Love in Grenada

“Oh sweet princess Sahara, how you glisten with beauty. It destroys my every being knowing we have to wait for our love.”

It was a warm summer night in Grenada. The princess Sahara rests on the side of the balcony, in the nice cool breeze with the smell of sea salt in the air. The stars light up her face, and the moon shines down on her servant Uel. He stands below the balcony whispering sweet melodies to her. Sahara stares at Uel with admiration, then all of the sudden hears her parents' voices approaching closer. She shoos away Uel to rush back into her room. As soon as she closes her balcony doors, the king and queen barged in with big news.

“Oh sweet Sahara, we have such exciting news!” exclaimed the queen with a big grin on her face.

“We have found you a prince!” the king adds while he puts his arm around the queen. He turns his head back and says, “Come on in prince Solomon!”

When Sahara heard those words come from her father, it was like the room and time stopped for just a moment. She felt all the emotions at once. Sad, angry, and worried. Then comes in prince Solomon, who gets on one knee and greets princess Sahara with a kiss on the hand. She returns his greeting with a smile. She couldn't deny the fact that he was handsome, but his dark hair and blue eyes could not take her mind off Uel. She kept her fake smile on until everyone left. And when she was alone, she ran to her bed and cried herself to sleep.

The next morning, the royal family has breakfast in the dining room. Uel walks around the table filling up the king and queen’s coffee cups. The king and queen are stuck in small conversation, while princess Sahara stares down at her plate. Quail eggs and buttered toast. She then glances up at Uel, and excuses herself to the garden. Her and Uel make eye contact before she exits. Uel knows that usually means to follow, so Sahara and Uel meet by the rose bushes.

When they see each other, they hold both of their hands together in rejoice. Warm wind hits their faces and the scent of pollen is in the air. Sahara begins to tell Uel with hesitation that her parents have arranged a marriage for her.

“My sweet love, my parents have blindsided me,” said Sahara. Uel froze and a shadow of depression came over his face.

“Well what is there to do now? I will do anything for us to be together. Let’s run away Sahara,” Uel replies.

“Run away? We can’t run away...we’re on an island Uel. They’ll find us, and execute you. We just have to wait until it’s the right time to tell my parents.”

“Well how are we going to do that with your new husband in the way?”

Sahara then pauses for a moment and stares into Uel’s eyes like an idea has struck her.

“We have to kill him…” Sahara whispers slowly.

“Kill him?!” Uel asks concernedly

“Well… you’ll have to kill him. I’m a princess, I can’t get my hands dirty.” Sahara slightly chuckles with sarcasm. Then says, “Look Uel, this is the only way we can get rid of him and have us be together. We can make it look like a sweet little accident.” Sahara put her hands gently on Uel’s cheeks. “Please, my love. Do it for us.” She then kissed him softly on the lips hoping she persuaded him. In that moment Uel looked into Sahara’s eyes and knew he couldn’t deny her. Then he kisses her on the forehead and says, “I will do whatever it takes for us to be together.”

Later that night, Uel ponders back and forth in his servant room. He’s nervous and shaky, but also filled with anxiousness and adrenaline. He’s debating on the perfect time to dispose of prince Solomon. In his head, he rationalizes.

“If I kill him now, at this time of night, it could possibly cause a terrible ruckus….But the king and queen are quite the heavy sleepers..” He rubs his chin for a moment.

“And I could keep a pillow over this prince Solomon’s face so he can’t scream...” A devious smile started to possess his mouth.

“That’s it! It’s happening tonight, the sooner the better.” Uel kicks off his shoes and grabs the biggest pillow on his bed. Opening the door, he begins to creep down the dark hallway to prince Solomon’s room.

*Creeeeaaaak* *Creeeeaaaak*

Prince Solomon wakes up to the sound of floor boards creaking outside of his room. He considered it odd because of the pauses in between.

*eeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrr*

Solomon hears his door slowly open. He sees nothing but pitch black darkness ahead of him.

“Who’s there?” Solomon stutters.

He then reaches for the matches on the nightstand and could just feel a presence approaching closer and closer. Panic starts to fill his body and he lights a match as fast as possible. Then, in a matter of seconds, Uel appears in the small light. He’s hovering above Solomon’s face with a dark smile. His pillow is ready and he’s about to suffocate him. Prince Solomon lets out a gasp, then snatches the long, sharp, knife under his pillow. He then wastes no time and stabs Uel in his jugular. He hurls Uel on the ground, then leaves him there to bleed out on the floor.

Prince Solomon then thinks of princess Sahara and races to her room praying that she is alright.

He rushed in her room and saw Sahara sleeping peacefully with the moonlight shining on her face, Solomon smiles in relief. He then lights the room up with candles and places himself sitting next to her on the mattress.

“Oh my sweet Sahara, I’m so glad you’re okay and I’m so sorry to wake you. But my dear, I have some frightening news.”

When Sahara sawprince Solomon in her room she was confused. And when she heard him speak those words, her stomach dropped. Solomon explained everything that happened to Sahara. And when she heard that Solomon stabbed Uel she began to burst into tears. She felt like her whole world came crashing down.

Prince Solomon puts his arm around Sahara and recites,

“Shhh now my sweet Sahara, Everything is going to be okay. You’re about to marry a man who will always protect you.”

He continues to hold her while she cries herself to sleep.

The next day was the most beautiful day it has been in Grenada since 1698. The sun rose in the most perfect position, and the birds chirped the most serene melodies. The king and queen are sitting with prince Solomon, comforting him from last night. Then the queen wonders why Sahara hasn’t woken up yet, so she excuses herself to go wake up Sahara. Then, the king and prince Solomon hear a bloodcurdling scream come from Sahara’s room. They recognized that it was the queen so they rushed to see what was happening. The family discovers in shock, that sweet Sahara had passed away. There was a bottle, marked poison, that laid next to her. With a drop that still remained on her lip. The king and queen rushed to her body and began to sob. Nobody could believe or understand why such strange things were happening. Later that evening, they arranged the funeral for Sunday.