Royal Imitation | Kylo Ren

Rotten Apple

Since I had turned fifteen, I had worn the same lace-up boots. They were workers shoes, sturdy, stiff and made from a wooden sole, but overtime they had only shrunk around my growing foot, which left me walking with curled toes, whilst the leather tore and the laces eventually frayed.

Once white, they eventually turned a rusty brown with dust and the soles had a permanent layer of soil clinging to it. Where are those shoes now? I have not an inkling of an idea, but I can imagine they were burnt to a shrivelled crisp to avoid catching the slum bug, that the people in town had made up just to create more chaos and fear from the other side of the golden gate.

Now, it seems every morning I get a new pair of shoes and it feels as if the Universe is apologising for making me squeeze my toes into a pair two sizes too small for so many years, but after having to break into the stiffness of my twentieth shoe, my obsession became vapid in overgrowing, leaving me to truly miss the softness of my old pair whilst the blisters upon my heels now, only burst and bled with every new shoe.

Self absorbed and frivolous. I had rolled my eyes when I had a proper look in the Princess' walk in closet, finding the perfectly aligned shelving packed with everything from sleek winter boots to heels that spoke of banquets and dances. Each was packed in vibrant tissue paper scented with the perfume that lingered around every corner of the palace. 

But now as I wear one of her old pairs that had been tucked into the back corner of her closet, I found this certain pair to be one of the only sizes of her's which could properly fit me as if it was a tight-fitted glove. It seemed the real Princess was a size bigger than me and I chuckled to myself lowly as I walked the halls with Ruby by my side, for it must kill the Princess' ego to think that a slum girl, with all of her slum bugs included, is wearing her high-heeled, lace up boots right now.

I lift the bottom of my dress slightly up along Ruby and I's walk back to my quarters, and I watch the way with each step I take, the silk lace that was looped into the rich, real leather, flopped in a random, but jumbled way. I even alter each footfall along the hardwood, causing my heels to echo and bounce off the windows and walls, just so I can watch the effect of the chaotic and disorderly falling of the laces which I obviously hadn't tied up tight enough.

"Can you stop walking like such an imbecile." Ruby's voice suddenly, gritted through her teeth as she only used her peripheral's to glare to me this time. 

Audibly scoffing and rolling my eyes, I dropped my dress that I had bunched up into my hands and let it cover my boots. Now overcome with a dreaded silence, Ruby and I, both walk uncomfortably next to each-other and it takes a lot of strength within to perch a happy smile onto my face and fake a conversation with the ginger girl, whenever somebody walks by us – But as soon as they are out of sight, our grins and warmth disappear with them.

I sigh to myself, it didn't matter if I was running through the halls and screaming or even if I tip-toed next to her silently, Ruby will always seek me out and scold me. She searched every tiny little thing that I would do and point out the disgrace, just to wind up for her next power fix. 

Her victory is a forgone conclusion, her ego boost at my expense guaranteed. She feeds off me like a lion with their prey, although she doesn't share it with the pack; Leaving energised in her own fury as I feel drained and tense. She is a horrible person and for a second, I wonder how she would change this world if she was in charge, but to me, she is more of a parasite than the plague of the dreaded, First Order. 

She's vapid inside, needing these transitory external crutches but she uses my own crumbling defences to build hers up even further, stealing my metaphorical bricks that I had perched into a wall and only adding it to her own.