Chapter 3: The letter

Darkness! that's all I could see. Then suddenly a white light approached me. It got closer and closer. In the blink of an eye, I found myself outside my house, at least what remained of it. My house was in flames!

I screamed but couldn't hear my voice. I saw my sister staggering out of our home, clutching her chest. She fell onto the ground. I ran towards her but I couldn't see clearly. I was surrounded by heavy black soot. 

"Help!" I could hear my sister call out weakly. I tried to run, but for some reason, I couldn't get to her.

Jolting up in fear, I woke up to see that it was morning. My heart was pounding hard, my breathing was harsh. "It was just a nightmare."  Aurora mumbled. I fell back down in my bed. I rarely had nightmares, and when I do, it was a sign. And this nightmare in particular was very frightening.

Getting up, I got ready for the day. I later realized that my sister, Gwen, had left for somewhere. My parents weren't around so I was the only one at home. 

My mother Is a tailor while my father is a sculptor. We aren't rich, we live a very humble life like every other villager. I was sweeping when I heard a knock on the door. I opened up to see a messenger.

"This is for your father, Mr Harson." The man handed me a letter and took his leave. I stared at the letter curiously. I opened up the letter and began to read the contents. The letter read;

"This is to remind you of the money you owe us Mr Harson. If the money is not paid in the next one week, there will be consequences." 

I was astonished! What is this? 'How does father owe people money?' I wondered. I sat down and re-read the letter. There was no name nor any seal to know where it came from. I became very worried.  'How much is he owing?  Could those people really do something bad if the money isn't paid?' 

So many thoughts ran through my head but I couldn't find an answer to any of them. I sealed the letter back and dropped it on the table. 'I will have to talk to Gwen when she returns.' I thought and went back to completing my house chores. 

****

Twenty minutes later, Gwen arrived. "Good morning sister."

"Hi, where were you?"

"Well mother gave me some things to give to people and to get some materials for her."

Ok, do you know anything about father owing some people money?"

"No, why do you ask?" Gwen asked, slightly confused.

"Because of this." I said and gave her the letter. She read the letter and I could clearly see the shocked expression on her face. "Father borrowed money and now he can't pay back? But when did this happen?"

"I don't know. Do you think we should ask him?"

"No, not now." Gwen said. 

"But why?" I asked confused. 

"We will give him the letter and see his reaction and maybe later we could ask him." Gwen said.

I sighed. "Alright." I said and left for the kitchen. 

****Later that day****

Mother was back and we helped her to prepare lunch.

"So when are you girls going to see the crown prince?" Mrs Harson asked her daughters.

"We are required to see the future king by 4pm." Gwen told her.

"Can you girls go on your own?"

"We will be fine." Gwen answered. She just nodded; 

"Ok, just be extremely careful. The palace will be very crowded so don't leave each other's side, and come home straight away when you are finished ok?"

"Ok, we will mom, don't worry." I said while trying to assure our mother. The door opened up, It was their father. 

"Hello father." Gwen and I greeted. I went to the kitchen to get him a glass of water. 

"Father, this came for you." Gwen said and handed the letter to her father. Mr Harson stared at the letter, wondering what it was about. He opened the letter and read through it.  

Meanwhile, I came back with the glass of water in my hands. I found father reading the letter, taking a quick look at Gwen, I saw a normal expression on her face. Mr Harson's face turned sour when he finished reading the letter. Immediately, Mrs Harson came into the living room and noticed that something was wrong with her husband.

"What is the matter?" Asked Mrs Harson. 

"Nothing important." He replied. 

'If he doesn't tell mom,  why would he tell us?' I wondered.  "Father have this." I said to him. He collected the glass, sat on our overused couch and he drank every drop of the water. Gwen collected the glass and dropped it on a nearby stool. 

Gwen and I, stood two feet away from our father. I knew the letter had worried him. I could only wonder what will happen next

Mrs Harson knowing that something was wrong with her husband decided to find out what happened.

"Girls, I need you to go get some items for dinner" She gave them 5 silver coins and a list of items she quickly wrote down on a small piece of paper. 

"Ok, we will be back soon." Gwen said and dragged me out of the house. She led us to the back of the house where there was a small window that enabled us to see the living room. 

"What are you doing?" I asked. 

"Spying on them. I think mom knows about everything." Gwen said. I gave her a look, before looking through the window.

"So what happened?" Mrs Harson asked her husband. He didn't answer, he didn't answer, he only handed the letter to her and she read it. She couldn't believe  what she read. These people were threatening them!

"What are we going to do now?" 

"I don't know, I don't have fifty gold coins to pay within a week."

Gwen and I were extremely shocked. Fifty gold coins! But why did father borrow such amount of money? I wondered. I stared at Gwen and she had a pale expression on her face, so did I.

"Well what are we going to do?  How will we pay up? We used all the money for Aurora's medication when she was sick." Mrs Harson said. 

'So that's how they were able to pay for my drugs.' I thought. I felt really bad. They didn't have to borrow money just for my sake. Now they are in a huge debt and they don't know how they will get out of it. I felt Gwen wrap her arm around me. "It's not your fault." Gwen said. 

"Of course it is. They shouldn't have done that."

"They had no other choice Aurora."

"Yes but now they are in trouble with some people who will not take it easy if the money isn't paid." I said. I was starting to feel anxious. 'What are we going to do now?' I wondered. 

"But I really don't understand something. They gave us five months to pay the money, but it has only been a month." Mrs Harson said. 

"Wait they can't do that." Gwen whispered.

"They tricked mother and father." I said bitterly.

"Yes, they did give five months but I guess it was all a lie. " Mr Harson said. "Don't worry, we will figure it out." He said. 

"Let's go." Gwen whispered. We left and headed to the market. I still couldn't stop thinking about everything. 

"Do not bother yourself Aurora. Everything will be ok." She said while patting my arm. 

I simply nodded and we walked into the market square in total silence.