Rosalind - Beauty and the Beast meets Dracula retelling

24-Unhinge

Do you dream of me, Rosalind when I am drenched in blood? When your nightmares become dreams, you will long for me. Call for me and I will crawl my way into the very marrow of your existence.

Rosalind heard the wind wailing outside while she slept. In her dreams it came and wrapped itself around her. A whisper seeped into her ear and made its way to her chest causing her heart to thud wildly. Rosalind's breathing quickened. With a gasp, Rosalind tore the bed covers off her and opened her eyes to the awaiting darkness.

Night married with the howling wind yet inside her chamber, Rosalind felt protected. It was still hours until dawn. When Rosalind lifted her head to look out the window, all she saw was a sheen of black coating everything outside.

Touching her hand to her heart, Rosalind willed herself to calm down. She drew in slow, steady breaths until her heart no longer raced. In her shattered sleep, a voice echoed, Do you dream of me? Do you...? Do you...?

The voice was ghost-like. For a few long moments, it felt like a stranger's. But soon, a sense of familiarity washed over Rosalind. "I have heard you before," though at that moment she uttered into the empty room in certainly, once the words had left her mouth she quickly felt unsure. "No...I," pausing, she sat up and moved her legs off the edge of the bed. "I do not know," she replied to a question resiting silently in her brain. "I may be going mad here. The beast's home is a tomb, perhaps I am already dead."

The stone floor was cold when she stepped down. Her slippers remained off to the side. Barefoot, Rosalind walked the length of the room and knelt by the dying embers that glowed faintly in the fireplace. Last night's wine lingered on her tongue. A slight sense of dizziness resided in her head. But the feeling did not settle unpleasantly.

Rosalind reached for the poker and wrapped her fingers around it tightly. Agnes would think it unladylike yet Rosalind did not care. Sliding the metallic tool in the fireplace, Rosalind unsettled the embers and watched as rogue ash floated upwards only to be sucked into the gaping maw of the chimney. She felt the warmth on her face, a gentle burning that began to fight for the lingering chill. Rosalind knelt down and placed her free hand on the cold floor. Hypnotized by the fluttering ash, the young woman felt herself getting sleepy. Her lids closed half-way. The dancing coals swayed. The poker was lowered. She felt herself give in to the sleep that was beckoning back. Rosalind lowered her body on the stones, felt winter under her flesh. Closing her eyes, she fell into a dreamless slumber.

Rosalind rose at noon, after having shooed Agnes away when she came to collect the raven-haired girl for breakfast.

"Why are you on the floor, my lady?" Agnes had exclaimed. "Are you ill?" Helping her back to her bed, Agnes tucked Rosalind under the warm blankets and then sighed when Rosalind answered she was well and simply wanted to sleep on the floor. "I do not understand why a fine lady like you decided to curl up next to the fire like a cinder-girl."

While the sun stood high in the blue sky for the rest of Transylvania, it shunned the lord's domain and only allowed a few tendrils of light to poke through the perpetual fog.

When Rosalind woke, she saw flurries moving lethargically across the land. She watched them dance. The ones that dared float higher caught the slivers of light and shone like silver. Rosalind watched as they turned into butterflies and fluttered away.

Rosalind rose groggily. Her recollections of the dream were faint. The whispered words no longer spoke to her. Silence greeted her and nothing more.

After splashing her face with some water, Rosalind moved to the wardrobe and opened the wooden doors. The dresses hung before her in an array of hues. She reached up to touch the yellow one but stopped herself and moved towards the black one instead. Her fingers inched closer to the inky material, then just as she was about to touch, Agnes knocked and entered without Rosalind telling her to come in.