Woman

I walked aimlessly around the Grand Ballroom, Night Children and Humans were dancing, some even together all laughing having a grand time, for it was the night of the Prince’s twentieth birthday. Really I didn’t see it as that big of a deal, but was glad everyone else was having a good time, I seen my parents dancing still looking very much in love. It was the one thing that warmed my heart and made me smile.
"Lovely isn’t it?" I turned to see a petite female about a head shorter than I looking up at me. She seemed a bit younger, but probably not by much, her hair was a bob with bangs, a part of it in a hair clip. She was cute.
"What?" I asked a little stunned, for the most part, no one really talked to me. Not like I had time for a social life.
"Dancing, you are watching them, you looked so happy." I shrugged, I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t much of a conversationalist. "Well if you look happy watching them", she boldly grabbed my hands and pulled me slightly, "you’d have much more fun joining them."
"I’d really rather not," I said pulling way, when Viktor pushed me back.
"I apologise," Viktor said his voice smooth, "my friend here embarrasses me at times, surely Evan you can dance with such a young beauty."
The girl shied at Viktor’s words but her hands stayed around mine, one dance couldn’t hurt... other than my pride. I bowed to the girl and muttered a half-hearted apology. She giggled. Now I had always dreamt about dancing, having a strong hansom man lead the dance as my dress swayed around my feet. My mother though had taught me to dance as a man as she seen that more fitting. So here was my first real dance. Just another first thing I had to do as a guy.
I felt awkward with one hand resting respectably on her waist and one hand suporting her as we danced formally, she was a excellent dancer, "you never told me your name kind sir," she said to me as we swirled with the others.
"My name is Eva-"
"Sir Evan, like Daylight Guardian of the Prince!"
"Um"
"All the village girls gossip about you," she gushed, "how hansom, how strong, and you are so close to the Prince, what is he like?"
"He is a good man," I found myself saying, "an excellent prince, an honourable friend." What a load of horseshit. He was arrogant, could be the biggest asshole when he chose to be, perverse, he didn’t pay attention to Lucid when he was trying to teach him something... but honourable friend. The vision of him holding me as I awoke from unconsciousness, killing the Moon Child and saving me. Yes he was a good friend. But for the most part, I was telling the girl horseshit, and she gobbled it up.
"Oh wow, I can’t believe I am dancing with you right now," she said.
"And what might your name be?" I asked wondering if it was smart, it was polite, but what if she seen it as interest I simply did not have.
"Colleen," she replied her bright baby blues sparkling.
We danced till the musicians took a break, "I must part, I have duties to attend," I said trying to make a break from the girl, who was kind enough, but I didn’t want the very... well oddness of having a girl have a crush on me. I wasn’t sure if I could possibly deal with that on top of the fact I was also a girl who had to pretend to be a boy. I just didn’t know if I could take it.
"Of course," Colleen responded, "I understand," She bowed quite low to me, like how Arista had bowed to Viktor, "thank you."
"Thank you," I responded bowing my shoulders and head to her before turning and walking around pretending like I was looking for someone when I was looking for an escape. Surely no one would notice one person missing. Plus Viktor gave me the night off; how could I say no to that.
I found the exit but it was by the Blood Brigade, and I didn’t want to go past O’Connell, that was the last thing I needed. Surely there had to be another way out, sure enough, I was right. I exited the door and walked through the empty halls of the castle, that was till I heard something, a footstep? It sounded more like a foot sliding against the floor. I swallowed as I heard something hit the wall, an intruder?
I peered through the crack in the door wanting to see what I was up against before I faced it. Turns out I didn’t want to know.
Arista seemed to have pushed Viktor against the wall, his jacket on the floor, his white dress shirt unbuttoned the top of his pants were undone as well. Arista’s bright red lips were kissing Viktor’s chest, he ran his hand through her hair. I had enough, I slipped away before he noticed my heartbeat, my breathing or my physical body being there.
I went down to the lake with a few buckets I filled them quickly and hung them over a fire boiling them. I sat under a tree while it was happening. My mind went over the events of the night. It was making me really think about how I was going to keep this up. How could I keep it up? Someone was bound to notice eventually. I grabbed the strong stick slid it under the hot bucket handles and started walking with it over my shoulders. How much longer could I hold out on all of this stuff?
