April 22, 2032
Rose stood in front of the mirror admiring herself. She knew that she was pretty even though she acted modest when people complimented her. She had removed the makeup and still looked pretty but completely different from the beauty she was with it. She removed the purple contact lenses that she wore and gently put it away with the rest she had.
Rose had had an extremely boring life in the Freelands for a while now. She had been an actress previously in theatre in the nearby town. She had had great dreams to one day become a famous actress. She had the talent for it and the looks. That was what her acting teacher told her as well and sure enough, their theatre had become famous in the Freelands. Folk from all over the land came to watch the plays in which she had a starring role. Everyone loved her, even her parents supported her, and she could never have been happier.
But a few years ago, during one of the plays, an unfortunate incident occurred. One of Billy the Kid's Enforcers had become extremely drunk and ended up in a brawl with another drunk. That had led to a shootout which had turned into a massacre.
Rose still remembered that night. She had been on stage when the shooting had occurred. The sounds of the gunfire had startled her and she had luckily fallen off the stage. She had spent the whole time huddled in a corner behind a toppled table, her arms around her knees clinging to herself.
Most of the actors had died including her teacher. She hadn't had to see any of the corpses because she had fallen unconscious somewhere during the massacre. The theatre had then closed down and just like that, Rose's dreams had been dashed. She had tried to get her rich father to fund the opening of another theatre but he had been against it. There was no way he was going to risk his only daughter's life again.
But he didn't understand. Theatre had been her passion, her obsession. It had been like a drug to her and without it, she felt she steadily started to go crazy. She longed to act out the fantasies in her head which only multiplied as time went by. She began to dress like characters she saw in books and movies but it was not enough. She could not act out her fantasies alone. She need others to act it out with her.
Rose had found various people to act out her fantasies with. Some she found at school, some she found among her friends and some were complete strangers. Most of them were usually completely oblivious to it not realizing that they were just actors in the stage of Rose's mind while some did it against their wishes. Rose had her ways.
She would either seduce, trick or blackmail them to do her bidding. Boys were easy enough to seduce with her looks and charm. Girls too of which most would want to become friends with her for her status or her money. But if none of that worked, then she had to resort to blackmail.
It had happened following the weeks after the incident at the theatre. Her parents had argued a lot back in those days because of the concern for Rose's safety and it drove her mad. At times, she would escape into the dark closet and sit in the corner.
The darkness was satisfying which was funny because she had always been afraid of the dark. But she had befriended it then. It kept away the world and all its piercing noises. It also kept away the demons inside of her head.
But in one of her escapes, something had happened. She had sat in the corner like she always did when someone had entered the closet. From the light outside, she had ascertained it was the butler who had not noticed her hiding in the closet. She did not give away her position because she did not want to be embarrassed. She hoped he would leave when she realized what was going on.
The butler had removed a bunch of boxes quietly that lay against a section of the wall. She realized there was a hole through which light streamed through. The butler looked through it and Rose could not understand why. Then the realization hit her. The room at that section of the wall was her parents' bedroom.
Then she heard the sound of unzipping. She could make out his face from the light that shone through the hole. There was a sick grin on his face. His hand was holding something between his legs and she heard the wet thunking sound that came from it.
Rose knew what he was doing. Her parents had gone to bed and he was watching them… The thought made her sick and she struggled to control herself gagging. She had never even imagined her parents like that and now there was an uninvited guest watching them. She closed her eyes and wanted it to end but the sound did not stop. His breathing also became ragged and intense finally rising to a climax when he was done.
He left the closet and so did Rose. She never went into the closet again.
But she had something she could use against the butler. She had never really realized she had blackmailed him. She had sent him a letter of how she would reveal his deeds to her parents after he had refused to take her outside because of her parents' strict orders. She had done it in anger and frustration because she had wanted to meet one of the boys in her class behind the saloon.
But he had conformed to her wishes. So, became the day when she started using people's secrets against them to fulfill her fantasies. It had worked out well and she knew it would work out with Michael too. Hell, she didn't even need to blackmail him. He was already swooning over her and had played the parts of the story well without even knowing. He even fit the character of the story perfectly. That had been a first in all her adventures. Maybe it could really work out between us.
She laughed at the thought.
She would use him and throw him away just like the others.