Innocent Times

my people were once at war with the unicorn folk until my father and their king put a truce together. Our fathers wanted to keep the balance between good and evil together in a peaceful harmony. How could I, the son of the demon king, fall for the princess of the unicorn people? I know I had broken her heart, but I could not help but follow her as often as I could. Although my male ego got the better of me, my head and my heart could not stop loving Grace.
She was on a night out with her best friend Charlie and to not make it look obvious I was following her, I asked Michael to accompany me to the club. Charlie spotted us straight away and instantly I realised that tonight was a terrible idea, we should not have come here and pretty much we should have stayed outside and watched the girls from a distance. Angrily Charlie slapped me across the face, Grace tried to reason with her, it was obvious she still loved me just as much as I still loved her. Michael triggered automatically to my defence but before I could stop him he tore away Charlie’s soul out of her body. However the spark from such a murderous act destroyed Michael, Charlie sacrificed herself for the princess, her best friend. This was the same bond that I had with Michael.
I looked over at the princess. She was shocked and numb by what she had just witnessed, her best friend killed right in front of her. All I wanted to do was hold Grace and make all of this go away, but I wanted something else from her too which urged me to carry out my next plan, I wanted to take her innocence from her. I took Grace by the hand, she was reluctant to start off with but as to not cause a scene in the club she surrendered herself to me. My plan was already starting to work.
My bedsit was not too far away from the club, Grace slowly walked behind my pace but I would not release my grasp, I could sense she was crying but I was too ashamed to stop and look at her. I could not bear myself to look her in the eyes whilst she was crying. We entered my bedsit and straight away I dragged her to my bed.

The Imposter
The sunlight shone through my butterfly patterned curtains as I slowly woke up from a wonderful dream; I rubbed the sleep away from eyes and slowly sat up. There he was, sat at the edge of my bed, someone I did not know personally but knew of very well. I did not understand how he got into my dorm, never mind my bedroom and watching me sleep whilst sitting on the edge of my bed. I heard him breathing slowly, like his focus was just fixated on me and the smell of his aftershave lingering through the air.
He moved more onto my bed, trying to get closer towards me, but I hunched myself into a ball and held on tightly to my duvet. I could see on the expression of his face what he wanted to do to me, he smiled whilst gritting his teeth, his brown hair was gelled back smoothly, whereas normally when I have passed him on the street his hair appeared to be untidy. Now I had a closer look at my imposter, he was about the same age as me, nineteen maybe a year or two older and his eyes had a look of evil in them.
I never understood why he stalked me, for the past year he would appear at most student parties where I was at and always stood a distance away from me, watching me as though I was prey for his predatory fulfilments. When I had spotted him at these parties or in the street, he would always come across as being a loner but as I tried to never pay much attention to him, I could not have cared more or less if he had any friends or not, I just wanted him to stop stalking me. I had reported him often to the university faculty and on site security but there was nothing they could do as he had not harmed me in any way and had broken no laws, until now that is, waking up to find him sat on the edge of my bed.
“How did you get in?” I asked him.
“That is for me to know and for you to find out. Now I have you all to myself away from your friends, I have made sure no one can get in to help you now.”
Fear struck me hearing him say those words to me, a chill of ice froze down my spine and yet the feeling of expecting this to happen one day prepared myself for what my next course of action would be. I slowly reached for my knife under my mattress, trying not to make it too obvious to show him what I was about to do and in a rage of adrenaline pumping through me, I flew myself onto him…


Him
This short story is also in Monday At Six, first published in 2017. I also adapted this piece into a stage play that was performed at Louth Playgoers Riverhead Theatre in June 2018 by Hambledon Productions.
When I was a little girl, I always dreamt of love and having my own fairy tale story, my mother would often tell me back then that there is someone out there for everyone but she didn’t mean from out there. My name is Kimberly and here is my story for what changed my life. You think boys during school are so complicated, well how about falling in with a boy who is not even from this