Author: suparnah

Suparna Hande is a junior majoring in Creative Writing & Literature and Asian Studies. Her current series, Frivolous Fairy Tales for Modern People, features short fiction written in the well-known fairytale form, but in a modern context. Her pervious series, Sagas Among the Arcana, included poetry and fiction based on weekly tarot readings. In her free time, she enjoys playing the violin and dancing.

Frivolous Fairy Tales: Vivian Virtue Part I

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There once was a woman named Vivian Virtue who lived in a pretty three-story apartment complex. And much to the horror of her older neighbors, Vivian was seen every night with a new man linking their arm with hers. The first week that the neighbors had noticed her habit they’d press their ears against shared walls, floors, or ceilings, wondering at the absence of unbecoming sounds they’d expected from an exuberant young woman such as her. After the first week of shameless snooping, they gave it up and went on with their lives. Only occasionally, if they ever crossed paths with her in a stairwell or hallway with a man attached to her hip, would they send her way a sneer of disgust. Thus, Vivian’s notoriety was cemented by her lack of Virtue.

One day, however, 60-year-old Martha who shared a wall with Vivian, was woken with a start. A loud thud had echoed from right beside her bed. Then came the muffled moans. It took a while for her to understand what was going on when her face was overcome by a deep flush. She was scandalized and vexed. Vivian was a fiend, Martha had always known, but she had simply ignored the fact since the young lady had never exhibited her loose behavior. However, now that she had, Martha finally had her chance to give a harsh lecture to the young lady. One that she had been preparing since that first week of Vivian’s man-trapping days. 

Yes, Martha thought, it was time the youth learned a thing or two about propriety. 

To be continued . . .

Frivolous Fairy Tales: In the cesspool of my dreams . . . 

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This poem is borne from the idea of a creature that would be able to travel into our minds. What would it think about our deepest thoughts?

But this is also just me practicing structured(ish) poetry by limiting myself to eleven syllables for each line. But it’s a loose rule since the structure breaks apart a few times. I tried my best to develop the poem’s fantasy elements so that it’s at the very least least fairy tale-adjacent.

~

In the cesspool of my dreams a shadow prowls 

leafing through my memories, it hums in thought,

pausing at each page turned, it raises a brow,

weighing each scene’s absurdity— all for naught.

 “A dreadful, sinful person,” it must presume.

Alas, this is the shadow prowler’s sole role,

deterge, depurate those degenerate tombs—

tombes of our memories, that twin to our souls.

But back to me and my character. It’s foul—

or at least so the prowler presumes. It’s right.

Fruit pluckers like I shall be the fall of all.

Best to scourge my rot, all my blights extradite.

So the prowler gouges that meat of my mind,

and carefully bleeds it— drip by drip go by.

Back into me it pours nectar so sublime.

Golden, untainted virtue to gratify

those parents that left me dry

when I told them that one time

of lost dignity and pride

when I sold love for mere dimes

they said they’d rather I died

than have some foul sinner child . . .

At this page, the shadow prowler lays in wait.

Perhaps, its heart twinges with sweet sympathy.

Perhaps, I would be ever so fortunate.

But it’s too late. The nectar swallows fully.

Thus, I’m drowning in its makeshift chastity.

Birthing my new entity and sealing it

where Vice pricked continuous punctures in me.

The shadow prowler retreats when my mind is cleansed and pure like a baby’s.

Frivolous Fairy Tales for Modern People: Window Wiper Fairy

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The Window Wiper Fairy doesn’t wipe windows because of fairy altruism. She wipes them because she is stuck to them. And how she got to be there nobody knows. It just so happened that one day the building’s windows were bare all except for dirt, and the next, they were bare all except for a pink-haired fairy. 

People who see the fairy have stopped paying her mind. Perhaps, for a few seconds, they’ll stare as she flaps her glittery butterfly wings and beats them against the glass. Then, they’ll revel in the sight of a window so clean and shiny it reflects like a mirror. But in the end, they simply turn their heads and forget that she’s there. 

Even those within the office on which’s window the fairy hangs from, have moved on from the novelty of her presence. She’s simply one spot where sunlight doesn’t enter. She’s as mundane as a hunted deer head perched above a hearth. 

However, there is one who is rattled by the fairy’s presence.

Every morning, Jodie comes to work with a stronger coffee than the day before hoping she’ll wake up from her strange dream. She sits at her desk and sighs disappointedly because it’s still dark. She glances hesitantly to her right— and low and behold, the pink-haired, glitter-winged fairy remains. 

She tries to ignore the fairy’s presence because everyone else does. And she’s too new to the workplace to ask for another desk. No, every day, Jodie spends the rest of her time in silence, thoughts always fluttering back to the fairy on the window.

It’s even worse for Jodie when the fairy begins her daily routine of batting wings to wipe windows clean. Jodie feels as if she’s sitting next to a prepubescent tornado. 

One day, Jodie finally musters up the courage to talk to the fairy. She knocks on the glass over the small of the fairy’s back and the crease between her wings. 

Thump. Wings hit the window, Jodie almost jolted back.

“Um, hello Fairy.”

Thump. Thump.

“Do you need to get down from there?”

Thump.

“Uh, beat once for yes and twice for no.”

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Well, what is she supposed to do with that?

“Just once or twice, please.”

Again, the fairy flaps three times.

“What does thrice mean? Do you not understand what I’m saying?”

Thump. Thump. Thump. 

Jodie grows frustrated. She bangs her fist hard against the glass where she’d knocked before. The fairy retaliates with four flaps this time, each more forceful than the last. And Jodie hits back.

