The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!
Mirror, Mirror
by Rie Sheridan Rose
The queen stood before the full-length mirror her guardian had given her for a wedding present. She was trembling with excitement, because she knew it was magical, and that it always told the truth. She couldn’t wait to hear its portents and had hurried to her private chambers without even bothering to change out of her wedding gown. Now, she stood before it and lifted aside the cloth covering it.
“Mirror, Mirror, on the wall—
Who’s the fairest of them all?”
The image in the mirror shifted from a beautiful girl in a snow-white gown to a strangely dressed man with…were those the tips of horns peeking out of the curls on his forehead?
“Well, well, well. Aren’t you the pretty young thing?” The mirror replied with a sharp-toothed smile. “I’d say you fill that bill hands down…”
The queen glowed with excitement. Just as she had thought!
“…Of course,” the man behind the glass continued, glancing down at an odd device on his wrist, “that’s only going to be true for about…sixteen years or so, until that adorable little stepdaughter of yours grows up. Talk about a looker. Snow White will be a beauty for the ages.”
The queen stepped back in shock. That mewling infant would one day eclipse her? No! It was inconceivable.
“But…like I say, sweetie. You’ll be the It Girl for almost two decades. Could be worse.”
She twitched the cover back over the mirror and flung herself down on the bed. This would take planning…
***
…But in the end, she couldn’t do it. Snow White was an angel. She always did as she was told. She was helpful to all and sundry. The queen resigned herself to losing her cherished place as fairest in the land to the budding beauty. She began to dress in unrelieved black, and to adorn herself with symbols of death—because she felt that she was dying inside.
On the eve of Snow White’s sixteenth birthday ball, she stood once more before the mirror and lifted away the cover.
“Mirror, Mirror on the wall—
Who’s the fairest of them all?”
Her voice was a mere whisper as she repeated the rhyme from so long ago. She hadn’t spoken to the mirror since that night.
The man materialized before her, looking not a day older. “You have tonight still, sweetie. You will be the fairest until midnight.”
She laughed ruefully. “All because I couldn’t relieve myself of that child. How pathetic you must think me.”
“No, sweetie. I’ve been playing this game for a long time, and you are the first queen I’ve respected—and for just that reason. I always knew you’d come along someday.” He reached out a hand, and the fingers extended to her side of the mirror. “Come to me. Here, in my world, you will always be the fairest of them all.”
With a tremulous smile, she took the proffered hand, and stepped through the mirror.
.
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.
Spreading the Writer's Word 