust me. You lie down and pretend to be dead, and I will be vicious and scream at it, in hope of scaring it away.” He said in utter calmness.
    “ How will THAT HELP?” she said widening her eyes at the approaching bear.
    “ If the bear is not frightened by me, it will kill and eat me, it will think your dead, and not want to bother with old meat, and feeling a bit full it will leave you alone. Even if it bites you do not scream or move. Just hope that this scares it away” She grabbed his hand and kissed his family ring, hoping dearly that her future husband would not become lunch meat. He looked up at her with a very serious face, then turned at the bear. Lily fastly went and pretended to be shot in the heart with an arrow. She added a very melodramatically falling to the ground, then landed in an awkward pose, getting her clothing quite dirty. She lied down upon the dirt, trying to take shallow breathes.
    “Damn bears.” She muttered rolling her eyes. As if called, the bear then slowly started trotting over to her. Thomas started screaming madly as if he was in a frenzy then stood in front of her. The bear playfully pawed him out of the way knocking him to the ground. The bear used it’s snout to push open her coat pocket. Lily looked over at Thomas, he was just barely conscious. He grabbed the soft earth as if to pull himself back up. The bear started eating her ham, Lily watch in shock as her precious ring got stuck on the bears teeth. The bear slowly jumped back feeling uncomfortable and took of trotting into the woods. Lily got up and went over to Thomas, he was sitting up right and shaking his head.
    “ I’m so sorry Ginny” She paused a moment trying to remember the name.
    “Oh it’s quite alright lets just be glad we both are okay” She said with a touch of sadness.
    “what’s wrong Ginny?” She showed him her hand stupidly. She forgot that peasant girls don’t have such pleasures as family crest rings. He looked at her puzzled.
    “The ring, that my mother gave me, it was in my pocket I saw it get stuck on that bears teeth. I saw it get in my pocket then I saw it stick.” She thought about her own words and how utterly stuiped they sounded. He just nodded at her.
    “ That is such a shame, I‘m sorry” He said again taking a proper tone. Lily then proceeded to move all the blankets and such over to where he was laying.

    “lets just stay here a few moments” He closed his eye’s lightly, and had a slightly annoyed yet sad look upon his face. It seemed as if he was also having trouble breathing.

    “something wrong?” Lily asked.

    “ While we are here, please wash the s**t off my coat”

    “sure ” Lily said in an undertone. She had never had to wash anything in her life, she figured she would get it wet then flop it around a bit. She got up and walked over to the small river, she didn’t see any good round rocks so she walked down the river a bit gendering for them. She found a few nice stones not to far from an old birch tree. Lily dipped his coat in the temped water. She used her hand to scrub it, wrinkling her nose at the smell. She then placed the stones on top of the coat under the water, so it wouldn’t float away. She assumed the currents would clean it for her, while she checked up on her prince. She felt proud as she slowly trotted her way back to the scene that awaited her. The blood bled a brilliant blackened red into the ground. It was all around him. His torso was in a different location then it had been before. He was laying flat on his stomach breathing very hard. She broke into a run to him. There was red completely all over him. She moved him so he was on his back.. There was a huge gash on his head, and one of his legs was horribly mauled. His foot was barley hanging on. She glanced fastly at the dead bear to her left. She stared down into his deep eyes the fire that had once burned was fading. She sat beside him.

    She lent down and gave him a soft kiss upon his forehead. He held out his hand to her, she took his hand, and the ring he had brought back to her. He was shaking. She placed it on her hand.

    “Your going to die.” She said not seeming to breathe, holding his head up upon her lap. He coughed up a little blood on her blouse, she bit her lip very hard and sighed in an annoyed tone.

    “I’m sorry Lilly, I d-” He started coughing up more blood, she gripped his hand tightly, she then slowly pulled out a knife with the other hand. She took it to the back of his neck and watched him jerk about violently. She then started a quite big brush fire, cut the bear up, then started to cook it’s meat. It was one of the best meals she had ever had in her life. After she was done, she threw the prince upon the fire and gave him a small solute with a crooked smile... Then continued on the trail she was first headed.

    “Stupid boys…That will teach them not to bleed all over my nice new clothes"