Rain leaped from the heavens and progressed towards the earth, meeting the damp grass before Carrie. She looked to the shiny, wet street and pictured it as a serene river. Rather than ordinary cars, she envisioned vast riverboats of strange shapes and vivid designs floating down this waterway of life.

Was her vision true? In the silent, remote land where she belonged, yes it was.

She turned away from the lengthy stream and towards a bench across the waterway. It was he. The ruler of the land, the constant subject of her torrent of thoughts—Ralph Elliot. A waterfall of dark brown hair swished above the azure blue eyes that enhanced his pale face.

Carrie dipped her converse shoe onto the facade of the water, transforming it into ice. As if she was gliding on skates, she waltzed over to Ralph, masked with a cunning smile that shimmered atop her face. The rain froze in midair as she travelled over to him.

“Hey,” was all he said as he peeked up at her, the light gray sky immersing his eyes.

“Hi Ralph.”

“Listen…I….” he paused and sunk his teeth into his lower lip.

“Did you look at my work?”

“Yeah. I, well…It was brilliant, I’ve never seen anything like it,” the rain encircled his smiling face as he gazed up at her from the bench.

“You really liked them that much!?”

“Yep, do you really think I’d lie about liking your work?”

“Well…probably not! Oh, you mind if I have them back, by the way? I’m still not done with one of them and you’ve already kept them for a month,” said Carrie with a laugh.

“Yeah, let’s walk to my house,” Ralph grinned.

“You know, it wasn’t smart to walk over here without an umbrella—I’m going to go get one.”

“Ah…Sorry about that.”

“No need to apologize, you were the one walking in the rain.”

“Ha, yeah…that’s true.”



The great castle was bejeweled with large autumn trees, all of which cloaked a shadow over Carrie, and the prince himself. She inhaled the refreshing aroma of the rain pouring over their red umbrella.

Ralph lifted the golden key as soon as they arrived at the enormous mahogany door, and unlocked the fortress.

He softly placed an unstable hand on Carrie’s shoulder. Rather than giving her tiny push inside the manor, his gentle hand limply fell to her back. And he didn’t remove it until they were completely indoors.

“Follow me,” he said, glancing her way.

The mansion was dark with very few windows, but that was the way Ralph preferred his castle. The gloominess soothed him.

“Where did you put my drawings?”

“Upstairs in my room, I thought they looked good with the color of the walls.”

“You’re such a talented interior decorator,” said Carrie followed by a sarcastic grin at her prince.

“Oh, I know,” he said, playing along.

The regal bedroom came into view as he opened the stunning, yet so familiar, golden door to her. The room swallowed her vision as she examined the red walls coated in gold designs and figures. A large ruby bed laid at the center of the elegant room, and next to it, Carrie’s favorite old-fashioned, scarlet chair.

She quickly spotted her paintings suspended on the crimson wall to the left of her.

“My, my, you even hung them up and everything. You weren’t kidding when you said you liked them so much. Honestly, I didn’t think that they were that good.”

“They have a nice theme to them and I can actually feel the emotion inside of them. They’re the only paintings I’ve ever seen that give me that kind of feeling.”

“Well, what are the emotions of each painting? Can you tell?” asked Carrie. She felt a abrupt twist in her insides, a twist of sheer anticipation. Somebody, finally, had begun to see her genuine self, her true form.

“This one, this one is sadness. I bet that was from when your dad died, right?” he said, pointing to a drawing of a dim wall of graffiti beneath a luminous summer day.

“…That’s…right.” She said.

“This one represents being a fake. Its message is that you may seem happy on the outside, but really, on the inside, you’re falling apart,” he added, pointing to a portrait. His eyebrows rotated upwards a few centimeters before continuing.

“This one was tough to figure out. But, I’m guessing it’s love,” said Ralph, indicating a large drawing of a sinking ship.

Carrie had painted a little window in the vessel with the captain calmly peeking his head out.
“And it’s love because the captain loves his ship so much, that he’s willing to drown with it. Also, he loves the others on his ship, too. Now that he’s out of the way, they can fit on the emergency boats easier.”

“Wow, you’re good at that,” said Carrie. “Nobody else understands my pictures as well as you do.”

“Maybe it’s because I know you so well. But that’s strange…Usually your family knows you more than your friends. I guess it’s different in this case.”

“Yeah,” said Carrie with a laugh.

Ralph slowly smiled and his eyelids concealed the sapphire in his eyes as he looked down at the carpet.

“By the way, Carrie, about the painting that expressed lov—“

“Um, I probably need to get going…Bye Ralph.”

“Wait, I—“

“Thanks for giving me my paintings, bye!”

“Carrie…”



That was a close one! What if he figured out that I’ve liked him all these years? Then what!? thought Carrie hurriedly as she exited the majestic castle at a sprint. As soon as she entered the palace gardens, she exhaled and sucked in a deep breath.

What if he already figured it out by the way I acted in front of him today? He would laugh if he knew I’ve had this ridiculous crush on someone like him.

Footsteps hammered on the pavement at the speed of her pounding heart.



“Carrie!” came a strong voice.