10/13/02
A Cruel Twist of Fate
	He lay motionless along the ocean shore. The pale
blue light of a full moon cast an eerie glow onto his thick
and unkempt locks of dark hair and gave his pale skin a
ghostly sheen. His eyes were closed and his mouth was
slightly agape, he would have easily been mistaken for
dead, save for the nearly indistinguishable rise and fall of
his chest. 
	That was how young Arrianne Warner found him late
one evening, sprawled along the sea shore. She had been
out for along the seashore, thinking perhaps the cool ocean
breeze would clear her head of nightmare’s she had an
intense desire to forget, and yet her walk had brought her
back to the very place she wished to disremember, the tomb
of her late cousin, Annabel Lee.
	She and Annabel had not been close growing up, but
for some reason her heart was gravely troubled when the
news of Annabel’s death came to her, a friend and relative
she never truly knew. Her heart was even more deeply
troubled that she found she could not attend the funeral, for
it was on the same day as her wedding, how was she to be
joined in holy bliss with her darling Victor knowing that
her cousin, struck down before she had yet begun to live,
was being laid to rest not four miles away?
	Yet she had done it. She had smiled and said her
vows, for Victor was a stubborn man and though she had
begged and pleaded for him to change the date of their
nuptials, he would not, and she feared that the date of her
wedding would haunt her for the rest of her life.
	So she walked along the ocean, hoping to forget her
troubles, but cruel fate and cold conscience had lead her
back to the place she wished to cast from her memory for
all eternity, and there, oh so very close to Annabel’s tomb,
lay a man. 
	He stirred, ever so slightly, aroused by the presence of
another, and open bloodshot eyes. There standing before
him in a white cotton gown as plain as day, stood his
Annabel Lee, alive and well in all her glory. His breath
caught in his throat, but was it truly her? So many times
before he had thought that he ounce again beheld his love
in the moonlight, only to have her vanish like mist after the
dawn. 
	Wishing to come no closer to him than she already
was, she called out to him, “Good sir, are you all right?” 
	Abruptly he sat straight up, fully awakened by the
thought of ounce again perceiving his love, for although he
had seen her many, many times before in the light of the
moon never had she spoken to him. 
	“My love!” he cried as he sprang up. 
	Startled and frightened Arriane let out a shriek and
stepped back. 
	He advanced towards her, “My love, my Annabel Lee,
do not be afraid it is me, your darling Fredrick.” 
	“You are mad, Sir!” Arrianne’s reply vibrated with
fright, “You are not my love, nor am I Annabel! Annabel
Lee is dead, and has been for more than a fortnight!” With
that she turned and fled. 
	“My darling!” He cried as he gave chase to the
terrified Arrianne. He would not let his love escape, not
again. Not when he was so close to her that he could almost
feel her warm breath on his face and heavenly caress upon
his neck. No, he would not let her escape him again.
	Arrianne ran as if the very demons of hell were biting
her heels. She fled the seashore and crazed man, and flew
through the twisting, winding streets of the town hoping to
lose him. Her dainty footfalls resounded on the
cobblestones and rang out in the silence of the night like
hard bells tolling her escape. 
	Still he pursued her, as she with a speed that only
absolute terror would give one. She raced toward her small
home and threw the door closed behind her, she was safe.
She had escaped the madman, or so she thought.
	Weak with fear she leaned heavily upon the door and
breathed deeply. Suddenly Victor stepped from the
shadows by the hearth.
	“What is wrong?” his strong face was lined with
concern.
	Arianne threw herself into his arms, “Victor! Oh,
Victor my love!” she cried between sobs. “I was chased,
chased by a mad man!”
	“What do you mean, chased?”
	“I went for a walk along the beach, thinking that the
ocean air would clear my head of the horrible nightmares
that still lurked within it. For a time it seemed as if it
helped, and I began to relax. Then I found that my wretched
feet had led me back to the very place where all my
nightmares had come from, the tomb of Annabel! 
	“Lying near the tomb was a man. His hair was dark
and matted and his eyes wild. I called out to him-”
	“If he looked so savage why in the world would call to
him?”
	“I didn’t know! I didn’t know he was insane! When I
first saw him I thought him hurt, or worse dead, so I called
to him to see if he was injured.
	Then he sprang towards me like a demon cat jumping
on its prey, and worse he called me his love, his darling
Annabel!”
	Gently Victor rubbed Arriane’s back and held her
close until her sobs subsided, the he chastised her.
	“My love, you were only dreaming. You were most
likely still likely half asleep as you walked along the shore,
and when you found yourself at your late cousin’s
sepulcher you imagined the whole ordeal out of fear.
What’s more, you should not have been out alone at night!”
	Arianne sighed and gently tilted her face upward
towards Victor, “Perhaps you are right...”
	“I am.” and with that Victor planted a firm kiss on
Arriane’s beautiful lips.
	It was only then they heard someone moving around
outside there home. 
	“What’s that?” Arianne’s voice was ounce again filled
with fear. 
	“Its nothing but the wind.” Victor replied as he pulled
Arriane into a passionate kiss.
	They were locked in that pose when Fredrick found
them, he was not nearly as swift a runner as Arriane, for
she had been spurred by terror, but his mind was set and his
body followed. When he finally found the house into which
she had fled, he took a moment to peer through the
window, still in shock that he should ounce again find his
darling Annabel Lee.
	Yet what he saw shocked him even more, his love, his
darling, wrapped in the arms of another! Hot rage burned
Frederick’s throat and eyes, and his heart felt as if it had
been ripped from his chest and crushed with an anvil. 
	That was Annabel Lee with that man, his Annabel
Lee! 
	The weak grip that he had left on sanity left him
entirely, the anguish was just to much for poor Fredrick.
Without a second thought he cast around for a weapon, he
would show this interloper!
	Snatching a hatchet from a nearby wood pile, Fredrick
charged into the small house. 
	Arriane screamed as cold fear froze her entire body.
	“Unhand her!” and with that Fredrick left the ax struck
Victor, still clutching his beloved, and with one viscous
stroke he cut loose the heads of both lovers.
	It seemed as if time stood still for one long moment,
Victor and Arriane still held each other in a lover’s
embrace. Victor’s face was set in a hard glare, and
Arriane’s mouth was still wide with a scream. The only
difference in this moment was that the air was no longer
pierced with Arriane’s terrified scream, but lay deadly
silent, and a jagged crimson line lay straight across their
neck’s. 
	Frederick’s axe was still raised, when as if slow
motion the heads tumbled to the ground with a sickening
thunk and lay there like two bleeding orbs of death.
Arriane’s mouth was still agape in a cry she would never
complete.
	“Annabel Lee...” her name escaped his lips in almost a
silent whisper, “My darling, my love, my life... my
Annabel.”
	The agony of grief slowly filled Frederick’s body from
head to toe, it seeped into his very bones, and the bitter
taste stung his mouth. 
	“What have I done? What have I done?” Fredrick
slumped to his knees, and with a howl he released all his
anguish and suffering, the indescribable pain of a love lost
not once, but twice. Then, with one deaf movement he
brought the bloodied blade to his throat and made the fatal
slice.
	As darkness came to his eyes, he managed to barely
murmur the last few words that he would ever utter  in this
world, “Goodbye, my Annabel Lee.”