Before The Last Petal Falls

Chapter 1

Here we were.  Again. As Andromeda stared at that cursed rose, she felt the weight of dread and misery set in on her chest. She was beginning to lose all hope of ever finding someone to love her.  She was beginning to think that it was an impossibility.  Why did it have to be her? Why did she have to be given such a cruel curse? She once again stared at that dreadful rose, it was so beautiful, yet so evil. She felt tears begin to form inside her heart, but they wouldn't come, they would never come, not again.  Andromeda had long ago realized that tears will get a person nowhere. Andromeda learned from an early age that she was not beautiful. Not like her sister Celeste, nor her mother, Anahita, with their beautiful golden brown hair, with green eyes that shined like magic.  Celeste took after their mother, she was beautiful, just like her, but not Andromeda.  She was ugly, with ugly, bright reddish-orange hair, with freckles covering her face, with one plain brown eyes, and the other a pale blue, due to the fact of being blind in one eye, which was quite noticeable. As a child, she was made fun of as well. The children would laugh and point, all because she looked different than everyone else.  To make matters worse, Andromeda was given a terrible curse. As a child, she was approached by a simple stranger. The stranger pulled two objects out of the satchel that she carried with her.  With one hand, she pulled out a beautiful rose, in the other, a simple grey stone.  The stranger asked Andromeda to choose which she would like to keep, Andromeda chose the rose. The biggest mistake of her life.  The stranger glanced down at the stone, and stated, "Outward beauty isn't everything, my dear," then threw the stone onto the ground.  As the stone fell, it cracked open to reveal beautiful sparkling rocks inside it. The stranger looked at the rose and said, "For true beauty, is found inside." Then the rose began to glow, and it was transformed into a sparkling floret, that had an ominous feeling about it.  "Then the stranger stated once more, "When the last petal on this rose falls, you shall perish. What may only save you, is for someone to fall deeply in love with you, not with the outward appearance, but for what lies inside." Then she simply vanished, leaving Andromeda with that cursed rose. Why should a child have to be cursed for such a simple mistake? Now she had only a short amount of time left before the last petals fell, which left her wondering, "Would she ever find love in time?"