1 Competition



Lily's curls glistened in the moonlight. They fell halfway down her white back. She stood with the paper in hand. She raised her hand towards the door, and knocked on it at first slowly and softly then the tempo raised just a bit. The door swung open revealing a woman clad in an oriental kimono.

"Lilly, dear, come inside." The woman moved over to allow Lily entry. Lily sat on a white velvet couch framed with black ebony wood. "Would you like a drink dear?" The woman's voice called from the kitchen.

"No, thank you mother." Lily looked down at the couch she noticed three drops of blood next to her mother's sewing kit. "Oh mother, what happened?"

"What do you mean?" The woman entered with a tall glass of orange-juice and vodka. "Oh the blood… I pricked my finger a bit earlier. It looks like you."

"What do you mean?" Lily asked quite confused.

"Well the cloth is white as your skin, the wood is as black as your hair, and the blood reminds me of your rosey cheeks and crimson lips." Lily's mother put an arm around her child and kissed her forehead. "My beautiful girl." She whispered in Lily's ear.

"And you are my beautiful mother. That is exactly why I came here tonight." Lily grabbed the piece of paper next to her, and held it up for her mother to read.

"'Miss Superficial Contest'," Lily's mother read off the sheet, "'for all mothers and daughters living in New York. Who is the fairest in your land? Why not find out if it is you.' Oh dear, you want me to enter this silly contest?"

"Of course who is more beautiful than us? Plus we get to compete against each other. Won't it be fun to see which of us is more beautiful? But we all know it is you." Lily told her mother honestly.

"Well yes that probably is true." Lily looked confused at this remark; she had hoped her mother would think her prettier. "Oh, all right!"

"You'll do it!" Lily hugged her mother.

"Yes, yes I'll go." Lily's mother hugged back. Next morning they were on the subway downtown heading for the contest. Bags in hand and ready for a fun weekend. At least Lily thought it would be fun.

Lily pressed floor fourteen on the elevator panel. The hall was filled with lovely young girls, all of whom had hair of gold and very big ta-tas. They looked like Lily's mother. She felt somewhat out of place and for the first time in her life she felt… ugly. The doors opened and Lily was relieved to get out of the crammed elevator.

"That one is ours mom." Lily said pointing at the door to their room. "Mom?" Lily turned only to find that her mother was gone. Lily had only wanted to do this because her mother would be there. Now she was alone. She left her bags in her room and went to the lobby of the hotel. There was another swarm of blondes; all were collected around someone or something.

"Lily honey!" Someone called from inside the buzzing wall of girls.

"Mom?" Lily said standing on her tiptoes; all of the other girls seemed much taller than she. There in the center of the girls was her mother

"Lily the girls just told me that the prize for the contest is a fifth century mirror that is from King Arthur's time. It is magic and can speak, but the only thing it can speak is who is the most beautiful in the world. I'm going to win that bad mamma jamma!" During this speech all the girls looked at Lily, how her overalls were not as nice as their designer sundresses, how her bra was nowhere close to their special made lace lingerie, and how they were nice and tan with blonde highlights while she was pale and had a head of thick jet black hair.

"Nice outfit honey," Lily's mother looked down at the overalls sarcastically. Then she bent over and whispered in Lily's ear, "Dear, I've all ready signed us up so you can go back upstairs please… you're embarrassing me."

Lily walked away slowly, her eyes filling with tears. Once she was out of sight of those terrible people, she ran. She didn't know where she was going but she still went there. She ran up flights of stairs, and down flights of stairs. Those evil monsters were placed in different places along the way. Lily saw a door marked 'backstage' and opened it. She began to slow down finding she was the only one there. She stood on the stage and looked out onto the empty chairs. She wept loud and raw.

"Hey, you okay?" A man's voice came from behind her. She turned and looked him over, he had brown curls, and a strong jaw, he was very muscular and wore a tightly fitting shirt and jeans.

"Yes, I'm fine." Lily said wiping her eyes with her sleeve.

"Now I know that's not true. My name's Blue, how 'bout you?" he looked oddly at this. "That rhymed." He said with a grin on one side of his face.

"I'm Lily." She held out her hand and he kissed it. "I haven't heard of anyone doing that since the dark ages."

"Well, now you have. Now why were you so upset?" Lily explained the story from beginning to end. He listened intently. Meanwhile Lily's mother had found the storage room in which they kept the mirror, crown, and sash.

"Hello?" Lily's mother whispered at the mirror. "Hello?" She said again a bit louder, then she screamed at it, "you stupid- ass mirror, talk to me!"

The mirror sparked then a mask appeared on its surface. It spoke in a rhythmic voice, and told riddles to Lily's mother

1.1 Your child will win, and win it true

For Liliana is more fair than you

Then the image in the mirror became as clear as crystal. Lily was accepting the crown for Miss Superficial. But the crown said something else on it 'Beauty is inside as well as out'.

Lily's mother was outraged. She ran up to her room and grabbed a dress that laced up in the back. Then she joined the other contestants (as well as her daughter) out in the courtyard for the Perfect Teeth part of the competition. She walked over to the black haired beauty and whispered in her ear. "Come with me dear I have your dress." Lily and her mother went straight to the bathroom and put the dress on.

"How do I look?" Lily asked her mother.

