Chapter 19: The Dog Prince
Past
The prince nodded hello from deep in his cell. Or that’s what Jeremy thought he did. They only ever spent time together after he’d had his soft drink and the session with the headphones. And he always felt groggy and saw things blurred after both those things.
Jeremy now hated the soft drink as much as the headphones, but he always did everything he was told. He wanted to keep visiting the prince and he didn’t want anything getting in the way. Miles and Ricky were gone, and the prince was the only friend he had left. So Jeremy drank the sickly syrup and put the headphones on and listened to the crazy guitar music.
It was hard to put up with all that, but worth it. Jeremy wanted to get to know the prince more. Besides, he had a question. ‘What do you like to do?’
‘I run.’ Jeremy couldn’t see the prince’s mouth, but he heard the words. He felt them in his heart.
‘You run?’
‘Across the grass as fast as I can. Sometimes I reach a point where my body melts and it’s as though I’m flying.’
‘Wow!’
‘When I’m running, I’m free. Nothing else matters.’
The prince’s words made Jeremy feel hungry, but not for food. ‘I’d like to try that.’