It was May 15th. I remember going through my closet in my bedroom. I reached far in the back, to take out my mother’s wedding dress. I asked Melody, “should I wear this...? It’s long, it’s draped with satins and lace, it perfectly mimics the cream to lighten your coffee, and it just so happens to be my mother's wedding dress.”
“You’re going to wear your mother's wedding dress to your twenty-fifth belated birthday outing?” Melody asked.
“My age is hardly relevant,” I said, so obviously bothered.
“Sorry, I swore not to speak of your age on your birthday. But Caroline, we're going to a carnival?”
“I know. Well, I mean it doesn’t technically look like a wedding dress. It’s missing a couple pieces my mom didn’t give me...” I read the tag inside the dress. I remembered the poem only slightly from the time my mother had read it to us when we were younger. The poem wasn't only dedicated to me as Melody thought. It was dedicated to all three of us;
“This dress is a sign of luck and grace, in a black-eyed Susan what’s light is bright, and light shines through the lace. So, who wears a dress so feminine and free, will never lose her shine.
For she dances like daisies, and whistles like doves, let's call her Caroline….
It’s my grandmother’s poem.”
“You were named after a wedding dress huh?”
Just like I said, the sentiment came to be true. I wasn't hunting anymore, but of course I was found by possibly the strongest poison of them all. Frances found me at the May Fly carnival and my eyes were not open to fully stay aware enough to run. I just let it happen. I let my eyes fall for the poison all over again.
* * *
As weak as I started to become all over again for Frances. Madeira had found another weakness of mine; in Melody. I feared any friendships for this specific purpose. I feared Madeira could potentially hurt the ones closest to me, even when they had nothing to do with the poison. I avoided friendships the way Grace avoided love. But I somehow couldn’t avoid Melody, we just connected… So, Madeira took Melody's weakness at the time and cursed her to help her gain strength. Strength in the one sense that made me almost the weakest. She cursed Melody with the 'gift' of sight.
On the day Melody walked home after we got in an argument, she passed my mailbox and reached the fallen down birch tree. This was the point of reference she used to figure out where the road sign was, to make a left to her road home. But before she could pass the fallen down tree, Darwin waited like a predator for the vulnerable.
“Hello,” Darwin said, with a welcoming tone. Darwin's raven flapped its wings on his shoulder, which Melody did not forget.
“Who’s there?” Melody asked, cautiously.
“Hi there. I was wondering if you could tell me how to get into the center of town?” Darwin asked, kindly.
“Yeah. You follow this road until you reach Potters Lane. You take a left and just keep driving, and you're there.” Melody tried to keep her distance as much as she could tell.
“Thank you, mam,” Darwin said.
“Sure.”
Darwin then ever so quietly took a black Iris flower from behind his back and dropped it into Grace’s milk shake, “have a nice day,” he said.
YOU ARE READING
The Deep Prick
Storie d'amoreCaroline has a secret. She was born with the Black Iris curse, cast upon her grandmother, from a bearded witch, named Madeira Everheart. This curse was passed down to Caroline and causes her to meet the boys of her dreams, who are externally beautif...
