Eden’s Phone
* incoming call from Unknown Number *
Eden : Hello?
Unknown Number : Good afternoon, Miss Elliot. This is Sylvie, calling from the office of Her Highness, the Crown Princess Olivia of Asteria. I have been asked to place a call between Her Highness’ personal phone and yourself. Will you accept it?
Eden : Will I…? What? Ok.
Unknown Number : Excellent. I am connecting you with Her Highness now.
Olivia : Hi there, I am Olivia. Is this Eden Elliot?
Eden : Erm… Yes?
Olivia : Hello, Eden. I can’t tell you how excited I am to be talking to you! I have read your poetry and, let me tell you: You’ve put into words feelings I didn’t even know I had.
Eden : It’s nice to meet you too, I guess? Wait, are you what she said? The Crown Princess of Asteria? Should I call you Your Highness? Or… I don’t know, curtsy over the phone?
Olivia : Please don’t. And just Olivia is fine, Eden. So, this might sound strange, but I feel like I know you very well. Not personally, obviously, but I have followed your story over the years, like the rest of the world. Sorry, I know you must be tired of hearing this. But now, reading your poems… It’s gotten even more intense. The chokehold they have over me is unreal. I’m sorry.
Eden : Don’t apologize. This is actually a very unique set of circumstances for me too, to be talking to you .
Olivia : It is?
Eden : Yes. You see, I have been following your story too, through the news and social media. So it’s actually mutual. We have been following each other’s’ stories from afar. I’m sure you’ll laugh, but I have this… weird affinity with you. As if we have led parallel lives. Had similar things happen to us.
Olivia : I am not laughing. I am almost crying. That is exactly how I feel. We were both stolen.
Eden : We both got lost. We were both alone.
Olivia : Nearly died.
Eden : Several times over.
Olivia : We both have the entire world breathing down our necks, scrutinizing our every move and expecting us to save everyone, including ourselves. Because they think we are strong after what happened to us. We both keep getting asked how we survived.
Eden : ‘You ask me how did I survive and I…’
Olivia : ‘…Want to tell you that there were days I did not survive.’
Eden : OMG you read my poem Survivor !
Olivia : Read it, memorized it, blurted it out to my boyfriend, my brother and my dad several times, over the course of one hour. That, and all the other poems of yours I could find.
Eden : This is surreal.
Olivia : It is, isn’t it? I feel like I have the most intimate friendship of my life with you. And I’ve only been talking to you for two minutes .
Eden: Would it be strange to tell you I feel the same? And I have had exactly one friend in my whole entire life.
Olivia: Until now.
Eden: Thank you for saying that.
Olivia: I mean it. I feel like I have known you forever, but I haven’t, not really. I mean, if I really knew you, I would know who the ‘sad boy’ that you wrote about in your poem is. Wait, is it too soon for a question like that?
Eden: I don’t know if it’s too soon, but I’ll tell you all about him, if you tell me all about your bodyguard. Wait, is it ok to ask? I have read bits and pieces about him online, but I don’t know if any of it is true. It’s such a gorgeous, intense love story… Too intense to be real.
Olivia: Girl, what they write about us isn’t even the tip of the iceberg. It’s all true, and so much more besides. I’ll tell you anything you like, but only if you promise not to freak out. Even though you will.
Eden: I’m sure I will.
Olivia: Ok, so, speaking of freaking out, I have a very special favor to ask you. I expected this phone call to be all formal and stilted—I had no idea we would click like that. So it’s harder now to start asking you for stuff, but I have decided to be a grownup, so here goes.
Eden: You just took an absurdly huge breath. Are you ok?
Olivia: No. But I am a grownup. Did I mention that?
Eden : You did. How old are you?
Olivia : Twenty-two.
Eden : Wow, you’re ancient—pretty much the same age as me. Ok, you old crone. Dazzle me .
Olivia : I can’t now, can I? I’m laughing too hard.
Eden : I think I’ve laughed more during this phone call than in the past twenty-one years.
Olivia : Ok, that’s kind of sad.
Eden : Yeah, I’ve stopped laughing as well. I really do know how to suck the life out of a phone call, do I? Then again, I’m kind of a loser.
Olivia : Don’t ever say that, Eden. Don’t even think it. Please. For me.
Eden : Oh, well, if it’s for you then, fine.
Olivia : I’m laughing again, dammit. Stop it. I’m trying to be a literal adult here.
Eden : I think I have heard that somewhere before… Hmmm where could it have been? Must have been on the news—it sounds so important. Yeah, I remember it now: ‘Olivia of Asteria, a literal adult.’ That was the headline.
Olivia : Ok. Ok, deep breath, here goes. I want to invite you to Asteria. I would love to get to know you in person. With my coronation upcoming, I’m having a really hard time with my new role and duties and I… I think it would be awesome to meet you. Give me the boost of courage I need.
Eden : Oh, is that all? That’s what took so much hyperventilating?
Olivia : It’s not all.
Eden : Well, let’s hear the rest of it.
Olivia : I want to invite you to the palace for a few days, so that we can get to know each other, as I said. But not just for that.
Eden : For what else then ?
Olivia : …
Eden : Are you still alive over there, Olivia?
Olivia : You are going to say no.
Eden : How can I say no if you don’t actually come out with the words?
Olivia : Iwantyoutocomereciteyourpoemsatmycoronationnextmonth.
Eden : I’m sorry, I caught exactly zero of that. What?
Olivia : I want you to come recite your poems at my coronation. Next month.
Eden : …
Olivia : Are you still there?
Olivia : I didn’t think I could do it, get coronated, I mean, until I read your poems, especially Survivor and Smaller . I know people will say they are not exactly ‘coronation’ poems, but I don’t care. They are truth , which we happen to have a lack of over here. They are your truth, and they happen to be my truth as well. It was only after I read them that I decided to do this whole… throne thing. To be brave, like you. They showed me that someone had survived before me, and that I could too. Now, I think that the only way I could ever do it, actually ascend the throne, would be with these words by my side. With you by my side.
Eden : …
Olivia : And before you say that I don’t know you, I do. And you know me too. You know what I’ve been through, what it feels like. Better than anyone will ever know or understand.
Olivia : I know it’s a huge thing to ask, but… What do you say?