Young Writers Society

Hello! This is my first post on Young Writers Society so I hope you guys enjoy it! This is a short story I wrote for a school project on dialogue practice a few months back but since my library is having a contest for writers I decided to go back to this story and polish up a bit to submit it. This is the polished version and I was hoping to get some criticism on it so It can the best it can be in the contest and to improve my writing! Anyway here's the Story! Hope you enjoy it.

(Edit: I re-edited so it's a little different than the original I posted yesterday)

  A Red Rose, by ToxicAnglerFish

“See you later, Lilly, my love!”

“See you too, Rebecca.”

“Love? And My oh my, how beautiful these red roses are! How they look so soft and vibrant, yet bold and lovely at the same time! How they remind me of the legend of the Red Rose~”

“Hm? Who are you?”

“I'm Rosina, the watcher over the Rose Gardens of Mosswood, you are?”

“I’m Rebecca, I'm just visiting this town with my girlfriend Lilly as part of my summer vacation from work.”

“How lovely Rebecca, welcome to our little town! Anyway, have you seen the roses, their so beautiful, so delicate, so-”

“Oh, Rosina how you keep gushing over those flowers of yours! Sure they are pretty, but there are far more beautiful things like love, weddings-”

“Don’t mean to cut you off Rebecca, but…love isn’t everything, haven’t you heard the Legend of the Red Rose when you came here?”

“The legend of the red rose? Of course not! I just got here to Mosswood and I’m not really into spooky urban legends. Honestly, I rather read love stories or look at pretty dresses.”

“Oh my, everyone in this quaint little town of mine has heard it before! Even outsiders have, shall I tell you dearest Rebecca? You do have a girlfriend and this story might teach you a lesson about love.”

“A love legend? I'm riveted now, but is it creepy Rosina?...”

“I can sense your caution and unease in your tone of voice. To answer your question, well, it really depends on your definition of creepy~”

“Oh Rosina, your giggling is creepy. I think maybe I should just, uh, get going to a different bush-”

“D-Don’t leave! This legend is a tradition and to miss out on it would be devasting to your trip, but especially you…”

“Oh alright, I do have some time to kill off while I pick some roses from here. Go on ahead”

“Thank you. Alright, long ago in this very town there was a young woman named Rosie. The woman was in her early 20s, she was very beautiful. She had a deep red, curly, thick locks of hair that reached her shoulder, pale skin that shined like a porcelain doll and looked as soft as a feather, silver eyes that shined with confidence and showed the mysteriousness yet pureness of her soul, and a silky yet softly green victorian like dress to compliment the rest of her body. She was often complimented for her beauty and grace when she moved or when she talked with her sweet and quiet voice, or her overwhelmingly kind, gentle, forgiving, modest, and humble personality. She was always happy to receive these words of goodwill and kindness but she always loved them from a young man named Joseph. Now Joseph’s appearance isn’t as consistent as Rosie’s since the legend has been told for so many years but people have a general idea that he had black curly hair that shined in the sun, brown eyes that looked kind but also foreboding in a way, somewhat darker skin, and a simple modest outfit. Now Joseph worked as a humble farmer in the town unlike the money rich Rosie but Rosie still loved how sweet Joseph was, she was always swooning over him and constantly talked about him to her friends and family. It was clear she was falling in love with him, so eventually, she walked right up to him and started to talk to him.”

“Oh, how adorable! She must have had so much confidence!” “And, I bet being so beautiful helped break the ice also.”

“They eventually talked and mingled more and started to go out together to extravagant dances and to simple outings to parks, late night walks along the river and lush gardens full of roses where Joseph would give her a beautiful rose to match her beauty every time they went. It was their tradition since they would always go to the rose gardens whenever Joseph wanted to grace Rosie with the opulence of the timeless gesture to his one and only love. One thing leads to another and they eventually got married in the warm sun dipped summer. The wedding was incredibly lovely and breathtakingly gorgeous due to the roses that were hung over the couple when they kissed. the charming yet alluring silk and lace dress Rosie wore. Her simple makeup that complimented her ageless beauty as the sun rays drape across her face. The deep red, soft roses in Rosie’s lush, curly hair almost glowing from the shine of the sea of light from the sun, the peaceful music, the lace tablecloths to complement the gourmet food and the bride’s dress. Just everything about this wedding was considered by some to be the most extravagant, and astounding wedding they would ever see in this town. Everyone wore their fanciest dresses, the most expensive gowns, the most handsome tuxedos. And, don’t get someone back then started on how the bridesmaids looked in their dresses and how magnificent they complimented the wedding dress, It was the talk of the town for years to come. Everyone celebrated their commitment to marriage and living the rest of their lives together in love. As the full day of celebrating their life of what was to come. the couple went into their horse carriage to be carried away to their honeymoon destination at the stroke of dusk. Rosina was so happy to be finally wedded, but Joseph, the newlywed husband had other plans for their marriage, tragic and monstrous plans. Rosie was so overly joyful and happy, she was so deep in love with her husband until that horrible night happened.”

