Tara woke up that morning. She told me about a strange dream she'd had. I said nothing. Jeffrey took her home.

Yesterday, I showed my family around town. I introduced them to some of the people who'd bought my paintings. I toured them through one of my favorite museums. We had a picnic in a public garden.

Octavia did not show up to say good morning today. I thought nothing of it. Now I bet you're wondering why I seem so down. Let me tell you, betrayal is one of the worst things because it comes from those you least expected.

I felt something gnawing at my heart. It was guilt. I felt like I pushed Tara away too quickly. She seemed so desolate and sad when I showed her out that morning.

That is why, today I walked into the middle of the streets. No one tried to run me over, so I ran in the direction of Tara's house.

I couldn't explain the feeling that washed over me. There was no one else I wanted to see in the moment except her.

The muscles in my legs burned and begged me to stop. I ran faster and faster.

I'd finally made up my mind. The very thing I'd dreamed and desired, I'd catch it. Not because others wanted it, but because I wanted it.

I came to a stop when her mansion came into view. Great, now I looked like a crazy man. I should have just asked someone for a ride.

I walked to the front door. Immediately it opened.

"Ken! What brings you here?" Tara looked me down, a concerned look in her face.

"I need to ask you something very important."

"Why don't you come in? I was just tending to the garden."

I didn't question how she came to door to fast. Looking back, the peculiarity of the situation did not once poke at my suspicions.

We walked to her garden. Tara led me to a bench under an arch shrouded with white carnations and their abundance of green petals.

"What ails you?" She queried, lips pouting in concern.

Tara watched as I stood up from the bench and got down on one knee in front of her.

She gasped as I pulled out a ring- gold band holding a brilliant round diamond of modest dimensions.

"Tara Wakersfields," I began. "Your rare beauty enthralled me since the first day I laid eyes on you. I grew fonder of your equally divine personality as we spent more time together, and found that your virtues had so strangely taken up my thoughts. You've never failed to mesmerize me. To tell you the truth, I have become so enamored of you that I can not imagine a day without you in it. Tara Wakersfields, will you do me the honor of joining me in matrimony?"

Tara's eyes glistened with happiness, as she held her hands over her mouth. Suddenly, she leapt from the bench and pulled me into a tight embrace.

"Yes yes yes! A thousand times yes," she laughed.

I chuckled with relief and slipped the ring onto her finger.

"It's marvelous," she murmured while holding out her hand, watching the soft rays of morning sun dance across the diamond.

"I love it," she held my hands, sliding them up my arms and onto my neck. I looked into her emerald green eyes and smiled; content to know that soon I'd see them everyday.

I put my hands on her waist and gently pulled her towards me.

"I love you," I whispered into her ear.

"I love you too," she whispered back.

Her lips found mine and we sealed the proposal with a kiss.

Ludicrous it be now for me to recall the perceptions that went around my head. To think I ever had a possible chance at a possible future with her.. I was foolish. I was foolish to be blinded by her beauty and intoxicated from those lips that blew kisses like fountains.

Somehow, we found ourselves in front of an old small shed in a farther part of the garden. The white paint was fading off and the wood here and there was chipped.

I don't remember who opened the door first, because as I wrote before, I seem to lose my very senses whenever I'm around Tara.

We stumbled into the darkness. As I was about to shut the door, a sliver of light revealed a path of red.

I paused. Squinted.

"My Love, what is it?" Tara murmured seductively.

I pushed the door open, light flooded in.

Behind the minuscule dust particles floating around, I could see piles of rugged brown sacks lined along the wall.

Tara turned to look in the same direction. "They're just potato sacks," she pointed out.

"Do potato sacks bleed?" I asked, stepping closer to the sacks and following the trail of red.

"But what are you talking about?"

I knelt in front of the sack the trail led to. I didn't see anything suspicious.

"Nothing... I saw this strange color on the ground and I thought..." I stood up slowly.

"Thought what?" Tara approached me.

The blood drained from my face and I held my breath. There, behind the sack, was a hand.

"Ken," she took my arm. I shook it off and covered my face.

"Ken! What's the matter with you?" She protested.

"There's a body behind that sack."

She tilted her head and furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said.

I swiftly pushed the bag of potatoes away to reveal the corpse.

"No... it can't be," I groaned. Jeffrey's dead body lay on the ground, eyes open, staring at nothing. It was then that I noticed; there were 2 dots on his neck. Puncture wounds.

"You," I faced Tara and scowled.

"I- It wasn't me," she choked out.

"You sucked him dry. You killed him!"

"No Ken please just listen," she clung onto my arm desperately, and I threw my arm back violently.

"We have NOTHING left to talk about," I marched to the exit and grabbed the doorknob. I took one final look into those treacherous eyes and disclosed, "And you can forget about that proposal."

I slammed the door shut. I left my broken dreams and deceptions behind that chipped faded door where they belonged, concealed in the darkness.