The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Simply the Best 
by Rie Sheridan Rose 

What do you see when you look at me? Confident beauty? Elegance incarnate? A woman in the prime of life who knows who she is and what she wants, and will let nothing stand in the way of her getting it?

You are so easy to fool.

It’s taken me years to learn the craft of illusion, though, so I shouldn’t be too hard on you. When I was a simple hedge witch in the wilds of the moors, no one perceived me as a beauty. Who could blame them, with all the filth I wallowed in? Life was hard for the wife of a stableman who found perfect contentment in letting me muck out the stables and tend to his livestock. So, I sought the wise women and learned the minor spells that could make my life easier. And destroy the oaf I had saddled myself with. No one noticed when he died from eating tainted mussels. It proved a satisfactory explanation for his death in an era where such things were more common.

Once I had removed those shackles, I sold the stable and its contents and moved up in the world. At least a little. I joined a coven of more experienced witches and learned much. How to capture a man and keep him only as long as I desired; how to use glamours to enhance my appearance when it needed a boost; how to charm my way into—and out of situations. By the end of this phase, I had wealth and beauty beyond the dreams of the poor orphan I had been.

I spent some time on Avalon with Morgan and the Wise Women. The day they brought Arthur ashore, I tried with the others to save him. I know where his burial cairn lies.

With every age, I have grown stronger. I avoided the nets of the witch hunters in Salem, having already survived the Inquisition. Money and beauty are equal currency for the minds of men.

Now, I am here. Through the centuries, I have carved away all the ugliness and poverty of my life. You see before you the epitome of my learning. My pièce de résistance. You wouldn’t know to look at me the dismal origin story, the centuries of time, the regrets that led me here. Now, I am simply the best me I can be. I wish the same for you—without all the effort.

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Fiction © Copyright Rie Sheridan Rose
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

More from Author Rie Sheridan Rose:

Overheard in Hell:
Dark Poetry

Poems exploring hell and damnation. Tales of sorrow, vengeance, betrayal, and redemption. Ghosts, ghouls, and demons stalk these pages. Don’t read in a lonely house…in a darkened room by a single candle…

…unless you like the touch of an icy finger up your spine.

Available on Amazon!