It was just another normal day in Normal Valley, the birds were singing and the sun was shining. A young girl named Rose White was walking back from another long day school, little to her knowledge she was being followed by another girl named Olivia Dawson.
'What does she have that I don't? Toby was supposed to fall in love with me not her and as if that wasn't worse enough, when he asked her out, she completely refused him. That stupid little twit!' Olivia screamed in her head as she followed Rose. What she meant when she asked herself what did Rose have that she didn't, she meant by body wise. Rose was a very pretty looking girl, her wavy black hair fell to her mid-back, she had beautiful jade colored eyes, and her skin was the perfect shade of peach. Olivia, on the other hand, had bleach blond hair that fell to her shoulders, dull blue eyes, and dirty tan skin. Rose had made her way home safely and Olivia had decided that she was going to get rid of Rose by daring her to stay in the old abandoned house, up at the top of the hill.
'It's full-proof…I've heard rumors about a ghost who lives there. Maybe he can scare her away just like he did with the Mayor. Then Toby will be all mine for the taking.' Olivia thought wickedly as she headed back to her own house.
~The next night, at the entrance of the house on the hill~
"You want me to stay here until sunrise?" Rose asked as she tightened her ponytail. Olivia smirked and said in an overly sweet tone,
"Yeah, I was going to check it out myself but then I thought that since you don't want to go to the dance tonight maybe you can stay here instead of being cooped up in your house all night." Rose looked at Olivia, shrugged, walked through the gates with a blanket under her arm, and walked into the foyer of the house. It was very elegant but very dirty; it looked as if it hadn't been used in years. She walked through the halls and tried to look for a room to stay in but she got lost and ended up in a grand ballroom.
'I think it's very beautiful, a little spring cleaning here and there, and it could be back to its normal state. I wonder who lived here…' She thought as she laid her blanket and book on the cloth covered couch that sat near the blazing fireplace. Rose sat on a chair near the couch and opened her book, Romeo and Juliet. She was so absorbed into her book that she didn't see a black shadow come up behind her,
"Is the story of Romeo and Juliet that interesting to you?" came a soft tenor voice. Rose jumped off the couch and swirled around to come face to face with chocolate brown eyes. A young man, dressed in 18th century clothing, stood behind the couch. He had vey pale skin, curly shoulder-length black hair, and amazing eyes. Rose had never seen this man around town; she hasn't even seen him at all.
"Who are you?" She asked, clutching her book to her chest. The man laughed and walked toward the fireplace.
"I'm Maestro Michael and who, may I ask, are you?"
"I'm Rose White."
"No relation to Snow White I suppose?" He asked with a chuckle. Rose giggled a little and blushed but she shook her head.
"No, I'm not related to her. I live with my sister, Carol, She and I have been with each other for awhile but now I'm old enough to stay by myself. Do you live here?" She asked.
Michael shook his head,
"I live here with my family."
"Where are they?"
"They're…asleep. I don't want to wake them up just yet." He explained, as he sat on the couch. Rose giggled and sat on the chair that was next to the little stool. She opened her book and started to read again until she heard Michael giggle. Rose looked back at him and gave him a weird look,
"Why are you giggling like that?" She asked as she set her bookmark in the book. He looked up at her and said in between laughs,
"You are so absorbed in that book…You can't even see the little faces I'm making at you." Rose stuck her tongue out at him and giggled.
"I can't help it if I like the classics like Romeo and Juliet. I love old romance stories like theirs; I sometimes wish I had an awesome love life like theirs." Rose sighed as she held her book closer. Michael looked at her for awhile before he smiled and stood up,
"I'll be right back, Stay right here!" He exclaimed and ran out of the room. Rose was just sat there, looking stupefied, and then the next thing she knew he was right back with a box in his hands and he traded the box for her book.
"Go put this on in the room down the hall, last door on the right, and then come meet me back here." He said rather quickly. She stood up and followed the directions she was told. Once inside the small little bedroom, she opened the box and looked inside. Inside was a beautiful off the shoulder silver and red dress with matching red and silver shoes.
'It's a very pretty dress. 'She thought as she put the dress on, it fell to her knees and curved her slender form. Rose looked at herself in the mirror and almost lost her breath, she looked very beautiful.
