One cold night, a lone figure is seen seated at a balcony with the stars as her backdrop. She looked pitifully lonely and so fragile in that moment. Boom! Came the sound of thunder overhead. Shortly after, a heavy torrent poured and the sky was soon covered up by the dark grey clouds.
"Look, even the clouds are grieving with me. How ironic!" Said the figure.
Given a closer look through the haze of the rain, one would notice the beauty and youth in this figure. With plump pink lips and a cute nose, she had long brown luscious hair and she was dainty. Even though her large blue doe eyes were usually pretty, right now they seemed to be red..
"Why is the world so cruel to me? All my life, only one misfortune to the next. Why?!" she yelled out accompanied with the sound of thunder. She raised her left hand and stared at the bottle of wine. Without wasting a single minute, she lifted it to her mouth.
Downing and chugging on wine like it were water; it seemed she was eager to drown her sorrows in the red liquid. Tears trickled down her face leaving a path of desolate dreams and heartache.
If anyone saw her right now, they would recognize her as the world's most famous and youngest fashion designer, Francine Katelione. At 23, she was beautiful and rich. But, at the peak of her fame with all the luxury to her name, why would she feel sad?
"How could they? How could they betray me like this?" she yelled out as she threw the bottle she was holding to the side to the already growing pile. She stretched out her hand in hopes of getting another bottle only to grasp at air.
"Huh? I'm all out. Better get more. Maybe I will drink myself numb." She thought as she staggered up but to no avail. She tried once more before plopping down into a chair. Sighing to herself, she looked to the pile of empty bottles and sighed again. She looked around her and feel that life was very unfair,
Her house sat on a cliff overlooking a flowing river and a meadow as far out as one could see. Francine turned on the pool chair that she was seating on faced the cliff as she t She looked to the sky and then to the flowers in the distance. She was too drunk, too lost in her thought to even realize that there were people behind her.
As she was facing the cliff where her house sat, she had not noticed the new comers who looked at her in derision and mockery. The clanging of empty bottles awakened her form her stupor and she turned to the source.
Francine almost couldn't control her face as she stared at the biggest mistakes of her life; her two best friends turned fiancés.
As she struggled to balance herself on the balls of her feet, Francine raised her head and looked up towards the couple. The guy looked immaculate at six feet two with a well ripped body and a chiseled chin. The lady, on the other hand had a delicate beauty. She had a round face and large doe eyes which would make anyone want to instinctively want to protect her. She had a gentle aura about her and she seemed well matched with the guy. Compared to Francine, these two looked like the owners of the mansion at the cliff.
"Oh my! If it isn't the cheating pair! What a lovely surprise!" she said with a stagger. Though she was heavily drunk, she could still recognize the two people in front of her anywhere. They were the ones who brought her out of her darkness and helped her push to be who she was today. They were her only family as she was an orphan but they did the unthinkable and betrayed her.
"You got what was your due. We are only here to check on you." Said the guy, making Francine focus her eyes on him. Looking to the guy, Francine felt her eyes warm up as fresh tears got ready to flow once more. It was really sad as before, she looked to this guy like the love of her life but now, she really didn't know who he was anymore. He still had the same ocean blue eyes that always made her feel safe. It's just that now they were tainted with mockery and disdain.
"Do not sully Hayden with those dirty looks." Came a sharp voice, jolting Francine out of her thoughts.
"Raven, what did I ever do to you? I trusted you with my life and everything! You knew I liked Hayden yet you went ahead and got engaged to him!"
"Do you know how much of a joke I am now to the whole world? Everyone knew and thought that he was my boyfriend yet you ended up getting engaged to him. What's worse is that I was never invited! Why Raven, why? Do you hate that much that you want to ruin my life?"" she asked in a broken voice as tears rolled down her cheeks once more. She really looked like it was the end of the world.
"This has nothing to do with Raven. Leave her out of this!" came Hayden's deep voice stunning Francine. She was shocked silly.
"Is this really the Hayden I know?" she asked herself. She remembered how not too long ago he would always accompany her to her fashion shows constantly telling to her rest or eat on time. It was shocking to her but also this cleared her mind. These two were no longer the friends that she once knew. They instead looked like hyenas ready to take her done.
"No, no Hayden. Let me handle her." Said Raven as she left Hayden's side. In the quiet, the click and clack of her heels sounded especially loud as she made her way towards Francine. A smirk tainted with evil intention plastered itself on her face making Francine shiver with a fear. A dark thought sprouted in her mind though it flashed by so fast that she couldn't even grasp.