“Horrible night? What happened Rosina?... And why do you look like your about to cry like something bad happened to you?” Y-You can take a break or stop if you need to. And you look awfully like Ro-”

“Oh hush now, and I'm not about to cry, I’ll be fine… the legend is just a sad one that's all Rebecca... Anyway, on the couple's honeymoon as Rosie was in the couples private and quiet room for the night waiting for Joseph, he came into the room and sat down by his darling Rosie but just as she embraced her deceitful husband she suddenly felt a sharp, excruciating pain, in her back. Her eyes grew wide with pain, betrayal, and sorrow, tears began to stream out of her eyes and down her face as she realized her husband was killing her in her most vulnerable moment. Joseph gave her the most depraved, sinister smile she would ever see in her last moments as her breathing slowed down and her eyes begun to close. To be the last thing to see before she left the earth was the person she never truly knew. She soon collapsed in Joseph’s arms as her body went limp as he laughed with their first and last night of being wedded ending on a tragic note. Joseph buried the body by the rose bush that became so familiar to Rosie, the same rose bush that Joseph picked from to show his undying love for her. He frantically cleaned the room once adorned with Rosie’s beautiful soul as to not draw attention to his shameful and monstrous actions.

“The next day he told everyone about what happened, as an accident. He claims Rosie fell down on something sharp in the room, everyone at first chalked it up to an unforeseen and devasting case of bad luck because surely he couldn’t have murdered anyone, let alone his own wife who he so deeply loved and cherished. He was only the town farmer, right? Of course, people gave their sympathy and condolences to the now widowed husband and the grieving family of Rosie. Soon Rosie’s family gave Joseph money from Rosie's inheritance for the funeral and to guarantee he could live a peaceful life the best he could as far as they knew. But eventually, everyone found out about Josephs murdering of the lovely Rosie through rumors and claims that people heard screaming and saw Joseph outside at an odd time of the hour, which eventually led to a confession on Josephs end. He was soon after that executed by decapitation as the whole town watched it, they were all glad since he deserved it in their eyes. People say they often saw Rosie haunt the rose gardens and in older homes that still reside there since that fateful day. Ever since then people say if you receive a rose it's not a sign of love, rather a warning in this town, a warning to be careful of who you decided to commit to as you may not even really know them.”

“Woah Rosina I was on the edge of my seat, that story was super creepy but also super duper cute in the beginning. Especially the wedding, so elegant and luxurious, so- ”

“*Sigh* Well, still I hope you learned an important lesson. Take this single rose I have held onto to… And remember Don’t be like-”

“This rose looks so rotten and dead… where did you get it from?-” Hey, where did you go?-”

“Rebecca, who are you talking to in here? This garden has no one in it!”

“Ah! You scared me by sneaking up right behind me like that. Anyway, I was just talking to Rosina, isn’t the rose garden pretty Lilly?”

“Whos Rosina? I don’t see anyone else here besides us…”

“S-She was right here… now shes went somewhere?... Maybe I was imagining things again…”

“I don’t see anyone… But maybe you did, Anyway, here are some roses I found for you my Rebecca.”

“Thank you very much, Lilly… Say its funny cause the Rosina girl that I thought was here was just telling me about a legend…. about red roses and love…”

“I'm sure the legend isn’t true, let's go get some lunch, my love”

“Your so adorable Lilly, I love you…”

“Yeah, Thanks, Rebbeca, you know I love you too...”

And as they went off with each other holding hands whilst in love, Rosina watched from behind as she had a sad frown on her face, tears rolling down her pale, see-through face. She dreaded knowing she could see a bottle of cyanide in Lilly’s pocket in her pants as Rebbeca and Lilly walked away into the same sun dipped summer day that Rosie died on 200 years ago. As they pass by the same rose bush that Rosie’s eternal slumber is heald with only one of them being in love. Rosina’s only wish is that Rebbeca would see what she could and learn from her story...