sleepless in the palace

after six months of living again inside the constricting white walls, blue carpeted floors of the castle, the princess is getting restless. suffocated. the splendor has lost its flavour and all its glamour. 

she misses her life in the jungle, where she was free to do what ever she wanted. she could wake up late in the day to the sound of the humming birds, swim naked in the river after doing the laundry, gather some food, cook them and wait for her wandering princeling to come home, drenched in her favorite perfume: his sweat.

when he comes home, princess will ask him cheerfully (she is always filled with joy to see him) "how's your day?",  while helping him take his sullied clothes off. then princeling will tell him happily how he spent the day running around the jungle with tigers and lions, hunting wild deers with monkeys, while she was playing with his sword.

the princeling always comes back home with fresh meat that they could share for three months or so. princess used to be a vegetarian (at the palace, the queen is very strict about her diet. her queen mother will alway admonish her: "who will marry a fat princess to be his future queen?" and so she obeys.)

but since she eloped with princeling and was banished from the palace, princess tried to forget her old, rigid, structured life and began a new one with princeling. contrary to what her queen mother had instilled in her, like  a new age mantra, since she was five, eating meat does not really make one fat. as long as one lives a mobile life, she realizes now. at her new home (a tree house really that the princeling had built for them before he asked her to marry him), the princess was always doing things: cleaning the wooden floors of leaves and branches, washing the dishes, changing drapes and bed spreads, washing the laundry, gathering food, playing with monkeys and birds. even if she was reading her favourite books, she was either running around the forest or swimming in the river. at night, of course, she and the prince will engage in an even more exhausting exercise.

an active life makes a healthy mind, she smiles. oh if only the queen could see her now - her glowing tanned skin, well toned, agile body. she will die of envy.

&&&&&

no wonder her princeling looks so virile, so strong, so lean and tan because of his uber active lifestyle. of course like her, princeling was not always a free spirited wanderer. he was the heir to the throne of a very rich kingdom, far wealthier than her own. but he discovered when he turned sixteen and was being groomed to replace his king father that he was unhappy. depressed. he felt he was missing something in his life. so he left the palace in a horse and travelled a month to make sure he was far, far away from his kingdom. when he was deep in the jungle and found that the forest had everything that he needed to survive, he decided to make it his home.

the princess met the princeling one early afternoon when she went away on her own and wandered into the forest. it was one of those rare moments in her sweet, protected young life, when she was able to free herself from her fifty maids and a hundred or so bodyguards. actually, she put sleeping pills on their drinks during lunch.

she loves the freedom of being alone in the forest, away from her mother. it's so quiet out there, so beautiful, so enchanting. when she was little, her king father used to take her with him when he was hunting with his emperor friends. but when she turned fourteen, her mother forbade it (she now realized that her mother had always been jealous of  her -- her youth, beauty and closeness to her father), saying it would ruin her porcelain skin. "who will marry a princess with pimples and rashes all over her bloody body?" so she obeyed and stayed at home, like a doll being groomed every minute of everyday. her only joys were those moments when she was alone, reading jane austen,  day dreaming while staring outside of her window or balcony day and night. longing to be free.

&&&&&&

on that lovely, glorious day, when the sun was at its brightest and the angels were humming sweet melodies as if they have just learned how to sing, she was wearing really short denim shorts and a loose white blouson, the better way to move around comfortably, that she herself sew together (her nanny taught her who to make dresses when she was sixteen, one summer ago when she was so very sad and miserable after her king father died of a heart attack).

she wore it inside her thick, constricting costumes that her mother has ordered (her mother never asks her, or plead with her. it's always an order) her to wear day and night, as if she was always going to those lavish, but boring balls that her mother loved to throw so she can meet single kings and princes. (her mother was so naive. she didn't know that those bachelor kings and princes were all gay! coming to the ball with their handsome, sexy guards in tow!).

