A Boy & A Bouquet

They often roamed about in the woods gathering berries and no beast offered to hurt them; on the contrary, they came up to them in the most confiding manner; the little hare would eat a cabbage leaf from their hands, the deer grazed beside them, the stag would bound past them merrily, and the birds remained on the branches and sang to them with all their might. No evil ever befell them. - The Red Fairy Book.

Snow White:

He had brown hair and brown eyes and an array of freckles on his face. He wasn't too thin, but he wasn't muscular either. Lithe, I believe the word is. He was lithe.

His name was Valentine.

He said he was named after the saint. We commiserated together over our parents' poor naming choices. He told such corny jokes, but he always made me laugh.

The day before Valentine's Day, he asked me out to a movie. I don't remember what we saw -- there are parts of that day I just don't remember anymore -- but it was dark in the theater and I could feel my pulse quicken every time he touched my hand. As the credits ran, he turned and kissed me.

I walked back with him to his car in a euphoric daze. My cheeks hurt from smiling. He led me to the backseat, where he kissed me again.

And then he started taking off my clothes.

I don't remember much after that. There was pleasure, I remember, and there was pain. When I woke up, his car was parked outside my house. My clothes were still on, so I thought I must have just imagined him taking them off. Just imagined him kissing my body. Just imagined the blood.

As I walked to the door, he waved and I weakly waved back. I felt sluggish and tired.

I never saw him again.

Rose Red:

I didn't know any of that until later. After I found out, I wanted to find that Valentine guy and smash his fucking face in, but he vanished into the ether. I tried finding out his school records, but it looked like he didn't have any. He must have been imitating another student or something.

I do remember Snow going on that date, though. I was just concerned about something else at the time.

When I had gotten home from school, when Snow was out on her date, there was a bouquet of flowers on the doorstep. I thought perhaps they were for Snow, but there was a note pinned to the flowers:

TO MY ROSE BRIDE

I looked up the flowers later on: gardenias, gladioli, moonflowers, amaranths, and jonquils. An unusual arrangement with a weird fucking note.

I tried to put it out of my mind. I threw away the flowers and ripped up the note. Whoever had a crush on me could damn well tell me instead of playing these cryptic games.

I didn't know. It isn't much of a consolation now, telling myself that I didn't know. What could I have done if I did know? Not much.

I still wonder, though, what I would have done if I had known about the Thistle Man.