'Boy, would Olivia kill me if she saw me in this dress…' Rose thought as she twirled in the front of the full-view mirror.
"You twirl any faster and you might end up crashing into something, little petal." Michael's voice came into the room. Rose stopped twirling and blushed,
"I'm sorry; it's just that I've never seen such a beautiful dress."
"And it fits you so well…You look amazing." Michael smiled. Rose blushed even more and giggled before asking,
"Is there a reason why you have me dressed up like this?" Michael nodded, grabbed her hand and led her down the hall back to the ballroom. Upon entering the ballroom, Rose had to do a double take, the ballroom had been totally redone. The cobwebs had been dusted away, the color was back, and everything was as if it had come out of storybook.
"Michael, its beautiful….but why are you showing me this?" She asked, looking back at him. He smiled at her, bowed like a gentleman, and asked,
"Beautiful Rose, May I have this dance?" She giggled, curtsied back, and nodded. He smiled and led her to the dance floor but then he noticed a frown on his angel's face.
"What is it, Rose?" He asked. She looked at him and sighed,
"We can't dance without music." Michael just smiled, snapped his fingers, and as if by magic, music filled the air and oh, what a beautiful melody it was. Rose looked back at Michael and smiled before taking his open hand and they both started to sway to the music.
(Beauty and the Beast lyrics)
Tale as old as time,
True as it can be
Barely even friends, then somebody bends, unexpectedly
Just a little change
Small to say the least
Both a little scared
Neither one, prepared
Beauty and the Beast
(End Lyrics)
The both of them twirled and twirled around the ballroom, unknown to them that they were being watched by Olivia and Toby from outside.
"I didn't think someone was here, and to make things worse, he's totally hitting on Rose." She hissed under her breath.
"And she looks hot in that dress." Toby marveled at her dress. Olivia looked at him and gasped in horror, her plan hadn't work, not only was Rose looking even more drop-dead beautiful but she was dancing with a man who was totally hot and looked as if he were rich.
"We've got to get Rose away from that guy…He has to be mine and only mine." Olivia growled as she made her way to the front of the house. Toby followed her and looked at her as if she were nuts but then he started to think and he remembered that this was the same man who had terrified his father so horribly that his dad had left town.
"That man has to pay." Toby hissed as he pushed Olivia out of the way and forced the door opened with a bang.
~Inside the ballroom~
The two dancers stopped as soon as they heard the door slam open, the glory of the ballroom soon faded to what it once was, the cobwebs returned, the dust gathered and the color faded. Rose turned to Michael and saw that he had a worried look on his face,
"Michael, what's wrong?" She asked with a timid voice. Michael looked back at her,
"Your friends, Olivia and Toby, are here and they have a very bad intention of hurting the both of us. Rose, I want you to hide behind that pillar and leave everything to me." He whispered to her as he pushed her to a pillar. She ran behind it and waited until it was ok to come out,
"Ok, freakshow, where's Rose?" came Toby's voice from the doorway. Michael turned back to the doorway and saw Olivia and Toby standing there, the looks in their eyes, menacing.
"I know she's here so don't try to play dumb."
Michael glared at them both but didn't say a word to either them, his eyes had gone from a beautiful chocolate brown to jet black and his pale skin had gotten even paler. From her hiding place, Rose looked at the whole scene and couldn't help but feel angry at Olivia,
'She only wants to hurt Michael…Well, I'm not about to let that happen.' She thought furiously.
"I'm right here, Olivia, Leave him alone!" She yelled as she came out from behind her hiding place, her dress skirt twirling around her. Olivia smirked and stepped out from behind Toby,
"I was getting worried about you, Rose, I thought that this creep had eaten out your heart and left you for dead." She said with a disgusting smirk as she spread her arms out in a fake hug, Rose glared at her before she slapped Olivia across the face.
"HE'S NOT A CREEP! YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW HIM!" She screamed at Olivia, Toby grabbed Rose and held her to him, Olivia looked at her with the most hateful glare but said nothing, grabbed something from her purse, ran over to Michael, and rammed a small little knife into his torso.
