The Other Side of the Apple

A Story by LuvWrites

A twisted fairytale.

I try not to think about my past but I can never forget it. I’m not going to tell you my name it’s not important but I want to tell you my story. It starts a long time ago back when I was still a young lady only just turned 16. I lived in a beautiful and prosperous land Caledonia was its name, you won’t know of it as its gone now wiped from existence almost like it had never been there to start with. I assume there were other survivors not just me but I’ve never met them and there not part of my story. Anyway I was only 15 when I first heard of her. The stories we heard were like fairytales about a beautiful young girl with no status meets a prince and they fall madly in love and are to be wed. The girls at my village would all swoon and sigh thinking what it would be like if it had been them. It was a nice time a happy time. And the girl and the prince did get married and everyone was invited it was so amazing we all packed and rode to the capital on our old wagons and wore our best dresses and went to the wedding. And the stories were true the girl was gorgeous and also one of the kindest people you would ever know she had a sweet smile and beautiful blue eyes that shined with happiness as she married the prince. I sighed as I watched as they kissed one day I would find a love like that.

I went home back to my village and returned to my life. And for a while everything was normal and then one day that all changed we got word that the capital had been attacked there were no survivors. Our village was in an uproar. Who had attacked us had no one really survived what should we do? In the end we decided to leave escape while we still could to the next kingdom, we packed up and decided to leave in the morning with the others from the village, but we never got the chance. She attacked in the night like a demon with eyes as red as the ripest apple she ripped through our village. One woman killed everyone, everyone except me. I who had hidden myself away under a small overturned wardrobe. And I layed there in the darkness listening to the screams of my parents and my friends as they were murdered. I still don’t know how she didn’t find me maybe it was just luck. I stayed under that wardrobe for a long long time waiting and listening. And finally I decided to leave I had to get out of that wardrobe.

I lifted it a little bit and blinked as light hit my eyes it was daytime, I sighed and lifted the wardrobe further I choked and had to let go of the wardrobe with one hand and plug my nose the smell was awful the air all around me smelled of blood. I had to force myself to lift the wardrobe up the rest of the way I had to get out I told myself. I stepped out from under the wardrobe and let it fall wincing as it banged against the wood floor. I kept one had firmly holding my nose and took a step back eyes still on the wardrobe I was hiding under. I felt my shoe squish into something and looked down I forced myself not to scream I was standing in a puddle of blood I looked round and what I saw horrified me. I puked a couple dozen times and cried just as much everyone was dead and here was no sign of survivors. I walked past all the bodies and out of the village balling my eyes out when saw my parents but I didn’t stop walking, not even when I left the village behind I didn’t stop walking I just kept going even when I could no longer smell the iron smell of blood in the air I kept going and going. My feet hurt so badly but I dint stop I couldn’t stop I had to get away far far away. And so I walked all day and all night and all day and all night until I tripped over a root of an old tree. I fell over and I laid there and I couldn’t get up and I didn’t want to get up. I just wanted to die right there where I was after all I had nothing left to live for my parents my whole village maybe even the whole kingdom was gone and dead. So I laid there in the forest until I heard a galloping of a horse my whole body froze as it got closer and closer now there was more like a group of horses I closed my eyes as they entered the area where I lay I had no will to move maybe they’d grant my wish and kill me. As I lay there with my eyes closed I heard the sound of talking and then footsteps and then “excuse me miss are you alright” a deep voice filled my ears and I opened my eyes above me was a very handsome man. He smiled when I opened my eyes and he put out his hand to help me up. I hesitated and then took it what else could I do. I stood up and leaned against the tree for support as my legs were a bit wobbly the man looked me over with kind eyes I just stared at him and waited for him to ask me how I had gotten blood on my shoes and dress but his kind expression never faltered. I looked down at myself and realized why after walking and lying there for so long the dirt and mud and grass stains had covered the dried blood so you couldn’t even tell it was there and as I looked at it I made up my mind to store away the memories of what had happened to me and to never speak of it again. There was a reason I survived and so I was going to keep living. “Are you ok? Why are you out her on your own?” he asked me.

