The day Princess

I wake up earlier than usual on a sunday morning. Its just 5 am and i'm already ready for the day. I try to wake Jessica who looks at the time and rolls her eyes before covering her head with the quilt. 

'Its our last day here. We need to make it meaningful' I try to being her to consciousness. 

'The most meaningful thing I would lobe to do is sleep. Now get off my bed Laura' I hear from beneath the quilt. 

'You're hopeless. I'm heading downstairs.' I say and slam the door a little louder than required and hear a compressed scream from behind the door and walk down the stairs smiling on successfully annoying my only friend. 

I greet Grandma Liza and everyone else who were either knitting, playing chess, cards, reading a novel or painting some amazing landscapes. The kids were busy playing snake and ladder, word builder and a few of them were admiring the work of the elders. 'What a pleasant sight' I thought to myself. Maybe we could open a place just like this where both the young and old get the love and care they deserve. I strategize the blooming idea when grandma Liza interrupts me, 'My dear Laura, have you met the princess? Did she listen to you and provide a solution?' 

'Yes grandma, the princess is kind although she's a little weird. She agreed to help us out after hearing to our situation' 

'What do you mean weird dear? The princess is the kindest on this kingdom. Did the princess make any weird demands from you?' 

'Not exactly grandma but her behaviour was a little off last night and there weren't any subjects next to her. Is that how its suppose to be?' 

'When exactly did you meet the princess dear?'

'Around 9 pm last night.' I say certainly.

'Did you have any strange experience with the princess?' there was a strange worry in grandma's voice. 

'I don't think so grandma.' I hid the fact that she hypnotized us, as that would reveal we don't belong here. 

'Laura, I suggest you go meed the princess now and make sure she is well aware of the help she promised you.' this is the first time grandma Liza has directly called my name instead of child or dear little one.

'Grandma, we have an appointment with her at 12 anyway.' I say

'At midnight?' I nod. 

'I suggest you go now. Right away after the sun rises.' 

'Is something wrong grandma?' 

'Nothing darling. Just listen to me' saying so she stands and leaves to join her game of cards. 

I notice Ms. sleeping beauty walk down the stairs at 10 sharp through the edge of my novel. She looks out for me and walks in my direction with a cheerful look. 

'Morning, early bird' 

'Its past morning, sleeping beauty' I say looking at the time.

'Sometimes, its extremely necessary to have a good sleep and being called sleeping beauty is not so bad. Are you my godmother?' she asks with a stupid laugh.

'Enough now. Get going and have some food. We have plans for the day' 

'Oh interesting. Are we going to an amusement park as a farewell treat?' 

'We're going to the palace'

'Now?'

'Yes, now!'

'Are we going to help the princess open a portal hours earlier than the booked time?' she asks sarcastically.

'Maybe we can. Anyway we're going to the palace after you have breakfast and that's not changeable.' she surrenders and heads to the meal table while I continue with my novel. 

Half an hour later, we book a cab and leave for the palace. 'Is something wrong?' asks jessica looking at me taping my foot. 

'I hope not. Grandma Liza seems suspicious about our interaction with the princess and suggested we go meet her now, just to know that our deal is still on' I say

'Oh, alright. Once we're done meeting the princess lets go to the amusement park, okay?' 

'Fine' 

We get down at the palace gates and the view was completely different from last night. It was bright like the sun with workers expressing joy to do their chores. The gate was guarded and the atmosphere was so lively. 

'Is this the place we visited last night?' asks Jessica with her mouth open.

'I hope it is' I say with the same expression as hers. 

'How can I help you young women?' Asks a guard as we approach the gate.

'Definitely, can I see your cards?' 

'We left it back at our residence.' Jessica answers.

'In that case, its not possible. How about you bring your cards or ask someone to deliver it?' 

'We don't have any reliable relatives here and we're desperate' I say trying to please.

'Can you make an exception, also we have an appointment with the princess' jessica joins in.

'In that case, let me ring the office.' saying so the guard walks to his booth. After a telephonic conversation that lasted less than 2 minutes, he returns to us and opens the gate. 

'Please enter, the princess is waiting for the two of you' says the guard with a smile. 

'Thank you' 

We walk through the garden with workers and birds chirping, a sight we definitely missed last night.

'Its so lively and different' I say. 

Jessica adds 'I hope we weren't fooled last night'  

'I hope so too' we are received by Mr. Gayle Daniel at the palace door. 

