Chapter 1: The King is dead, long live the King!
As time past by, Oscar thought less and less of the nightmare. It was just a silly, wild dream she thought…It couldn´t be true…But then something happened, something that she found somewhat familiar…As if she had experienced it before…
In April 1774…The king Louis XV suddenly fell ill. When the news reached Oscar, she was shocked. Not only because she was concerned for the king, but also because that was exactly what had happened in her nightmare… It was precisely the same…“How this could be?” she thought.
She was in her room with André talking about the King Louis XV and his sudden illness…
She was standing by the window next to André worrying about the king…There was a moment of silence, but then André finally broke it. André knew that she was worrying about the King, so he told her that the king would get better. He had to.
Oscar:“No, André. His Majesty won´t get better…” she replied with a bit of sadness in her voice.
André was staring at her with a surprised look on his face. He didn´t say anything, because he knew Oscar would soon explain why she said that way. When she turned towards him and looked at him, she got scared. She was almost shocked…She was scared because of the fact that she knew the king Louis XV was dying, but even more scared of the things that would follow…the people´s misery, that eventually would lead to the Revolution…
Oscar:“…the king has smallpox and he will die soon…”
André:“How do you know that?!” He was now even more surprised. Why would Oscar say something like that?
Oscar:“But before he dies, he will send Madame Du Barry away from the Versailles…”
André:“What?! No way he´ll send his mistress away!” he replied. “Why would the king do something like that?” he asked her.
Oscar:“Because he wants to receive religious absolution before he dies…”
André:“Oscar…” he looked at her with his eyes full of concern. After the accident Oscar had somewhat changed…Not much, but…He felt as if something was wrong…He wanted her to tell him…He wanted to help…
Oscar knew that André was suspicious…There were long silence between them…Oscar was so concentrated on her nightmare, that she didn´t even dare to look at André…
André:“Oscar…What´s wrong? Please, tell me.”
Oscar turned to look at her friend…She so much wanted him to convince that this all was just coincide and nothing more…But…
She looked at him and all of a sudden tears came running down her cheeks…She couldn´t help it…She thought of the poor people, of Lady Antoinette and André…André, who was her best friend since childhood, would lose his eye…then the other…And then…then…“No!“She screamed. It was too horrible to even think about it.
Oscar:“No!” she screamed and ran away…
André:“Oscar!” he stood still and watched, while Oscar ran away. He first thought was to follow her, but then he thought she wanted some time alone.
Oscar ran as fast as she could…as far as she could. She wanted to forget all the bad things…
“This must be coincidence! The king was old…he could have had a fatal disease anytime…There is nothing more to it! Those events I saw, will not happen!” she cried as she lied down on the floor.
Few days later…
The king Louis XV sent Madame Du Barry away from the Versailles and died soon after that…Just as Oscar had predicted…The King died of smallpox. And in June 1775 the new king, King Louis XVI was coroneted. Everybody seemed to be cheerful and happy for the new king and the queen. Everyone was expecting things to go better…
Oscar was at ease…Maybe she was mistaken…After all, the king and the queen were very passionate towards their people. They would never allow their people to suffer… Or would they?
Oscar was little confused, but she tried to convince herself that the nightmare she saw, was just a nightmare…Nothing more…Until that day they met Rosalie…
In the streets of Paris…
Oscar was sitting in her carriage with André, when all of a sudden, someone stopped the carriage. They were in the middle of Paris…When Oscar looked outside; she was surprised to see a familiar face…“Rosalie! It can´t be!” she thought. Rosalie was selling her body to her…Oscar remembered those exact same words Rosalie had said before…Oscar had laughed before, but not this time…this time she was shocked. Oscar stepped outside and gave Rosalie some money and made her promise not to sell her body again. Then she stepped into the carriage again and they drove off.
As Oscar and André were sitting in the carriage, André saw that scared look on Oscar´s face. He had to ask her what the matter was. Oscar thought a while, should she tell him the truth about her bad feelings…Would he believe her? How much should she tell him? At least she couldn´t tell him about his death…
Oscar:“Remember, when you were ten and I was nine? We promised to each other that there would be no secrets between us?”
André:“Yes, how could I forget that…”
Oscar:“It´s about the nightmare I saw…”
André:“About our future? About people´s misery?”
She nodded…“I remember Rosalie from that nightmare. She offered her body to me in my nightmare, just as she did now…”
André:“But…”
Oscar:“I know! It sounds crazy…even I have hard time to believe that. But André! What I tell you, is the truth! I swear!” she was very excited.
André:“All right, Oscar…it is a bit hard to swallow…” He didn´t know what to believe. He knew Oscar, he knew her so well, that he knew she wasn´t joking. She wasn´t that kind of a person, who would tell nonsense…She was very clever and her arguments were always sane. So, André was sure that Oscar wasn´t lying. She was telling the truth, but how…How could she know the future?
Oscar thought a while of how could she convince him…Then she knew exactly, what to do. She told him about the incident with the Duke de Guéménée and a small boy called Pierre. She got angry, when she described him the facts. “We have to do something about that! We have to save the boy!” she yelled.
André tried to calm her down…“You know that the Duke has too much power, even the king can´t touch him. He is too much for you, Oscar!” he told her. He didn´t want her to get hurt…Not her, his beloved Oscar.
Oscar:“If we plan this, it will go just fine and nobody gets hurt! I can´t just stand back and watch, when that bastard kills that small child!”
André looked at her with admiring eyes…“That fire inside you…I just love it! My Oscar…” he thought.
Oscar:“Well, André! Will you do it? Will you help me to save the boy?!”
André:“Yes, Oscar. You can count on me.” He smiled to her tenderly.
The carriage continued its journey, while those two friends worked out with a plan to save that boy…
To be continued…
