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Description
"Jessie, you have to tell me the recipe for this dish! It's absolutely delightful!"
"Now, now Sharron, the poor girl's got to keep a secret or two for herself if she hopes to land a man of her own some day, am I right?"
"Mmmn. Rather she have another if I can make this for my man." Jessie merely shook her head, smiling as she stirred the pot's simmering contents. Her friends meant well, but her recently acquired wealth had to be kept secret for a bit longer so they didn't pressure her into spending it all. She had always wanted to leave their hometown of Blackwater, but Nancy and Sharron didn't understand the ghosts she had out in the marshes which she wanted to flee like the devil himself was hot on her heels. Her parents were both buried in Blackwater, as well as the baby brother she had never gotten to know, and the older brother whom her mother had never told her father about. Her best friends were beautiful and well to do even before they had married their tennis star and doctor husbands, but Jessie's family wealth had dwindled over the decade since her parents had died.

Money had been wasted to try to communicate with them to find if they had hidden anything away, money had been spent on their funerals even though the only ones that came were those they owed money to, and a man dressed in red whom no one seemed to acknowledge except her. At first she had gotten into a heated argument with him about his attire and somehow she ended up waking up the next day with a hangover and next to his sleeping form in his hotel bed. Baffled as to how that came to pass and thinking he had drugged her, she tried to throttle him but found his skin almost burning to the touch. Recoiling, she recalled stories from her grandfather and fled home, but the man was already waiting there for her.
"I've come to repay a debt..." He said, rising from her sectional sofa, sighing and rolling his eyes as she tried to hold a cross up toward him made from her index fingers. "Put that down, you look like an even bigger idiot than your father was." She gasped and tried to slap him but his hand grabbed her wrist, causing her to yelp and pull it back harshly as he released it. "Your father thought I was merely seeking out an old friend and pointed an escapee to me, and so I owed him, but he never called me on my debt. My repayment now falls to you, his sole remaining family."
"I don't want nothing from you." She said, flinching and trying to keep her distance now. The man sighed, snapping his fingers and a parchment appeared in his hand.
"Come, come now. Surely there must be something that you desire... Money, fame, love..." Jessie considered for a moment and though she gulped and knew she was out of her mind, she told the man in red what she wanted.

Three weeks later now, Jessie was stirring the pot of the last dish she would serve in Blackwater. She had found what she had wished for, a way out of her hometown, though a bit less direct than she had anticipated. The simmered contents were added to her friends' plates, more frog legs for each. For she had wished that life really was so simple that she could find a prince under a curse only she could break that she could fall in love with as he led her far from Blackwater... But even though she thought she had been getting the best deal for the repayment, the first morning after a frog stood on her front steps, introducing itself and making her faint. She landed on it, squishing it entirely, and thought it had been a strange dream until the second day, when another came. This time she tried to kiss the frog and felt sick all day, the frog prince upturning its nose and saying that she had been far too forward and was lucky that he didn't have its knights about to punish her. When she felt better and well-rested, the second had started insulting her interior decorating and she slapped him hard enough to snap his poor back.

As each day progressed, she would find more and more frogs arriving on her doorstep, each offering themselves to her to see if she could break their curse. Realizing quickly that the man in red had made it so she had to fall in love with the frog before kissing them, she made a decision. Twenty days later and hours of cooking, Sharron and Nancy tasted the finality of her decision. The riches she had managed to have the frog princes first bring to her before starting courtship had given her enough to prepare to move, but more and more frog princes arrived, sometimes even multiple ones at a time, fighting each other to earn her love... While she slowly tried out different recipes until she had one she was satisfied with. After all, if she was going to be having them show up every day, she might as well get something out of it from those she had drained of their wealth, right? It had seemed so simple, bizarre but perfect, but nothing ever is. Her plan to move next month was being accelerated by an entire week. Last night people across Blackwater awoke in the middle of the night as every frog in the swamps started croaking in chorus, walking out of their house to see thousands of them hurrying off down the roads and forest paths toward her house...

