Noelle did not sleep that night. She had laid in bed for hours, watching the ceiling and following the patterns on it with her eyes. Outside, she heard an owl coo, and the light lapping of rain on the windowsill bugged her awake. Her eyes itched, a stinging pain prominent the longer she kept them open.

"I can't do this," she muttered, slapping her forehead. "I can't do this! The- the wedding is tomorrow and if I don't get out I'm trapped here forever!"

A sob sounded in the room, and it took Noelle a moment to realise it came from her throat. She shoved her palm over her mouth to muffle the sounds, and squeezed her eyes shut to stop the tears from spilling on her pillow.

She did not know what she would do if the wedding went ahead. She would live comfortably, but her life would be filled with despair and depression. She would go insane and spiral, and with no one to catch her before she fell... there was nothing to stop her.

Noelle knew she would never love Adron; she doubted he even loved her at all. It was an alarming obsession with a child on his behalf, and Noelle wanted nothing to do with it. She would rather die.

"Any woman would die to be in your place."

Noelle remembered Emanda's words as clear as day. If Adron had so many fine women dreaming of marrying him, why was she chosen? She was a much better candidate than Noelle. Anyone was a better candidate than she!

"Calm the hell down!" she scolded herself, letting out a strained breath. "Think about anything else but that."

. . .

Noelle sat as though in a trance at her desk, her head in her hand as she absentmindedly gazed at the boy sitting in front of her: Abe Abara. He was tall, towering above anyone else in the class, with smooth, dark skin and curly black hair. In her eyes, he was perfect: intelligent, compassionate, handsome, and brave. Abe was part of half a dozen school teams, such as cricket, football, and rugby. Popular and well-liked, he was friends with everyone. All the girls loved him, and all the boys wanted to be like him.

He was her first crush, and later, her first relationship. Back then, she had only looked on from afar, and despite Melanie's encouragement, she never sought to speak to him. Noelle told herself it was only a temporary fascination, and that it would go away soon.

Though it did not help that Abe teased her relentlessly. In class, she often found him staring, and when she met his gaze he would wink and turn away. Randomly, he would approach her and start a conversation, or poke harmless jokes at her.

Ivan preached that it was a sign he reciprocated her crush, and Noelle herself believed it too.

One day, their science teacher, Mr Greyton, sat them together for an experiment. They worked together well, finishing the experiment before anyone else in their class with valid results. Since then, Mr Greyton has sat them together every single day.

And Noelle's feelings thrived. She was sure Abe liked her back, she knew it from the way he moved around her and how he spoke. He always smiled - she loved his smile - and his deep eyes crinkled when he did so.

Noelle asked him for his number, the boldest thing she had ever done. To her joy, he gave her it, and they texted every day. Abe always made sure to text her in the morning and at night. She felt so comfortable when she spoke to him, and a notification from him always brought a smile to her face. She felt like she was on the moon, flying on cloud 9.

Abe: Hey, can we meet up?

Noelle's eyes widened when she saw the message. Her heart skipped a beat in her shock. She had never met up with Abe outside of school before, so what prompted him to ask her? Excitedly, she quickly tapped out her response.

Me: Of course! when?

Abe: tomorrow straight after school, i want to talk to you

Noelle audibly gasped. She felt so silly, like a pathetic schoolgirl with a crush but she did not care, she was filled with giddy glee as she reread those messages, over and over again.

When she met with Abe the next day, he asked her the question she never thought she would hear.

"Will you be my girlfriend?"

Noelle jumped to answer "yes!" without a second thought.

When they proudly walked around school hand in hand, Noelle could not ignore the envious looks sent her way, especially from Donna. Since her break from the friend group, she'd been jealous of anything Noelle had that she did not.

Melanie was of course her biggest supporter in the relationship, hyping her up from day one. However, Noelle noticed that Zuzanna seemed sad whenever she was in Abe's company. She did not look at him a lot, opting to stare at her nails with a frown. Of course, she never said anything out loud, for Zuzanna was the politest girl she had ever met, but Noelle got the strong feeling that she did not like Abe, and she could not figure out why.

Their break up was strange. There was no anger or sadness, and it was made in a mutual agreement. When she broke the news to her friend group, Zuzanna was noticeably happier.

Back then Noelle did not know why, but now she has suspicions.

. . .

Noelle was startled by a knock on the door. She sat up suddenly, waiting for the mysterious person to enter, but to no avail. All she could hear was silence, and the knocking had ceased.

"Hello?" She cautiously asked, stepping towards the door and pressing her ear against it to sound for footsteps. There was none.

"Who's there?" Noelle asked again and jiggled at the door handle. It opened easily, and her mouth dropped open in astonishment. She looked around the room, grabbing the little handbag that she left under the bed, where the key was safely hidden, along with a few pounds.

She dashed out of her prison, tip toeing down the hallway in the darkness. The soft tap of her shoes hitting the carpet bounced off of the walls as it was carried down the corridor. With all her heart Noelle prayed that nobody was awake to hear her.

She passed by an iron door, not noticing that it was slightly cracked open. As she passed, a hand gripped her wrist and pulled her in, and another clamped over her mouth to stop her shriek.

