Once Upon a Midnight Dreary

Their quarrel sent a ripple of delighted horror through the crowd as guests surged forward like crows to a carcass, desperate for a single ounce of fresh gossip. At the edge of the balcony doors, where couples slipped out into candlelit darkness, his silhouette framing the threshold like a sentry. Perhaps they wish to see how long it takes to drive a woman—one with madness in her blood—into complete ruin. The features were wrong, pallid as if drained of blood, the eyes too dark, swallowing the whites entirely.