After opening the foggy glass door of the washroom and entering it, I wrapped myself from head to toe in my towel and dried myself off. It's not easy drying your head when you have two horns sprouting from the top of it. Even though they weren't very big, they were pretty sharp. If I hadn't looked at my reflection in the water of the bath, I'd have forgotten that they were there. They aren't very noticeable under the mop of white hair covering them. I changed into the purple button-up gown that Iris laid out onto a sliver rack in the corner for me and left the washroom, where as promised, she was waiting for me outside the door.

"You shouldn't stay in there too long." Iris started. "You know you get sick easily. And I'm pretty sure you've gotten a fever before when you were younger because you fell asleep in there." She continued to scold me. "And on top of that, you weren't feeling very well either when you woke up. You need to take better care of yourself, alright? I don't want to come off as mean but I'm only being concerned for your health. The others and I would be worried sick if something happened to you, and I'm sure your father, the same.

She spoke in a stern tone but I could tell that she and Elvira were greatly concerned about my health which I still don't quite understand. Aside from the pain that I awoke to, I felt just fine. If something was wrong with me (other than the fact that I'm not the same person anymore), I couldn't tell. I also didn't remember the time I got a fever before. My memories of my life previous to today seemed to be non-existent and nowhere to be found in my head. But, putting my fuzzy memories aside, the only thing I have been doing since I met Elvira and Iris was just making them worry. I haven't actually spoken to either of them yet outside of the gestures I give with my head. So, I, in thanks for her being extremely worried about me, wanted to finally give her a proper response.

I nodded my head. "Thanks, Iris."

It was quiet and very weak sounding but, it was the loudest I've probably spoken yet. She seemed to be used to me being silent because when I spoke, it caught her off guard. She stepped back, quickly turning around, and cleared her throat. It might have been my imagination but under her long, blue hair, for a second, I thought the tips of her pointy, demonic-like ears, turned red.

"Well," She cleared her throat once more before turning back around, facing me. "Let's get you to bed. It's getting late into the night. You're waking up early tomorrow right?"

She and I made our way back through the hall, to the grand hallway, and were about to climb the spiral staircase before we saw Mellisa and Aurora exiting the dining hall, talking amongst themselves.

"You two," Iris called out to them. Upon doing so, they immediately stopped their chatter and nervously stood straight up. "Did you guys finish cleaning the hall?"

Mellisa anxiously stepped forward. "Of course we did Ms. Iris." She replied while scratching the back of her head, messing up her already messy yellow hair. "Just like Ms. Elvira told us too."

Aurora rapidly nodded her head in agreement.

Iris raised her eyebrow. "Everything?"

"Yep. Everything. From the table to the plates, and even the floor." Mellisa told her.

"So if I go in there and check, everything will be in order, just like you're telling me, right?"

"Uhh....Yeah?"

It was clear as day that Mellisa was lying and Iris picked up on it. "Well, let's check then. It shouldn't take too long."

Mellisa and Aurora exchanged looks before Mellisa turned back around, nervously laughing. "Okay well, maybe not everything."

"I thought so." Iris sighed. "Go back and finish up. And since you lied to my face, you're cleaning everything."

"Everything?"

"Everything. Including the walls and the ceiling. I want it spotless before tomorrow morning. And if I can't my reflection, you're doing it again."

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Th-The ceiling?! How are we supposed to get up there?!"

Iris just simply smiled. "Find a way."

Aurora sighed, gave me a depressed-looking wave, and then went back into the dining hall.

"Goodnight Princess," Mellisa told me with her head slumped as she slowly went after Aurora.

"Honestly, I don't know what I'm going to do with those two," Iris complained to me as we walked up the stairs. "Especially Mellisa, she's was always the joker when we were growing up back at the orphanage. And she'd always string Aurora along with her. I guess some things never change. Her Majesty doted on those two as well, always spoiling them. It's no wonder that they aren't punctuated with their tasks. Elvira and I need to be stricter with them it seems.

