STORY
(This is a fairy-tale mixture/mash-up)
Everyone hates me. My stepmother is evil, my father is dead;
all my stepsisters care about is what they will wear to the Valentine’s Day
dance. Even my cat isn’t here to console me. He’s outside hunting. Also, I have
a cold. Argh! Life stinks.
“We have to
get rid of her,” says Emma. (I’m eavesdropping through the door to my sister’s
room.)
“How?”
replies Sarah.
“I don’t
know, but she has to go. She’s just too pretty for her own good. Her hair is
perfectly red and groomed. Her clothes are okay. Her teeth are perfect. Her
bodywash smells too good. All the guys look at her, and never at us. ”
“She doesn’t
even wear any makeup! It’s not fair she looks that great without any effort.”
Are they talking about me?
“He we go!
I’ve just had an idea. How about we destroy the…” My stepmother touches my
shoulder.
“Are there
rats in the walls, Rose? Why are you listening to the door?” I shrug, and hope
she doesn’t ask more questions of me.
“Go do
something interesting. Don’t you have any TV to watch or a book to read?”
“Nope. Just
standing here, cooling my face on this door…isn’t it hot for February?” Hannah,
my stepmom, looks at me funny and left. When I put my ear back to the door, my
sisters are just laughing, and they don’t say anything else. They are up to
something, but I have no idea what.
My
stepmother is screaming. She’s outside, and I can hear her through the closed
windows. She’s at her car. My sisters rush out. They talk to her, but I can’t
hear what they are saying. They point something out to her, and she starts to
scream again. This time, I can hear what she’s saying.
“ROSE! I
WILL GET YOU! YOU WRECKED MY CAR!” As I said, she’s evil. So I run out of my
room, down the stairs, and out the back door. I run and run and run out of the
neighborhood and down the road. She can’t get me unless she can find me.
The clouds
are gathering overhead. It’s going to rain, and I know it. I have no place to
go. My friends wouldn’t understand, and I have no boyfriend. My Dad’s relatives
all are super crazy, and my mom’s all are in Nevada. So I’m stuck. Out of the
frying pan, into the fire, as my dad would say. He had all these silly
expressions.
Then I have
a thought. I’m an orphan, right? Could I go to an orphanage? No, because I have
a legal guardian. Even though she’s evil, I wouldn’t count. So, I have no place
to go, 35 bucks, and the clothes on my back. I can’t go back to get more stuff.
I decide my first order of action is too find some cheap places to find food.
I’ll also need a job. A place to stay will be harder to find. I’m cold, so I go
around, ducking into different stores briefly to get warm. I wonder if I’m
really pretty, like my sisters say. I don’t have a boyfriend, or anything, and
no one’s ever asked me out. Why am I thinking about this now, of all times?
Wow. Something smells really good. I follow the smell. It’s a bakery…decorated
to look like a gingerbread house. I go in. What else am I supposed to do? A
little old lady is arranging cookies in a display case. They look so good. I
put 3 dollars on the counter.
“Cookies,
please. However many that will get me.” The old lady smiles up at me.
“It’s a
dollar fifty for a cookie, dear.” She puts two cookies on the table. “And a
slice of pie for good luck.” She plates a piece of pie.
“No, I can’t
take that, ma’am. Thanks though.”
“I insist.”
She pushed the plate at me with surprising force. So I take it. And eat it. It
is so good!! I eat the cookies, too.
They are so good…
I wake up,
my face in the pie plate. The old lady is still arranging cookies.
“Oh, good,
you’re up. It’s nearly closing time. You stay right there, I’ll be right back.”
She walks into the back. I get up and, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, follow
her. In the bathroom, she’s making a ton of noise. I risk it and peek in the
little window at the top of the door. (I’m pretty tall.)
The old
lady’s back is peeking out as she takes off the dress. I turn away, afraid what
will be visible after the rest of the dress comes off. When I’m sure it’s safe,
I look in again, and the old lady is wearing a black dress, with a ripped skirt
and silver bodice. She dons a witch hat, and cackles. I’m not stupid. I get out
of there quick. I am really scared of old ladies in Goth costumes. Plus, it’s
all a little too Hansel-and- Gretelie for me. I’m out the door… and into the
rain.
I’m soaked
as I run away from the bakery and out of town, into the western suburbs. I live
in the eastern ones, so I should be safe from the evil lady from the bakery and
my stepmother. It’s getting dark, so I knock on the first blue front door there
is. Blue is my lucky color. It’s really pouring now, and when a guy around my
age opens the door, he looks me up and down and lets me in.
“Hey there.
You need something?”
“A-a-a place
to stay. Umm…your front door is blue, and it was raining, and there are two
evil ladies who want to either kill or eat me…and… umm.” Wow, I’m so clever.
And he’s so cute.
“Okay then.
Umm…come in to the living room, I guess. I’m Jack.” He probably has no idea what
to say to that. He gives me some dinner, introduces me to his mom, and shows me
to a room. I was going to protest, but it looked so comfortable. He shows me
the bathroom. When I come back in, his mom is fiddling with the mattress. She
smiles at me and wishes me sweet dreams, and I lay down. I can’t get
comfortable. The mattress is lumpy, and I end up lying on my pillows before I
finally get to sleep.
In the
morning, I inspect my arms. They are bruised. What the heck was in the bed? I
tenderly sit down for breakfast. Jack asked me how I slept.
“Okay.”
“Only
okay?”Asks his mom. I apologize for being rude, and then tell her about the
lumpy bed. She smiles, and Jack says:
“My mom is
weird, and she’ll only let me go out with girls who can feel peas. So…umm…Rose?
You want to go out with me Saturday?”
“Yes. Of
course.” Because that was the perfect fairy tale ending.
PICTURES
I love you!
Farwell, I will post again!
x
Daylily
