Crimson Descent

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In the heart of a small, forgotten town, there was a legend whispered only in shadows—of a bride who never found her happily ever after.

Her name was Margot. She was beautiful, fierce, and deeply in love. But it wasn’t a man who had captured her heart; it was a woman, Elise. In a time when love between two women was a secret best kept hidden, Margot and Elise promised each other eternity. They would meet in secret, sharing stolen moments under the cover of night, dreaming of a future where they could be together openly.

But one night, everything changed.

On the eve of their secret wedding, as Margot waited for Elise in the moonlit woods where they always met, Elise never came. Instead, a group of men—men who had discovered their forbidden love—dragged Elise to the riverbank, where they beat her, shamed her, and drowned her in the icy waters. The men left her body in the shallows as a warning to anyone who dared defy their moral code.

When Margot found Elise’s lifeless body the next morning, her heart shattered. Grief twisted into rage, a burning fire that consumed her entirely. She gathered Elise in her arms, her white wedding dress soaked in blood and river water, and vowed revenge. She would make those men pay.

But Margot didn’t just want them dead—she wanted them to suffer.

It started with whispers. The men who had killed Elise began seeing things: flashes of a pale, ghostly figure in a bloodstained wedding gown, wandering the streets at night. They heard soft sobbing in the wind, growing louder and more frantic with each passing day. It wasn’t long before one of the men—Harlan, the ringleader—woke to the sound of footsteps outside his door.

He rose from his bed, his heart pounding. As he crept to the window, he saw her. Margot, her face pale as the moon, stood at the edge of his yard, her once-beautiful wedding dress drenched in blood. Her eyes were black pits, hollow and lifeless, but her mouth twisted into a vicious, knowing smile.

“Come to me,” she whispered, her voice soft as silk but filled with venom. “I want you to feel what she felt.”

Harlan froze, terror gripping him. But before he could move, Margot’s figure vanished into the night.

The next morning, Harlan was found dead, his body hanging from a tree by the river. His eyes were wide open, his mouth twisted in a silent scream, and carved deep into his chest were the words: "For Elise."

One by one, the men who had taken Elise’s life fell victim to Margot’s wrath. They were found in gruesome ways—drowned, beaten, torn apart by unseen forces. But it wasn’t just their bodies that Margot claimed. She went after their families, their lovers, and anyone who had turned a blind eye to the cruelty that took Elise from her.

Each time, she left the same message carved into the flesh of her victims: "For Elise."

But Margot’s vengeance didn’t stop with those men. It spread like a disease, seeping into the very ground of the town. Anyone who dared speak ill of her and Elise, anyone who looked upon their love with hate or disdain, found themselves haunted by the ghostly bride.

They would see her in mirrors, her bloodied face reflected back at them when they least expected it. They would feel her cold breath on their necks as they lay in bed at night, hear her whisper Elise’s name in the wind, calling out to them. And when they looked out their windows, they would see Margot, standing in the distance, waiting.

Always waiting.

Generations passed, but the story of Margot and Elise never faded. It became more than just a legend—it became a curse. Young lovers who found themselves too afraid to express their truth, too afraid to love openly, would hear Margot’s voice calling to them, offering her protection.

And if anyone dared hurt them—if anyone dared to judge or shame them—Margot would appear, her ghostly figure lurking in the dark, her dress soaked in fresh blood.

It is said that on certain nights, when the air is thick with mist, you can still hear the cries of Elise by the river. And if you ever wrong someone for loving who they love, Margot will come for you.

She always does.

In the end, she’ll find you. And when she does, you’ll hear the same words whispered in your ear, cold and vengeful: “For Elise.”

The End.