Story of Snow White
Knowing that Snow White was weak with mortal fear, great haste was taken to break the news as quickly as possible of the Evil Queen's death.
It was Bashful, Sneezy, Sleepy, Happy, Grumpy, and Doc, six of the seven dwarfs, who told her. Dopey, the seventh, was there too. It was he who had been in the castle when news of an assassination was received, naming the Queen as the target. He had only taken the time to be sure it was true and had then hurried to deliver the message to his friend Snow White.
She did not react to the story as others would have, with an inability to immediately accept it for truth. Her demeanor shifted at once. With a sudden shout of joy, she leapt into her friends' arms, crying with relief. And when the wave of happiness had passed she went to her small room alone. She wanted no company.
Facing a large open window there stood a huge armchair. She sat and sank into its cushions, held down by a mind numbing rush of tiredness that seeped into her very core, drowning her.
Through the wide window, she could see down into the forest that surrounded the little cottage all excited and twittering with life. The damp scent of rain was in the air, like a storm about to come. In the trees, a bird was looking for its mate, a squirrel searching for a wayward acorn, an owl cooing into the night.
She lounged with her head resting on the cushion of the chair, never moving except to breathe. A harsh sob wracked her frail body and her shoulders shook as she squeezed her eyes shut in attempt to stop the tears from flowing.
She was young and fair with skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair blacker than the darkest ebony. But now her face was blotchy and red, and in her eyes an empty stare that now looked off into nothingness. It was not a look of blank emotion, rather one of deep thought and contemplation.
Some intangible feeling had gripped her and she was waiting for it to overtake her. Her chest rose and fell erratically. A single word repeated itself over and over in her mind and escaped her rose red lips, said again and again under her breath.
"Free, free, free…" The emptiness left her eyes. Her heart beat faster and faster, pulsing blood through her shivering body and relaxing her.
She gripped the edge of the armchair and rose to her feet. A smile lit her face and she spun around in the joy that was filling her from head to toe.
"Free! Soul and body free!" she kept saying.
So loud were her shouts that she could barely hear the dwarf Grumpy, who was leaning against the door, his small hands banging the frame, begging to be let in.
"Snow White, open the door! Open the door, I implore you Snow White!" he screamed, his voice muffled slightly by the thick, wooden door. But she would have none of it.
"Go away! I wish to see no one!" No, she wished to stay and relish this feeling forever.
She breathed in quick, a sensation of empowerment; she was free of that Evil Queen that had haunted her for too long. At long last she moved to open the door to the insistent pounding. As she reached for the lock, the noise suddenly stopped.
Her throat caught and she reached for the handle. The door creaked open. It was the Queen who stood there, a maniac expression adorned her face and a bloodstained, jagged-edged dagger held in her hand. She had been far away from the attempt on her life, tucked safely away in a secret room. She tilted her head and her grin widened at Snow White's sharp cry.
Snow White took one glance at the slumped body of her once friend and crossed to the other side of the room in an effort to put distance between her and the Queen. The Queen slowly closed in on her, grin still in place and dagger held up ready to strike.
Snow White made a quick movement and dashed around the Queen out into the hall. She ran, and was getting away. Away from the horror that haunted her day and night. Coming close to the landing, she slipped in a pool of blood. Grabbing the banister for support, she grappled with gravity to try to get up. She stood on her feet and stepped toward the stairs.
But it was too late.
She felt the blade plunge into her back, tearing her heart in half and out through her breast. Crimson blood seeped through her lips and her eyes went wide with surprise. Her legs went limp and, held down by dead weight, her body fell. Bones snapped and cracked, her once fair skin was bruised and bloodied as her body crashed down the stairs, landing in a misshapen heap at the bottom. She was dead before she even hit the ground.
And all through the land it could be heard; the distant cackling of an evil Queen who would finally be the fairest of them all.