Not Your Happy Ending

    A baby was born to the kingdom of the first, ~whatever that means.~ A beautiful baby with skin as pale as snow.     "She shall be named Snow White," proclaimed the King. "My beautiful girl." His queen cleared her throat. "Girls. I love you too sweetie." After she was born she only brought happiness to the kingdom and her parents. ~More like everything became complicated.~     Snow White grew and grew, as time went on, each day becoming fairer ~ than was fair.~     Quit interrupting. Anyways tragedy struck when Snow Whites mother passed away. Sadness overtook the kingdom but most of all Snow's father.      "I still have you my dearest." he smiled as he pinched her nose endearingly. ~What does endearingly mean?~     It doesn't matter too much, Let's get on with the story. The king remarried to a beautiful women. She was a very attractive woman, but for every ounce of beauty she possessed, there was an ounce of hatred in her heart. She moved in and the castle got a little darker as she pestered Snow who was still just a child. More expenses were drawn into the kingdom to keep up with her beauty routine. ~This is boring. You should skip to the happy ending.~     Okay, okay I'll start closer. How about here? "Mirror, Mirror on the wall. Who is the fairest of them all?"  The queens rich deep voice hummed. The smoke in the mirror shifted to form Snow Whites smile. Her lips were full and red. The mirror zoomed out and her deep black hair entered the glass. Next, it framed her innocent doe-like eyes. A sweet voice echoed through the mirror. The queens face morphed into a scowl, and this was when she realized that she wanted Snow dead. Her huntsman would make quick work of the matter, so off she sent him into the woods with the instructions to bring back her heart.      "Please don't kill me. I beg of you,"  Snow said, whimpering softly. "Please." More tears spilled down her cheeks. The huntsman swiftly pulled out his knife, His hands shaking as he held it directly over her shaking chest. He brought it down but stopped inches before it met her skin. Her sobs pierced the stillness of the forest. He made his decision. Using the knife to saw at the rope, the huntsman released her.     "Go. Go as far away as you can! Don't stop. Do you hear me? Run!" The young girl did as she was told, and bolted further into the forest, unafraid of losing her way for it was already lost to her. She ran until she could run no more. She fell against a tree and panted heavily. Tears still squeezed from her eyes as she leaned back. The howl of a nearby wolf chilled her to the bone. She couldn't stay there. She got to her feet and hurried on. She kept a fast pace until she could see a dim light in the distance. She followed it. Her feet fell heavy against the ground as she trudged on. Once she got closer she could see that the light belonged to a house. A good-sized cabin was what it was. She knocked three times on the door.      "Hello? Is anybody there?" she asked. There was no answer. "Hello?" she asked again. For the first time since she left the castle, she felt the fierce bite of the cold. She rubbed her hands together, and looked around, hesitant to go in. Another howl broke the still air of the night. Snow pulled on the door and found that it wasn't locked. She shut the door behind her. "I'm sorry for barging in, but it's not a good time to be out in the woods. I hope you don't mind." She looked around, trying to find the owner of the cabin, but he was nowhere to be found. She looked back at the door and hesitated. The wolves could still be heard outside of the comfy cabin. Surely the owner of the house would take pity on her, and let her stay. She sauntered over to the fireplace to keep warm. A pot hung over it full of what looked like soup. She picked up the nearby ladle and tasted it. ~That's unsanitary.~     Do you want me to stop? Okay anyway, The soup was missing something. Snow quickly rifled through a cabinet. She took out a jar and sniffed it. Her eyes lit up and she sprinkled the spice over the pot. She cut up some potatoes and added them as well as some more carrots. She tried it again and sighed in satisfaction. The food hit her stomach and its warmth radiated through her.      Snow's eyes grew heavy when her stomach filled, so she got up and wandered the cabin until she found a room full of beds. These beds were the size of children, making them too small for Snow. She looked solemnly at the floor then looked at the beds again. an idea filtered into her tired thoughts to push the beds together. she made quick work of it then laid down and fell asleep       Meanwhile, the Huntsman stumbled back to the palace, his hand gripping the satchel tightly. He arrived at the Queens chambers and lightly rapped his knuckles on the door. It opened as if by itself. He gulped and walked into the room.      "I have what you asked for." He opened the bag and pulled out a warm item, wrapped in a darkened cloth. he unwrapped it and revealed a bleeding heart ~That's gross. can you skip that part?~      I think I know what you want. You just want me to skip to the ending. Okay, let's see. Alright. The dwarves gathered around the coffin in sullen silence. Each of them had their hat against their chest, with tears running down their cheeks. A man traveling through the forest looked upon the strange sight of seven little dwarves gathered around Snow His horse nickered, drawing the dwarves attention, so he approached the men. He laid his eyes on Snows still form and gasped at her beauty. Her lips were perfectly shaped but pale as if she was cold. Her long black lashes brushed her skin lightly. Her pale face was framed by silky black hair. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on. He had only seen such beauty on one other person.     "Snow?" one of the dwarves nodded. "Can I see her?" they nodded again. He dismounted and approached the open coffin. he got in close enough to see the strands of hair blowing in the gentle breeze. He admired her perfectly shapen lips and the desire filled his chest to kiss her. He leaned in closer his lips almost touching hers now. so close.     "Mabel! I don't want you filling this girls head with stories!" Maya's mom burst into the room. She picked up the book from Great aunt Mabel's lap and tossed it back onto the shelf. "Happy Endings don't exist and I don't want her asking me for one every two seconds."     "Let the girl dream a little," Mabel said.      "She lives in the real world. Reading books like these will not benefit her at all! I'm not bringing her back to this awful place until you promise not to read to her." She turned to Maya, "Come on Maya, we're leaving!" She grabbed Maya's arm tightly and dragged her out of the room.