This is a story unlike any other.
How? you might ask. Well…let me tell you.
Second chances…second chances…second chances… That’s all that seems to be floating around this strange scene of ours. But first, I must set the scene.
Picture this:
It is a lovely autumn day. The leaves have just started to turn color and the wind has turned mighty and fierce. A young cottage sits deep within a mysterious forest. Within that cottage resides a lovely, lonely girl of seventeen.
With hair as thick as a lion’s mane and black as night, her gentle sea green eyes and naturally pink lips set her apart from the rest. Her skin is as fair as the freshly fallen snow and her limbs are willowy and full of grace.
Yet she has wronged and thus is asking for a second chance.
That fool of a fool fell in love. She fell in love with him.
Now, you might ask, “How bad is that?”
I shall tell you quick.
She fell in love with a man as sure and strong and arrogant as any. With eyes as black as death’s sweet kiss and hair as fair as the blazing sun overhead. His skin ghostly pale and a gleam shines within his eyes.
Yes, this girl fell for him. For this demon of a man who many cannot see. It was on a lovely autumn day, much like today. This girl of seventeen, sixteen at the time, was walking down a deserted street as she crossed his path. One look from him and her heart did stutter. My, how handsome is he?
The man’s heart did not stir for it was forever frozen shut. My, what a pretty piece is she?
He stopped to ask her name and she replied Eridella.
He stooped to one knee, grabbed her hand, and asked her on a date.
Oh! How could sweet Eridella refuse? With a quickening heart, she quickly accepted his offer and soon they whisked away.
What happens next might be a frightful thing to say. How to go on? Must I go on? I’m afraid I must. Yes, so very, very afraid.
At first it was like any date, so sweet and pure and innocent. It soon turned sour as he bent in for a kiss. His lips did touch Eridella’s but she got afraid. A little chill did shiver down her back as this man’s lips did touch hers so.
That fool of a fool fell in love and ignored her inner warning. She ignored her queasiness and kissed away the night.
“How is this so bad?” you might begin to ask!
Hush now, for this tale has not yet been told.
This is a story unlike any other.
As night turned to dawn, their time was almost up.
“Swear yourself to me.” His sweet words whispered upon her lips.
How naïve was she to accept his offer so! Poor Eridella, what was she to do? She felt those feeble feelings of love, the kind that never last. But in her haste to kiss again she whispered, “I swear myself to you.”
Now here comes the saddest part of a tale ever told.
The man did smile as he pressed his lips to hers. But soon the tree they were nestled in began to freeze and crack. Eridella’s limbs began to become lethargic. Her eyes started to close against the heavy cold. But this man refused to let her go so quick.
With an evil grin, he kept her fire going through their passionate kiss.
However, the deal now made, Eridella lost part of her soul.
It now belonged to him, that little part of her.
Oh! Poor Eridella!
As the frost began to bite, the man pulled away. Eridella’s eyes were red with the taste of fright. He brought a hand to her face and said, “Dearest Eridella, you swore yourself to me. May you lay no hand upon another man. I must be going quick but I shall return for you. Look for me this time next year.”
Eridella’s heart did clench as she felt the hole inside her soul. With fear now in her heart, she kissed the man once more. Her oath now promised, the man did vanish.
Eridella was alone.
She looked around with eyes so wide at the broken tree. Its branches were twisted like the sharp claws of a demon. The leaves were forever frozen in a state of agony. The bark was ripped and shredded by the cold in which was embedded. And in the shredded skin of that poor tree was a rock black as night.
Here comes the part we all do dread in life.
Eridella raised her hand and touched the blackened rock.
It melted beneath her touch like the smeary mud of a swamp. It left behind a piece of her, a piece of her she never wanted to depart. That tiny, bloody piece of flesh did pump to the beating of her heart.
Before her very eyes the piece of her heart did vanish. And in that moment Eridella felt afraid.
He had her heart, a piece of it. What was she to do? Without a whole how could she ever go on living?
But time did pass and Eridella soon forgot.
Eridella forgot the face of that man that stole her beating heart. And she never got his name. She felt a hole inside her heart but she dismissed it as heartache.
Too many days had passed for her to remember him. His kisses had been so sweet and she missed them every day. But what was that blasted man’s name?
She seemed to forget.
With the passing of time, Eridella did forget. She forgot the oath in which she made to him.
So naïve! Eridella don’t!
With the changing of the seasons comes the changing of the heart.
Eridella’s heart was cold so she sought to save it.
With the changing of the colors in the autumn air, a lovely, lonely girl of seventeen decided to kiss another man. He was as ordinary as they come. Dull brown hair and bored blue eyes of sky. His kiss did not compare, oh! how it did not compare!
Eridella’s heart did shatter as she pulled away. She felt it break into a million tiny pieces. She didn’t need a doctor to tell her that her heart was dead. So very, very dead.
Her eyes widened in fright as she took in her lover’s delight. However swift and quick it was, her lover was now dead! His body was caked in ice crystals as his skin was a ghastly blue. Winter had come for him much to very soon.
Eridella was afraid!
She clutched a hand to her aching, broken heart as memories started to explode inside her weary head. She suddenly remembered that fresh autumn day. It happened a year ago. A year ago in which she did flounder like a fish for air.
Eridella ran. Oh! how she ran!
She fought her way through the forest and made it to the lonely cottage she remembered from her younger years. She flung open the door and bowed her head in shame.
She had betrayed him, the only man for her.
As the cottage door creaked slowly shut, her broken heart did ache in agony as it pounded out its very last breath.
Eridella looked up and met the harsh eyes of this man. This man that she had fallen for with a single glance. He smirked at her as he took a step closer.
A shiver ran down her spine. She was about to die.
“Please, give me a second chance.” Eridella did plea as she threw herself down at his feet. “I was so confused. Please! Give me a second chance!”
The man glanced down at her, no mercy in his eyes. “Do you know the price to pay for a second chance?”
“No, but I’ll pay! I’ll do whatever it takes!”
“Oh, dearest Eridella, you shouldn’t have told me that.” The man knelt down to match her gaze and cold black eyes did dominate. “You touched another man. Are you prepared for the price?”
Eridella’s eyes did open wide as she looked into Death’s sweet and sinister eyes.
“I’ll tell you my name and now you are mine,” he whispered against her lips. “My name is Death and I have come for you.”
He kissed her quick and swift as he did consume her soul.
Poor Eridella…whatever happened to her heart?
This is a story unlike any other.
How? you might ask. Well…let me tell you.
Second chances…second chances…second chances… That’s all that seems to be floating around this strange scene of ours. But first, I must set the scene.
Picture this: