A Life That's So Demanding

Frank’s P.O.V

It was a scorching day in Cairo, which wasn’t very unusual, it was the norm for most days. I was currently seven years old, I was an only child much like many children in the village in which I lived. We were poor, my daddy was forced to haul cement blocks for miles to where a pyramid would be erected, and my future was to follow in his footsteps. Whilst my mommy, well, I didn’t exactly know what my mommy did for a living. All I knew was that she would leave the house before I went to bed and would return whilst I was asleep.

I was playing soccer with my 2 best friends, Bob and Ray, I’ve known them pretty much all of my life, we basically grew up together. As we continued to kick the ball back and forth, I noticed that we were getting increasingly closer to the Pharaoh’s palace. That’s where everything went down hill. Bob, being the strongest of the three of us, kicked the ball harshly. It hurtled towards me at tremendous speed so, being the wimp that I am, ducked so that the ball flew over my head. I turned around to see where it went and that’s when I saw it plunge through the window of the palace.

“Uh oh.” I said

“Great going Frank.” Bob groaned, as he kicked at the sand beneath his feet.

“How is it my fault? You kicked the ball!” I complained like the immature child I was.

“But if you hadn’t have ducked then it wouldn’t have gone into the palace, now would it?” he stated, sounding like a know-it-all smart ass, which he was. “Now go get back our ball!”

“B-but-” I tried to protest but was cut off by Ray.

“No buts Frank, go get the ball!” he commanded, I sighed heavily in defeat before shuffling towards the palace. I knew that no commoners were supposed to even go near the palace without permission and that if I was caught I would most likely be killed. The ball had gone inside the basement, the window was large enough so that I could crawl through, retrieve the ball and jump back through easily. If all goes to plan, that it.

Looking left to right, checking that no guards were around before I swiftly slid through the window. I landed on my butt, which kinda hurt, but I quickly dusted myself off and was about to get to my feet before I looked up and was shocked. Standing there, holding our ball, was a boy around my age, but he was much better dressed than I was. He wore well tailored linen cloth around his waist, which made my loin cloth look like crap, and also a lot of gold jewellery around his wrists and neck. His head was adorned by silky black locks which reached just passed his ears and there was a thin line of kohl around his eyes. I’m guessing that he’s one of the 2 sons of the pharaoh.

“Is this your ball?” he asked nicely, I thought for sure that he was going to yell at me or something.

“Y-yes.” I stuttered.

“Here.” He said, holding out the ball for me to take. Hesitantly, I reached my shaking hands out and grasped to ball between my fingers.

“T-thank you,” I stuttered once again “Y-you’re not going to tell on me, are you?” I asked warily.

“Of course I won’t, what’s your name?” he asked me.

“F-Frank, my name is Frank.” I said, trying to keep the ball in my shaking hands.

“I’m Gerard.” he said smiling, I smiled back. He seemed like a nice boy, I wonder if we could ever become friends. But wait, he’s a royal, isn’t he?

“Is your daddy the Pharaoh?” I asked, wanting to make sure.

“Yeah,” he sighed, he appeared to be sad “But I hardly ever see him, except when I have to go to stupid dinners with all these big people that I don’t know.” He said.

“Aren’t there any kids there?” I asked curiously.

“No, except for my brother Mikey but he’s only 3 so I have no one to play with.” He admitted glumly.

“I’ll play with you if you want.” I suggested.

“Really?” he asked, quite shocked.

“Sure, but I can’t get caught by anyone, my mommy says that if I come here without being told that the guards would hurt me.” I explained.

“That’s okay, no one looks after me during the day, so no one will know you’re here.” He said.

“Okay, I have to now but I’ll come and play with you tomorrow.” I said.

“Okay, bye Frank.” He said grinning.

“Bye Gerard.” I said before turning to climb through the window once again. My hands were still shaking slightly so that I nearly dropped the ball a couple of times. I heard him giggle at my nervous acts.

“You’re funny, Frank.” He said as he continued to giggle, I grinned back at him, slightly embarrassed. I then chucked the ball through the window and crawled back through it. I picked up the ball and then looked back at Gerard before waving goodbye and returning to Bob and Ray.

“Hey, what took you so long?” Ray asked curiously.

“Oh I erm, couldn’t find it but then I did.” I said, I then suggested that we should play away from the palace so that it wouldn’t happen again. I couldn’t help but have the image of Gerard smiling stuck in my head, and just that thought made me outwardly grin. I liked Gerard.