The color of the roses looked so vibrant that day, the reddest of hues seemed to fit the scene like they would a white canvas. Then, the skies began to cry as everything went dark without warning. That vibrant red suddenly turned into eyes, each looking down at her with adoration, hatred, obsession,  judgment, and love, she was naked to the world as the darkness began to envelop her. She made no movement and remained still, she thought this was the end and that thought caused her to fill with glee, so much so that her mouth opened wide to laugh, causing the darkness to spill into her esophagus, gagging her and causing her to lose conciseness. Finally, she would be free, finally, she would have peace, finally, she would die.

   The girl's eyes violently opened, and she found herself in the same position she was in before her impromptu nap; on a table and her head the history book she was reading. The girl lifted her head and stood, her balance in shambles as she clumsily shoved the book off the table. Pages splattered on the floor, flying in every direction one of the pages even managed to stick to a nearby jar of water. The girl fumbled about trying to pour a drink into a nearby glass, but, her unsteadiness caused her to knock over the glass and shatter it. She stopped what she was doing and stared at the glass shards, her blank stare and dark circles could almost tell a story of unwillingness and indifference to everything that happened around her. She then, with no hesitation, stepped on the shards. Glass dug into her heels and toes, and with each step, more blood began to seep out. Flesh tore with each step, but, no emotion was shown on her face.

  "You shouldn't do that", a nearby masculine voice urged her, but she ignored it and walked to her bed and laid in a fetal position. Her feet then began to heal as if the damage was being reversed, as painful as it seemed, no scar or blood was to be seen, only new pristine skin.

 "Doesn't that hurt, you should be so careless", the voice kept on as it resonated in front of her. 

   The male voice then soon took form, wavy locks of silver hair fluttered in the incoming wind, and a tall slim frame hunched over her, his featureless face stared at her. The girl kept her blank stare but soon raised her hands to cover her ears. The voice kept on and the girl kept ignoring it.

 "Still reading the same books, hmm, the history of the first Rose Princess is an important thing to study so you shouldn't just let it fall like this. But then again, I think you and I both know that most of what is written here is embellished. When you compare it to the diaries she wrote, there was hardly any love involved, was there? It seems she suffered quite a bit at his hands.", the man's voice was sweet but judgmental as he went through facts and sat at the foot of the girl's bed.

"You see right here in the diary it describes her encounter with the time prince, he made a deal with her, 'Marry me and your lineage will live', I wonder if those were his exact words, she never says what the contract was. When comparing what happened to the history books it makes you wonder who wrote this idealized version, no?". 

     The featureless man then slowly turned to look at the girl, her eyes half open and lined with dark circles, his head tilted to the side and questioned, "Why do you do this, read the same thing over and over, trying to connect and reassess? Is there a pattern, is there a solution you are trying to find...or is it that you are trying to find someone?".

     The girl's eyes twitched, "Is it...the boy with the silver hair", the silver-haired man said with a condescending voice. 

     The girl quickly became enraged and violently threw a book that was lying at her bedside at the man, but, her actions only managed to damage the book as it hit a wall and dispersed. 

     The man was unaffected and thus proceeded to taunt her," What were those words he said before he locked you in here 'Someone will free you from this hell? No, hmm, I can't seem to remember. Can you?".

"Shut up!", the girl pleaded as she curled into a tighter ball.

"To open the lock, offer a pure heart and a mind with no greed, only then will you break the knot and be set free", the man kept going as the girl tried to drown out his voice.

"You're not real! Why don't you go away!" she screamed as she dug her nails into her ears.

"He won't come, no one will ever come for you," he emphasized his every word as if he enjoyed seeing her suffer.

   The girl began to dig deeper into her ears, trying to ignore the voice, but the taunting never seemed to stop. Her memories of the boy then began to flood in as the voice went on, and the longer she stared at him, he seemed to begin to grow eyes. Red, those eyes she always saw in her dreams...the ones that always showed her compassion and let her finally know peace, her head began to hurt. Strange images started to flow and she finally heard the rain coming from a window. She felt her pulse race as her breathing became shallow, she panicked as her limbs lost all feeling and she keeled over onto the floor. 

     She tried to reach towards the silver-haired man in front of her, wide-eyed and in pain" Help me, please!", her eyes pleaded as rose vines began to grow and coil around her like snakes. The thorns dug into her skin and recently healed feet, the man only kneeled and stared at her as she began to pass out from the pain, and then before her, a flower started to grow, a Datura. She hungrily tore it from the ground and inhaled the pollen deeply into her lungs, her eyes were in a craze, her pupils grew, and then a calmness started to radiate from her. Her world seemed to stop and a warm sensation was in her head, a numbness. Her vines then began to bloom beautiful rainbow-colored roses as they surrounded her room. The man finally stood and walked to a nearby windowsill and sat, he looked at the rain and tears started to fall.

 "All the pain you feel, I feel...all the happiness I will ever encounter I will give to you...I look like him, don't I? When we think of him, these words come to mind, then...we find ourselves asking the same question. Who was he? ...Why did he do this?... Why do we love him so much?" the silver-haired man said as he looked back at the girl one last time," Devils trumpet, the Datura...he used it too, you know, the day he locked us in here", The silver-haired man turned his back to the girl and with a final sigh, he was gone.

The girl began to pick herself up, she was still unsteady and wobbled to the windowsill. The girl sat and looked at the rain, her mind wandered as memories of childhood came to her, her mother's crazed eyes, her father's cold gaze as he sent her away, but that boy was the cruelest, false hope and broken dreams are all that was given and all that was left. The girl slowly closed her eyes and imagined her roses in full bloom, forever beautiful and forever here, just like her. Then, as her mind fell at ease, she heard a knock on the door.