THE MAN I LOVED

Legend says, roses, which have not been bloomed, shall be the sacrifice to the undead. I remember being naïve and foolish enough to have believed that these legends were nothing but stories until I became one of those roses. Now I am a rose with no thorns, tower nor tendency.

I remembered the night I was taken away from everyone I loved but not at all. Now I am awakened by that spiraling nightmare every single night, however, it is also a bittersweet daydream. I turned my sore and fragile body, which is covered with so little fabric but yet enough to provide the warmth for this hideous stormy weather. I am blind and deaf from the outside world but I can still vision the dim light coming from the only gas lamp in the dungeon and hear the high pitch wails of the thousands of women around. They were roses too. Tonight I am also mute, as I have came to my senses that our screams were never heard and how could they ever be? The dungeon is buried way deep beneath the castle and so are our voices. We are all lost in the labyrinth of chaos and in this blood shedding place.

I faced towards the wall behind me and started to touch the scars and the acnes on the wall as if they were apart of me. They are the tallies of the numbers of days I have been in this dungeon. 170 days. I have been imprisoned for way too long that my brain, my body and my heart are no longer a whole. My brain is in a feud with reality and everyday becomes infinity of insanity, a loop of loneliness. Although, I am apart of a bouquet, these hideous walls have isolated me. There seems to be no escape until it turns 12 on the clock. At midnight, I am a twisted Cinderella. My daily ritual only consists of me being a lifeless puppet. But at midnight I had a purpose- the purpose to fulfill the master's orders. I am sickened by his cruelty but somehow I am drawn to him. His magnetism is stronger than any of my fear and rage I have towards him.

There is no way to tell time because daytime is nighttime and nighttime is daytime in this castle. However, I feel a tingle rushed through my body and suddenly there is a pulsating sensation in the neck reminding me that it is almost midnight and that the bars I am behind are about to be opened- maybe for the last time ever.

The gate of my cubicle creaked open with an echoing horror, I limbed outside the gate leaving my unsafe home to greet the master. I am polite to him despite everyone who are swearing and cursing at him behind their bars. He stands tall before me, his cat like eyes hypnotised me until my knees grew weaker and I can no longer limb another step. Then, he swooped me into his muscled arms; his claws dug under my skin softly. He is gentle for a monster. His skin is pale as snow and his raven coloured curls have grown longer than the first time I have ever encountered his presence. He is handsome for a monster. Compared to him I am a weak skeleton yet I am still his prey providing him nutrition. He carried me up to his exquisite dining room, the only room, which I have been to every midnight. Although the dungeon and the dinning room are quite far apart, we travelled the journey in seconds. This is the perk of being peculiar.

As we entered the dining hall, I smelt a strong scent of a beautiful feast. The Master placed me in my seat at one end of the table and he sat at the other, the distance between us seems miles apart. The windows of the room are draped in dark velvet curtains to exclude the natural light that will rise in the morning. How can someone as powerful as him be afraid of something that ordinary people are immune to? The only sources of light in the room are the three-lit candles that are dancing in the middle of the table. Although this is not a romantic dinner, the twirling light and shadows make it feel like one. I wonder if any other women who had been here felt the same too. The master did not say anything but he gestured me to eat the meal in front of me as if he prepared the meal himself and I am his guest of honor. Although I am lost in appetite, I did not hesitate and do as he commands because I know disobedience comes with a price, which I am not willing to pay. After a while, I could feel the meal rising towards my throat telling me that I can no longer take in no more but I still had no signal from him to stop eating which I am not surprised about as he needs his preys to enrich their blood. I tried my best not to recite back what I have taken in, and he would growled at me like a ruthless animal if he ever sees a glimpse of me trying to retch. He does not like seeing his food go to waste.

As soon as I finished my supper, he makes his way towards me holding an antique bottle filled with red liquid in one hand and a glass in the other. He poured the liquid in the glass and offered me to take it. I reached out my hand unsteadily to take the glass from his hand and our skin briefly brushed against each other; he stared at me as if I have provoked his personal space. I gathered the strength I have left to stare back into his hypnotising eyes and for an instance he looked almost mundane, almost. I drank the odd tasting wine and the taste clung to my tongue and I could not get rid of it no matter how much I tried. I placed the glass on the table, preparing for what is about to happen next. The master stepped closer and closer towards me until I could feel his warmth and until his devious lips are close enough to mine but he moved away his mouth down to my neck where I can feel him breathing heavily on me. How can dead man breaths so loudly? He opened his jaw and sunk his sharp teeth into my neck to fulfill his hunger with my pure blood. Suddenly, I am in haze, the pain I feel is a sensation but the sensation is a pain. Although I am mute tonight, I sang out loud. I said I was taken from every one I loved but not at all because right now he is everyone I have ever loved. I have craved this sensation more than I have craved any meal. I am an addict on this pain. The thunder roared and screamed along my song to alarm me about this toxic relationship but I am deaf and did not listen, as I know he could mean no harm and he would let go eventually. However, he became more superior and so I surrender. Although, he should have been satisfied by now, he sunk his fangs deeper and so I surrender. He made me feel special that he was spending more time to feed on me and I was serving my purpose. After all, he was the man I loved so I gave in more and more until my last petal falls. Legend says, a branch of wild rose can harm a vampire but the vampire is the one, which harmed the rose.