The Stranger

A young, beautiful woman stood in a garden picking flowers and admiring them. Surrounding her, was a beautifully built marble mansion and a breath-taking garden and a forest behind that.

Glancing up, she noticed a figure walking down the sidewalk towards her. As the figure advanced it took the shape of a handsome young man with a chiseled face and strong shoulders.

The woman wished for the stranger to become hers, and Eros abided and sent an arrow down to strike the handsome stranger. Except when the arrow got close to the stranger, the negative energy was enough to rebound the arrow and send it flying straight towards the young girl.

When the stranger got closer, he called out, "Hello, beautiful maiden!"

Smiling, she called back, "Hello, beautiful stranger!"

Instantly, as if struck, the stranger dropped to one knee and proposed. Forgetting about her strict parents, she agreed and they ran off, hand in strong hand, to tell her family the "good" news.

When her parents heard the "good" news they were shocked. Their daughter had never done anything rebellious in all her years. Her parents told her about the strangers true intentions and she declined all of it.

It can't be true, she thought bitterly, I love him and he loves me.

Her parents banned the stranger from the mansion and the guards came and threw him out, but not before she gathered him in her arms and whispered, "Meet me tonight under my bedroom porch. It's on the backside of the mansion. Dress nice."

That night he met her under her porch and they ran off into the night. They had rin a couple miles into the forest behind the house when suddenly she heard the sound of dogs and guards chasing them.

Glancing up at her beautiful fiancee' for leadership and what to do, she noticed his beautiful face had turned scale-y and leather. Her scream ripped through the forest.

When the guards heard the scream they ran towards the sound and found the beautiful woman s body mutilated and dead. When they returned to the parents, full of dread, the parents vowed to find whoever did this and have them punished.

Unknown to anyone looking, a guard, who looked suspiciously like the stranger, smiled evilly at the scene and slipped out the back door.