Rosangela: The Half-Blood Princess

We went deeper into the secret passage. The further we walked, the passageway was getting darker. Until finally, we ran out of the candles, and we were left in the dark.

“Wait, Sigmund!” I said as I stopped walking.

Sigmund halted as well. “What’s wrong?”

“I think we should get back to bring some candles with us,” I suggested.

“No, we don’t need to bring the candles with us,” he refused.

“But it is very dark here. We need candles to illuminate our way or we might get lost,” I said.

“I assure you that we won’t get lost. I have been passing this passage so many times, thus, I remember the way by heart. Besides, I am a vampire. I can see perfectly fine in the dark, so we don’t need the candles,” he convinced me.

“But I am not a vampire. I can’t see anything in the dark,” I said.

“You too are a vampire, remember?” he reminded me.

“A half-blood vampire,” I corrected him.

“Yeah, although you’re only a half-blood vampire, your eyes will eventually get used to the darkness too,” he said.

“I doubt that,” I murmured.

“You don’t have to be afraid of the dark. I will hold your hand all the way,” he said in a mocking tone.

“I’m not afraid of the dark,” I denied, “I just hate it when I can’t see anything.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Sigmund commented while rolling his eyes.

“Let’s go! I want to get out of here as soon as possible,” I demanded.

We finally began to move again. If it weren’t for Sigmund who kept holding my hand, I would surely trip or bump into something while we were walking along this secret passage because it was really dark here, and I could hardly see.

After walking for a few more minutes, lastly we reached the exit. This secret passage apparently led to the back of the castle. The door to the passageway was hidden by vines and rambling roses that covered it from top to bottom. So people wouldn’t notice that there was a door here unless they had known about it before.

When I looked up at the sky, I saw there was a full moon and hundreds of stars shining overhead. I was relieved to know that at least we didn’t have to walk in the dark out here.

Leaving the palace, we headed for the woods. I wondered why Sigmund brought me to the woods.

'Wait!' I thought as realization dawned in, 'Maybe when he said he would take me to a safe place, he meant he would take me to a place where he could kill me. Sigmund deliberately brought me to the middle of the woods because it’s the safest place to kill me since nobody would be able to find my corpse there.'

'Oh no, I don’t want to die. I must run now before it’s too late,' I told myself.

I let go of Sigmund’s hand and tried to break for the opposite direction. However, before I could take a step, Sigmund caught me by the arm.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked angrily.

“Let me go!” I said while trying to wriggle free, “I don’t want to go with you. I don’t want to die now.”

Sigmund furrowed his eyebrows. “Die?”

“Yes. You are going to kill me in the middle of the woods, right?” I accused.

“Who says I am going to kill you?” Sigmund snapped at me, making me cringe.

“So— so yo— you don’t want to ki— kill me?” I stammered.

“No,” he replied firmly.

“Then why do you bring me here?” I questioned.

“I told you, you would find out soon enough,” he retorted.

“But—” I tried to argue, but Sigmund cut me off.

“Enough! Come on, let’s go!” Sigmund let go of my arm only to get hold of my hand later. And then, he dragged me along the woods.

After walking for ten minutes or so, Sigmund came to a halt. And I had no choice but to stop too.

“You can come out now. The coast is clear,” he shouted.

'To whom did he shout at?' I wondered since I didn’t see anyone but us around here.

All of a sudden, someone emerged from behind the trees. It was quite dark here, because the moonlight couldn’t break through the canopy of this thick forest. Consequently, I couldn’t see the person’s face.

He started to advance towards us slowly, like a predator that stalked its victim. I wasn’t easily frightened, but I didn’t know why I felt scared stiff just by the look of the person’s figure in the darkness until I had to hide behind Sigmund’s back for cover.

'Who is this person? What is he doing here? Is he here to kill me?' I asked myself in apprehension.

'But Sigmund said he wouldn’t kill me, right? And I don’t think he’s lying to me,' I tried to think positively.

'You’re right, Rosanne. Sigmund won’t kill you, but that person will be the one who kill you,' my conscience said.

The thought of me being kill by that mysterious person frightened me to death.

'Oh no, no, no. I can’t let it happen. I have to get away from here. Right now,' I thought.

I tried to wrench myself free from Sigmund’s grasp, but he kept a tight grip on my arm, so I couldn’t go anywhere.

“LET ME GO, Sigmund! LET ME GO!” I screamed as I kept struggling to free myself.

Tightening his grip on my arm, he grumbled, “For goodness’ sake, can’t you stop screaming, Princess? If I knew you would be this noisy, I wouldn’t have given you the antidote to get your voice back.”

I ignored him and kept trying to wriggle myself free while screaming out in terror.