Color of Roses

Prologue

Prologue

"My darling, Aria, why do you look so sad?" A middle-aged woman lies in a bed with a damp cloth on her forehead. Her chestnut hair sticks to her sweating face. A young girl holds onto the woman's hand tightly, her face buried into the woman's bosom.

"Please mother, you can't leave me," the child cries out. The girl's mother places a soft hand on her head. She's quiet, unable to think of anything to calm the child.

"The fever is getting worse," a quiet voice whispers in the background. "It's a matter of time before her body overcomes to the illness."

Hushed voices continue to chat in the hall but the girl ignores it. She grips the woman's hand and pulls it closer to her. Tears continue falling down the child's face.

"Aria, my beautiful daughter. Would you like to hear a story?" The woman coughs softly, pulling the young girl closer to her. The girl feels the extreme heat from her mother but refuses to leave her side. "Yes," she says.

The woman starts to tell the young girl about a young princess who fell in love with a noble knight but was forbidden to marry him because he was not of royal blood. The princess refused to choose another suitor and planned to run away with the knight. As the mother told the story, the daughter started to calm down, closing her eyes to envision the story being played out for her. The mother continued telling of the princess's escape with her charming knight and how they ran to the neighboring village where they changed their names and got married.

"I can't wait to meet my knight, mother," the young girl says quietly as her mother strokes her hair gently. "You have to get better so you can meet him too!"

The woman smiled before she started to heave over and cough violently. The young girl started to cry again, grabbing her mother. Blood appeared on the woman's hand as her body shook from the coughing. Two women run into the room and grab the young girl, forcing her out of the room. The young girl kicks and throws her arms out towards her mother who continues coughing.

The young girl screams for her mother as she's pulled from the room. "Stop that, Aria!" The woman holding her says. The child squirms in her arms but the woman is too strong. She calls out for her mother several times before the other nurse walks out of the room, her blouse covered in blood. Her face is scrunched up and she looks pained.

She looks towards the other woman and shakes her head. Aria manages to escape the woman's hold and sprints towards her mother's room. On the bed, her mother lies with her hair splayed across the pillow, her hands a crimson color. Aria rushes to her mother's side shaking the woman hoping to wake her up.

"Mother!" the young girl cries out but the woman does not move. The young girl continues crying out for her mother but there is no response from the body. "I'm sorry, Aria. Your mother has passed away," the young nurse grabs Aria's arm but Aria pulls it from her grasp. "She has to wake up!" She cries.

Aria stares at her mother's body, limp and still warm from the fever. "She can't be gone," she mumbles through tears. "I'm so sorry, Aria," the young nurse says taking hold of the child. "It's not safe to be here," she says escorting Aria out of the room. Aria gives one last glance at her mother's still body before leaving the room.