Snow White

By Anonymous

He lay next to her, as the sea would the ocean. Clouds hung in the sky, as puppets would to strings. Shapes drew the skies- images of bunnies and bears flew carelessly through the open air. The earth below them threatened to fall, yet they hadn’t had a care in the world. 

The sky dawned, and the clouds grayed. Purples and orange hues covered the horizon. The colors clashed with the sea underneath. It raged beneath them- how had it not tired of this act? She asked her once, and she said only the moon could calm him down. The sea and the moon, two opposites, drawn to each other. Just like him and her.

Their families hadn’t called for them, although it had been getting dark. His would’ve thought he was over with friends and were to return later to share his anecdotes. He and his mother would laugh as he told them about something stupid one of his friends did, or he would be enjoying a nice hot meal right now. 

Hers would never know where she was.

She swore she loved him. Yet, they could never be together. Her skin was the color of the Earthly riches, while his were of the palest snows. Hers would forever be considered “dirty” and “filthy”, while his would be praised as “pure” and “pristine.”

They claimed they hadn’t cared about what others would say. They would talk for hours on end. He would laugh with her, and she would wish that she could always hear his laugh. She wished it could be recorded and played over and over again, or stored in a little jar in the corners of her stone heart.

He would turn, his eyes sparkling with the light of a thousand stars. His words and sentences had been laced with some sort of drug, she could forever get high on it. She stood up and fluffed out her skirt before dancing to the tune of the wind. He looked over at her, still lying on the ground, and propped himself up on his elbows. She ran over, hands out to help him up, but he only pulled her down.

She was now on top of him, and she admired him and all his features- his chiseled jaw, his plump lips, even his starry eyes. She had been so close, so close this time. 

He told her his sweet little lies. He would tell her he’d marry her, that he would convince his parents this time. She waited for him, waited until her shiniest wheels rusted, and yet, he never came. 

Rolling off him,  she propped herself up on her elbows, facing him. Such a pity, she thought, he was truly beautiful. She let the ground underneath her catch her as she fell back, it slightly rumbling. He rolled onto his side, confusion drawing his face. He asked her what was wrong, or had he? Her mind had recently been playing tricks on her. 

She hadn’t replied to him. 

“You know our families could never approve.” He once said, long before the promises, long before the heartbreak. 

She sighed once again, getting up and brushing off her skirt. She looked down at him. He smiled at her, a book lying on his chest. He loved to read, he’d go on long tangents of his favorite books. She never listened. Why should she? He had only been a pawn, while she was the queen. She told him that once, and he laughed. She responded with a frown.

She pushed his body so it would now lay sideways, one of his legs spilling off the edge. His book now flew down towards the rocks below and he was deathly close to the end. His face was now plastered emotionless, and his body lay limp. The waters below crashed in anticipation, as if they were lions that had not been fed in years, and he was their first meal. They whined and cheered, pressuring her for him. Strands of her hair stuck to her face as the wind started to roll through harder. She would only claim that it had been encouraging her. 

They found his body the next day.