Death on the nile

𝑫𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒊𝒍𝒆

Entry for contest. #DeathOnTheNile

My hand grazed across the hard cover notebook as I settled on a chair in the corner of the quiet room, away from the hustle and bussle of the Ship's ball room.
My fingers traced every small, beautiful detail in awe.

The design was a tiered image split into the four seasons, spring at the top, winter at the bottom. Each depicted a similar scene of women in a living room, luxury in style, book cases and loungers large in size. But what set the levels stunningly apart was the colours used to exhibit the seasons.

Spring's section was a beautiful array of bright pinks, yellows, greens and hints of blue to portray the new and bright life that is birthed in the spring time. Beautiful flowers decorating the walls like nature's own natural bunting.

Summer's was a pallette of soft greens and mint colours to represent the lushness of the forests and feilds, tree branches and evy snaking into the image from the edges of the cover and climbing the walls to show off thier fresh new leaves.

Autumn brought a blend of oranges, golds, browns and brasses, recreating the shades of leaves ready to shed in order for new ones to bud and bloom. On the floor itself were scattered fallen leaves from an elegant tree that grew beside a women sewing in a rocking chair.

Then came winter with hues of blue, white and hints of purples, signifying the deep cold and snowy scenerys. Icicles draped the ceiling like crystal stalactites, and snowflakes fell decorating the women's hair like magical glitter.

I was stunned by the grandeur. Something wonderful and beautiful is surely written inside.

but one should not judge a book by its cover. As you may find horrors marked on its pages, hidden between the lines.

I shouldn't snoop in others private writings, but, so enticed by the cover, I couldn't help but let my fingers take hold of the corner opening to the first page, eger to read the wonders inside.

Curiosity killed the cat.

I did not find beautiful tales of wonder.

"𝑯𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍?"

Instead, I found heartbreak.

"𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈? 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕, 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒍 𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆. 𝑺𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒔𝒐 𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍, 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝑯𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇.
𝑰𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒖𝒓𝒆, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈, 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒆𝒅𝒈𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒔𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒚.
𝑴𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒔, 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒃𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓-𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒏𝒗𝒚.-"

a sudden outbreak of screams and panick jossled me out of my reading trance, causing me to jump from my seat to stand, shock and confusion plastered on my features.

One scream in particularly stood out.

It was unmistakable.

the scream of one who had just lost their lover......

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