The Princess & the Dragon

Chapter 4: The Boy

"Hello, is someone there?"

I push the door open and step inside the room. There's a twin-size bed in the middle with rolled up sheets near the pillows. A lamp is on the floor broken into large pieces and the light shines against the wall on the opposite side of the bed where a shadow of a figure appears.

Curtains hang halfway off the rods above the window and a picture frame is lying upside down in a pile of broken glass. Whoever is in here has made a mess.

"Whose there?" I ask.

A boy stands from off the floor. His clothes are ratted, and baggy hanging lose off his body. The white pants, and white shirt with a brown vest over it makes him look like a modern-day Aladdin. There's a cut on his cheek that runs from beneath his eye down to his chin. Blood drips down his face. Black, untangled hair covers over his left eye making only his nose and lips visible in the low glow of the lamp. He's innocent and young looking, probably a year older than me. I feel oddly drawn to him like there's an invisible force between us pulling us closer. I take a step toward him but keep my distance. "Are you okay?"

He pushes his hair back out of his face.

In the light, his human eyes turn a yellow color and glow in the dark. He has a hint of mystery to him; one I can't describe. I get chills just thinking about it. I feel like a child seeing eye to eye with the monster under my bed. Somehow, seeing him now in the light he isn't so scary.

"What are you doing in here?" His youthful voice cracks.

"I live here."

He chuckles to himself then leans back. "You live here."

I turn my head to the side and look down at his hand. There's a cut on his palm and it's bleeding worse than the one on his face. I reach out and grab his wrist to examine it and hold it up near my face and into the light. He attempts to pull away, but I make my grip tighter. "You've hurt yourself."

"Who said you could touch me?" His yellow eyes meet mine and the fear of him returns.

Freezing cold frost nips at my fingertips and I let go of his wrist. It drops down at his side. I rub my hands together to get them warm again. "You are freezing."

How can he be this cold when the inside of the castle is almost eighty degrees, outside it's even hotter.

"You shouldn't be in here. It's not safe in the castle at night. Didn't Kerlin warn you?"

"Of course he warned me, but you were making so much ruckus down here. I had to see what was going on."

He shakes his head and walks toward the door to see if anyone is out in the hallway. When he sees it's safe, he turns to look at me. "You—" He inhales a deep breath before continuing. "You shouldn't be in here. It's not safe for you."

I walk toward him and ignore his demands to not touch him and grab his wrist. This time I ignore his cold skin and notice a large piece of glass has embedded its way into the palm of his right hand. "You have to get this glass out and stop the bleeding. My uncle isn't going to be happy with what you've done to this room."

"This is my room. I will do with it what I please."

"Your room?" I look at his eyes and they have gone from yellow to a light green color. "You live here too?"

"That's none of your concern. Once Kerlin finds out his niece is in danger he won't be happy that she disobeyed his rules."

He pulls his hand out of my grip and sits down on the edge of the bed. I look around the room and notice there isn't anything personal in here that would confirm this is really his room or not. I look down at the picture that sits upside down on the floor near his feet. The urge to lift it up and see what is on the other side gnaws at me, but I fight against it. Maybe this is the clue to who he really is. "I'm sorry." I tell him and he squints his eyes at me. "You woke me up. What were you doing in here anyways?"