Her Red Dress

“You haven’t the slightest idea what went on that whimsical night! She was a dazzling sight for my sore eyes! Why… one could even say she was refreshing in her looks!

Now... you may think me demented... but that is all... all but true. For I am not one to... well… keep someone captive, as you higher powers might think. Though I wasn’t doing so! I was simply… simply… creating a show! Yes... yes... a show for my entertainment! Something no other could possibly begin to comprehend.

“If you do truly desire to know the story, constable, I shall tell you it fully with extensive detail.

“November is a season for celebration, for it holds winter, and winter is a time for recognition. Now, all the while this is happening, people buy gifts for their beloved. For this is why I have the berth I chose. Now… There comes this man a couple days... for one month each winter season... to pick out a little doll for his sweet, precious daughter. He must find the perfect one each and every time, for he loved his little girl dearly and wanted only the best for her. Hours and hours and hours and hours that he spends in this tiny shop of mine each year just browsing and examining and touching. He’s truly a sweet older man, and a wealthy one at that.

My dolls were always the most luxurious. Some of the best, you might say. Lined with the finest silk and made from the strongest wood, painted with that of oils and natural dyes.

“He wore a black topper and used a shiny brass cane, and a fine suit and a silver watch on his left wrist. He always looked well rested. Bending over to examine the dolls, I would watch him in a daze and smile ever so slightly, as he was very handsome. His black pants a little loose at the bottom, his overcoat sitting atop his shoulders, his bright green eyes staring so deeply into mine as I asked him if he desired any help choosing which one would most suit his daughter.

The light shone through the drapes and glimmered onto his face. Not a single wrinkle had grown onto his beautifully treated, pale skin. It was the color of a freshly baked cake, and his blonde hair looking as it as well; I felt a bit woozy whenever I looked directly at him. I had a secret liking for this man, but he had not a clue of my feelings.

“Hour after hour, day after morrow, I’d keep myself watching, and watching, and watching as my feelings grew to a depth each time. But one day, one indescribable day, he brought a woman. Not just a woman a local would find at a pub, no… oh no… he had found her five years back and this day, they were celebrating their wedded ‘bliss’.

“I knew not what to say! She was a beauty, so much of that it disgusted me. She possessed green eyes also and red hair. Her tall thin body appeared smooth and fair, and paired quite well with her red cloth dress; as it went down to her heels and tied up in the back. I was in exasperation! My head was steaming and my face had gone red! I wanted to rid the lady from existence!

“The very next day, when the man came into my shop, I led him to the back where my finest dolls were. He looked around, nodding his head, as the dolls seemed to satisfy his taste. The room was wooden, as it was just for a few pricey dolls. Under the cotton rug, there was a door. It led to the basement of the shop, though, the basement had been one of an old church. Dirt floors, chairs in each corner of the room, no light but of a candle, it frightened anyone who entered, but I seem to enjoy that feeling.

I slowly crept out and shut the door as soundly as I could, locking it behind me as I giggled quietly. I was to save him. He will no longer be in captivity of the mistress that so devilishly controlled him. For he will soon be in my care, and will enjoy every bit of it!

“I took the backway into the basement to find him there. From the trap door, there was no other way back into the wooden room, as there were no stairs and the door I had taken locked, from the doors, at the outside of the shop.

“He was trapped. It took just an hour, and what seemed to be an instant, the mistress of the man I loved came running into the shop. “Where is he? He should’ve returned home by now!”

Down in the basement, He was banging on the door and throwing the chairs around. Screams rang through my ears as he cried for help. Beautiful screams of the man I loved. Oh how wonderful it had been to torture the wife and keep him for myself. We were so happy! Though the Mistress would never hear, as I couldn’t even hear myself unless I wandered to the back room. I would feed him soup, we would have our moments of passion, I would bathe him in warm water…

The mistress would come to the shop every day looking for him for about a week. The stories I would tell her, the look on her face!! She had an understanding that he was dead! That ridiculous woman, why did he marry her?

But you… YOU TOOK HIM FROM ME AND BROUGHT HIM TO HER. Now he shall be forever tortured because of you damn officers. I did not do ANYTHING wrong. I was freeing him. Freeing him from that witch. And you aren’t going to do anything about it, for if you do so dare to hurt me, I will cut you up as I did the mistress!