Blood And Silver

Susan

"Watch out, brat!", the voice was too familiar. Of course it was Aaron, my ex-boyfriend. I walked away like always, saying nothing.

"Susan!", he shouted after me. "You can't just walk away like that!", I cannot believe what I'm hearing. He always brags to his friends about how easily he got over me. And that if something is bullshit. I didn't reply to anything he said which makes him think I am playing hard to get.

In breaking up with someone the hardest part is to still see him every day doing anything for my attention. Nothing seems to help. Teachers don't give a shit, no one else does anything.

Aaron is the popular boy at our school. If I asked almost any girl, they would kill to date him. And when I left him, I became some kind of villain of the school or something close to that.

Girls leave notes that would make anyone cry. They never say anything out loud to me. But still they talk shit about me behind my back. I had to delete my social media accounts because of the bad attention.

My so-called friends were Aaron's friends so they ghosted me the second we broke up. I only have one friend left, Heather. She has been my friend before Aaron. She never liked him anyways.

"Where is our next lesson?", Heather asks me.

"Check it from your schedule", I said.

"I forgot it home", Heather looked a bit embarrassed.

"You know, you can check it online too", I reminded her.

"Umm, I happened to forget my laptop AND my phone home too. I overslept...", she says. Definitely not the first time she overslept.

"Don't worry, follow me", we walked to our classroom. And guess who decided to arrive at the same time there.

"You can't get rid of me that easily", Aaron says while he walks toward me.

"Fuck off!", Heather says to him. Aaron raises an eyebrow.

"Fuck off?", he laughs to his friends which is his biggest mistake after being born. Heather might be a little bit aggressive. She slapped him. Aaron flinched.

"What did you just do?", his tone was dangerous. He touched his cheek, where Heather slapped him. "You will regret that"

"I doubt that. Your bark is much worse than your bite", Heather smirks at him.

"BITCH!", Aaron tries to attack Heather. But Heather is too quick for him.

"Hey! Stop that!", I tried to stop them from killing each other.

"Stay out of this", Aaron's fist connected with my jaw. It hurts. Aaron froze when he realized what he just did. "Susan, I'm so sorry"

"Liar", Heather snaps. "I'll kill you"

Before Heather managed to kill him everything just went silent. The crowded hallway was just empty. No students, no tired teachers. No one. Even the loud air conditioner went silent. I could hear my own heartbeat.

"What the-", Aaron looked around. Heather was still glaring at him.

I walked around the hallways and found no one. The sunlight streamed through the windows. But it was supposed to rain the whole day.

Aaron and Heather followed me without saying a word. They started a silent treatment for each other, I see. At least no one is going to prison for a murder — yet.

I opened the front door and stepped outside. There was nobody on the cross. The school garden was empty and the forest surrounding it was definitely not London. We walked through the gate outside. It was a sunny, green forest.

When I looked back there was no school nor the garden of it, just an empty clearing.

"This must be a dream, there's no need to be afraid. I am not afraid", Aaron said his voice shaking. Heather slapped him.

"Ouch! What was that for?",

"Did it hurt?", Heather asked.

"YES!", Aaron yelled.

"Definitely not a dream", Heather shrugged.

"I am still not afraid!", Aaron says, but he is still shaking and I swear he's shitting his pants.

"Who are you?", we all three turned around.

I was looking at a young man. Maybe even our age. He had a drawn bow in his hand, pointing at us. He was waiting for someone to answer.

“My name is Susan de Ferrers”, I said because I know Aaron and Heather would say something stupid getting us all killed.

“De Ferrers, who are your...companions?“, the man asked. He didn’t lower his bow.

“Umm... here are Aaron Roger and Heather Wood”, I said, keeping my voice calm.

“And what are you three doing in the Forest Of Glamours?“, he asked his face in a serious expression. How can he say that fantasy-book-like place name so seriously.

“To be honest, I don’t know”, I said. “But you are demanding to know who we are while you point at us with a bow, wouldn’t it be fair to tell us your name”, I said. Not the smartest move I could make, since he is the one with a weapon. He smirks.

“My name? Fine, I am Sir De La Roche”

“So where are we actually?“, I asked.

“Well, does outside of The Kingdom Of Blood And Silver tell enough. If not you should know that coming to this forest unarmed is like committing a suicide”, De La Roche says. I didn’t dare to ask anything else. If Aaron was not shitting his pants, now he is.

“You three are coming with me”, he says.

“Definitely not!“, Aaron tries to look bigger and taller, but De La Roche is at least a head taller than him.

“Aaron, we have no choice”, I hiss to him. “And I don’t count staying here and dying as an option! I am going with or without you”

“You wouldn’t. You still love me”, he said. His expression is so confident I think he actually believes his own words.

“Watch me”, I went to stand behind Sir De La Roche. Heather followed me.

“You wouldn’t leave me!“, Aaron shouted.

“This way”, De La Roche said and led us to a trail. Heather and I walked after him.

“Wait! You are actually leaving me?!“, Aaron had a clear panic in his tone.

“I changed my mind! I’m coming! WAIT FOR ME!“, he ran after us. He seemed hurt about the fact that I am over him and that I don’t secretly miss him.

“Y-You don’t love me?“, he whispered behind me. I pretended that I didn’t hear him. That pathetic, egoistic bastard.

We walked an hour in the forest. I had no idea where we were going. We just followed De La Roche blindly even though we don’t even know him. Damn it, we don’t even know this new world!

Finally we found a sand road. We walked along it. The scenery changed to fields and small houses.

Aaron was the only one speaking — to himself of course. About how unbelievably unreasonable I am and how we should have stayed there. He did decide himself to come with us after all. He shouldn’t complain.

"Nochtrie is just a verst away."

“What is how far away?“, Heather said confused.

“Nochtrie, the capital of The Kingdom Of Blood And Silver”, De La Roche said like it would be the most obvious thing on earth. Maybe it is for him. And I am now sure that we are in a whole different universe.

"We are going to the palace. The queen will decide what will happen to you", De La Roche said.

“NO ONE is deciding what happens to ME”, Aaron said indignantly. We roll our eyes. Of course he thinks he’s untouchable and everyone thinks of what he wants.

Half an hour later we were walking on cobblestone streets. The city had wooden and stone houses. The city was surrounded by a high rampart. The center of the city was for rich people. Big, fancy-ass mansions. Fancy, expensive materials.

The queen’s castle was on a high hill in the middle of the city. The castle was snow white. It was enormous.

The guards let us in without hesitation. The garden was impressive with it’s all statues and plants.

Inside the castle it took 15 minutes to walk to the throne room.

“De La Roche, who are you bringing with you into my castle?”