SKIN
BEWARE! For the story I am about to tell, is the most terrifying story about love you will ever hear. The time was July 25, 1818. We begin our story on a poor farm, where a young boy by the name of Alfred Jones lives with his mother, father, and twin brother. He had been proposed to by almost every man in his little village, but he had turned down every offer. One day, a strange traveler by the name of Arthur Kinderland came to town. Arthur was a thief, who stole from all the merchants in the village, and hid in Alfred's barn.
The next day, Alfred goes in the barn to milk the cow, when he sees him. At first, he is startled, but they begin to talk. Alfred realizes that Arthur is a gentle man, who has had a hard life. He keeps him hidden in the barn for a few days until it is safe for him to leave. Within time, they fall in love. Arthur told Alfred that he would get a job and earn honest money to buy them a suitable place to live, and then he would come back to marry him. He left the next day.
A great nobleman by the name of Ivan Braginsky had set his eyes on Alfred. A year had passed and Arthur still had not come back. Ivan forced Alfred to marry him. His guards found Arthur two villages away, and captured him. When Ivan went to see Arthur, he said" I married Alfred. I will tell him that you are alive, and if he loves you, I will be a gentleman and give him an annulment. The two of you can then live happily every after for the rest of your lives. But, if he doesn't love you, I will let you go, and he will remain mine." With that he left. Arthur didn't realize that it was a lie. Ivan never told Alfred that he had found Arthur. Ivan came back the next day and said, "Alfred said to let you go, and he seems happy to stay with me." Then with a gust of rage, Arthur screamed, "Just kill me! Please! There is no reason for me in this world without Alfred!" And, with those words, his soul was gone. The guards burned his body to ashes.
Six months had passed, and Alfred's mother was dying. He went back home to say his last goodbye. His mother died that same night. Alfred started to walk to the carriage awaiting him, when fire surrounded him and he heard a man's voice. The voice said, "What's the hurry, my love, can't you stay a while?" He knew it was Arthur. He screamed, "Arthur, I knew. I just knew it. You are alive, my love!" He ran towards him, and they both vanished.
That night, Ivan awoke from his sleep and felt something lying next to him. He looked over and pulled off the covers. He saw Alfred's body, but he was dead. There was no skin left on his body. He heard something at the door and ran outside. There was Arthur's dead body pinned to the door by a knife through his heart. In his hands was what he thought was a piece of cloth folded up, but it was Alfred's skin. On the door, written in blood, were the words, "You shouldn't take things that are not yours". For you see, Ivan only loved Alfred for how he looked, but Arthur loved him for what was on the inside. Arthur took what Ivan loved most about Alfred.
This is my first story so please go easy on me but do tell me what you think