The little girl looked up at her with wide open eyes.
"Give me a kiss, darling," the Queen said carelessly, shrugging her shoulders. Her long black curls fell across her back, tangled together in wild ecstasy.
The child leaned forward, pursed her lips, and kissed the Queen full on the lips. The Queen laughed mirthlessly and smiled, enjoying the taste of the little girl's innocence.
"Oh," said the little girl, "why do I feel so queer?" Her head spun; she reached out a hand as though to brace herself before falling to the ground. The Queen recoiled as the child's hand touched her white gown; it was as though the innocent had scorched her flesh.
"Because," stated the Queen cruelly, "I have given you a piece of myself."
The girl flailed her arms and fell, kicking her feet against the ground, her eyes rolling back in her head. The Queen looked down at the ground, but it did not seem as though she saw the child. In fact, it did not seem like she saw anything at all. Her mind swam with images, but they were pictures of a forgotten time. A little girl with black hair and curious blue eyes fell on the ground and writhed. It was she.
A single tear fell from the Queen's eye. It slipped through the little girl's clothing and made its way to her heart where it froze into the shape of a star. Her heart was pierced through.
The little girl rose from the ground and faced the Queen.
"I am sorry for you," she said softly. "So sorry. You are so unhappy."
The Queen's face reddened, and taking a step forward, she slapped the girl across the cheek.
Still, the girl remained standing upright. The Queen rained blow after blow down upon the child's head until she had been beaten black and blue.
"Please," the child insisted, "let me take your pain away."
And then the tears fell, cool, soothing tears and with them the years seemed to pass until finally a little girl with black hair and blue eyes stood before a tall woman robed in white. The light shone on a star embedded within the woman's heart.
"Who am I?" questioned the little girl.
"You are me," stated the woman in white. "I gave you my life."
And then, taking up her robes, she walked away, leaving the little girl confused by the strange feeling blossoming within her breast. She had never before known what it was to be happy.
2 comments:
The little girl in your story reminds me a little of Kai in The Snow Queen.
Beth,
Not so much, because Kai ingests the cruel cold evil mirror splinter into his eye and heart. In this case, the little girl *willingly* takes the woman in white's place and gives the Queen back the life she once had, when she herself was a little girl. I based my story on Neil Gaiman's short story about the troll, and the boy who allows the troll to 'eat his life,' taking pity on the creature.
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