A Rift in Time

In a small town, South of the New England border, lived a young girl of fifteen. Everyday she met with her young lady friends by the River to joke about adults and drool over the young gentlemen of the village. The girl, however, only cared about one unique boy.

He was a medium height with soft features, yet a strong posture. The boy was known to be the most charming in all of town. He and the girl always locked eyes when they came across each other outdoors. Shy smiles were always exchanged between glances.

One day, the boy spotted the young girl once again. He decided to call the young woman over and get to know her.

The girl was astounded. He was indeed charming! His words were tender and sweet, and he was as chivalrous as a prince. It would be easy for them to become great friends.

And so they did. They both created and followed a daily routine: wake up, eat breakfast, meet by the River, talk for hours, and return home with happy smiles and pleasant memories to ponder before sleep.

The friendship continued for a year. The boy and girl fell deeply in love. They spoke in a language that composed of the three words, "I love you."

To her it seemed that nothing could break the bond they shared. Alas, she was terribly wrong.

He was not the boy he used to be. The sweet and gentle boy he presented a year ago was gone. The both of them were not as happy as they were before.

The girl did her best to console her only true friend. She pleaded to God to bring back the friendship they once had. She begged for him to love her back, but he could not bring himself to. The more she ached for his love, the worse he felt.

The boy was terribly distraught to let her go. She still refused to believe that what they had was over.

The boy couldn't handle his pain much longer. On his last day of life, he forced a knife into his own breast, releasing the soul he was gifted at birth. The girl lost her sanity. She lost the will to be happy. Her life became dull and empty.

A day later, on a melancholy and rainy night, the girl awoke harshly from her slumber. Her face was covered in dried tears.

Someone, or something, shook her violently out of her sleep. Before she could scream, the twisted and ugly being that stood in her room silenced her with a charm and shouted a curse.

"Fought a battle and lost your take, seek the past and reclaim your mistake!"

The world around her blackened in a matter of seconds.

The girl woke on a bright and sunny morning. She felt significantly different.

Upon waking and observing the setting around her, she recalled that this was the day she first met the love of her life. The curse must've taken her to the past.

Hope filled her broken heart when she told herself that she could fix what went wrong between her and the boy. They could finally love again.

The girl rushed out into the beaming sunlight. She didn't bother to change out of her nightgowns. She ran to the River, finding the boy alive and well. He was laughing with a few of his own friends.

The boy saw her staring at him. His face was neutral, but his eyes bleak and unwelcoming. She flashed him a cheesy smile, but it was not returned.

The boy blatantly ignored the girl, turning back to his nincompoop friends. They pointed at the girl and laughed. She felt humiliated in front of everyone. Her lips quivered before she ran back to her house, crying as the widow she truly was.

What did she do to deserve this agony? Why couldn't she have her lover back?

The girl saw no point in living if she could no longer feel love. Later that night, she returned to the River where her and the boy first met. The young woman walked down the bank until she was completely submerged in the mucky waters. The girl stayed underneath until her body drowned and died a painful, grim death.

The creature that cursed the girl chuckled to himself in the shadows of the trees by the River.

You may believe the being to be evil and merciless. You may think that the poor girl did not deserve to die.

The truth is that the creature only sought to teach the young girl that true love comes when you are able to let go.