I turn the shower all the way to hot before getting in.  The hot water is rejuvenating and brings me into a somewhat conscious state.  After quickly dressing, I head to the kitchen to have my breakfast/lunch.

Just as I’m about to eat my first spoonful of cereal, the phone begins to ring.  With a sigh, I lower the spoon and pick up the phone.  “Hello, Jenny speaking,” I say.

“Where are you!?!  You were supposed to be here an hour ago!” a frantic voice hollered at me.

My face wrinkled in confusion.  “Who is this?”

“Abbott from the library!  You are supposed to be here right now doing a driving safety presentation!  Don’t tell me you forgot!” the man continues to complain.

I quickly glance at the calendar.  There’s a loud “slap” as my palm connects with my forehead.  “I’ll be there right away!” I told him.

“You better, or else you aren’t getting paid!” Abbott hisses before hanging up.

I hang up the phone and eat quickly before changing into something a bit nicer and running out.  I head to the garage only to remember that my car was in the shop for some engine problems.  I groan as I start the walk.

My feet start aching after only two blocks.  Why I didn’t run back in to get sneakers is beyond me.  The stilettos I am wearing begin to cut off all circulation to my feet, but I cannot delay.  It’s already 12:55.  The library is only a few blocks away.

Suddenly, my cell phone buzzes.  “You have five minutes to get here!” Abbott barks at me when I pick it up.

“I’ll be there.  I’ll be there!” I promise him.

He groans and hangs up on me.

I yank off the stilettos and run, my feet protected by little more than a thin piece of stocking.  All I have to do is cross Broad Street and then the library would be a little ways up Main Road.

I hurry down the sidewalk, nearly dropping my shoes on multiple occasions.  I do not even want to think about what my hair looks like…

Without even glancing at the lights or the road, I run into the crosswalk.  The next thing I know, I am hurtling through the air and crashing through the windshield of some random car.  Pain erupts throughout my entire body and I let out a tiny moan.

Slowly, the pain seeps away, as does my consciousness.  Realization sweeps over me as I realize that I will not be making my presentation or any presentation ever again.

A light comes before my eyes, and I blink.  It is so irresistible, so calm, so serene…

Slowly, I feel the last of my life fade away, and I close my eyes to embrace sweet, sweet death.

“Chippy!  Get back here!” my mother chittered.  “NOW!”

I looked around again.  Another car was coming!  I got ready to run, but my mother rushed out before I could.

It happened in slow motion.  The car slowly rolled forward and made a direct impact with her hind quarters.  Instantly, she exploded.

“Mother!” I whined as I ran out.  I glanced around.  “Car!”  I ran in front of it.

In the next instant, I felt great pain and then… nothing…

Suddenly, I heard the chair across from me scrape the floor, and I turned in that direction.  “John?” I asked.

“Hi, Cally,” he responded.  I easily recognized his voice.

I waited for the waiter.  It was extremely awkward.  I cannot see what he is doing, but I hear him moving the utensils.  I wish I could see him.

As I sat alone in the padded room, I waited for the “doctors” to come in and release me.  When they came, I ran for my life, still wearing my straight jacket and yelling, “Free the animals!”

“Of course.  I just love teaching young minds,” the pale-skinned man said with a smile.

The principal tried so hard not to stare, but it was impossible not to.  Glittering like pearls were Mr. Barnes’ canine teeth which extended down further than the rest.  “And you… want to teach the second grade?”

“It has always been my dream.  They’re so young and fresh… Minded!  Fresh minded!” he caught himself.

“And your previous employments were…?”

“I taught high school, but I much prefer younger children.”

“So I see…  Well…”  Before the principal could continue, Mr. Barnes was on the ground, a wooden stake through his chest.

The secretary smiled innocently as she put down the stake shooting gun.  “You’re welcome!” she chirped before returning to her work.

