Her wrists had scars from old cuts, and were bleeding from the new ones. The blood trickled down her arm into the once pure white bath tub, now stained red, filled with a pool of her own blood. Her tears painfully stung her eyes. Eyes that were once a vibrant blue and filled with pure innocent joy were now a dull shade of grey, any sign of happiness or innocence gone. Isabelle was her name. A beautiful name for a beautiful girl. She was graceful and passionate. Always fighting for what she believed was right. Even if it was wrong. Yet, her name never suited her after her mother passed away. If anything, that name was more of a burden. She wasn't just Isabelle. She was Isabelle the Second. Her mother, Isabelle the First, her namesake, was the definition of beauty and purity, someone who carried an aura of elegance everywhere she went, someone who could do no wrong... Someone who died giving birth, leaving her only daughter in the hands of a brutal father who abused Isabelle every passing moment after the death of his wife.
Isabelle, now covered in cuts and satisfied, dropped the heavy kitchen knife on the bathroom floor and climbed into the bathtub. She sank into the tub, laying in a pool of her own blood that stained her beautiful white summer dress. She closed her eyes as her tears fell, excruciatingly stinging her face as they trickled down her black eye and into the cuts that littered her once beautiful complexion. Her face was now distorted from the injuries her father inflicted upon her, barely living up to the beauty of the name "Isabelle".
"I was supposed to be beautiful..."she whispered to herself.
"I wish I could be saved and salvaged. Given another chance... but alas, we all can't always get what we want" She told herself.
Her final words echoed in her head as she slowly submerged her head in the pool of her blood. She deliberately paused her breathing without any intentions of resuming it. She felt a strain in her throat and her body was telling her to breathe in, but she couldn't. She wouldn't.
"What if you can be saved ?"
Was this a factor of death ? Hallucination ? Because there was no way... she couldn't finish her thought process as she was pulled out of the blood bath. Her eyes reluctantly shot open, only for them to be blessed by a beautiful man. He had reddish brown hair like hers, and beautiful brown eyes that could shine brighter than the sun. His smile filled Isabelle with a new feeling of warmth, one she hadn't felt in a long time. He was dressed in an all white suit, giving him a look of purity. One could mistake him as an... angel.
He leaned closer to her face, "You can and will be saved". His voiced was so smooth and... angelic. It soothed her. It was like a lullaby to her ears, and lullabies were meant to make you fall asleep. So that's exactly what she did. Whether intentionally or not, her eyelids were too heavy to lift and she fell into an undisturbed, peaceful slumber. "That's right, go to sleep. You will be given a second chance."
Suddenly, there was a bright light that pierced through Isabelle's eyelids. Her eyes instinctively shot open, but she was utterly confused. Her surroundings were unfamiliar. It wasn't like her usual dull messy bedroom, only filled with a bed and basket for her clothes. Instead, this room was a complete contrast. The walls were bright white. Her bed, a king-sized bed, was the fluffiest and most comfortable thing she's ever laid on and a soft shade of baby blue. The room was wonderfully decorated with abstract paintings and actually looked like a bedroom with all the proper furniture, unlike her old bedroom. She put her feet down and came in immediate contact with a soft carpet that nearly had her jumping off and back onto her bed. To say she was surprised was an understatement. Her bedroom was never this comfortable, the environment here was so new. She walked towards the door, determined to find answers as to where she was, but paused in her step when she turned her head and saw what she was wearing in the mirror beside her. The dress was a beautiful shade of pastel pink, her favourite colour, and it flowed down to her ankles. Her hair was tied into a clean braid. Her face... was no longer littered with cuts and bruises, finally showing her beautiful face shape and complexion. Her eyes... were beautiful. They were a vibrant blue colour, the same colour as when she was younger, until her father became an alchoholic when she was only 14 years old. Yet, here she was, starring back at her reflexion as if she never changed. She was a carbon copy of her mother. The same mother she thought she could never live up to...
There was a knock at the door and it slowly opened. There he was. Her savior. The man she saw right as she was about to die. The man that pulled her from her pain and worries and brought her to this beautiful place that made her feel peace and tranquility.