We eventually made it up the staircase, through the gloomy hall, and back to where this life all started for me, my room. She bid me goodnight, before closing the door to my room, leaving me alone.

I slid open the transparent black curtains of the large bed and climbed in, pulling the purple covers all the way up to my neck. Not to my dismay, I wasn't able to fall asleep. I mean, who would be able to after experiencing the hours like the ones I've just had. Restless, I rolled over in the bed, onto my back, staring at the demon mural on the ceiling.

"Today, was the craziest day of my life."

I continued staring at my ceiling for about twenty more minutes until my eyelids gradually started to fall heavy. Unresisting the urge to rest, I let them shut, and I fell asleep.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When I opened my eyes and my eyes adjusted to the environment, I found myself back in the room. No, not the giant, luxurious, purple room, in fact, just the opposite. I was back into the cramped rotten walls of my apartment. With a swiftness, I sparked up from the bed and ripped the covers off of me, revealing the half-torn, soda-stained mattress under it, and also revealing something else. The answer. The answer to all the events that transpired from then, till now.

"I........was dreaming."

I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it at all. It felt so real. The interior sights of the castle, the smell of Elvira's food, the warmth of the King's hand on my forehead, everything felt so real. It had to be real. I thought that until I came to a realization.

"No. That's not it."

I wanted it to be real. Having a family that loved you and cared for you, a family that if you showed any signs of affliction, they'd be overcome with non-stop worry and try to fix whatever was the problem, a family, that loved you unconditionally for whoever you were. It was everything I had ever wanted. It's only logical that I'd fantasize about it.

Immediately upon realizing it was all fiction, overcome with dread, I clutched my chest tightly. I knew it was all too good to be true but even still, I wanted it to be. Needed it to be. But of course, for someone like me to be blessed with a family like that, was all too impossible.

I sat there motionless, letting the teardrops slide down my face with no resistance. I just sat there for there was nothing else I could do.

In between my loud sobbing, I heard a bell tone going off. I was going to ignore it and continue drowning in my tears but it gradually grew louder and after some time, unbearable.

"Shut up!" I yelled at the sound, knowing that screaming at it would ultimately do nothing but I didn't care. I was too upset to. I frantically looked around my room and deemed it was coming from my alarm clock that was sitting in a corner. Not wanting to get up, I threw a dirty pillow hoping that it shut up and let me carry on with my wailing but it didn't. Annoyed and upset, I threw everything at my disposal at it which included the remaining pillows on my bed, a coffee mug that I received from winning a game tournament (that I, of course, won from my computer at home), and other various items that were lying on my bed and nightstand but to no avail. I jumped out of bed, stomped over to the corner of the room where the clock was resting, picked it up, and threw it at to the opposite side of the room, sending it flying into a wall which caused it to smash and dismantle into pieces. The ringing ceased for a second, only for it to return even louder.

I crouched down in the corner, drew my knees to my chest, and covered my ears, in an attempt to shut out the noise.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

Abruptly, my vision started to go blurry and eventually, pitch black. I couldn't see anything, I couldn't feel anything. The only thing that I could feel was a sense of emptiness. After what felt like an endless amount of time, through the darkness, a tiny ember appeared. It grew brighter and brighter until the only thing I saw now, was pure white in all directions, filling up my vision.

When the light disappeared and I regained consciousness, I heard a sound of a bell, the same one I was hearing before. I rolled over and saw Mellisa merrily ringing a yellow old-fashioned bell.

"Finally, you're up, Princess." She sighed. "You're a deep sleeper you know that? I've been at this for about 3 minutes now. It's already morning-"

I sat up from the bed and threw myself at her, landing square into her chest. I grabbed her white apron with both of my hands and buried my head into it. She seemed startled at first but then, she just put on a smile and gently put her hands onto my shoulders.

"A bad dream? I know. I used to have those too. Don't worry, whatever you saw wasn't real. What's real, is right here, right now."