&&&&&

anyway, as she was dipping her legs on the river (she doesn't know yet how to swim then),  she saw a naked man, with shoulder length hair, hairy legs swimming in the river. he was so beautiful, so wild, so...intoxicatingly handsome like one of her father's expensive wines.

quietly, she observed him from a distance. like a fox deviously eyeing his next meal.

she couldn't help but fall in love with him right away. he has this regal, graceful way of moving, as if he used to live in a kingdom like herself.

she loved him even more when she saw him playing with his massive sword. it was enormous, alive, red and shiny like an apple. the forbidden fruit. she giggled at the sight of his sharp sword. she blushed.

unknown to her, the princeling has seen her even before he started playing with his sword. the sight of her beautiful, innocent face stirred some unexplained feelings inside him that he couldn't help but touch his now massive sword. he was helpless. she was restless.

after he finished cleaning his sword, he went to where the princess was hiding. naked.

he introduced himself. surprisingly, the princess was not even scared. she giggled, blushed and asked him politely to please put on his clothes. he did.

on that day, they both lost their innocence. they were adam and eve, reincarnated. sharing the forbidden fruit with wild abandon. they made love three times that day. a record for both of them, of course.

three months later, they eloped.

and broke the record everyday since then.

&&&&&&

sadly, after a year of living together blissfully, the princeling was abducted by his father's men and was brought back to his palace.

the princess wanted to continue living in the forest alone, but she was soon discovered there by her mother's guards. a few minutes after the princeling was taken away. it was the princeling's emperor father who informed her queen mother about her new home.

&&&&&&

so tonight, here she is. staring at the moon from inside her bed chamber. her queen mother had installed a twenty four hour cctv inside her room and everywhere in the kingdom so she could monitor her every move and mood. the queen was more worried that she might commit suicide like juliet than of her fleeing the palace again.

oh, if only she could talk to the princeling. she misses him terribly: his scent, his kisses, his touch, his sword, his body on top of her. the way he smiled, the sound of his laughter, his stories after a day spent hunting and roaming around the forest.

those nights when they would walk around the forest, climb the hills, swim in the river under the bright, shiny moon and stars.

she misses him terribly. how can she think of committing suicide when she is always looking forward on the day that he will come and rescue her from her prison?

&&&&&

of course her life in the palace isn't that bad. her mother has granted her wish to let her visit her old home in the jungle once a month. but on one condition: she will go there along with two hundred body guards, all equipped with the latest iphones and ipads, and three hundred maids, all trained inside her father's military camp. so there is no way she can escape again. she has all the latest marc jacobs, lvs, louboutins, diors, chanels and ralph laurens that she could ever want. the trouble is, she is not even into fashion. it was her mother who insisted on these things. her closet looks like a boutique in paris than a princess' chamber.

then once a week, designers from alexander mcqueen, michael cinco, jason wu, come to the palace to make her a dress or a gown she hardly wears.

she has the best facialist, masseuse, among other luxuries that any woman her age will die for.

still, compared to her sister who managed to escape and now living as a writer in london, her life is a misery. her sister has been disowned, not allowed to see any of them, stripped of her inheritance, disallowed to use the family name, but she loved it. her name was never spoken again inside the kingdom. anyone who mentions her will be sent to prison. all news papers, magazines, tee vee shows, blue ray discs with her on them was banned.

"i am free, at last," was her last words to her. "you should too. follow your heart."

&&&&&&

one night, she had a dream. princeling climbed her steep, slippery walls and rescued her.  they ran away together, changed their names and lived happily ever after in the mountains of samar island.

&&&&&&

when she woke up, she was feverish, her heart was racing oh so wildly. it was so real, so vivid (she could still smell his clinique perfume on her skin), especially the part where they had sex in the beach. she was still wet, she could still feel him inside her. his massive sword slowly, expertly making its way inside her. oh...

&&&&&&

these dreams keep her alive and gay all night and day. if her queen mother has her pills, psychics, parties and lovers to make her feel young and joyful, she has her sex dreams with her princeling at night to make her last another vexing day in the palace.

that's enough. for now.

&&&&&&&