“You’re such a ruffian, child!  Always fighting my men!  They are doing their job, and you should be doing yours!  You are a Princess, not a guard or a knight!” the King bellowed.  Sometimes, I just wonder if he is trying to instigate me so I hit him.  Then he’d have a legitimate excuse to dispose of me.

I sat down on my throne and rested my head on my fist as he went one with his verbose castigation.  I never used to be one to have issues with an authoritative figure, but there was just no getting along with King Corsan.  As I listened, I kept a nonchalant attitude, not wanting to give him the slightest hint that I was just about ready to rip his head off.

Finally, he seemed to be at a closing.  “Just start acting like a Princess instead of a banshee child!”

“Just start acting like a Princess instead of a banshee child!” I mimicked him, fed up with his talking.

“Do not mock me!” he shouted.

“I was simply trying to emulate your regal acts, good King.  If I am to act more like royalty, I might as well learn from you,” I retorted.

“You foolish child!” he growled, getting up.  “Guards!”

The throne room slipped into total chaos as guards filed in and ran around, swords and rope brandished.  It was exactly what I needed to get out, however.

“Get back here!” a guard hollered from behind me.  Of course, I ignored him.  There was absolutely no reason for me to go back to the infamous King just so I could be tortured some more.  There was no logic in it!  Anywhere!  If there was, I would love for someone to show it to me.

When it came to running away from my nemesis back at the castle, I was certainly no novice.  I have run away hundreds of times.  While I have never successfully escaped, I at least get further and further with each attempt.

The sun’s light was waning as I finally reached the massive mountains surrounding our fair town of Cahal.  I was relieved, for in the sun’s light, I was far too vulnerable.  The King’s men would have been able to see me with ease, and if not me, they would certainly see the out-of-place snowy owl, Shanta, that accompanied me on every one of my little runs.

Without hesitation, I began to ascend the mountain.  I had to get up and out of sight before it got too dark for even myself to see.

With a sigh and a moan, I pulled myself onto a cliff, pulling my legs in to my chest so anyone on the ground would be unable to see me.  I turned to my little owl, who hooted quietly to suppress my rigidity.

“I know, Shanta…” I whispered in response.  “I can not help it, though.  The King refuses to pass unto me the mantle.  I need to leave now and come back when I can take it from him.”  Finally, she got up and began scaling the mountain once more.

I barely made it halfway to the zenith of the mountain before I could hear Sir Pedric and his posse at the base of the mountain.  He was pointing at me and yelling something that I could not fathom.

“I am not going back!” I hollered down to them.

It was difficult to make out, but it looked like he was glaring at me.  “Superb…” I mumbled sarcastically.  In a futile attempt to get away, I curled up on the side of the mountain.  Out of sight, out of mind, right?

There was no longer any noise coming from bellow, so I began to relax.  No need to worry about nothing.

Abruptly, I was falling from the mountain.  I had no clue what had caused the fall until I managed to roll over and see that none other than Bartamus the bounty hunter, the very man I resented, was standing on the cliff.

I braved a look at the quickly approaching ground.  Soon I would become one with it, but something darted in and caught me, pulling me far away.  It wasn’t until we came to a standstill that I saw who my “captor” was.

“Christian!” I laughed.

“No.  It’s the Sand Man,” the boy responded with a smirk, trying to be comical.

“My, my, my!  Someone’s in a festive mood,” I teased.

“Precisely!” he replied, pulling me into a hug and kissing the top of my head.  “You know, the King is getting a little too spiteful lately.  I seriously think that the were about to kill you!”

“No need to say that twice…” I sighed.

“Well, as long as I’m around, you’ll have nothing to fear.”  He tucked my hair behind my ear before kissing me again.

“I still wish I knew how you did that!” I complained.

“I wish I could tell you how I did that,” he admitted.

It still made no sense to me why he couldn’t tell me anything about himself.  He never told me who he was, who his parents were, or even where he came from.  I had to repress my urge to further question him.

“You’re being awfully quiet,” Christian commented.