“Well sir I was travelling with my father when we were attacked by bandits” I put on a sad face which didn’t take too much effort. “They killed my father and I only just got away and I ran and ran and then I tripped” I pointed to the tree, “then you came” I said a few tears escaping my eyes as I spoke. I hoped my lie was believable. The man frowned and then nodded then he looked at me and smiled.

“How old are you”

“16”

“Then I shall make you my wife” he proclaimed loudly. The other men he had with him all had shocked faces and mine probably looked no better this was not what I had expected. He just laughed.

“Sire are you sure about this” one of them asked

“Sire?” I questioned. The man smiled at me again

“yes I am king of this land and wish to make you my queen” I couldn’t speak it was all too good to be true and at the same time it brought up awful memories of the queen of my kingdom and what she had one. I closed my eyes and gave my head a shake to clear my mind. The king laughed and took my hand “so what shall it be will you be my queen” I looked into his handsome face with his wild brown locks and sparkling green eyes alight with happiness and nodded.

“Yes of course I’ll be your queen” I said. If possible his smile got even wider and he scooped me up and deposited me onto his horse and despite all the protests took me back to his castle. Later that year we were married and I fell hard and fast for the king with his wild eyes and kind heart. We lived happily together and he loved me just as much as I had come to love him. And I quickly buried my past for good. And the king never stopped loving me even when we found out I could never have children, he told me wed think of something. And everything as wonderful and bright. But that time ended quickly as those times seemed to do. It all started one day I had been gone for a few weeks visiting a small village like a good queen. When I arrived back I got word from my king that he had adopted a young sixteen year old girl as his daughter. I was shocked yes my husband could be quick to make decisions even a bit rash but he wouldn’t do something like this without telling me. I rushed into the throne room and spoke to my king. He told me that he couldn’t help it the girl had been lost in the forest much like I had he pointed out, and that she had nothing to go back to. He told me that she had seemed do kind and sweet and he couldn’t let her suffer and after all we did need a successor who better than this girl. I sighed and shook my head although I couldn’t help but smile at him. He was just like the day we meant loud and excited so I said that I trusted his judgment and he smiled and told me I wouldn’t be disappointed. So I sat down beside him and waited to meet my new daughter. The doors opened and I saw her and my heart stopped beating the whole room seemed to get colder at least to me no one else seemed to notice I couldn’t stop staring it was impossible and yet she was standing right there my old queen the woman who destroyed our kingdom the monster or demon or whatever she was. She looked the same as she had before not a day older. With hair as black as ebony wood and skin as white as snow and lips as red as blood. She was absolutely gorgeous and my worst nightmares come true. The king didn’t even notice my fear as he spoke to me “dear this is snow white” I forced a smile as I looked at the girl.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you”

“And you” she said in a sickly sweet voice. As she curtsied.

“Now no need for that you’re a princess now no curtsying for you” my husband’s loud voice boomed out. The rest of the day went by with my husband being loud and giddy and snow being ever the kind soul and me forcing smile and trying to hide my fear every time her blue eyes turned to me. For weeks after I tried to figure out how to tell my husband the truth about my past about snow white and what she was but I couldn’t. He wouldn’t acknowledge anything I said kept teasing me and asking if I was jealous. And then everything got worse my husband met an untimely end. I was convinced she had murdered him. And I mourned my lost love and from that day on wore nothing but black. I tried to terminate the adoption but the council wouldn’t hear of that after all we needed a successor to the throne. But I knew what she would do once she became queen she would do the same thing she did to my old home. And I couldn’t let that happen so I decided that I would find a way to kill her. But no matter how I tried nothing seemed to work and then I heard the neighboring kingdom had a prince and they wanted to unite the kingdoms through the marriage of the two. My heart froze that would mean she would kill twice as many people. I couldn’t let that happen so I turned down the offer and decided to hide snow white away. And so I put her into maid clothes and made her slave away. And it made me smile to see her scrubbing away at the steps and dusting the shelves. To everyone else in the kingdom I was a tyrant to poor snow white but I no longer cared what they thought. And snow white knew that I was a survivor of her it had been a normal day when she had asked me out of the blue about how the king had found me she asked “where were you from before the king found you in the woods.” I was shocked at first and I stared at her and her eyes gleamed with triumph at my expression and I knew that she knew who I was or that she at least had good guess so I decided hell with it and sneered at her´

