Fresh Red

1 0 0

by Kailani

by Kailani

FRESH RED

Her mother's coldness could not stave off the inner cravings of humanity for love. In fact, it inflamed her wishing. She missed hands to hold her, fingers running like water through her hair, and gentle lips that would kiss her between her bones. So Marya dreamed of a Prince Charming who would rekindle her hopes and prove her misgivings wrong.

So when Conrad told her he loved her, she believed him. Her love was the fresh red of passion that leaks from deep paper cuts. She loved him desperately, more than she loved herself. All so she could be proved wrong.

And he charmed her like a fairytale snake-charmer. He would grab her neck and she would let him pull her body into an unnatural snake around his lips. She would wake up with her body feeling broken and lost in the shape he curled her in, but her heart would purr as he dug his claws in. His lips broke a different type of ecstasy every time, but they always tasted like cigarettes, smoking her lungs with beauty and death.

She learned that sometimes, they can be the same thing.

But Marya didn't realize she had learned to be empty.