“I know.  I’m just… caught in thought,” I whispered.

“Well, perhaps you should stop worrying so much.  Just enjoy the day,” he told me.

I smiled.  “With you around, I think I just might be able to,” I replied, kissing him gently on the cheek.

I watched my prey as it hobbled away on its wounded legs.  I could tell that the creature was agonizing as it let out a loud, sorrowful roar.  Truthfully, I could not let this creature go on under such torment, so I did what any good dragon hunter would do!  I lured the beast with a chunk of veal and then plunged my dagger into the soft flesh of its underbelly.

That was that.  Another beast mine for the taking!  I pined for the beautiful blue scales of the beast, worth quite a pretty penny down at the black market.  Procuring the scales was laborious work, but the money I would receive as payment for the beast’s hide kept me going.

Finally, the beast was stripped of scales, and I was greatly fatigued.  I collapsed against a tree, breathing hard as I looked upward to the sky.  Despite how tired I was, I remained in a state of insomnia.  My anticipation for the next day’s trade must have kept me awake.

At some point, I must have dozed off.  I donned my cloak and headed down to the market.

“Hey, neophyte,” one store owner called out to me.

In a single instant, I was right up in his face.  “I am no newcomer, lad.  This is my fifth dragon!” I hissed.

The merchant raised an eyebrow.  “And?  That lovely little vixen over there just killed her fiftieth.  Therefore, I hold my point.”

I growled, but stopped when my eyes spotted the curvacious blonde standing a few markets down trading in a few dragon pelts.  She seemed rather displaced among all of the bulky men in her feminine skirt.  Without realizing it, I began to stare at her.

“That is no way to look at a lady.  Weren’t you ever told it is impolite to stare?” she asked.

“I am sorry, ma’am.  It is just that you are…” I stumbled over the words, my voice stymied by her beauty.

“Unique?” she twittered.

I was hesitant in my response, but her laugh was encouraging.  “Well…  It’s just that…”

“You don’t see many other girls here?” she continued to answer for me.

I nodded.  At that point, I was so preoccupied with here that I did not notice the infuriated man come up behind me.

“You’re quite an audacious young man to be talking to my wife,” he bellowed.

With a start, I turned around to see the man glaring icily at me.  “Terribly sorry, sir!” I whimpered.  “I was simply ambling around, minding my own business.  We just happened to bump into each other!” I lied.

Before the man could say anything else, I left the market.  There was no use getting in a fight!  Besides that, I also had some dragons to catch if I didn’t want to be looked at as a newcomer, and so the vicious cycle began.  I would catch a dragon, bring it to market, and meet that girl.  Oh, how I wish I only knew the huntress’s name…

What would you do?

What would you say?

Where would you go?

Would you make it worth

An entire life’s time?

The thing about time

Is it seems that once you live

Through it, you have spent all it’s worth.

It seems no matter what you do,

You will have nowhere to go–

You will have no say.

Yet you have a say,

Death is not the end of time.

Death will lead you wherever you wish to go,

And let you live the life you want to live.

All you have to do,

Is live life for all it’s worth.

But if your life is worth,

Little more than what a dog might say,

What can you do?

What could you do with all the time

That eternity after death gives you to live.

Where would you go?

On the last day, you must go

And do something that will make life worth

A thousand lives which one can live,

A thousand words which one can say,

And you can use the rest of your time,

To do a thousand things which one can do.

For if you do

Something important the end will let you go

To a place where time

Has no worth,

You could even say

That after death, there is more for which to live.

So if you had one day to live, what would you do?

Would what you say and where you would go

Make your life and afterlife worth all of time?

He is the ruler,

The leader,

The King.

The ruler measures out his kingdom,

Judging what is his,

And protecting those within his bounds.

The ruler counts it out,

Leaving no amount unmeasured.

His decisions are clear and definite.

And without him,

There would be no distance,

No kingdom,

No domain.

And so the ruler sits and waits,

Until he is needed once more.