”ohh it was a small kingdom probably never heard of it as your so young. It was called Caledonia.” And from then on she would drop her sweet act when we were alone and glare at me and I thought night after night that maybe she would kill me soon because now she knew that I knew exactly what she was but for some reason she never did. She just kept up appearances and worked as a maid. Then that stupid prince had to come and pry and he had fallen in love with snow white isn’t that a shocker and I knew I needed to act fast so I hired a woodsman he was known for being good at killing things so I told him what to do and although he seemed nervous at first after I offered him money he was up for it. And I gave him a box before he left and asked for her heart I wanted proof of her death. And it went surprisingly well I thought for sure he would die, but no he even brought back her heart which was surprisingly human I don’t know what I was expecting. I was pleased for a while but I started to get nervous again what if she lived what if the huntsman lied what if what if what if was all I could think so I went up to my room and uncovered an old mirror it was a gift from my husband a scrying mirror I hadn’t used it since his death and had covered it to avoid all the memories that came with it but now my heart was hard I didn’t shed a single tear as I looked upon its glassy surface I asked it where the fairest of them all was because that was what snow white was the fairest of them all. And lie I asked the mirror showed me her and she was as I feared and suspected alive and living with dwarfs how cute. I clenched my fists what to do? Then I sighed there was nothing else to do except do it myself. For these last few months I had had everyone else doing it for me and that hadn’t worked so now it was my turn. And so I contacted an old sorcerer of the black arts and paid him to change me into an old woman an also for a poison apple as well then I went on my way and found the old cottage I watched her from the forest as she baked a pie and set it out to cool. Looking at her like this you would never have guessed that she was a monster. I took a deep breath and went up to the cottage.

“All alone, my pet?” I asked in a sweet grandmotherly voice.

“Why... why, yes, I am, but...” she replied sweetly and I knew that I had fooled her had she known it was me she wouldn’t have bothered with the act

“The... the little men are not here?”

“No, they're not, but...”

“Mm-hmm. Baking pies?”

“Yes, gooseberry pie.”

“It's apple pies that make the menfolks' mouths water. Pies made from apples like these.” I said showing her the apples in my basket.

“Oh, they do look delicious.”

“Yes, but wait 'til you taste one, dearie. Like to try one? Go on. Go on, have a bite.” I knew I was being a bit forceful but I couldn’t help it as I forced the poisoned apple into her hands she ha an odd gleam in her eye so I decided to lay my act on thick and added “And since you've been so good to poor old Granny, I'll share a secret with you. This is no ordinary apple. It's a magic wishing apple.” The gleam vanished from her eyes and she looked at the apple and smiled.

“A wishing apple?”

“Yes. One bite, and all your dreams will come true.”

“Really?”

“Yes, girlie. Now, make a wish, and take a bite.” And she did she lifted the apple to her lips and took a bite and I felt myself lean forward in anticipation.

“Oh, I feel strange.” And just like that snow white fell to the ground. I stared at her but she didn’t move and I was so proud and happy so I just laughed and laughed. I did it I killed her. I smiled as I walked away down the road she’s dead I cheered in my head the weather was against me though and I sighed as it started to rain. But even the rain couldn’t bring own my good mood. And then I heard yelling behind me I turned and couldn’t believe my eyes the dwarves were yelling and coming after me calling me an evil queen. So they knew who I was. I scoffed I had just saved tier life and they wanted me dead. I couldn’t fight them so I ran as quickly as I could in this old lady form. I ran straight up a hill dead end. I turned around perhaps I could get them to understand. And the dwarves followed me up the hill. I looked around as I waited for them trying to think of how to explain when I looked to the trees the lightning flashed and I let out a scream as I took a jumped backwards in fright I fell down the cliff knowing I had ailed for there in the trees was snow white as I remembered her with red eyes.