The Rosy Heart

Melissa always thought that books close, but the pages never change.

It was a lie.

One day, on a cool evening of the setting sun, she wrote her feelings on paper and sent it flying to her prince charming in white. Willams, the partner to her father in his company.

She imagined it all, roses and bubbling laughter and confession between them when they finally meet at the ball, but even roses have thorns and laughter big scorns.

On the day of their meeting in the exquisite ballroom owned by her father at the top of the hill not far from the country, she wore a pink, rosy dress and, on her neck, her dead mother's diamonds with a slight touch of gold in them.

The pink butterfly pinned her light brown hair in a bun letting the front hair curl at her sides, quite close to her, contrasting sharp green eyes, which always seemed to shoot daggers even when not intended; this made her come off as awfully confident.

On her ears were golden earrings to add to her beauty. It was simple but to her breathtaking, she knew he was going to love it, but to her shock, her prince picked another woman as his princess.

And of course, she recognized her, that dreadful little maid, a thief! she thought as her face squeezed to a sneer. A thief of what was hers.

She approached them in the midst of other guests sprawled around them,blood boiling and breath coming out in short rasps.A few turned to look at her but the pair were completely ignorant of her approach.

"What do you intend to do Calista, steal my prince's heart and render me loveless? "she questioned smiling at their startled looks.

Calissta gulped in then blinked vigorously and looked away, Williams, her prince looked at her for a moment his lips curled into a large smile then a laugh. She froze confused.

"What a fool you are, Melissa" he said, then brought out her letter. The ballroom went silent as everyone's eyes were on them. She breathed in sharply on seeing this. What is he doing, she wondered as her throat turned to a well begging for water.

A part of it slashed apart with his fingers. Her heart squeezed on seeing such he grinned and continued looking at her after every time to see her expression.

She opened her mouth to speak it but could not find her voice as the pieces of paper fell to the floor one by one, carrying her heart along. A tear dripped down her face, her lips trembled, she dropped to the ground staring at her hope now burnt to ashes.

Laughter and murmurs visited her from all corners of the ballroom, her body trembled as her emotions spiraled in confusion.

She heard a sigh close to her ear, then paused, holding her breath she looked up to meet the cold stare of William's dark eyes, a feature of his that always attracted her; he smirked then raked a hand through his dark brown hair.

"When the cockerel crows, the little girl runs home," he muttered holding the tip of her jaw. "Have a lovely morning Melissa" he said grinning, then stood up. He walked away carelessly holding Calissta by the waist just the way he did with her.

She breathed out shakily, but her chest tightened even more "It's not meant to be this...this way," she mumbled. "I... I painted a perfect pic... picture" her voice tore out into wails as more tears slipped down her face.

The laughter's heightened to an unbearable level. With desperation to hide from her torturers, she stood up and sprinted out of the ballroom, not bothering look at his face nor listen to his yells behind her.

Melissa didn't want to know why he did such things to her, all she knew was at the moment she wanted to be alone and think not of her demise.

She crouched to her knees behind a large oak tree not far from the from the ballroom. She could see the outline of her home, Oakland. From where she sat, the moon reflecting on the roof top and casting dark shadows on it body, it stood out for its broad nature in the mist of other houses.

She sighed then mumbled "He doesn't love me, father, it was all a lie I told myself." She cleared the tears from her eyes and sniffed "He only wanted to taste my purity and...he did, I gave it to for free, like a fool indeed."

Anger leaked into her veins as she realized what an idiot she was. She sighed. "To think he would love a parrot like me."

A cock crowed once, then twice, others following it. It then occurred to her what he had said to her. "When the cockerel crows the little girl runs home," she mumbled.

From a distance she heard a scream, then turned sharply to stare at her home, her heart pounding.

At first, she was certain someone had put on the light in her father's room. She could see from the window at the left, but then her father never puts on the light; he always walked in the dark never in the light. She remembered she often teased him calling him a vampire, and he would laugh dragging her into a warm hug.

She shook her head. Maybe it's the servant, she thought, but father never lets anyone into his room at night. She stood then walked closer to get a better look, careful not to fall off over the edge of the hill.

"The light seemed to have gone out," she sighed cleaning sweat from her forehead.

But, in the blink of an eye, the light increased, getting brighter and brighter until she was certain that it was a flame, her heart slammed into her chest at the sight. She ran back towards the front of the ballroom room where horses and carriages were lined up. She immediately unclasped a horse and jumped on top of it, willing it to take her onto the road made of the hill and leading to the country.

The flames had increased even to the roof. Screams and voices erupted, her hand clenched the rope tightly sweating and causing it to slip, her fear elevated with every thud of its feet on the hard ground. Tears decorated her face. This was what you meant, Williams, she thought angrily. Take my father's life so you can take his company and destroy mine because my race is seen as useless, a bottom feeder. She groaned.

The side of her lips quirked due to anger. She wasn't going to let that happen, not when she existed. She could only hope that her father would make it, for he was the only person who truly loved her. Melissa groaned again, hatred filling up her heart. She was going to make him pay, she.... was going to get her REVENGE.