"Oh honey, you look… fat. Here let me tighten the back laces and it will be fine." She went to the back of Lily's dress and tightened the straps.

"Okay, mom." Lily said when the dress fit snuggly enough.

"No dear, I think a little tighter." The wicked woman kept going. And as her daughter dropped to her knees in front of her, she laughed. Lily's eyes closed and she drew a deep and raspy breath before she fainted. Lily's mother checked for her pulse, but never learned how. Lily was quite living, but her mother didn't feel anything so she took her for dead. Lily's mother left her in the restroom while she went to the perfect teeth pageant.

Blue came to see Lily in the competition, but when he got there she was gone. "Lily?" He called. He asked many of the women where his beautiful friend was, but none knew. He soon found her though. Her body was limp and she barely took in air. He pulled a pocketknife out and slit the laces on her dress. Soon she awoke and ran to the judges. She had received a perfect score on her teeth.

Later she told Blue the story of how her mother tightened the laces to where she couldn't breath. He took the story in with caution and put it together with the story Lily had told him earlier. He knew that Lily's mother would stop at nothing to win, even if it meant killing her own daughter. "Lily, be quite careful with your mother. I fear for your life." She said all right before running off to the next competition, Most Voluptuous Lips.

Lily's mother stood behind a tree watching as Blue kissed her daughter goodbye. She ran upstairs to her room and grabbed a gold comb and a bottle of pills. She had an hour before the next contest. She mixed several sleeping pills together, chopped them up, and put them into a secret part of the comb. The powder would come out when the comb was lodged in the skin of Lily's head. It would mix into her bloodstream and kill her. But the wicked woman never measured the amount of sleeping pills or what it would take for them to kill someone.

"Lily, let me do your hair. I'll put it up into this comb." Lily's mother said as Lily walked in.

"Yes, mother. Wait a moment, though. I must put on my dress." Lily said cautiously.

"I'll help." Her mother offered.

"No! I mean… I can do it." Lily said pulling out a white gown and taking it into the bathroom with her. When she came out her mother did her hair in two braids and wrapped them around her daughter's head. The woman pinned the braids with the comb, piercing her daughter's head with the sharp prongs. The poison took its hold faster than the woman imagined. As they walked to the elevator Lily fell down, not dead but asleep. Then her wicked mother left her.

Luckily, Blue had come to wish Lily good luck. On his way to her room he saw the poor girl asleep on the floor. He carried her into the room. And nursed her back to health. When she awoke she didn't have much time so she ran to the stage for the Most Voluptuous Lips Contest. She had had no time to make-up her lips. Still she was awarded with the mot beautiful and voluptuous lips.

After the contest she greeted her mother, "Hello… Why are you doing this? Once was mistaken as an accident. Twice will not fool me. Mother, you must control yourself." With that she walked away.

The next contest was the Body Contest. Lily attended in a white lace lingerie outfit, that looked like something from the Moulin Rouge, and that showed her legs off. She was one of the top ten contestants, along with her mother, to go to the last competition. No one knew what it was though.

Lily's mother was scared that she wouldn't win, so she found a book that told her how to poison an apple. She thought razorblades would be too messy. With delicate precision she made the apple. Then she packed it in a basket of fruit. It, of course, was the most beautiful object in the basket so Lily was sure to choose it before the show. Then the wicked woman put the basket in Lily's new room. She went back upstairs and dressed in a remake of the outfit Pink wore in the Lady Marmalade video.

Lily wore a long-sleeved Renaissance gown adorned in pearls. Then nine of the ten girls all went to the stage and waited. There was a large box in the center of the stage. The host of the final test came out and the curtain rose. Lily was still upstairs. Her mother on the stage thought that she must have eaten the apple. Lily grabbed the apple and ran down to the stage, hoping she would be able to eat it later or maybe in her wait, but now that she was late for the show she would not be able to.

When she saw her daughter come to the stage, Lily's mother hid behind a curtain. She waited for Lily to take that one innocent bite of the apple and at the same time the last test was revealed. The Mirror. Lily fell down for a final time, she coughed and choked until her eyes shut and she was dead. The stage went quiet all but the mirror were hushed. Then the mirror spoke as Blue ran onto the stage.

1.2 The mother's dark soul

Killed the daughter whole

Now beauty reins true

Inside of her not in you

At that moment every one knew that the woman's jealous soul had forced her to kill her own daughter. Blue wept over Lily's limp body. Then the young man bent over his love and kissed her red lips. Nothing. "Faerie tales lie," the broken young man whispered. Then he grasped her shoulders and shook her screaming, "OPEN YOUR EYES, LILY! OPEN YOUR EYES!" By shaking her he dislodged the piece of apple from her throat. Lily opened her eyes.

"Mother?" Lily looked around at all the people as Blue helped her up. The wicked woman ran onstage and threw Lily to the ground.

"I'll kill you!" She screamed at her daughter. Then the mirror shattered and a piece of the glass struck Lily's mother in the back, killing her. In her last moments her jealousy was forgotten and she whispered to the girl, "I love you my angel." With that she shut her eyes forever.

Lily had won and lost at the same time. No not the contest, she had won a lover and lost a mother. The mirror had cursed generations of women for thousands of years, Snow White and the Queen, Demeter and Persephone, and many others. Now the curse was broken… FOREVER…