"Here, in my Castle of Wonders, you are safe. You are protected. You are taken care of. Here, you can live the life you deserve. You cannot escape this place, however I don't think you'd feel the need. Feel free to roam around my castle and shout my name if you need anything... my name, is Angel"
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Years past. She felt so happy. So free. She always played around with the animals in the garden beside the Castle of Wonders. The Castle that felt so much like home. It seemed like it was constantly expanding though... she never got to explore the whole place as the castle was rather large and seemed to be getting larger by the day. The people that entered seem to be increasing too. Everyday, a new batch of people entered the castle and Isabelle found it odd but never brought it up with Angel as he was always innocently elated when new people entered the castle.
Here, in this Castle of Wonders, Isabelle felt happy. Yet... happiness wasn't enough anymore. It was revenge.
Every day for the past few weeks, all she could think about was her father. One that gave her the worst childhood and life imaginable. She thought of him every day, as his face appeared in her mind, all she felt was resentment. Over the years, it only grew. And grew. And grew. Until she knew... he deserved nothing but a crucial death in exchange for giving her such a suffocating nightmare of a life. Isabelle was always one to fight for what she believed was right. Even if it was wrong. And it was. To escape the Castle, it was wrong. Maybe even a sin. But she didn't bother thinking that through, her mind was clouded with revenge and as the night fell upon the Castle, Isabelle fled.
***************************************
Years after running from the Castle of Wonders, Isabelle found out that her father had passed away from alchohol poisoning... "What a stupid way to die" she thought, her resentment for him radiating off of her. She continued living her life in a new apartment. She found a stable job, working as a pastry chef in a hotel. She always was a sweet tooth, not that her father would allow her to enjoy such things, and was curious about the making of the treats she enjoyed- so she went to attend a course to learn about being a pastry chef and worked as one in a nearby hotel. As Isabelle walked into her apartment, she threw off her shoes and dumped her bag aside, crashing onto her sofa after slamming the door shut. To say she was tired was an understatement. She was utterly exhausted. Just as she reluctantly got up from the sofa and walked into the bathroom, she got a sudden headache. She clenched her eyes shut in pain and all she could see was red. When she opened her eyes, her bathroom was filled with blood, there was a bloody knife on the ground, and a body laid in her bathtub filled with blood. She wanted to let out a scream, but her throat was stinging and her headache was too excruciating. She clenched her eyes again, but when she opened them, her headache was gone, her throat was fine, and more importantly her bathroom was clean as usual... odd.
As much as Isabelle wanted to forget what she saw and move on, she couldn't help but constantly think back to that moment. More specifically, the familiarity it brought. The blood. The knife... The body. And then it clicked. It all came flooding back. She remembered the day as vividly as if she never forgot. Her father punched her eye so hard it felt like it was about to pop out. She ran to the bathroom with the kitchen knife in her hand. And she... she tried to kill herself. That is, until that man... Angel, came to her rescue and gave her a new life. She really missed him, wished she could see him again. No doubt, she loved him and still does after all these years. Who wouldn't ? He practically saved her life! He really lived up to his name, it was as if he was a real...snap... Isabelle's eyes widened in pure shock at her realisation. She ran back into her bathroom and filled her tub with water. "I need to go back... I need to go back..." she chanted to herself. To think all this time... she missed all the signs. How oblivious she was to what was right infront of her. As her bathtub filled to the brim, she quickly jumped into the tub, disregarding the way her loose pj's stuck to her soft skin. In a matter of seconds, her eyes were shut and her breath paused. Her throat had that familiar stinging sensation and her body felt like it was about to explode.
"So, there you are. I've been looking for you everywhere. Never thought you'd come back to me..."
Isabelle's eyes shot open at the sound of that familiar voice. She was ready to see the love of her life, her savior again. However, when her eyes focused again, she didn't see the beautiful pure man she loved. He was dressed head to toe in red. His hair was now a dark shade of black and his eyes were a terrifying bloodshot crimson colour. He was smiling, but it wasn't his signature and beautiful smile that brought warmth to whoever was at the receiving end. This smile was more of a smirk really, and rather sinister. Isabelle could only feel regret.
"I gave you a wonderful life in heaven, you escaped from it. I closed my eyes and let you live a normal life on Earth, you run away from it. Now, you join your father in Hell. You may have escaped Heaven, but you're not escaping Hell."
And she didn't.
She was forever known as the girl that escaped Heaven.
And furthermore known as the girl who couldn't escape Hell.