I have had permission from ClandestineDuck to build off of her story: Located
here I have changed the title in respect to her, to make it visible this story is going in a completely different direction than Her's.
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Dance in Crimson
Isabella stretched in bed, clinging comfortably to her red satin bed sheets. She opened her eyes to realize that it was still dark. Isabella flipped open her cell phone to learn that it was only 11:57.
Great, I broke my sleep for nothing, the young woman thought. Just as she was about to go back to sleep, she heard an odd sound coming from her front yard that might have been music. It is music, she thought, but...what? In her neighborhood the only music to be heard was the typical loud radio...but this sound was different, more, pure. Isabella couldn't explain it because it sounded like it could be anywhere from a slow, electric guitar ballad to a deep church organ. Just as she opened her front door, what seemed like millions of cruel faces turned towards her. There was a flash of red--
--Isabella sat straight up in her bed. Her cell said 11:58. It was a dream, she thought, a strangely realistic dream. She was once again about to lie back down when suddenly she stopped cold, realizing that she was holding a dark, crimson ribbon.
Isabella stared at the dark ribbon. It frightened her, it fascinated her, it confused her to no end. Clutching the small object, the young woman threw on a big black sweater and cautiously walked to her window. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She walked slowly downstairs and looked out the large window by the door--again, all was fine.
Starting to feel more confused than she already was, she knocked on both her roommates' doors at once, loudly and mercilessly. Mumbled insults came as both girls swung open their doors, and gave their wide-awake roommate silent stares of annoyance. Isabella paused apologetically and briefly explained to the blond-haired Angie and bronze-haired Leila about the non-dream she had just experienced.
Their angry expressions melted abruptly into concerned countenances. "And you're sure this wasn't a dream?" Angie said lightly, careful not to offend. Isabella bitterly snapped her arm up and pointed to the slightly crumpled red strip. Angie nodded and looked down, just as frightened and confused as her pale, raven-haired friend. Leila looked up. "I didn't notice anything..." The Angie nodded in agreement.
The three walked into their small living room in silence. Leila looked out the window, and upon seeing nothing of interest, she closed the blinds. Just as Angie went off to make some tea, Isabella noticed something strange about the ribbon that she didn’t notice before—something was written on it in odd symbols. She showed her friends and Leila exhaled slowly and shakily.
“Those are runes...it’s an ancient form of writing...”
Angie looked confused. “So...what does it mean?”
Leila stared hard, trying to remember at once everything she had learned in a class she took last semester. Suddenly, she gasped quietly and her breathing became even less steady.
“It’s...it’s a curse.”
Angie and Leila invited Isabella inside and sat her down, looking at the beautiful yet odd ribbon.
''Are you one hundred percent sure you don't own the ribbon and just...lost it and, I don't know, found it back or anything? Maybe it was just a freakishly real dream. I've had some of those. Oh, there was this one time where I was dreaming about a f--''
''Leila, quiet'', Angie cut her friend off, taking the ribbon from Isabella's hand, inspecting it under the lamp's bright light.
''It's beautiful, isn't it'', whispered Isabella.
''It certainly is'' replied Angie, still looking at it. ''So you said you heard music...well, as we said, we didn't hear anything...but.’’
''But?'' both girls asked her, looking at her curiously.
''Well Leila and I are really deep sleepers, if a plane crashed a block down we wouldn’t have noticed, so maybe you really did hear something?'' she suggested to them.
Leila walked over to the window, sitting on a chair to the side, looking down quietly for any traces of people with killer intentions lurking about. She struggled to stay awake, blinking rapidly as she started dosing off on the window sill.
Isabella leaned back on her chair, deep in thought about what happened, trying to formulate any possible, logical reasons for what happened. Maybe it was just a random nightmare, as Leila suggested, or maybe it was something with a lot more meaningful significance. She personally agreed more with the latter possibility; glance over to the ribbon in Angie's hand, illuminated by the lamp's fluorescent glow.
The girls all looked towards the window of the room, staring out into the dark night in total silence, waiting for the mentioned sound to make its entrance once again. It never did, or at least, not that night.
