Red Revenge

“I was given a gift, and I used it wisely,” she said to herself. She had always wondered why she was immune to the Red Death, but then she realized her destiny—to bring an end to the tyrant prince’s rule. Now, she had a plan, and she would execute it.

She was revenge. She was justice. She was a patriot.



Two figures stood in a small, dark passage full of the stench of death. One was a girl, about eighteen years of age, her hair in braids and garbed in a simple tunic. “Thank you for helping the Cause, Samuel,” the girl whispered.

The other was a man, breathing heavily, with blood covering his face and arms. “I am glad to spend my last minutes nobly,” he rasped in reply as they made their way down the corridor.

The girl stopped suddenly, holding one hand out and running it along the brick wall. Within a moment, she stopped. Smirking, she pressed the wall gently. It turned slowly around and she beckoned the man to follow her inside.

Bright lights and music met them as they entered the Abbey. It was decorated in gay colors and dramatic tapestries, and the masked dancers swung lazily to and fro as the music slowed and halted in time for the clock.

DONG. DONG. DONG. DONG. She turned and whispered to Samuel, “It’s time. Thank you again.”

He nodded. “The town is grateful to you, Alessa.”

DONG. “More to you, Samuel. My fate is to bring vengeance, yours is to be the hero.”

He smiled weakly before slowly moving through the throngs of people.

DONG. DONG. DONG. DONG. DONG. The girl donned her mask, painted with a foreign symbol for Vengeance, and melted into the crowd as Samuel roamed the halls, gathering the stares of the guests.

DONG. DONG. As the clock completed its chiming, Samuel continued to travel through the bright chambers. The Prince and his court stared as he turned and moved through them again.

“Who dares?” the Prince Prospero howled suddenly, causing the girl to smirk. “Who dares insult us with this blasphemous mockery? Seize him and unmask him—that we may know whom we must hang from the battlements at sunrise!”

But no one made a move- no one but the imposter girl, who made her way towards the Prince defiantly. “Who is this who defies the Prince?” he roared.

“Vengeance for the people. My given name is Alessa,” she told him. His face contorted with rage and he turned around, storming towards Samuel. As the man turned around, however, he froze. With a strangled gasp, he fell to the ground. A pause, then came the screams. The horror of the dancers surrounded Alessa as they ran.

“Look at me! Look at me in the eyes!” she cried. “Look at the one who brought about your destruction!” But as they did, all they saw was their own anguished faces. In the place on her mask where the eyes should be were two mirrors. They lost all life in the black and scarlet room. The stench of blood was stronger now. The music died. The light dimmed.

Alessa would set on her return to the city. She would bring the good news—

But Vengeance fell.