Description
"Jessie, you have to tell me the recipe for this dish! It's absolutely delightful!"
"Now, now Sharron, the poor girl's got to keep a secret or two for herself if she hopes to land a man of her own some day, am I right?"
"Mmmn. Rather she have another if I can make this for my man." Jessie merely shook her head, smiling as she stirred the pot's simmering contents. Her friends meant well, but her recently acquired wealth had to be kept secret for a bit longer so they didn't pressure her into spending it all. She had always wanted to leave their hometown of Blackwater, but Nancy and Sharron didn't understand the ghosts she had out in the marshes which she wanted to flee like the devil himself was hot on her heels. Her parents were both buried in Blackwater, as well as the baby brother she had never gotten to know, and the older brother whom her mother had never told her father about. Her best friends were beautiful and well to do even before they had married their tennis star and doctor husbands, but Jessie's family wealth had dwindled over the decade since her parents had died.

Money had been wasted to try to communicate with them to find if they had hidden anything away, money had been spent on their funerals even though the only ones that came were those they owed money to, and a man dressed in red whom no one seemed to acknowledge except her. At first she had gotten into a heated argument with him about his attire and somehow she ended up waking up the next day with a hangover and next to his sleeping form in his hotel bed. Baffled as to how that came to pass and thinking he had drugged her, she tried to throttle him but found his skin almost burning to the touch. Recoiling, she recalled stories from her grandfather and fled home, but the man was already waiting there for her.
"I've come to repay a debt..." He said, rising from her sectional sofa, sighing and rolling his eyes as she tried to hold a cross up toward him made from her index fingers. "Put that down, you look like an even bigger idiot than your father was." She gasped and tried to slap him but his hand grabbed her wrist, causing her to yelp and pull it back harshly as he released it. "Your father thought I was merely seeking out an old friend and pointed an escapee to me, and so I owed him, but he never called me on my debt. My repayment now falls to you, his sole remaining family."
"I don't want nothing from you." She said, flinching and trying to keep her distance now. The man sighed, snapping his fingers and a parchment appeared in his hand.
"Come, come now. Surely there must be something that you desire... Money, fame, love..." Jessie considered for a moment and though she gulped and knew she was out of her mind, she told the man in red what she wanted.

Three weeks later now, Jessie was stirring the pot of the last dish she would serve in Blackwater. She had found what she had wished for, a way out of her hometown, though a bit less direct than she had anticipated. The simmered contents were added to her friends' plates, more frog legs for each. For she had wished that life really was so simple that she could find a prince under a curse only she could break that she could fall in love with as he led her far from Blackwater... But even though she thought she had been getting the best deal for the repayment, the first morning after a frog stood on her front steps, introducing itself and making her faint. She landed on it, squishing it entirely, and thought it had been a strange dream until the second day, when another came. This time she tried to kiss the frog and felt sick all day, the frog prince upturning its nose and saying that she had been far too forward and was lucky that he didn't have its knights about to punish her. When she felt better and well-rested, the second had started insulting her interior decorating and she slapped him hard enough to snap his poor back.

As each day progressed, she would find more and more frogs arriving on her doorstep, each offering themselves to her to see if she could break their curse. Realizing quickly that the man in red had made it so she had to fall in love with the frog before kissing them, she made a decision. Twenty days later and hours of cooking, Sharron and Nancy tasted the finality of her decision. The riches she had managed to have the frog princes first bring to her before starting courtship had given her enough to prepare to move, but more and more frog princes arrived, sometimes even multiple ones at a time, fighting each other to earn her love... While she slowly tried out different recipes until she had one she was satisfied with. After all, if she was going to be having them show up every day, she might as well get something out of it from those she had drained of their wealth, right? It had seemed so simple, bizarre but perfect, but nothing ever is. Her plan to move next month was being accelerated by an entire week. Last night people across Blackwater awoke in the middle of the night as every frog in the swamps started croaking in chorus, walking out of their house to see thousands of them hurrying off down the roads and forest paths toward her house...