The Tale of Red Rocks

Prologue

Her name was Elise. And, dear God, was she gorgeous. Everyone thought so. Her family was French, she was named after her grandmother. And she was meant to marry Isaac. Their parents had decided that together, when Elise was only four years old.

Even as a girl, she had admirers all over town. The baker's son had a thing for her, but who didn't? As a child, she, Isaac and I always played by the river. The cliff was dangerous and we weren't allowed to play there, but Elise absolutely wanted to. So we were there most days when we were kids, playing on the Gray Rocks.

Elise always wore beautiful dresses sewn by busy seamstresses, and she had to be so careful not to ruin her clothes. It was easier for Isaac and I as our clothes didn't tear very easily.

Our parents were wealthy so it wouldn't matter if we destroyed our pants, where Elise's parents didn't have as much money and mostly lived on my parents' fortune. Their house was right next to ours so we could be together all day long. And we were.

Isaac and I had a babysitter, Agnes, and she looked after all of us when we together. Made sure we didn't fall in the water. Elise usually talked Agnes in to letting us play on the cliff. She was so persuading when she wanted something.

But we grew up.

Elise grew prettier and prettier by the years. Her brown hair got longer than most girls' hair, she simply wasn't like other girls. Isaac and her started spending more time together alone.

Isaac was three years older than her, but even then she was always very mature. I was two years younger than Isaac, so I was older than her too. We talked too, but as she was meant to marry my brother, I didn't see her as much as I wanted to.

Isaac wanted to become a soldier. Our parents loved the idea of him fighting for our country, so they supported him a lot. I was going to be a doctor like my father was before he married Mother, so I studied all day most days when I got that age. In the meantime, Isaac was outside with Elise. They had a secret place that I wasn't allowed to know about, but after I'd asked Isaac every day for a month, he finally told me.

It was on top of the cliff at the Gray Rocks there. It was in the outskirts of the forest, the most romantic place in town, as he put it. He made me promise not to follow him up there, but I was too curious. And I followed my brother to the Gray Rocks and I saw them. Kissing.

Elise and Isaac loved each other. Their whole lives had been planned out and they were going to end up together, and they were happy about it. My brother definitely loved her. When he came home, he knew I'd been at the Gray Rocks and that I'd seen them, but he didn't mind. He just laughed and then he told me about how they'd found it together.

He told me about the first time he kissed her in the outskirts of the woods. I was curious, I wanted to hear about everything. An amazing brother, he was. He told me everything I wanted to know except for when he told me he wouldn't ruin the surprise for me for when I fell in love myself. Besides, he didn't think he as a gentleman should speak of Elise that way, he told me. He had too much honor to humiliate her.

Time passed, and I didn't speak to Elise much. She was always with Isaac and when she wasn't, she was busy at home. I tried to come with them once when they were going into town, but they managed to get away from me so I was all alone in town.

At last, I just went home without any of them. Isaac told me how sorry he was when he finally returned in the middle of the evening when I'd been home for hours. I could have told our parents he'd left me alone in town, but I hadn't. I knew it would have gotten him into trouble and I didn't want that for him.

I wasn't jealous at him at all, but it bothered me how easily he flew through life. Our parents had matched him with a perfect girl, he could walk around having fun all day because his future already was planned out for him; he was going to be a soldier, while I had to study all day and couldn't go out for a minute without my father scolding me for abandoning my responsibilities.