My stomach felt queasy, my body was stressed, my mind was stressed. I got back to the house not feeling so hot, I wondered if it was the party. All the blood, the screams, the half eaten meal? Maybe I ate something bad? Or perhaps my odd eating patterns over the last week? Maybe the physical damage I had sustained recently. I put the water into a shallow basin and pumped cold water into the buckets filling the water in the basin. I got in having a proper bath. It was both a relief and sorrowful to be out of Viktor’s suit. The warm water helped ease way the pain I had, I got out and dried off, I got dressed in casuals before dumping all the water outside.
I fell asleep quickly but awoke with pains in my back and stomach. Perhaps I hurt my back in the battle as well, I mean I did get thrown into a post. "Damned Moon Children," I grumbled it wasn’t yet Daylight, but I decided to get dressed since I couldn’t fall back to sleep. All my injuries ganging up on me.
I pulled off my pyjama shirt and replaced it with a nice looking dark blue one. I took off my pants while I rifled through my drawer till I found a pair of matching socks in dark grey and a pair of plain boxers- because I couldn’t even get girls underwear!
I hummed to myself as if my own tune would rid my pain, but I though hard on the tune and the pains numbed. I pulled off my boxers and was a little surprised. Actually a lot surprised. I looked down at myself then down to the boxers, then I felt myself for injury, nothing hurt but there ended up being blood on my hand. "MOM!" I shouted my voice worried and high- feminine, I shouldn’t have but I did.
She rushed into my room, I was slightly embarrassed to be standing there ass bare. I held up my hand as explanation, "I’m bleeding mom!" I said hushed but frantic "there is no wound!"
She grabbed a small jar of water and told me to wash up and she would be right back. When she did return, she came with what looked like a diaper, and some herbs.
"Put this on," she handed me the cloth diaper looking thing.
I held it away from me with pinched fingers, disgusted. "You can’t be serious mom, besides care to explain?"
"You finally hit puberty, in fact did you even tape down your breasts today?" I looked down I had wrapped them hard, I had to as of late, they had decided to try and mess me up too by getting bigger, and now even wrapped tight, there was a slight bumps where there shouldn’t be. "Anyways it’s your period, your a woman now" she informed me, whenshe seen the agitation on my face fromthat word she looked away,"we talked about it when you were younger."
I remembered vaguely, I just thought it would never happen to me, and look I got to seventeen when most of the village girls got it at eleven or twelve. "This is a huge problem," I muttered, my mother looked up questioningly. "I’m bleeding and going to a castle filled with Night Children who happen to occasionally loose it when they smell blood, and Viktor is going to want to know why I smell like I lost a fight."
My mother seemed to ponder this for a while. "Put on your clothing, I need to speak with your father. I did as she said and sat on my bed, frowning. When I though of all the things the night before, all the things that were to screw me up on my mission. All the annoyances, and I wondered how things could possibly get worse. I shouldn’t have wondered. Because now they were worse... so much worse.
My parents came in the room, my father seeming uncomfortable with the fact, I was, in truth a teenage girl who had just got her first period. He seemed to be easier around me when I acted like a man.
"The herbs will stop it?" He asked.
"No not this cycle, she will have to wait till the end of this week," my mother explained, "then she can take them and it should make her skip a month or two."
"How can we send him-"
"Her," my mother made the point of correcting.
"With a bunch of Night Children? He,"
"She,"
"Will have the scent of blood, so they will find out he,"
"Is actually a she."
"Could you please not talk like I’m not right here?" I asked tears brimming in my eyes- I couldn’t believe it when I started to break down into tears, "what is happening."
"Many girls get emotional on their periods," my mother explained, dad looked awkward.
I cried harder, "how am I to keep it together."
"You won’t have to," my father said, "you are obviously in no state to be protecting the prince, I’ll tell Vincent you are very ill, and will need time to recuperate, he will send another Daylight Guardian to Viktor."
Rage welled I stood, "I don’t want anyone else protecting him! I’m suppose to." Why was I so angry about this? A little cheesed off sure, I mean I was pretending to be a boy to protect him, I was the so called ‘saviour’ which is also a lie since I am suppose to be a man. So why was I so angry... wait... emotional. This period nonsense was getting old fast.
My father left to tell the king I was ill, to give my job away to another for a week, and I was left with my mother. My stomach cramped bloated, my rather round breasts tied up in case someone came to check on me, my back ached, I couldn’t keep my emotions under check. I had a girl who probably was crushing on me, I lost one of my closest friends... Garrett how it hurt to think of my last image of him in my head.
I was sure to eventually loose my mind if I continued living like this. It just wasn’t a life worth living. Though that just might be a thought brought in by the herbs my mother had lit up in the house for pain relief... they made me sleepy. I dosed off on the couch.