Thank you to Hithere, Dirtkid123, LRW, daphrose, thewriterswayoflife, and ShadowDragon1553 for the reviews!
Alright, just a quick note: you guys will probably notice that I'm not going through the prompts by order of which one was submitted first, and I just wanted to say that it's not because I'm prioritizing them by favorites or anything like that. I'm just making sure that there's a variation on the featured characters so everybody would get a chance to see their favorites in action. :)
Today's prompt was submitted by a guest, and they asked for a story that deals with the betrayal Bree may have felt after Sebastian turned against her and her family. Thanks for the prompt, and I hope this is what you had in mind!
Onto day twelve!
/day twelve/
Prompt: (from Guest) betrayal
Featured LR Character: Bree
"Scarlet"
He shattered her heart, and all she was left with are traces of what could have been.
It seemed like a trick at first, as if she was suspended in a moment of unreality, looking on as the world around her crumbled back to the ground just as when they had begun rebuilding again. The hatred in his eyes was so deep that she was left wondering if it was just a mask. He was so angry, so indignant, so bent on setting matters that he misunderstood that the line between truth and lie was blurred because she wanted to believe that the boy that stood before her wasn't the same one that smiled and complimented her every day.
This wasn't the boy she was slowly starting to fall for.
It couldn't be.
Just several days ago, he was different. He was friendly, pleasant, and sweet. He was thrust into the position of parent figure, or at least leader, for his siblings, and he gladly took it because he deeply cared about them. These qualities that she had seen in him made it easier for her to think well of him, and when he started showing admiration towards her, it made it all the harder not to feel the same.
He was very responsible towards his siblings, and he stood up for what he believed in.
Now, she was beginning to realize that that good had worked against her. Against both of them, really.
What was more difficult for her to understand was how quick he had turned around to work in opposition to them. He immediately judged them to be malevolent even when he didn't see the whole picture. He bit the hands that fed him, the hands that offered him and his family new lives, shelter, and the opportunity to live according to their own choices, with no regret. He had even gone as far as harming the source of those good things, her father, in the name of what he thought was rightful vengeance.
This couldn't be the boy who, just days ago, was grateful for everything he had been given and who had been more than willing to accept the chance to help other people.
He couldn't have been.
However, she was beginning to realize that her attempt to deny what lied in front of her wouldn't change the truth. This boy who had manipulated her younger brother was the same boy who had expressed a willingness to set aside their differences so they could learn how to get along better. This stranger who had instructed her own siblings to commit his own murderous thoughts upon her youngest brother was the same newfound friend who had saved him from certain death not too long ago. This boy who was set to destroy her, destroy her entire family, was the same one who constantly told her she was beautiful and who made her feel important.
This was that same person, no matter how fictitious it appeared.
Maybe it was for the better that she discovered this side of him sooner. It was frightening to think how volatile his temperament really was. One half-explained story, and he had taken off making his own conclusions and even going as far as this. Maybe he wasn't as kind and patient as she had thought he was. Worse yet, maybe all the good that she had seen and come to like in him wasn't true. Maybe it was all part of a plan.
And maybe, just maybe, getting her emotions involved had been one of the keys in it.
This thought delivered a blow that punctured and cracked her heart. He attached strings all around her, and she did exactly what he wanted without questioning because her faulty perception of him blinded her. Even now, she still held in her heart the hope that he would be different from the others who had left her. She wanted so badly for him to come to his senses and to ask for forgiveness, because she would be more than willing to give that to him, but she knew deep down that this was not to be. Reality is not a fairytale, and he wasn't a story of repentance and redemption.
One by one, as she and her brothers fought, the binds he had cast on her fell, each step to understanding who he was serving as a sharp blade to cut those off. When he and his siblings were sent away for good, the last string was snapped.
Again, she felt as if she was falling, but she knew there was no one to catch her this time.
She landed with a loud crash that night, when the evening was well along and the world was asleep. The impact shattered her, and it ruptured her heart so violently that she was left in tears. The hopefulness and disappointment and anger and desire were all too muddled together that she couldn't even begin to figure out which piece of her she should pick up first. She tried whichever seemed easier, but she soon came to find out that all of them only cut her deeper and that she wasn't strong enough to restart yet.
She liked him. She really did.
Though it was hard, she slowly tore herself apart from the wreckage all around her. Her mother had told her on her first heartbreak that scars heal, but for those to do so they have to be left alone. So that was what she would do. She would endure the pain while letting time close her wounds. She could only get stronger from this after all, and maybe next time things would be different.
Most importantly, she would let go, because even if she liked him, even if she still wished that things would have played out differently, she loved herself more. Her story hadn't ended yet, and she deserved the opportunity to turn the page and start on a better chapter.
Reviews are appreciated! Also, about the note about prompts I had posted a while back, I checked, and I have enough now. Thank you so much for everybody who submitted! For those who may want to submit one, I'm sorry! Maybe hold onto them for a while. I may be doing this challenge again sometime between December and February. :)
