La Douleur Exquise

Prologue.

La douleur exquise- the exquisite pain that comes from loving someone who will never love you back.

  Her specialty was making the bodies look as if they were peacefully sleeping. No bruise or stitch showed, and some would even dare to say the carcass was smiling. The grieving families didn't have to look down into the casket of their loved one and see a stranger. As long as she lessened their pain, even just the slightest amount for those sad souls, Madeleine was satisfied.
  The searing pain that one feels when an adored being in their life is suddenly ripped from their grasp is utterly crushing. To compare, it's like trying to scream while drowning. You try to race to the surface, but a force just keeps pulling you deeper and deeper into the ocean; you get so frustrated and terrified you try to scream, only to fill your lungs faster. Your chest burns in anticipation for what will not come, becoming harsher by the second. Suddenly, numbness starts from your finger tips and works its way through your nerves, creeping in on you.
  Eventually, your eyes slip closed in a makeshift sleep-- only you don't wake in the morning.
  The numbness could last a lifetime; increasing or lessening as time goes on.

  "New body in today, ma chére," her father cooed at his darkly dressed daughter.
  "Oui."
  Madeleine backed away into her sacred place, taking a deep breath once out of that man's sight. 'Time to get to it..' she thought as she stepped towards the white silhouetted body. Slowly, she picked up an edge and folded it back to reveal an older woman. Her sickly pale skin almost reflected the fluorescent lighting, definitely gleaming off of her smooth scalp. Madeleine held up the paper work and went back and forth from examining the body to correlate with the report.
  'Mid forties.. Cancer patient.. Her name was Charlotte.'
  "Hello there, Charlotte.. my condolences.. I will do my best to make this last goodbye as easy as can be," she announced to the lifeless shell before her. Madeleine smiled softly down at Charlotte, finding a bit of jealousy pitting in her throat. Once past it, she began her work. Laying out her tools, she hummed a gentle tune.
  Hours pass, and Madeleine takes a moment to step back and admire her work. The eyebrows looked as natural as possible, for no hair being there. The false lash pieces looked wonderfully executed, nicely accented by the pastel pink dust across her lids. What once was a thick indigo bleed underneath the skin of her collar, was now but a memory hidden under an array of blush tones, topped with concealer. Madeleine's work was quite admirable, at least her father told her that much. Yet, it seemed he would say anything that made him think he was becoming closer to his adopted daughter.
  You see, Madeleine's mother conceived Madeleine in an unsuitable household. Drugs ran rampant, and her father drank so much, water was simply toxic. Her mother came to the realization that the situation they were in was not safe once her father began to lash out against the little girl.
  Once scheming was through, her mother packed up her only child and set off on their own. No one knew where they had went-- it was easier that way. If that man followed her, they both were as good as dead.
The two embraced the streets and harsh conditions. Every day seemed to tap dance on the breaking point; but they would not give way.
  One particularly bad day, a pleasantly dressed man crossed their path. Her mother, Joan, was working register at the gas station. The man stepped to the counter and requested a pack of Misty Silvers, and the number of his tiller. Joan felt heat rising to her cheeks and she chuckled. She had a small flip phone issued by the government, and so she took the man's hand and wrote the number across his wrist.
  That's how he waltzed into their lives. It took a few days before he realized their terrible living conditions; a run-down complex with no electricity. They had running water, yet it smelt stagnant. It honestly sealed the deal and he invited them into his home and business.
  Life was finally getting to a bearable point, or so they thought.
  A few months into their new lives, Joan caught what seemed to be a cold. Her body ached, she had the chills, her nose ran. It all looked run-of-the-mill, until the coughing came. First, it was only a few drops of blood. Joan thought nothing of it until during a service she was hosting. One second, she was fine. But the next second, she was on the floor unconscious, yet not before she spewed a bright red over the white drape resting over the casket next to her.
  The family was very understanding and was reimbursed for their payment, yet Madeleine felt her world crumbling once again.
  The death of her mother was soon after; the tuberculosis spread very quick.
  It was pretty lonely around the place. The man whom had taken them in was trying to hide his drinking and involve himself with Madeleine more. He even adopted her (per her mother's request). Yet, her life seemed even emptier.

  The nights with his love were ripped from his grasp quick. He had finally found a lover whom loved him fiercely. Her last words continuously played through his mind; "Take care of ma petite fille, Francis.."
  But those words did not fill the empty bed space at night. They did not form against his body and allow him an outer warmth. Those damned words did not offer to him what she had-- they were simply words.
  Love.. Where would he search for love? He had it once, with her, but it was crushed by death's palms. 'The little girl looked so much like her, just more youthful.. It was so wrong, but.. No,' he thought. He could not rely on a child to love him like she did. Yet, it was her child.. The only thing with a piece of her in it left on this earth in which retained life. She was so much like her mother, but it was wrong to fathom such lewd thoughts.
  Albeit, the alcohol didn't think so.

A/N; This is my first work in four years. Constructive criticism is appreciated!! Trying to bring the life back into fanfiction-- seems everything is either crack fictions or reader x whomever. Be kind! Spread this around! Don't be afraid to comment!