Love and Bloody Roses

Prologue

Molly pulled her coat tighter around her as she walked down the dark street of Los Angeles, she had had to stay late tonight for her jerk of a boss, who was constantly hitting on her, but her pay check was worth it putting up with it, it was very generous for a secretarial position.

When she finally made it home, there were no lights on in the first floor apartment, which was unusual, her roommate Melissa should have been back from work hours ago. Melissa wasn't very sociable, and as a result she rarely went out after dark, despite all the guys she constantly had asking her out. It wasn't that she wasn't beautiful, but she'd had a difficult childhood with only a drunken father to support her and her younger sister, whom she had practically raised by herself.

Shaking her head, she pulled out her key and opened the door to the dark apartment. She had probably just gone to bed early. Closing the door behind her, she locked it and slid the dead bolt securely into place, she then turned on the lights and took off her coat. Tossing it over the couch, she picked up the mail from the small table by the door where Melissa always placed it when she got home from work at Child Services.

Flicking through the mail, she walked into the small kitchenette.

"Bill, bill, junk, bill, junk." Dropping her mail onto the counter top, she filled the cheap electric kettle with water and switched it on. Glancing around the apartment, she noticed that Melissa's door was closed, Melissa didn't often close her door.

Hesitating only a moment, she walked over to the door and knocked gently.

Silence.

"Melissa?" She called through the door.

Silence.

Very slowly she turned the doorknob and opened the door a crack, but she saw only darkness.

"Melissa? Are you asleep?" She opened the door wider to see the bed, and seeing only Melissa's feet, she opened the door completely. "I didn't think you were home for a second there-." She turned on the light and her words nearly choked her.

Melissa was lying on the bed, her lifeless eyes open and staring up at the ceiling. Her skin was pale, her mouth was open in a silent scream and she was drenched in her own blood. Her hands were tied to the headboard of the bed above her and she was wearing nothing but her electric pink underwear, which was now mostly stained red by her blood.

Molly's eyes numbly noted the numerous vases of red roses around the room and finally her eyes shifted to the wall above the bed. A gasp escaped from her lips at the words smeared across the wall in blood.

'Forever mine.'

Molly let out a horror-filled scream before she felt a wave of darkness descend down upon her and the last thing she saw was the floor rushing towards her.