Between the time when the moon is past its peak, and the sun is slowly revealing itself over the horizon, you can see her. Hidden by the willows, and cloaked by the darkness, she stands hunched over in defeat. A scarf covering her face, hiding her still youthful eyes. In a brown cloak she awaits the arrival of the hearts.
Every night for ninety years she has waited in this cold swamp. When she was a young girl she fell into a forbidden love. To keep them apart the boy's father forced the poor girl to collect the broken hearts of strangers and bear the pain herself. Knowing that she will feel nothing but sorrow.
Each night the dark swamp suddenly lights up with glowing red orbs. The lady slowly walks into the middle of the swamp and scoops up all of the lights into their own individual jars. Every heart she has collected is kept on a shelf, except one. Hers. It is kept in a old gold locket that is tied around her neck, it reads, "Have hope my dear, no matter how much sorrow you will have to endure you will be rid of this burden someday."
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The Curse
FantasyI wrote this story for the realistic fiction reading list short story contest. The objective was to write a fantasy story with a realistic fiction title on their reading list. I hope I was able to complete this successfully. This story is about a o...
