I Didn't Mean To Kill Her

• Ariana Fatone, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2020

My pulse was rapid, my head... broken, waterfalls of sweat were running down my body . The guards must've thought I was a maniac mongrel, lunatic, psycho, mutt. They saw me confined in the corner of the damp defeated cell, blocking out everything around me, whilst the only thing I really wanted to do, was forget March 21st.

I was illegally hunting, the weather was serene, I had a litter of meat strapped to my belt and my spear in hand. The deer was what I saw first, feeding unwarily at the pasture. My arm was pulled back and the weapon was flying. The deer didn't fall but the thud came from a girl. She was well fed, with plump cheeks and a light ombre of blush delicately set across her nose. It's the year 3560 and no one in the town can afford even a scant of food.
The officials, bluecoats, presidents, royals, not even they could afford food...but this girl, thick golden hair, expensive coat, and a tiara...I had just hunted the king's daughter!

That was my story and before that, is forgotten. I have an eternity left, scarred, broken, suffering, going over March 21st in my head like a ferris wheel always spinning, always repeating. A life with only the scrape of the food bowl sliding across the concrete floor to keep me going.

Another restless night, the howl of the wind and the daggers of water spitting on my face and the light of the moon gleaming through the grate letting me know that I should be asleep, but I'm not.
The gleam had stopped but a shadow took its place.

I don't know how she got in or how she found me or why she was even looking for me. But she did! And told me that everything was going to be okay. I know my heart should be racing. I know my pulse should be thumping. I know that by now my body should be flooded with sweat but it wasn't. Something about this person was reassuring, like a teacher in a classroom or a loved one's voice. I felt safe and at peace.