"You took everything from me. Don't you think it's only natural that I reclaim everything that you took?" she said as she strutted towards Francine. A cruel expression was etched on to her face making Francine wonder just what she meant.
"You must be wondering what I mean, right? Well, I am Diane Dumont's biological granddaughter." She added and this was news to both Hayden and Francine.
"You are that witch's granddaughter?" questioned Francine earning her slap from Raven.
"Don't you dare sully her name, you little b*tch! You killed her and took on all of her work claiming that it was yours. I want you to pay for her life." Yelled Raven as madness was written all over her face. She emitted a scary aura like that of a rakshasa on a rampage.
Hayden could not see her facial expression otherwise he would have re-thought their engagement. Francine on the other hand felt anger build up in her.
"Took her life? Reclaim everything that is naturally hers?" she thought as a smirk cracked her lips to an angle. Raven saw this and thought that she was mocking her. She grit her teeth and almost bolted forward when she heard Francine speak.
"Delusional! That's what you are! Do you know that all of your so called grandmother's last works were all my pieces! Let's not forget how she tortured for over five years just to create for her different designs every day! Rightfully yours? I don't think so! That's all my sweat, blood and tears! Literally!"
"Only I know how she would torture me to make those designs every single day of my life. She would whip me if I tarried or delayed or if I had unsatisfactory work. "
"Don't you dare sully her name! You are unworthy and ungrateful. She took you out of your misery yet look at how you repaid her! You took her life and made her reputation bad." Replied Raven with a shriek. She could not believe the guts of Francine.
Francine looked to Raven as she remembered all the pain she went through. All the scars on her body started to ache making her wonder why she had never seen through Raven.
"It seems that all the smiles and hugs were all just fake. Even the birthdays and celebration parties were fake too." Thought Francine as she felt her heart break even more. All the injustices she ever faced weighed down on her heavily as she started coughing. A small cough turned into a bout until she felt like she was choking on something. She subconsciously spat it out and it turned out to be blood!
"What did you do?" she asked as she tried to regain her strength. Raven just burst into evil laughter while Hayden stared on in indifference.
"Mwahahaha, I poisoned all your wines. Judging by the amount you drank, it would seem that your end is near."
Francine could not believe that Raven had poisoned her using her favorite wines.
"What did I ever do to you?" she whispered as she felt blood rush up her throat.no matter how much she tried to stop it, it still came forth and she spat it out with force as she coughed. A lone trail trickled down from the corner of her lips. Coupled with her pale complexion and blood dyed lips, she looked like a vampire.
Raven walked closer to her and leaned in to whisper into her ear.
"You had what I could not. The perfect job, perfect guy and wealth. I wanted it all. To make matters worse, you constantly flaunted these things in front of me. It's only natural that I take them. Between me and you, thanks for the gift."
Thinking that was it, Francine closed her eyes and waited for Raven to walk away. After all, thanks to Ms. Diane, she had developed an immunity to poison.
"This will all be over soon." She said softly. Raven managed to hear and she smirked. Leaning in again, she said, "Oh, I forgot to tell you. I know of your other identities and powers but it's ok. You'll never use them again."
She plunged a knife into Francine belly and repeatedly shoved it in whist pushing her to the edge. Francine felt the pain ripping her apart and gave out a scream. Raven laughed maniacally like she had accomplished some big thing.
Somehow seeing Raven's face riddled with signs of madness brought calm to her mind. To Francine, all she could hear was her blood churning. Hayden's voice was somewhere in the background as he wanted to run towards the two. Even though he didn't love her they had been best friends for a long while. He couldn't watch her die. On trying to run, he realized that he couldn't move. Raven turned around and smirked at him before going back to plunging Francine with a knife.
Reaching the edge of the balcony. Raven did not waste a second and pushed Francine over. Even with the little thread she was hanging on as she plunged to her death, Francine didn't scream. She smiled as she welcomed death with open arms and reminisced on her life slowly.
"Ahhh, what a pitiful life I have led. Maybe I can finally find peace in death." She thought as she collided with the floor of the chasm. With a smile lingering on her face, Francine closed her eyes.
"Maybe in my next life, I will live a life of smiles and joys and no backstabbing friends. Yes, I would like that." She finally breathed her last.
Raven on the other hand was laughing evilly as she felt like she had achieved something big.
"Finally, finally that thorn in my side has been removed." As she was celebrating a bright white light flashed from the chasm and blinded both her and Hayden.
"What's going on?" shouted Hayden. The light could be seen for miles and once it calmed down, an eerie silence prevailed and nothing was to be seen.
Or was there. . . . . . . . . . .