Fascinating, how often you refer to "red ink", which I use a lot in my poetry. your work reminds me of a nightmare. in the enchanting, beautiful, wonderfully freakish sense.

Very dark, very stylish. And since those are the two things that I aim for in my own writing and so often fail to achieve, you can take that as quite a compliment. And for the record: it’s not just good that you don't reveal the message, it would have destroyed your story if you had. It's that kind of thing that separates the writers from the readers.

Pretty story, but what did the message say? I'm curious.

I really like how you wrote this story; Although the topic is fairly dark, you kept it flowing and, though we could probably guess she was using blood, the atmosphere remains gentle and doesn't seem melodramatic. The man in black is the perfect asset to the piece, summing everything up cleanly. By not giving us the message you leave your reader wondering, which I think is good.