She was walking through the snow, she was shivering uncontrollably. All of Joy’s clothes were soaked and she could feel some of them starting to freeze to her body as she made her way through the cold depths of snow that was still falling at a slow and constant rate.
Joy needed to find shelter. Somewhere she could just warm her self for a little bit. Or she knew she was going to die. She had started to walk at a bit of a faster pace hoping that the little strength she put in to walking would warm her up a little bit. When she was walking not paying attention to what she was doing she saw a snow flake land on her nose. When she went to brush the snow flake off her nose, her arm wouldn’t move. A sense of panic set in. Joy tried to move her fingers. They wouldn’t move. Then she began to lose feeling in her legs. The panic left now, and the feeling of panic was replaced by the feeling of despair. She let her body take over. She knew she was going to die. So, why bother trying to live? Her legs gave in and Joy fell to the ground. Her body felt heavy as she her face lay half in the snow. Her eyes began to get heavy. Her face was half covered in snow, but all she saw was the black depths of her tortured mind.
****
“Do you think she’ll be okay?” Asked a rough voice male voice, there was a mumbled response. Joy tried to sit up but the pain rushed to her head. She gave out an unstable moan. “Shhh…… lay back down.” Said the male voice again, with out lifting her head Joy managed to roll over onto her back rather than her stomach.
“I’m in trouble aren’t I?” She asked the boy as she gazed at the ceiling.
“Yes, you are. What where you thinking going out into the snow drift, like that? Are you crazy?” Joy had now figured out that the rough male voice was Nick. He sounded as if he had been crying. That was why she didn’t know it was him right away.
“Are… you alright?” Joy asked unsure if he was mad at her or not.
“Am I alright?!” Nick burst out. “My twin sister is lying in front of me half dead and she asks’ me if I’m alright!” He was pacing the room now. His face bright red with many different emotions, he looked as though he may explode with anger at any minuet.
“Nick I’m sorry! I know it was a stupid thing to do but I can’t stand it here any longer!” Joy yelled out. “I don’t know what little thing they will do next that will make me want to pull another stupid thing like that!”
“Another!” Nick bellowed. “I don’t want you doing another thing like this!” Nick stopped pacing and sat down in the chair across from the bed that Joy was laying in. “Joy I don’t know how much more I can take.”
“Of what?”
“Of this, us fighting all the time, you running away, me having to watch over all these people, how Minus is at my neck every five seconds always trying to get me to start wars with other countries. I don’t know how I do it all sometimes.” Joy felt a brief sadness for her brother. They may be twins but he took most of the responsibilities that Joy was sure she could never handle. But because she didn’t take on being the queen she was put as princess of Brigal. So Nick took the role of being King, after both there Aunt and Uncle died in a bloody raid of there camp a few month’s back. So if anything ever did happen to Nick, Joy would take over as queen.
That scared her. Joy wasn’t good with people. She wasn’t good at telling people what to do, she couldn’t even get some of the servants’ children to pick up there toys after they were done playing, let alone tell over a million people what to do! But, what Joy tried not to think about and still did was, what if she did loose Nick? What if he went to war one day and never came back. He was the only family she had. Joy didn’t know what she would do if she lost him. “What time is it?” Joy asked not realizing until then how tired she really was.
“Almost four in the morning, you were unconscious for almost six hours” Her twin said in a flat voice.
“You should go get some rest; we have a big day ahead of us.” Joy said hinting that, that same night they would both celebrate a very big occasion in Brigal. There twentieth birthday.
Nick said nothing. He left the room, his ominous foot steps echoing down the stone corridors of the infirmary. As Joy laid there in her bed, she began to wonder how the rest of the day would turn out. And she had a feeling that it wasn’t going to be good.
****
Later that morning Joy woke up feeling tip top. Which was strange considering she was half dead earlier that very same morning. “Excuse me.” She yelled to a passing made. The made glanced in her direction but kept going. She tried again this time putting power and strength into her voice. “You there, come here !” This time the maid came keeping her eyes low to the ground, she looked like a small child who was about to be punished.
Her white-blond hair fell into her eyes, as she kept her face down. “Yes, Princess Joy?”
“Please have a hot bath ready for me when I go to my room, and also have my nicest dress ready for me when I get out. Thank you that is all.” Joy said with a dismiss of her hand, sending her made off. Her foot stops echoing down the long corridors