Joseph woke up with sweat that coated his sleek black hair, dripping down his face and stinging his eyes. That was the weirdest dream ever, he thought, as he clanked about the room for his glasses. Whipping the sweat from his eyes with a corner of the sheets he picked up his glasses and walked over to the sink. He turned the knobs so the water was cool to his face, when he looked up he had no idea what he saw, but I frightened him, he took a step backwards in shock and fell into the tub. It was very late, and he didn’t want to wake his roommate. He got up again, rubbing the back of his head where it had slammed against the wall.
What the Hell, he thought. As he stared at himself in the mirror, his eyes where a dark crimson, the color of wet blood that had just perspired from a break in the skin. He touched his face, I’m so pail. He yawned and rubbed his eyes to try to whip away his tiredness. When he opened his eyes, still yawning he screamed. “Ahh!” Falling backwards into the tub again and slamming his head even harder against the wall. His teeth were strait, and white, the purest white he had ever seen. But they scared him; His k-nines were extended, and cuspidate. He felt them with his finger, and pushed ever so slightly. It drew blood like a sharp razor across the skin. Surprisingly there was no pain, and he sucked his finger to stop the bleeding. As the crimson colored blood lapsed over his tongue, an ecstasy of enjoyment aroused with in him.
His roommate Ryan, awake now, stumbled into the bathroom. “Dude What the Hell, You’re making so much noise. What the frig is the matter with you.” Ryan glanced down at his watch, “It’s two in the morning for god sake.”
“Look at me do I look normal to you?” Joseph lifted himself from the tub a second time.
“Dude it two AM go to bed your just tired, and you know I can barely see as it is. I don’t have my contacts in.”
Ryan pushed his dark greasy brown hair out of his eyes, “Just look…” Joseph said almost begging, staring into Ryan’s pale green eyes.
“Alright, Alright, don’t get all mushy on me, let me get my glasses, I think they’re in my room somewhere, in the night stand I believe.”
“I’ll get ‘em, it’s still dark, you might hurt yourself,” Joseph made his way into Ryan’s room and retrieved the glasses from the drawer. Ryan’s room was extremely organized, along with all his other things. Ryan is a smart kid; he might know what’s going on with me, thought Joseph. “Here they are.”
Ryan rubbed the lenses clean with the teal cleaning cloth he always kept with him. Shifting the frameless glasses into place on his nose, “HOLY SH—, what the hell happened?”
“I have no idea, I just had a dream, and then I woke up, and I heard an electric guitar ballad to a deep church organ, but I was playing the guitar…” he faded off.
“What happened next?” Ryan asked with extreme interest.
“I—I don’t remember…”
“Hey, sounds like you’re tired, why not try to get some rest. Maybe you will remember it in the morning, come on we have to get up in four and a half hours anyway. Try to get some Shut eye.” Ryan made his way to his room.
“Sorry to wake you Ryan, I’ll do that.” But sleeping was the last thing on his mind.
“No problem.” He turned and smiled. “What would I do without you? I mean you make school so much more interesting, anyway Night man, see you in a few hours.”
“Aye, Night.”
Ryan closed his door quietly and dropped in to a deep slumber again.
I can’t go to sleep, not after this. He looked into the mirror again, licking his extended k-nines. They are so odd, and blood, why does it taste so good? He contemplated whether or not to bite his finger again. No! It’s wrong, it’s all wrong! This is a dream I know it, it’s not real. He walked over to the window and sat down on the sill. He looked out at the golden moon, just stared; he picked up his guitar and strummed the pure sound he had heard earlier in his dream. He didn’t have to look down; it flowed out of his heart, through his fingers to his ears. He wrote it down on the staff paper he had on the stand next to him. He walked over to the keyboard, pressed the nine key to set the sound to church organ. Then lowered the volume, and played the eerie song. He wrote it down and collapsed onto the bed. He was in love with her, but who was her, where was she, what made her think of her? He rolled over and stared out the window. “I love you,” he whispered, and fell asleep.
To be Continued...