She struggled out of the person's feast, shoving them away from her and into the wall behind. She fumbled for the light switch and powered it on, only to reveal the servant boy sprawled on the floor.

"It's you!" Noelle gasped, frowning at him. "What are you doing!?"

The boy quickly stood up, rubbing his back. He completely ignored her question.

"Do you have the key?" He urgently asked. Those were the first words he had spoken since the day Noelle met him.

"I-I do," she stammered and reached for her bag, pulling out the key and handing it to him.

He took it without another word, and made for the door, motioning for her to follow him. Before he disappeared he grabbed a light with him, and another one for Noelle. Once they left the safety of the room, Noelle did not dare speak to him. He took her to a remote place she did not recognise, with a large spiral staircase down. Unlike the rest of the castle, it did not look well-kept. The wallpaper was peeling, and dirty black splotches were scattered near the ceiling. Noelle thought she saw a tiny dark shape scurry down the stairs.

"Where are we going?" Noelle inquired as she followed the boy down, but she got no answer. The further they reached their ultimate goal, the worse the stairs stunk. Eventually, they arrived in a dungeon. The floor was uneven and the walls were made of dirty brick. There were bars in the ground, separating the cells. When she looked into one, Noelle saw a broken skeleton, the neck still chained to the wall, with flies and rats nibbling away at the scarce flesh still remaining. The whole place smelled of death and decay.

She paused before a horrid thought came to her head that froze her blood ice cold.

"C- Can I trust you?" Noelle tentatively questioned the servant boy. She stopped walking, ready to bolt up the stairs if need be. "What are you going to do? Why are we here?"

The boy looked back at her, and they stared at each other, nobody moving a muscle.

"I am going to help you," he answered. "Trust me."

He turned away again, disappearing into the darkness. Noelle had to jog to catch up to him and walk side by side. Suddenly, his hand reached across her, stopping her in her tracks.

"What?" She asked, baffled. The boy was staring intensely at the floor as if he was searching for something. He handed her his light, motioning for her to shine it on the floor.

He found what he was looking for: a trapdoor. He took the key out of his pocket and placed it in the lock, turning it swiftly. The boy grabbed the handle and pulled up, and instantly the smell of sewage and the rush of water hit her. To Noelle's astonishment, the boy did not react, only went down the ladder quickly without waiting for her.

You can do this Ellie!

She took a deep breath to last her for at least two minutes and plunged down the ladder. Whatever happened, Noelle did not open her mouth or breath through her nose.

She got down and felt a wet presence in her shoe. With a disgusted grunt, she took her foot out of the water again, looking for a dry platform to stand on.

"You're gonna have to do it. There is no dry spot here," the boy deadpanned, staring at her with his arms crossed. The green water rushed up to his ankles.

"I have a heavy dress on me, you have trousers. Who's going to struggle here?" Noelle asked sarcastically. She sighed in defeat and stepped into the water, wincing as it hit her legs. "Ew..."

It was the most disgusting journey of Noelle's life. They trudged upstream in the sewage, and Noelle tried not to flinch every time a dark, moist solid hit her. The stench assaulted her nose from every corner, and she feared to take a breath so as not to inhale the particles.

"All 365 toilets are connected here," the boy said, and though Noelle could not see his face, his voice held the trace of a smile.

"What?" Noelle tried, feeling nauseous at the thought. Suddenly, she found it hard to keep her breakfast down.

"Just teasing," he laughed, and they walked in silence once more as Noelle's gaze bore daggers into his back.

After what seemed like hours to Noelle, with multiple wrong turns and even slips, they reached a dead end. There was another ladder there, at the very end, which they used to crawl up and out of the sewage system. Noelle felt low, she was dirty, wet, and hungry. They had not stopped at all, and Noelle was not used to walking for hours straight. In London, her parents drove her everywhere by car, so there was never a need to worry about transport. Back then, she took it for granted, but now she would give anything to sit down and not have to walk.

When they emerged, the sun was already beginning to rise. The castle was nowhere in sight, with only trees and a single, sandy road.

"Which way do we go?" Noelle asked, not expecting an answer from the boy. Once again, he surprised her.

"I'm sorry I didn't talk to you at all in the castle," he began, finally turning to look her in the eyes. "Adron had chips implanted into our necks last night, which recorded anything we said. They only work in the castle though, so I can talk freely now. I couldn't risk being sent to the dungeons before being able to get you out."

"It's okay," Noelle reassured. "Thank you...?"

"Roland."

"Thank you, Roland."

Noelle looked again at the open road they were on. Down one side, it led into the forests and disappeared down a bend, while down the other side it extended downhill and over a bridge. Past that, Noelle could not see.

"Do you know the way?" Noelle posed the question again.

"Well, that way is going to take us back to the castle," Roland said, pointing in the direction of the trees. "So probably down here. A road means there must be a town somewhere along the way."

So they went. Noelle took off the top layer of her dress and Roland helped her throw it into the sewers, where it would not be found. They walked along the road as the morning turned to day and the birds came out of their hiding spots to sing sweet tunes. The day was warm, and soon their clothes dried as they walked.

For the first time in what seemed like forever, Noelle felt free.