2 - A Dance With The Devil

 Jesse twirled around and around, her dress of satin spinning, her toes never stopping. The crowds seem to both cheer and mock her at the same time. Their laughter is as sharp as the thorns of roses that are twined in her hair along with the red flower weaved as an accessory. The quick rhythm of the music pushes her on somehow, like magic. She brings them happiness and joy.

She has already been dancing for three hours.

And she just can’t stop.

Jesse wants to stop, to stop the pain of her toes every time she leaps; Jesse wants to stop the thorns of the roses from barely scratching her skin every time she dips; Jesse wants to stop the mocking gazes of the otherworldly people; Jesse wants to stop the music enchanting her, and most of all, she just wants to get away from there and get home.

Yet she just can’t.

Whenever she tries to dance away, her feet automatically drive her away from the edge, back into the center of the wild fey.

She only wonders when she can stop.