'Hello young women. The princess is ready for you. Please follow me' Mr. Gayle White a man in his early 40's, tall and with a tight abdomen, blond hair and blueish eyes speaks in his american accent. We follow jim silently hoping the princess could give us a proper explanation about everything that doesn't make sense.

'Just turn the corner and you'll meet the lordship there. Please be courteous' he says before leaving us by ourselves. 

'Lets go' Says Jessica and walks ahead of me in the in-palace garden. I bang my head on her back as she suddenly halts. 'You okay?' I ask and move in front of her to check on her.

'The princess' she says softly.

'Princess?' I turn around, facing my back to Jessica and my legs halt. This isn't the princess we were expecting to meet.

'My beautiful ladies, finally I get to see you beautiful souls. Come on, like to join me for tea' Says the beautiful lady in a corset.

'Are you the princess?' I ask

'Yes I am, Laura. Am I too beautiful that the two of you can't take your eyes off me?' giggles the beautiful lady.

'How do you know my name?' I ask

'There are many things I'm aware of that you and Jessica aren't. I don't mind sharing it, provided you join me for tea' she gestures towards the chairs in front of her and we get seated. 

'You aren't the person we met last night' Says Jessica.

'Unfortunately I’m not Jessica.' 

'Who is the real princess?' she questions again.

'I'm afraid we both are.' replies the princess.

'Are you sisters?' I ask

'No dear. She's my aunt' 

'I'm sorry but I don't understand' says jessica.

'The princess you met last night is the soul of my aunt.' 

'She's dead?' 

'Yes Jessica, the late princess passed away years ago when my father was the king' 

'But we had a deal with her last night' 

'Did she promise to send you back to your world?' questions the princess.

'How do you know about it?' we ask

'Its very obvious dears. The royal bloodline had an ability to detect if an individual belongs to our world or not. The late princess can hypnotize those who are from foreign lands and I can't read their minds while I can read minds of my people' 

'The late princess hypnotized us last night' jessica mentions and the princess smiles. 

'Can we meet her now?' I question

'That's not possible Laura. You can only meet the late princess when the sun isn't shining' 

'Why is it so?' Jessica asks.

'The late princess was a cruel ruler and when she passed away, she refused to leave the power and threatened to destroy the kingdom, In order to keep her silent, my father; the king and the wolves decided to let her rule the night while we rule the day' 

'The wolves?' I furrow my eyebrows.

'Yes, the wolves are our justice. I'm sure you met them already. They help us take important decisions that can affect the heritage of the kingdom' 

'They didn't seem welcoming' jessica said with an annoyed tone.

'That's for your good. The longer you stay here, the you in this universe will face trouble and it may so happen that the two souls can murge and case an adverse reaction. Your personalities may contradict each other and result in great disaster. Thats the main reason we advise anyone who portals to leave at the earliest.'

'You mean there is another me and laura in this universe?' questions Jessica.

'Of course Jessica. These are parallel universes after all. Its for your own good that you leave' 

'Can the late princess really help us leave?' I ask finally

'The late princess has her own tricks. I'm afraid I can't help you with it' says the day princess.

'Is it possible to create a portal between two universes?' stresses Jessica.

'It is possible but as to with what intention the late princess decided to help you, i'm unaware'

'Has it been tried earlier?' jessica questions again

'Yes but its been more than a decade now and as I said, the late princess has her own tricks its better if the two of you be cautious' says the princess with a caring smile and continues 'Now its better if you leave. I would talk to the residence to extend your stay if required' 

'Thank you princess' we say. 

'It's a great pleasure to finally meet the two if you. Had your mother been alive she would be so proud to introduce you two to me' says the princess sipping on her tea.

'Mother? Whose mother are you referring to?' I ask.

'Ofcourse your mother. She was a courageous women' continues the princess.

'What do you mean our mother? We are not sisters!' reveals Jessica and the princess looks up with her eyebrows touching each other.

'You two are definitely not sisters, you are twins' says the princess with a laugh and we look at each other more puzzled and look for some similarity. We have brown wavy hair, grey eyes and similar height. 

'But I was raised at an orphanage and she was raised by her father' I speak.

'That's impossible. Fiona left you both with your father before heading here to cater to an emergency' explains the princess.

'So we're twins?' we look at each other baffled.

'Did our mother portal to this universe as well?' I ask 

'Yes she did, it was the late princesses reign then' 'What emergency was it? Did she return alive?' asks Jessica in a soft tone.

'She had to kill the late princess.' spoke the day princess in a heavy tone.