The Gothic Rose

My Final Decision

I lay in my bed, staring at the blue sky above me. The sun shown lightly threw my ceiling, indicating that spring was slowly turning into summer, day by day. It had been only five days since my meeting with Valador. His words still rang in my ears each night. Since that encounter, he has not visited my home; in fact, no bats flew about as they normally would. It was as if, something called them all off that night in order to prove to me his words. 

Even though I needed to have a decision about his asking figured out within the next two days, I had been so distraught on cleaning up my mansion. Spring time had ridden it with puddles of water, dirt, mud and leaves. And I had been working overtime each day to try and repair the house as best I could. It was in such a shamble state, that at times I wanted to give up on it, leave it as is, and find somewhere else. But things were keeping me here. And in an odd way, I even had the feeling that Valador himself somehow kept me from leaving more so than any other reason I had.

Weirdly to say, the last five days had made me put a lot of thought into this mysterious man. He was a complete stranger, who stalked me at night and watched me during the day. He knew everything about me and more. Normally this is the type of person you automatically run from, but part of me had a thing for him. It's petty thing really, nothing more, purely because of his mysterious darkness.

I sat there staring out my ceiling, watching clouds swiftly move by, thoughts running through my head. "I miss him," I suddenly said aloud to myself. Wait. How on earth could I miss him? He was a delusional human being, a stalker, possibly a rapist, who wanted nothing more than to abduct me, use me and maybe even kill me for some kind of cult ritual.

I laid there for a while, and finally slumber took ahold of me. An odd dream came about. I was in a city, in an older time. The houses were made of wood, like log cabins. The people walked about in dresses and boots. I wouldn't say cowboy time exactly. A time older than that, but close to.

I walked aimlessly about. No one around me seemed to notice my existence. I watched a little girl skipping from window to window at stores, looking for cute toys and clothes. Her mother and father, holding hands and lovingly watching were closely following her. A carriage passed by me. Two men in suits were inside. They looked to be of the richer fashion. Expensive clothing and jewelry.

All of a sudden, the scenery changed. I watched a scene of horror. The shops and homes were on fire. People running down a bloody street, screaming.  Something was flying quickly through the air. A dark shadow. It swooped down and grabbed a little girl. She starting screaming. It took her into the air, her arms were flailing about her when all of a sudden, she went limp and the creature dropped her. I ran towards her as she fell to the ground. She hit it with a loud thud. I kneeled beside her. She looked no older than five.

"What's going on here?" I asked frighteningly to myself.

"It's exactly as it looks. Gothic Rose," A voice sounded behind me. I quickly turned.

I gasped. It was as though I was looking into a mirror. Well. Sort of. It was a version of me. But different. I was more toned, my hair was went down to my butt. My skin was pale white. My womanly features more toned. My eyes, were as red as blood.

"What.. Who.." I stumbled slowly backing away.

"I am what you wish to be. And I am the one you fear of, Emily," The creature said.

I jumped awake, covered in a cold sweat. The light of the moon dimly lit my room. My heart was pounding so hard, I felt as though it would jump out of my chest. I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm myself down.

'What kind of dream was that?' I thought to myself.

After a few minutes of breathing, I had calmed down enough to go back to sleep. I slept soundly the rest of the night.