AN: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, situations, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

So…hopefully this doesn't suck. I know it's short, but it's just the prologue. Other chapters will be posted soon.

The Dream

I hear the soft call of the birds outside on the beautiful spring day. The air is filled with the sights and smells of the jazz age of New Orleans. I can distinctly hear a light saxophone playing, and the buzz of people talking and walking. A warm breeze fills the room of the boudoir, and the sun shines through the window making me feel…

…absolutely nothing.

I am numb. My face. My body. My own sense of self is completely numb. I am unfeeling, finally, after days and days of crying. The scratch of the sheets beneath my cheek does little to comfort me. The sharp edges of the paper in my hand is now reduced to nothing more than a crumpled hope. A dreaded feeling that has now come to fruition.

Dear Ms. Stone,

It is with our greatest pleasure that we invite you to attend the wedding ceremony between Ms. Caroline Evanscell and Mr. Robert Leroux. The ceremony will be held at the—

I squeeze my eyes tighter, refusing to let more tears spill. I will not cry any longer. I do not care anymore for them. For him. This stabbing feeling of utter loneliness will pass, just like the last time…and the time before that.

The laughter of small children tears me from my mourning, and it is with the deepest of sighs, I heave myself from my bed and walk towards the window. Looking down from my sill, I see two little girls playing down the street with some chalk. They giggle and whisper to each other, confessing darkest secrets and forging a bond that will last a lifetime. They are happy, here in this world. Their lives are uncomplicated and simple. They have never known the feeling of love, of heartbreak. Never experienced the sorrow of a love lost. Or worse, still, the knowledge that their love has found someone else. Someone better. But they will, soon enough. It is inevitable.

I turn back and look around my room. Clothes are scattered haphazardly. My chair and desk is overturned, and my small vanity mirror has been shattered. Jagged pieces litter the floor in little, tiny pieces. As the sunlight hits the pieces, it sends prisms glistening all around my room. I feel like I am surrounded by tiny fairies dancing all around me. Shiny, beautiful fairies who are happy and free to do as they wish.

I want to join them.

I want to be free of this, of my body. I want to fly away and never look back. I want to forget that I ever lived here, that I ever met and fell in love with Robert Leroux. I want to forget that I ever saw him introduce to me his blushing bride, Caroline.

And I can. I will.

Smiling, for what seems like the first time in years, I walk slowly towards my mirror. I ignore the glass pieces cutting into my bare feet, instead I welcome the pain. It gives me a new sense of determination. I reach my destroyed vanity and find a big, jagged piece that lay unceremoniously on the floor. I pick it up and handle it delicately, gently. The reflection catches my eye and for a moment, I see myself. I see a sad, desperate creature of darkness that has given up on life. On happiness.

On hope.

I walk towards my bed and lay back down, still smiling in my decision. I no longer want to be here. I wish to fly, like the fairies that glisten around me. I look once more towards the walls of my room, and I swear I saw one move. It almost seems like a sign. An omen, telling me that this is the only way I can be free. The only way I will ever be happy, and that I never have to return here again.

It is not until my vision grows darker that I look down and see the large, gaping wound in my left wrist. Bright red rubies pour from the laceration, shining beautifully in the last fading rays of sunset. And as my vision grows darker, and my feeling of the world around me slips further and further into oblivion, a brilliant flash of white invades my senses.

"NO!"