Once Upon A [Never Again] (A Tale from the Theatre Noir)

A rose lies upon a well-used stage,
The audience sits rapt, and some of them scared.
Those were easy to spot,
the ones who had been here before.

The narrator walks out upon the stage,
And opens the book once again.

"Welcome back to the Theatre Noir,
I'm glad to see you all again.
The candles are out, and music has stopped,
and our show is about to begin.
The tale shall happen in a pair of acts,
One of the rose, and one of the thorns.

Now sit back, relax, and grip your lover's hand tight!
As I personally snuff out
the last of the lights."

Act I:

The flower was beautiful,
a rose so red, it would stand out in a sea of blood.
The flower, however, could not compare
to the lips of the bauty above it.
A princess in her own right,
or so her father told her.

But her father was a drunkard,
And her mother was dead,
a killer never discovered.

Her father had twice wed since,
and it seemed that the new bitch was here to stay.
The other had left, disapproving of the beauty.

Any woman who searched her father for love,
would find themselves jealous of the daughter's allure.

The new bitch cared less, and somewhat enjoyed it,
at times partaking herself.

The beauty knew that all of this was wrong,
but at the blossoming age,
a wondrous fourteen,
she enjoyed the royal treatment so.

But as time passed along the Bitch grew insecure,
her own shady ways gave paranoia its edge.
Her business was needles, of varying sizes
with a myriad of elixers interior.

Ah! It was only a matter of timing and placement,
Upward in the beauty's bed,
a princess style, four-posted.
As she went to sleep that night, dreaming of Father,
she never felt the prick, as the great sleep befell her.

(The curtain falls,
The first act ends,
a hospital bed, with leather straps appears,
as the drapes rise once again.)

Act II.

A year, or more, later,
Her eyes widened in pain,
it had been a month since the kiss,
when her prince finally came.

A doctor, by the looks of it,
fabulously well paid,
but with her father dead
(Circumstances: Unknown)
and the Bitch uncaring,
the Prince had not received his due.

But he cut her a deal, with a bonus indeed,
All he wanted was her,
and if she stayed, her life was guaranteed.

He said she'd be happy for the rest of her days,
and he promised on his title that he'd see the Bitch dead.

She finally realized that this was the night,
that the Prince would have finished the deed.
(The Bitch was found cold, raped and impaled.)
The Prince came to see if the Beauty was well.
He smiled at her and stroked her lovely hair.

"You see, my love?
I'll do anything for you,
but you must never leave,
for you are not yet better."

And the I.V. dripped, just a tiny amount,
and she sighed with relief as her pain gave way.

The prince loosened her bonds and he took her away.

She thought as she gripped him,
"My darling, my prince,
he'll slay every dragon,
just as he finished the Bitch."

Her father was right,
what he had told her every night,
"My princess, my daughter,
it'll all be just fine."

And her Prince took her in ways her father never dared,

She lived happily ever-after thanks to a few drops of morphine, and some
tender,
loving,
care.

(The curtain falls upon a scene of drugged lust.
The narrator returns, and slams the book shut.)

"I hope you've enjoyed our production tonight.
We await your return.
Stay safe this night."

He walks behind the curtain, and a shrill scream is heard
He escapes to the alley,
to shake his hands of the blood.