The Last Straw

By: Paige Smith

Camille awoke from her thoughts by a feeling in her face. She could sense it before it came and knew there was nothing she could do. She knew how her father would react and couldn't do a single thing to stop it. After getting no sleep and sitting for over an hour, her body couldn't take it. And if she tried to hide it with her hand then it would be more noticeable.

Camille yawned. She felt like it had filled the room and lasted for an eternity.

King Jurik roared, "Camille, are you bored by this?" She didn't move. Her heart rushed through her ears almost giving her a headache, but she didn't move.

"Camille, face me when I am speaking to you!"

She stood from her little throne, walking front and center to the bottom of the steps. She kept her face like a stone, un-moving and showing no emotion.

"You should feel honored that I let you hear the royal reports, that you get to know what is happening in the kingdom, that you get to hear the secrets, but no! It bores you! Well, if you're so bored let's play a game." King Jurik gave a crooked smile. "If you last ten seconds without making a sound then I will forget this happened, but if you don't then..."

Camille kept still. She looked at her father. Within an instant her skin began to burn. She felt as if she was roasting over a fire. Sweat poured down her forehead onto her cheeks. She knew what was coming now. He would use his elemental magic to torture her.

"1." He began to count, drawing out each letter. His crooked grin sharpened as he continued.

"2." His eyes narrowed in on her. She shook under the heat. Camille’s heart pounded in her head louder and louder. "3." Her eyes burned; everything burned. "4." Camille kept her eye contact. He could burn her from the outside in, but she would never give him the satisfaction of breaking her spirit. "5.” It was getting hard to breathe. A fifty-pound weight pushed down on her chest. "6." She felt the sickness set in. "7." The walls were caving in on her, her vision turning to fuzz. Camille didn't make a peep. "8." She wanted to scream from the top of her lungs. She wanted to thrash and strangle him till the light drained from his eyes. She wanted to make him feel all the pain he had given her. "9." Soon, she was going to survive and escape, soon. Camille couldn’t live in this pain anymore. This was the last straw. "10."

Camille took her first breath, easing the pain. She made it. She made it through his game. A second later—a knock at the door of the throne room. "Camille, why don't you invite our guests in?" King Jurik said, his grin gone. She took a sharp turn trying not to wince at the pain. She opened the first set of doors to the hallway, and more guards shuffled into the throne room to give reports.

Camille slowly drifted back to her seat. She sat as tall as she could with her head held high. Today was the last day she would suffer under her father. By morning, one way or another, she would be gone.