Last Duchess - Re-Written

My Dearest Love

If, by some misfortune you should be reading this, it is proof that I am no longer with you.
I wish for you to remember me, but not to pine over me. Remember me but move on all the same. Though our time we had together was brief I cherish it beyond anything and would not wish to replace it for any other.
We both knew from the beginning what the ending would be and we both went in to the relationship with full-hearted commitment.
I am the outmost proud as to call you my husband. If I am to leave the world in such a way I am glad that to be your wife shall be my last venture. My only regret is the amount of time I cannot be with you. If I had but one wish left in the world it would be to spend more time with you my darling.
You have truly been my prince upon the white horse and made my final days upon this earth the best a lady can ask for.
I remember the day I met you in the gardens. It had been just an ordinary day for me, but you made it into the best day of my life. I will always remember you from that day, the way you walked up briskly without a care in the world and asked for my name when you handed me that single rose. You had such an air of elegance and at the same time mischief over you and I remember myself thinking that this was a man I must know. How I dread to think what would have happened had I not let myself get to know you.
I will forever treasure that first day we met, walking in the gardens talking of everything and nothing, watching the sun make its way down the horizon by the end of the day, and feeling your hand in mine for the very first time.
I have kept that rose ever since, as a memory of our first day together. You always said I was too easy to please, but that has only been truthful with whatever you granted me. Since that first rose I found all you did for me perfect. I remember all the gifts you brought for me, for which I would praise myself, the luckiest lady in the lands for such a husband as you.
And all you asked of me was my smile, which I gave up so easily for it was for you. You could have asked anything of me and I would have granted it to you. That the only thing you asked for was my smile proves how gentle a man you are, and always will be.
I have merely one request now that I have gone; do not hate me for having let you down in my final days. I can already feel it tearing in me and my strength are weakening, and my smiles are already fading. Please do not resent me for not granting you your only wish. Had my body the same strength as when we first met, I would give you all the smiles in the world. I am ashamed to admit the toll this has taken on me.
I now know what my life has led up to; it was for me to unite with you. Sadly it was to happen at the time it did, leaving us little time together.
Now that I have gone I wish for you to be the man I know you can be, even when I am no longer by your side. Be the man I first learned to know and love, be the man that I will always remember, even after I have departed you.
My final wish for you is to not make the mistake of not moving on and letting me go. I know there will be a time after I have gone and you ought to live it to the fullest.

Know this; my heart is yours and will always be yours. Along with the rest of me it will be waiting for you in the afterlife. Until then, go out and live the life I will not have the chance to experience.

Yours forever truly

The Untold Story

Dizziness. A stream of blood drizzled from her forehead to the bottom of her cheek. She wiped it away habitually as she gazed at the broken image of herself. The nightmare ended tonight she thought as she rose gracefully as the flower itself from the crystal encrusted chair. She hated that chair. As she moved gracefully towards the tower window, she heard the identifiable steps of her spouse – and master. She moved quickly now as if she was within the grasp of Lucifer himself. Tying the knitting to the candlestick on the wall she reminisced about her blissful childhood before the brutal slaughtering of her family and abduction of herself led her to become a household slave and wife of her demon. She crawled out on the ledge and started descending down the slippery tower wall that the rain symbolically had wetted during the dark day. The door burst open and the duke raged toward the open window. Through the curtain of rain his wife was escaping before his sight. Struggling through incredulity and distress the duke quickly drew his rapier and slashed the improvised rope. A shrilling scream broke the silence as the duchess fell to the ground. The spring green grass gave a thump as she landed and then the silence was deafening again. Red liquid softened the earth as her white enthralling dress, golden hair and red spirit slowly overtook the canvas of the ground. As the duke’s eyes got used to the dark he watched the painting in disarray, and caught a glimpse of the shadow of a figure lurking near a winding tree.