Chapter 5: Laces, Buckles, Belts and Bows
Well, this is where things get interesting! I won't say much, but it's getting into the meat of things and I promise you'll enjoy! Please read and review!
The next morning, Snow woke up and made breakfast and sack lunches for her seven little house mates. After they left, Snow tidied up the house and not 5 minutes after, she found herself completely bored. She checked Heidi's wound to make sure it was healing properly, which it was. Snow loved to read, but since the dwarves didn't have much in the way of literary material and she couldn't exactly go to a local library or book store, that was a no-go.
With literally nothing better to do, Snow decided to gaze at the clouds. She thought about her life and what would change now that she was living with seven little men. Her life was completely different now. It was beginning to dawn on her that she had nothing and no one and she would likely live in hiding for the rest of her life. "What am I gonna do?" she thought, "I'm seventeen years old. This is no way for me to live."
Snow continued to reminisce about her childhood before her stepmother was a part of her life and went over and over in her head how it could have come to this. She had never known her mother. She had died from childbirth, but her father never seemed to long for companionship. Then she came into Snow's life when she was about 7 or 8. Snow found it odd that her new stepmother was content with staying inside even on beautiful days but never really looked into it. Perhaps doing so and warning her father would have saved his life and spared her of this situation… Wait. No. How could Snow possibly blame her stepmother for her father's death? It's not like she's THAT bad. Before the girl could argue with herself, however, she was broken out of her thoughts.
"Laces! Buckles! Belts and bows!" an old lady was calling. Snow got up to investigate and saw an elderly woman selling wears.
"Well, hello there, young lady! Would you like to try my wears?" she asked sweetly.
Snow paused and thought. There was a distinct possibility that this could be a trap that her stepmother set. Even if she IS a harmless old woman. Thankfully, she had a rather viable excuse that kept her on the safe side.
"I'm sorry. I don't have any money," Snow responded politely.
"Would you at least like to see what I have?" the elderly woman asked, persisting forward.
Snow inhaled sharply and tried to reiterate her point. "I—"
"I have a beautiful girdle! It would look lovely on that frock! Won't you at least try it on?"
Snow sighed heavily. "Well," she thought, "She IS just a harmless old lady. It couldn't hurt me just to try it on and, well, it's not like I have any money to buy it anyways."
"All right," she relented aloud. "I'll give it a try."
"Wonderful!" the old woman exclaimed before pulling out a beautiful, expensive looking girdle. There was no way Snow could afford that with no money to her name, but she wouldn't hurt an old woman's feelings.
Snow slipped the girdle on and the old woman laced it up.
"Now…" the woman said. "All that's left to do is tighten it," she said, pulling at the strings.
The more the woman pulled, the more Snow could see her reflection in the window getting more slender. It was a nice hour glass figure, but eventually, Snow was quite uncomfortable.
"Careful!" Snow interjected. "It's getting a tad difficult to breathe!"
Snow could see a very wicked grin on the woman's face through the window's reflection. "That's the whole idea, dearie!" she exclaimed before yanking sharply at the strings, squeezing the wind out of her. Before Snow could react, she was on the ground.
"By the way," the woman snarked, "feel free to keep the girdle. It's a cheap knock off. Not worth a darn!" And off she went to tell the Queen the deed was done.
Meanwhile, the mysterious man that Snow encountered earlier was in the woods with his buddy practising archery.
"I'm telling you, Hans, she was beautiful! Stunning, even!" he said adamantly.
"Beautiful girls don't just grow on trees," Hans snarked.
"There's no way this girl grew on a tree. She was just too… too… Amazing…" he trailed off.
Suddenly, mystery man felt something tug at his tunic.
"Well, hello there, little one. Are you lost?" he asked as Heidi was tugging and pulling.
"Hey, you're right! She IS pretty cute," Hans said smugly.
"Oh, shut up Hans! As if I would ever!"
"Hey, whatever floats your boat, dude! I'll see you back at the castle, yeah?" Hans laughed before walking off.
"I'm telling you, Hans! I'm going to make her mine and I swear you'll be eating your words!"
The man then turned his attention to the deer, whom was very adamant about getting his attention.
"Are you trying to show me something?" he asked.
Heidi nodded and gestured for the man to follow her.
"Lead the way, then!"
After a few minutes of trekking, the man found himself at the dwarves' hut and could see the unconscious Snow White before him.
"Oh no!" he exclaimed before taking his hunting knife and cutting the ties of the girdle loose. He then scooped her up as she sprung to life and gasped and coughed for air.
"Are you all right?" he asked once she had stopped and regained full consciousness.
"Get away from me!" Snow exclaimed, jumping out of his arms. "Are you stalking me?" she asked.
"What?"
"Did my stepmother send you after me?"
"No! I don't even know what you're talking about!"
"It just seems a little odd to me that my stepmother makes two attempts on my life and you show up in the nick of time to rescue me!"
"If I were sent to kill you, I wouldn't have saved you. I would have left you here," he responded.
Snow paused. He was right. "Gosh, I'm an idiot," she accidentally said out loud before covering her mouth.
"That was supposed to be a thought," she said sheepishly.
"It's all right," he said.
"I'm really sorry…" Snow said.
"It's water under the bridge, now. My name is Kristofer, by the way."
"Nice to meet you, Kristofer," Snow said as Heidi began to nuzzle her. "And this is my friend, Heidi."
"Ah. Was she the one who went missing yesterday?"
"Yeah," Snow chuckled. "That was her."
"And what's your name, madam?"
Before a word could escape Snow's mouth, she could hear her seven little friends approaching.
"You have to go," she said quickly.
"But we've only just met," Kristofer said.
"Now!" she hissed.
"I'm not leaving this spot until I have some sort of guarantee that I'll see you again," he insisted.
"Fine! I'll meet you here same time tomorrow! Now go!" Snow said, pushing him away.
Kristofer was thankfully out of sight before the seven dwarves arrived at the door.
"Hey there, Snow!" Klaus greeted. "What did you do today?"
"Nothing really. Just tidied up a little. You hungry?"
All seven dwarves rushed inside at the offer of food. Snow briefly sighed before going inside, thinking of her encounter with Kristofer.
Ooh la la! Our mystery man has been discovered! Will this blossom into a romance or will he be a spy for the queen after all? Stay tuned to find out!
