Dark Obsession

Rain drummed steadily against the cracked windowpane of the old Weston estate, a relentless, cold reminder of how broken everything had become. Aria Weston knelt beside the hearth, scrubbing soot from the cold stone floor. Her fingers were raw, the skin peeling from endless hours of labor, yet the fire had long since died, leaving the room bitter and lifeless. The house felt emptier than ever now. Since the carriage accident that had claimed her parents two winters ago, the walls had grown colder, the rooms more silent, and her place in the household smaller than a whisper. She was no longer Aria Weston, the beloved daughter of the Westons. She was just a burden — an orphan tethered to a family that wanted nothing more than to forget her existence. Her aunt, a stern woman with icy eyes and sharp words, ruled the household with a cruel hand. The once warm kitchen was now a prison. Aria’s cousins, spoiled and cruel, treated her with disdain. Today was no different. “Did you finish the floors yet?” Helena’s voice sliced through the air, dripping with contempt. The girl stood in the doorway with folded arms and a sneer curling her lips. “You know the royal messenger is coming tomorrow. If the prince sees a speck of dirt, it’ll be your head.” Aria said nothing, only lowered her eyes and nodded silently. Words only invited punishment. Helena’s laughter echoed as she turned away, her footsteps light and mocking. That night, Aria climbed the narrow stairs to the attic, the only room she could call her own. The single candle flickered against the damp walls as she lay on her straw mattress, staring at the cracked ceiling. Outside, the wind whispered through the eaves like a ghostly warning. There was a strange pressure in her chest tonight — a sensation she couldn’t explain. It was as if something was waiting just beneath her skin, ready to change everything. But for what? For whom? As sleep finally claimed her, her dreams were filled with blood and shadows, a dark silhouette calling her name in a voice both terrifying and familiar. Tomorrow, the messenger would come. And with him, the beginning of a fate Aria could never have imagined. #starywritingacademyv