Chapter 06: Final Meeting

Mr. James led the little prince to the brightly-colored room of the head of the place.

"Why am I here?" the little prince inquired.

"You already know why," the lady answered without facing him.

A confused look formed at the little prince's face, "I'm sorry but I do not have a clue".

"How surprising," the lady faced him and smiled, "you had forgotten it already"

The little prince did not answer yet and tried to make sense of what the lady was talking about. However, he really can't figure out why.

"What had I forgotten?" he asked.

The lady replied, "You said you wanted your question to be answered and you want to go home to see your rose."

The little prince upon hearing those had finally remembered. This is the moment he's been waiting for. His questions would finally be answered.

"Is the tradition done? Where is Miss Shiro?" he asked almost instantly.

"You have way too many questions," She held her temple as if she was having a headache, "Do you want to go back to your rose?"

The little prince's eyes sparkled, "I do, I have been longing for my rose".

"Well then, we're now in the final part of the tradition, the most important of all," the lady replied with a wide smile on her face.

"What do I need to do?" the little prince asked excitedly.

She gave him a piece of paper containing the set of words:

I accept obligatory responsibilities. Belief that our desired objectives are hindered by thoughts and emotions. I confirm obedience to the elders and I will perish if I don't.

"Just memorize these set of words and recite it to me by heart," she said.

The little prince examined the paper and the words written within it. He is familiar with the language used within the texts. "This is all I have to do?" he asked.

"Yes it is, and after that, my helpers will accompany you for your safe return to your planet," the lady assured him.

A smile was plastered on the little prince's face, "Thank you so much!" He went outside skipping steps happily with the paper in his hand.

Finally, this was it! He was finally going back to his rose and all he needed to do was to recite the set of words. "This should be easy!" He thought to himself.

And so at night, he started to memorize the set of words. The little prince felt a pain in his temples after he had memorized it. He went to sleep thinking it would go away by it.

However the next day the pain just became more severe and it was bothering him. Miss Chen also noticed something different with the young boy so when she found out about his headache, she called for Mr. James to fetch him.

The little prince was expecting for him to take him back to his room but instead, he was taken to the head of the place.

"Recite it," the lady that stood in front of him ordered.

"Should I do it right now?" the little prince held his aching temples, "my head hurts so much".

"Yes go ahead," she replied with a serious tone.

Although the little prince felt very weak he continued to recite the verse as he was told.

"I accept obligatory responsibilities. Belief that our desired objectives are hindered by thoughts and emotions. I confirm obedience to the elders and I will perish if I don't."

Right after he did this his vision became blurry and his world started to spin. His knees trembled and he fell. His headache at that time became so terrible that he can't bear it anymore.

"Little prince!" he heard the lady shouted.

"What happened?" Mr. James shouted.

Their voices sounded so distant even though they were in the room with him. These are the last words he heard before everything went black and he no longer heard any noises.

***

He opened his eyes and looked around but he saw nothing but endless darkness. He tried to open his mouth to ask for help but no words would come out. Although he was feeling very weak he tried to move. As he moved he felt very light, he feels as if he was floating.

"Where am I and what place is this?" he thought to himself as he drifted aimlessly into the darkness.

He tried to recall what happened before he woke up to this place. He remembers feeling a sharp pain in his temples that he no longer feels now. Then Mr. James brought him into the lady's room and there he recited the given set of words. He remembers how his surroundings became blurry after that everything went black and he can no longer recall what happened.

The little prince looked around some more trying to figure out what place he is in. He put his hands forward to be able to touch anything that might help him to get out of there but no luck, he can't get his hands on anything, until;

He drifted himself upwards and soon enough his hands touched a flat surface. He tried to feel whatever it may be and it feels almost as if it was a door. He tried to find a doorknob but he couldn't find any.

Gathering the remaining strength he has left he shouted at the top of his lungs and knocked hard at the door, "Please help me! Somebody please!"

Upon doing this the flat surface lighted up and revealed a blurry scene. It was blurry but the little prince was able to make out of what was being shown. It was the lady and Mr. James looking in his direction. They were also talking but he couldn't hear what they were saying.

He knocked on the surface again desperately and shouted, "I'm here, please get me out of here!"

After that, the surface lighted up more and although the scene was still very blurry, he started to understand what the adults were saying.

"He's walking up," the lady said frantically, "inject him with the sleeping fluid".

"Sleeping fluid? Why would they want him to remain asleep?" the little prince thought to himself. And that's where he realized something is truly wrong. He has to get out of that place fast.

He tried to put his hand inside the flat surface and even though it was a very slow process he was able to put his hands further inside.

"Inject it now!" the lady shouted.

"No need to shout geez," he heard Mister James complain. After that, the little prince felt a sting on his arm and his hands were pushed out of the flat surface. He tried to put it back in but he can't. It was stiff as stone.

The flat surface also began to dim until he can't see anything anymore.

"Please no, I need to know what is happening," he closed his eyes and focused on the voices he heard from the lady and Mr. James.

The light from the surface may have disappeared but he can still hear voices from outside. The little prince realized that maybe he has just got to concentrate more, and so he did.