Once Upon a Time/7

She started running, she wasn’t sure where she was heading, but she kept her feet moving.  What she had heard and seen had confused her. She wanted to distance herself as much as she could. She didn’t understand her feelings, her family had long since abandoned her. She had been rejected for something she hadn’t been able to control when she was  a baby. It was just assumed that every baby born into this kingdom could swim. She had started to think recently that she could finally go up to them and show them that she had learned how to swim. Then, she had thought, everything would fall back into place. She could be part of a family unit.

Now what the prince had shared, made it impossible for her family to make amends with her. She really felt that deep inside, they still loved her and hadn’t been sure what to do when they had found out that she was different.

Finally, catching her breath, she stopped and looked around. She remembered something that scared her even more.

According to their history, no one could leave the island. It had something to do with the fact that the waters that surrounded their kingdom, made it impossible for them to leave. The waters were a whirlpool, preventing anyone who swam from wandering too far from the island. The movement of the water just made the swimmer come back, heading back to the shore, and no one had been able to leave the island. She started as she realized the implications of  what the prince had meant when he said her family was being, “exiled.” The king was actually going to kill her whole family.

She sat plopped down on the ground, drew her knees together and placed her head in her hands. Her mind kept going in circles, she wasn’t sure what to make of all of it. As if hit my lightning, she sprung up from the ground and headed towards the king’s castle.

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