Thorns & Thistles

Once, when they had slept all night in the wood and had been wakened by the morning sun, they perceived a beautiful child in a shining white robe sitting close to their resting-place. The figure got up, looked at them kindly, but said nothing, and vanished into the wood. And when they looked round about them they became aware that they had slept quite close to a precipice, over which they would certainly have fallen had they gone on a few steps further in the darkness. And when they told their mother of their adventure, she said what they had seen must have been the angel that guards good children. - The Red Fairy Book

Snow White:

I tried finding him, I tried calling his number. It had been disconnected. I felt worried -- I thought something bad must have happened to him. Different scenarios tore through my mind: he got into a car wreck and was in a coma somewhere or perhaps his family had moved overnight and he didn't have time to tell me.

The most obvious answer, that he had been lying to me, that he had used me and then left me with a wry grin, didn't occur to me until the end of the day. As soon as the thought appeared in my head, I got sick. I ran to the bathroom and threw up.

I washed my face in the sink and then looked in the mirror. My face looked flushed, like I had a fever. I felt my forehead, but it wasn't any warmer. And then I looked closer.

My eyes were bloodshot. Blood filled the white until there was only red surrounding the black pupil.

I choked and started to throw up again. A thin red fluid poured out of my mouth and into the skin. The fluid then reversed motion and flowed upwards back into my mouth and I fell down.

I tried so hard to throw up again, to get rid of that red fluid, but I couldn't. I checked the mirror again and the red had dissipated from my eyes, but I could still feel it in my body, in my veins.

I told the nurse I was sick and went home.

Rose Red:

Snow seemed distracted when we walked to school, but then again so was I. My thoughts were filled with flowers and what they meant. Perhaps it hadn't been as sinister as I thought. Perhaps it was just someone I met during class and they wanted to ask me out, but didn't have enough courage.

I found another bouquet in my locker. More amaranths, then asters, balsams, chrysanthemums, and cloves. And another note:

TO MY BRIAR ROSE

It didn't seem sweet. It didn't seem like it was from some classmate with a crush. It seemed fucking creepy.

I asked others of they saw who put it in my locker, but nobody knew. Nobody had seen anything.

Snow texted me that she was sick and that I had to walk home alone. It wasn't her fault, I know. She was going through some shit. But still, I was freaked out.

And then, on my way home, I saw him. There was an alleyway and I looked down it as I was walking past and he was there at the end, he was standing there waiting for me.

He wore a dirty white straightjacket, unbuckled with the sleeves hanging down. His skin looked prickly, like there were spines and thorns growing from it. His hair was the color of dried blood.

His smile went all the way around. I don't know how else to describe it. I couldn't see where it ended. I thought it might not end, that his smile went around his entire head, but that was impossible. He was impossible.

I didn't look at his eyes. I ran before that. I ran and didn't look back.

Lucky me.