To Kill a Kingdom

Lies aren’t answers.”
“But they sound so much better than the truth.”

How strange that instead of taking his heart, I’m hoping he takes mine.

It feels like the entire world is asleep. And us – just us – we are finally awake.

Love and madness are two stars in the same sky.

There are worlds between us, but that seems more like semantics than tangible evidence of how dissimilar we are.

I don’t know why, but Elian has evoked the same feral feeling that used to be reserved only for her. The desire to allow sparks of loyalty and humanity in me to take hold. We’re the same, he and I. Just as looking into my cousin’s eyes feels like looking into a memory of my own childhood, being around Elian feels like being around an alternate version of myself. Reflections of each other in a different kingdom and a different life. Broken pieces from the same mirror.

Two kingdoms that come with responsibilities we each have trouble bearing. Him, the shackles of being pinned to one land and one life. Me, trapped in the confines of my mother’s murderous legacy. And the ocean, calling out to us both. A song of freedom and longing.

My mission, my kingdom. The world. They exist somewhere other than in this moment, and now there is only this. Me, my ship, and a girl with oceans in her eyes.

Could it really be such a bad thing, to become a story whispered to children in the dead of night? A song they sing to one another while they play.

“Lies aren’t answers.”

“But they sound so much better than the truth.”