Cassandra's Curse

<st1lace w:st="on"><st1 ="">[FONT=&quot]Wildwood[/FONT]</st1>[FONT=&quot]<st1 =""> Castle</st1>[/FONT]</st1lace>[FONT=&quot] had always been a happy household. Never had a royal family seemed so incredibly jovial. They possessed every luxury one could think of, and the education available for the entire family was more extraordinary than that of the best institutions in the country.<o></o>[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Every floor of this mansion was arranged in such a way that it reflected its residing courtier’s personality. The first floor was lavished in elegant purple. No one, however resided on this floor, for this was the main floor where the royal family ate and where all of their visitors awed conspicuously. The second floor was green. This was the floor which the King and Queen resided on; no one else saw this floor, but the King, Queen, servants, and Cassandra. <o></o>[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Cassandra was the young daughter of the King and Queen; she was the princess of this castle; and she lived on the third floor. This floor was perhaps the most grotesque of them all; it was furnished in black. The walls were black, sheets on the bed were black, and the bed was made of a dark mahogany, which made it look black, also. The only things on this floor that where not black, were the floors and ceilings, for they were made of mirrors. No one knew this, for no one ever went to the third floor, not even the servants. Therefore, everyone thought that Cassandra was a happy young girl, but really, Cassandra was hurting inside. Since before she could remember, Cassandra had a curse. She was cursed to see the true side of everyone that she meets. Some would say that this would be a blessing, but to Cassandra, it was a curse, because Cassandra lived in seclusion from the entire world except for her royal family. And, as many royal families are, hers was horrible and greedy. They always reached for more riches and luxuries, and they did not truly rule anything, for they were too busy worried about what will next work in their favor.<o></o>[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]So Cassandra went through her days in horrible and lonely pain, because no one understood her, or who she was, or even wanted to for that matter. Her only comfort was her reflection, which would follow her everywhere and be with her always. She was her only companion. <o></o>[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]On Cassandra’s seventeenth birthday, the King and Queen held a massive ball. The ball was held on the first floor, with purple and white furnishings and the elegant chinaware lay daintily across the long tables. The ballroom was crowded with royalty. Each of the young men wanted to dance with her, and from what Cassandra had gathered, she had to give them each a dance before the end of the night. As she did so, she noticed that they were all the same, rich, and flamboyant men, who were taught to love their money at a young age; none were different from her family. <o></o>[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] After dancing many dances Cassandra went, alone to a corner of the room. As she sat there her mind began to swim, “Why are people this way? Why was I put into this world to suffer the torture of this ignorance?”<o></o>[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Soon tears began to flow, as she wondered desperately how to escape this part and this life. Then she noticed something; a dark flash across the room. As she glanced in that direction, she noticed that it was a bird, but not just any bird; it was a raven. The raven swooped around the heads of the people; no one ducked or even pretended to notice the bird’s presence. Cassandra was the only one to take notice of this magnificent bird. The raven seemed to be swooping in desperation for Cassandra’s attention. He then flew immediately to the door and out into the courtyard, it was as though he wanted her to follow him. With great curiosity, she left the party. Cassandra followed the raven out the doors. As soon as the young girl reached the outside, she received an overwhelming feeling. It was as though everything that she ever wanted was right there, following this bird, this raven. She continued to follow him through the courtyard and into an unknown area of the land. In this area the grass was not kept and the trees were not taken care of. Cassandra felt welcome. However, the raven continued to fly. He flew until Cassandra realized that they were no longer in the courtyard, or even on the castle grounds. She found herself in the midst of dead trees and dying grass. She felt at home. She did not want to go back to the life of luxury. She felt complete. In the distance, Cassandra saw the bird, and with all of her excitement, she began to run.<o></o>[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]The trees were unending, and after running for quite some time Cassandra could no longer see the wall surrounding the castle. By this time she had lost sight of the raven, but she continued to run because she felt complete for once in her life and she wanted desperately for this to last forever.<o></o>[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Then, all at once, it felt as though something came from out of the ground and grabbed her by the ankle. It dragged her down, hard, and she could not catch herself. Cassandra then felt something cold against her hard skull, it felt as though it cracked her skull in two. Cassandra’s eyes, then, glazed over as she drifted off into a sleep.<o></o>[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]In the distance Cassandra saw the raven. He was huge and black and his wings looked as if they were made of silk. He swooped gracefully down from the sky and as he came down next to the princess he seemed to turn almost human. His raven body transformed ever so slowly into that of a human and his feathers slowly went away. The man was tall. He was dressed in all black from head to toe, even his hair was black. She could see who he was and Cassandra noticed something familiar about him, even though she had never been outside the castle before and what she saw was different than anything that she had ever seen before. She could see in his eyes that his purpose was never questioned and the material world meant nothing to him. As she studied this new mysterious being he put his arms underneath her; one in the bend of her knees and one behind her back and he, carefully, picked her up. Then, slowly, he spread his amazing, silk raven wings, and glided up into the clouds. It was then that Cassandra found her place, forevermore.<o></o>[/FONT]

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