Thirty-one years ago
THE CASTEL OF THE ROYAL FAMILY
Six-year-old Corral rushed past the servants in the castle.
They gave way for her, and she continued, her prized treasure in her fists.
"Princess Coral." Someone said. "Watch out where you’re going."
She didn’t pay heed.
She just went on her way.
Her destination is way ahead of her.
Finally, she saw her mother talking about some subject.
"Mama!" She said she was excited.
Her redhead was bouncing up and down.
The queen turned to look at her and smiled.
"Hello, my princess." The Queen said her attention was diverted to her daughter as soon as she saw her.
"Mama, see, I have a gift for you." She said.
She opened her hands and showed her mother the little bird.
The queen bent down. "Corral, that’s lovely. You found a bird."
"Can I keep it?" Corral begged. "She would look lovely in my golden cage. I could show her to my friends."
The Queen turned to her subjects. "We will continue our discussions later."
They nodded and turned away.
Then, the queen squatted down with her daughter.
"Sweetheart." The queen started. "Would you like it if someone kept you in a cage and waited for their friends to come around?"
Corral gave her a dirty look. "No, mama. Of course not!"
The queen gently massaged her cheek.
"Exactly. This bird is a creature of the goddess." She said. "It should be left to fly and escape happily into the wild. Not trapped and made to stay for anyone’s amusement."
Corral’s face twisted.
"But Mama, it’s a bird! I’m a wolf! And I am also a princess! I get to have everything I want! It doesn’t have a say!" The spoilt six-year-old informed me arrogantly.
The queen looked at her daughter, worried. "No, my love. We’re all equal. No one is above the other. The reason why I have this crown." The queen said she was taking off her crown. "Is it not to make myself elevated? Feel better than anyone else, but to serve. We are servants of the people we lead. So, if you look closely, they are bigger than us. I want you to understand this because you will lead whether or not you become queen."
Then her sister Scarlet came in, and Coral rolled her eyes.
She hated her stupid sister.
"Come here, scarlet." The queen said. "I’m teaching your sister a valuable lesson.
Corral frowned as her sister joined them as their mother taught them how to be good princesses.
But Corral didn’t want to hear about good deeds.
She wanted to do what she wanted to do!
She snatched the bird from her mother when she was handing it over to Scarlet to see.
"Corral!" The queen said she was horrified. "You will strangle that bird. Give it to your sister."
She saw her sister, Scarlet, look hurt.
She didn’t care. She wanted to hurt her stupid sister.
"Give that bird now." The Queen said it in a much firmer voice.
Corral looked from her mother to her sister.
She would not give them because she gave them to her mother; she would give them to Scarlet, who likewise believed that animals would be freed.
When she had been the one who found it.
"It’s my birdy." Corral said. "If I can’t have it, then no one will."
And she squeezed the bird.
It squeaked, struggling in her grasp.
"Corral, don’t!" The Queen gasped.
"Corral!" Her stupid sister said.
But it was too late.
The bird was already dead.
She tossed the dead bird on the floor.
"Corral, why would you do that?" The Queen asked in shock.
Scarlet bent down to the floor and picked up the bird.
Corral’s face was twisted with hate and anger.
Then Scarlet went to their mother.
"Mama, look, it’s alive." She said.
And to Corral’s most tremendous shock, the bird sat up in her sister’s palms.
Like she had brought it back to life.
"Scarlet." The queen gasped. "How did you do it?"
Scarlet shrugged. "I don’t know, mama. It just happened."
Corral watched in spite as her mother hovered over her sister and wholly ignored and forgot about her.
It was always like that.
Mother loved Corral more than she loved her.
She stood in the dark corner, watching as they praised her sister, and felt the hate swell in her heart.
She felt an arm around her, and when she looked up, she saw Aunt Cherry.
"Your mother chooses your sister over you, doesn’t she?" Aunt Cherry said.
Corral turned and looked back at her mother and sister, freeing the bird.
"Don’t worry. I’m here." Aunt Cherry said. "There is nothing wrong with you. And I will never fore-sake you. Let me let you in on a secret. Did you know that your sister is jealous of you?"
Corral looked at her aunt in surprise. "Jealous of me?"
"Yes." She nodded. "Isn’t it obvious? You’re much stronger than her. You’re going to be queen instead of her. And she tries to take away the attention for herself."
Now that her aunt had said it, she began to see it.
She was still a child, so it was easy for her to be misled and deceived.
After that day, knowing that her aunt always had her back, Corral grew to hate her sister.
She despised her.
She wanted her gone for the rest of her life.
She wanted her parents to love her the way they loved her sister.
And with the lies and deception her mother’s sister spun, it grew.
One day, she and her sister went on their usual boat trips.
They had done it over fifty times and were accustomed to it.
The usual guard and nanny were in the long boat, rowing with them.
She remembered what Aunt Cherry had said.
"Just push her over."
"Scarlet, come see." Corral called.
Scarlet, who had been feeling neglected by her sister, was excited to have her sister want to play with her.
When Corral had told them that they would have a boat ride today and they could spend time together, she had been elated.
She couldn’t tell why, but her sister had been avoiding her.
They now had the opportunity to spend time together like happy sisters.
She loved her sister so much.
"Come see," Corral called out.
Scarlet went to the boat’s edge and looked down at what her sister had called her for.
"Where is it?" Scarlet asked.
Corral pushed her sister over, and she was already in the water before Scarlet could cry for help.
When Scarlet tried to rise in the air, Corral pressed her down so much that she started to drown.
She knew that her twin sister’s weakness was swimming.
She could not swim.
Corral watched as her sister went to the bottom of the sea.
Before she screamed. "Help! Help! My sister fell into the water!"
The guard and the nanny, who had been far on the other side of the boat, went alert and began to look for the princess frantically.
The little princess was never to be found again.