The Black Rose

The Black Rose
A Short Love Story
By: Bobby Moss

                   He was gazing upon the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Long blonde hair, excellent body, great personality, beautiful face. She was the nicest person he had ever met. She was the reason he was currently living as a few days earlier, he had extreme thoughts of suicide. She kept him alive. She had said she loved him. They were to be married soon, even planning children. Upon his way home, the young man spotted a rose bush. It is filled with bright colors of red, orange, white, and pink. He wanted to get the woman he loved a rose to make her happy. He picks up a white one, careful not to get stabbed by the thorns that occupied the outside. He rips it up, takes a pocketknife from his pocket and proceeds to cut the thorns off the thing of beauty. He thought the flower was a thing of beauty because it reminded him of the woman that he declared as the most beautiful thing in the world. Then, he spots the true one that he felt was rightful enough to be given to her. It was the color of the midnight sky with a hint of white, which he believed to be the lighting cracking across the darkness of the night. He pulls the plant out of the ground, hearing the sounds of breaking roots. He cuts the thorns off this as well. He quickly walks home and places them in an antique vase, passed down from his grandmother. Now, it was a true sight of magnificence. The two opposite colors of white and black. His soon to be wife would be pleased, as she loved flowers. Hours pass as rain begins to fall outside. The sound is soothing and he is unable to resist sleep. He falls asleep on the couch. Hours later, he is awoken by the sound of his wife returning home from her job at the real estate agency. She gasps as the sight of the beauty. He stood, wiping the sleep from his eyes. He rubs her shoulders as she rubs his hand. She kisses him, enjoying the surprise and the feeling of his lips on hers. The rest of the night consisted of love-making. The next day, the woman gets up for work. Her attitude changed overnight. She seemed upset about something, though she would not tell him. She stormed out the door, taking only the black rose with her. He was the utmost confused at this point, unable to comprehend what was wrong with her. He too heads off to his job of work, trying to shun away any thoughts of what might be wrong. Was she having an affair with another man? Was she not a good-hearted person? The questions pulse through his mind like bright, blinding lights. Several long hours later, he is returned to his place of home and his love is there. She is still upset, even though she is still clenching the black petals of beauty and night. Thunder rumbles outside. It had been raining many nights now. This seemed to dampen her mood even more. She left the room without a word to her lover. He was still in a state of utter confusion. The night passes with the sound of rain hitting the top of the apartment building, making it harder to stay awake. He sleeps on the couch. The next morning, he is woken by the sound of her screams. Her screams pierced through his dreams and his life was shook. He jolts to his feet, unable to stop. Upon entering the room, he finds her, clutching the rose between her breasts. She is unbreathing. He quickly calls a local hospital. The ambulance is rushed out to the scene. Police escort the man to the hospital. The doctor walks to the man, a grim look on his face and the man knew she was gone. He got on his knees and begged God not to do this to him. Tears trickle down his cheeks. He cups his hands and puts his face into them. The doctor continues to say that the woman was pregnant, with his child. And the child, too, was dead with the mother. The woman of his life, the only reason he was still alive…gone. And his child… How could such a horrible thing happen to such an innocent man? A few days later, he is waiting to bury the body of the beautiful one. The casket is closed. The preacher is quoting various sayings from the Bible. The man is unable to control himself, as he must see her one last time. He opens the casket, wanting to see the beauty once more. He opens it to see her, smiling, a white dress on. In her hands? The black rose. He gasps at the sight of it. It glows a soft white color. The preacher shuts the casket, telling the man he is sorry for his loss. The woman is buried, authorities unable to give a rightful excuse for her death. Did he murder her? The police suspected as much, wanting to pin it on him. When he knew he dared not lay a finger on her beauty. The one thing that stood out in his mind was the rose. She carried it with her everywhere for a few days. She is dead, no one able to give reason for her death. Natural causes? Unlikely. He remembers the rose. He returns to her area of burial, a shovel in hand. He is crying the whole time he is doing this. After strenuous work, he reaches her coffin. He opens it to find the rose gone, vanished. He saw it buried with her and there was no way for it to not be there. Lightning forces him to look up at the ground near by. He spots an object. He closes the coffin and covers the hole with dirt once more. He cries at the sight of the plant. The black rose stands, firmly planted into the ground next to her grave. It is still glowing white. The white streaks on it flashing across the petal exterior, as if to mock him in his saddened state. He gets on his knees and grabs the stalk of the plant. He pulls up with full force, not caring that thorns had already grown back. He screams at the top of his lungs, “What have you done?” No response. “Please. Take me to her. Take me from this place.” A voice behind him catches his attention. “As you wish.” He turns to find a man standing behind him with piercing white eyes. He sticks his hand out to the man. He grabs his throat as he begins to lose breath. The mysterious man closed his hands into a fist and the man falls over next to the rose, chest no longer rising. He smiles and opens his hand. The rose begins to grow inside his palm. Soon, the body is recovered and he too is buried next to her. He took his place in Heaven with her. The beauty and the destruction. It was unbelievable and unstoppable. The Black Rose grows in the distance, not too far away from their graves. It waves manically in the wind. Insanely, maniacal laughter is heard throughout the area. There are more screams in the night. It shows all that even a thing of such beauty can cause much destruction…

The End.

         Thank you for reading. The moral of this story is just as the last sentence states. Even a thing of beauty can cause death and destruction. Love can only take a person too far. It drove the man over the limit and he decided that he wanted to die. The mysterious man gave him his wish and he took his place next to his lover. If you do not know, the mysterious man was the Angel Of Death. The Black Rose was his way of proving to others that beauty is a curse upon the world.