"NOOO! MICHAEL!" Rose screamed as she thrashed around in Toby's grip, he let go of her as she stepped on his foot and kicked a place she shouldn't have. She ran over to Michael's unmoving form and pushed Olivia away from him, a small trickle of blood fell from the wound that the knife in his chest but the interesting thing was that the wound had already healed and the blood was now gone.
"Rose, it's okay. I'm alright…they can't hurt me." She heard Michael whisper to her, she looked down and saw his smiling face.
"Okay, Rose, now it's your turn." Olivia laughed wickedly as Toby made his way over to them, Rose could feel Michael's anger and was about to move away from Toby's grasp but ended up backing into him. He grabbed her around the neck and pulled her up, he laughed at her face and her attempt to get out of his muscle-bound arm. She clawed at his arm and kicked at him, she was able to get a good kick in when it hit him where the sun don't shine, he let go of her and groaned in pain,
"You little witch! How dare you!" Toby screamed in anger at her, he stood up on his shaky legs and threw a punch her way. His fist made contact with her stomach and she went flying straight into a pillar, Rose fell to the floor with a sound 'thud'. Michael, who was trying to stay low all this time, finally shot up and looked at Rose's unmoving form, Her hair was spread around her as if it were a halo, a trickle of blood spilled from her mouth, and her skin looked even more paler than it did before.
"Rose…no." He whispered, tears pricking the edge of his eyes. Olivia and Toby laughed as he crawled to her side and gently lifted her up,
"Awwww, look at the two little lovebirds…oops, I should have said lovebird." She cackled, sneering at Michael. He carefully laid Rose back down on the floor, stood up with his back turned to them,
"How dare you…."He whispered, angrily
"How dare we what?" Toby asked, mockingly . Michael turned and faced them, Olivia screamed and Toby stood there in shock, His face had been deformed!
"HOW DARE YOU HARM WHAT'S MINE?" He screamed with a demonic voice, an invisible wind made itself known by whipping around Olivia and Toby.
"Are you crazy?" She screamed over the wind, clutching onto Toby. Michael ignored her and shot a blue bolt of lightning at them both, to the normal eye, the lighting went right through them but to the spirit eye…the bolt woke up his family. At first, nothing happened…but after a couple of minutes, the floor began to shake and hands shot up from the ground, clawing at Olivia and Toby. They both started to scream and tried to make a run for it but they failed and ended up falling down onto the floor, the hands grabbed them and started to pull them down into the floor. Their screams soon faded and all that was left was a trickle of their blood and part of Olivia's dress, The wind died down and Michael's face went back to normal. He looked back at Rose's body, walked back over to her, and gently lifted her up to cradle her body to his chest, a tear fell down his cheek as he silently cried,
"I'm so sorry that she put you through this, my little bud. I want you back, please come back." He whispered through his tears. A couple tears fell down on her face, if it hadn't been for the trickle of blood that was flowing out of her mouth, It would have looked like she was asleep but Michael knew better. He carefully lifted her up, bridal-style, and walked her down to the room where she had changed into the dress, he laid her down on the bed and whipped the blood off with the cuff of his sleeve , Michael laid down next to her and pulled her close,
"And so there never was a sadder tale
Than of Juliet and her Romeo." He quoted from the story she had brought. Silence filled the room for a while…until a soft moan brought Michael out of his thoughts, he looked down at Rose and almost jumped for joy, she was starting to wake up. When she woke up fully, she looked up at him and smiled,
"Hey, Michael, where did Olivia and Toby go?" Rose asked with a tilt of her head, Michael's smile shortened a little and he stumbled over his words as he tried to explain that he had just fed them to his family but stopped when he saw Rose giggle.
"You know what happened, don't you?" He asked through his giggles, She just smiled and giggled but nodded her head. Michael laughed right along with her and held her tight, she leaned into his embrace and for the rest of the night they both stayed like that and from then on Michael and Rose were inseparable, she visited him every night and he would sometimes come down to see her. One night, he decided to tell Rose how he truly felt about her and it turns out, she felt the same way. It just goes to show you, whether you're immortal or human, love is never far and it will find you soon.
~The end~