Scarlet Dawn

By Amber Sander

Scarlet was just your average 18 year old enjoying life with a great job, perfect boyfriend, and awesome best friend until one day her world was turned upside down. A vicious rage grew inside her causing her to seek vengeance. Looked over and pushed around by women who skated through life using only their good looks infuriated her and made her determined to take away those things that made them who they were. What will happen to these women? Will Scarlet seek the revenge she so strongly hoped for? Will she ever catch a break?
I wrote Scarlet Dawn because so many people both men and women get passed over because of women who are beautiful but have no qualifications. I could never understand how that could happen and Im certain that there are people who will read this book and be able to in some way relate to Scarlet just as I do.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 29, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483628912

Amber Sander

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Book preview

Prologue

The steel shined in the moonlight like a diamond ring on the finger of a new bride. The scent of pure satisfaction filled the air with its sweet essence caught by each gust of the frigid winter’s breeze. Tiny drops of life fell delicately into the freshly fallen snow, joining the red pool that warmed her feet. Is this how love is supposed to be? she asked herself. Something to lay all your hopes and dreams onto only to have it all come crashing down like a loose pile of logs. Looking up toward the stars, she began to remember. He once told her that the light in her eyes sparkled like the stars in the night sky. Was everything he told her a lie? He did say he would always be there for her. But when she needed him more than she needed air to breathe, he was gone, only to be wrapped in the arms of another. Of all the people in this world, why her? Why here? This was their special place and that was her best friend. How dare he bring this trash, this disgrace, this thing, to their special place.

She knelt down and draped his arm over the waist of his retched mistress. Death really does look peaceful, she thought to herself as she turned and slowly made her way back down the mountainside. The blood dripping from her blade made a tiny trail beside her. Hmm, must be Dom’s way of staying with me, she giggled to herself. I guess he should’ve thought about that before he decided to betray me. She made her way to the small stream at the base of the mountain. Gazing down, she watched the ripples flow gracefully over the rocks, feeling no remorse for her fallen lover. Resting her knees on the frozen earth, she dipped the blade into the icy water that was as cold as he had made her heart. Is it really over? Is he really gone? Did I really do it, or is this all just a dream that I will wake up from in the morning, wishing it would come true? she questioned. Dawn was nearing, and she knew she had to be gone before the sun came out. Rising up, she made her way through the snow-kissed field. Returning to her car, she turned to take one last look at what used to be her life. And with one last deep breath, she turned the ignition and drove away into the light of the new day that was peeking itself out over the horizon.

Chapter 1

The sun smiled at her through a break in her velvet curtains. Birds wished her a good morning from the treetops. It was the start of a perfect summer day. Scarlet gazed down at her best friend Isabelle sleeping peacefully on the floor, her hair such a rich shade of chocolate that it almost disappeared into the carpet. How could her life possibly get any better? She just graduated with honors, her boss of two years just offered her a promotion, and the best part of all is that she has Dominic and Isabelle.

Scarlet and Isabelle had been friends since they were four years old. Isabelle and her family moved in next door to Scarlet, and from the first day, they were inseparable. Scarlet always told Isabelle that she should become a model. She has the perfect Coke-bottle figure and her sun-kissed skin was made even more beautiful by her free-flowing chocolate-brown hair and sparkling hazelnut eyes. Scarlet always dreamed that one day she could be even half as beautiful as Isabelle. The problem for Scarlet was that she could never be like that. Her hair was not beautiful, nor was she. No curves outlined Scarlet. When she looked in a mirror, she only saw herself as more of a plank and not a Coke bottle. Never would her bright-red hair and freckle-covered face be recognized as even pretty let alone beautiful, and she knew it. All she had going for her was her emerald-green eyes and her brain. Only one of which she could say was even a tiny explanation as to why she was lucky enough to have someone as perfect and stunning as Dominic. His skin was so fair and untouched that it gave him an innocence that she couldn’t help but love. Never in her life had she ever seen such beautiful eyes as Dominic’s, such a deep midnight blue that they sometimes seemed to be as black as his shoulder-length hair.

It had been almost a year now since she and Dominic had gotten together. Sometimes Scarlet would sit and reminisce about their first date. Even though she is so young, she knows that he is her prince charming, her knight in shining armor, her soul mate. She lay in bed, replaying that evening in her mind.

Dominic picked her up in his old Mustang his dad had gotten him for his sixteenth birthday. Its cherry-red body was accented with chrome rims and an exhaust so loud, she could hear him when he turned onto her street. They drove to a quiet little restaurant settled in the middle of a forest. Sitting at a candlelit table on the patio, they watched a doe and her fawn drinking from the nearby pond. The scent of fresh pine and the sound of violins filled the warm evening air. After finishing their meals, he led her out onto the dance floor where he held her tight as they swayed slowly to the music. Taking her by the hand, they strolled back to his car and drove to the mountaintop that overlooked a small village centered in the valley below. Classic rock streamed out from the speakers, just loud enough to set the perfect mood. The two of them sat for hours wrapped in each other’s arms, enjoying the security of each other’s company. As the sun peeked out over the horizon, he asked her if there was any way that he could see her again. She accepted with a smile, and he pressed his soft lips against hers, and she could feel her heart pounding in her chest like a stampede of raging horses. He took her back to her house, and she thanked him for the most wonderful night of her life. He winked at her and smiled in his almost overpowering way and sped off, leaving a cloud of dust and new memories lingering in the cool morning air.

After a few months, they decided that the mountaintop would be their secret place, the place where they could go to escape from the troubles of the world, to hide from reality and enjoy the oneness of being together. The calm serenity of being alone with just them and nature made them feel as free as the eagle soaring through the clear blue sky or a fox pouncing through a flowering meadow. At their secret place, she felt safe, as if she was on top of the world and nothing could touch her. This is the place where the two of them met every Friday night. No one else knew about this place, not even Isabelle, and she told her everything. It amazed her to think about how long she had kept it to herself. But she knew that sometimes in life, there are things that even your best friend doesn’t need to know.

Isabelle awoke to see her friend lying in bed, smiling as she stared aimlessly