The two continue with their sharing of blows until Jodie takes a break as her skin turns cherry red. She takes a step back to look for the cool steel of her water bottle, hoping that will soothe her aching fist. But the moment she turns away from the fairy, it slams its wings so hard the window shatters and blows into the office. And Jodie falls to the floor from the force of it all. 

“Jodie.”

Jodie lifts her head to the furious visage of her boss.

“You’re fired.”

“But, it was the fairy—”

When Jodie points back to the now disintegrated window there no longer is the Window Wiper Fairy. Just the open blue sky flooding her desk with brightness once again. 

END

Frivolous Fairy Tales for Modern People: A Dalliance With the Sun (Epilogue)

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Part IV

~~~~~~~~

On a particularly bright day, there was a woman walking down the street. Her sneakers shuffled against the pavement rhythmically. She pushed a twin-seated stroller that held two babies peacefully lulled into slumber by their rolling carrier. 

The woman hummed a melodious tune that had passersby’s ears perking. The people turned their heads to stare at her. However, they could make nothing of her visage for it was shadowed by a worn baseball cap, and her eyes were hidden by thick sunglasses. Honestly, she was rather plain— yet despite this, she walked cheerfully and that entranced the people. Simply the sight of her and her sweet babies made them happy.

The woman finally arrived at her destination— a small storefront painted in an unflattering green with a large show window rimmed in white. The window displayed a wide array of delicate and attractive flowers. The woman pushed open the door and pulled along her stroller. The chiming bell welcoming her roused the babies awake. They softly grumbled and cooed, reluctant to open their eyes.

“Good afternoon!” The store clerk greeted cheerfully. 

The woman nodded in acknowledgment briefly and began her perusal of the store. She left the stroller by a display of sunflowers that faced the teenage girl working the register. The girl peered curiously at the stroller. 

Under their eyelids, the babies’ eyes shifted— a prelude to their awakening.

Meanwhile, the woman brushed her fingers over an arrangement of white chrysanthemums. She smiled under the cover of her cap. 

Suddenly, the teenage clerk gasped, stunned. The babies’ eyes sparkled iridescently. She couldn’t tell if they were golden or blue. Only when their mother returned with her selection did the girl cease her unabashed starring.

She coughed awkwardly as the mother approached. “Ahem— did you, uh, find your choice satisfying?”

“Yes, very.” The woman didn’t seem bothered by the girl’s embarrassment. She presented her pick of chrysanthemums.

The girl stuttered, realizing the possible reason for those flowers. “Oh, I’m sorry for your—”

The woman waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, it was an inconsequential loss.”

“Uh . . .”

“They were really—” she lowered her sunglasses to the bridge of her nose, revealing iridescent eyes, much like those of her children, that glowed surreally “ —meaningless.”

End

Frivolous Fairy Tales for Modern People: A Dalliance With the Sun (Part III)

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Link to Part II

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Selene was trapped. 

Or at least it felt that way, with how this strange deity lingered in her home. Admittedly, he had become quieter since their first encounter. She had expressed a need for time before they got on with making her a baby, and so far he was respecting her request . . . supposedly. For, while he never verbally asked for it, his presence certainly did. 

Whenever she awoke, she’d find iridescent eyes peering at her through a crack in the door. While she cooked, there would be light but intent brushes against her waist. And whenever she went to take a shower, thinking he had taken a step out, she’d find him standing outside her bathroom door once she was done. His gaze would caress her damp hair, and she’d shiver uncomfortably. 

Yes, he talked less, but his presence was ominous enough. Selene got the sense that she was running out of time. She didn’t even feel like having a baby anymore. Yet soon, she would have to give in and make good on her promise to offer her body and soul. She was pretty sure of how he wanted her body, but her soul . . . she feared to consider what that would entail. 

One day, while Selene was at work, she overheard one of her fellow new hires saying:

“Is it crazy that I want to be a mother now? I’m only twenty-two, and men my age can never commit . . .”

Those words were familiar to Selene, as she had once said them before. They were words that had gotten her into her current predicament. 

And they were words that may get her out of it.

Selene stood up with newly gained determination. She walked to her co-worker who just spoke of her desires. The other woman had soft and lovely brown waves that cascaded down her back. Her eyes were big, round, and innocent, and they gleamed a sparkling blue. She was tall with long legs. Most importantly, she was far more beautiful than Selene, and that would be Selene’s saving grace.

The next day, she went up to her personal nuisance— the Sun.

He eyed her up and down and gave her a salacious grin. “So are you finally ready?”

Selene tempered herself, putting on the mask that she had become accustomed to these past few days. Demurity. 

“Oh actually, I’ve come to a realization.”

He raised his eyebrows.

“I don’t really think you would like me very much as a . . .” she struggled to find a fitting word and settled for “ . . . lover.” And she continues, “I’m pretty boring— plain even.”

“But you’ve promised yourself.” He said in a low, dangerous voice. 

Selene ignored the thinning ice she was treading and pushed on. “Yes, which is why, I’ve found someone else to fulfill it for me. I’d be very sad if you were displeased with me, so I think this other woman would be much better. She’s much prettier than me, and she also wants a child and yearns for a committed man. Really she’s a far better prospect!”

She then opened her front door where her co-worker was already waiting. She smiled gracefully at the Sun as if she was delighted by his handsome appearance. 

She walked forward and held her hand out, “Hello, I’m—”

And she disintegrated into ashes. 

Selene screeched in horror. “Why would you do that?!”

“Do you think I’m a fool?” As the Sun spoke, the sky darkened outside. “I know what you were trying. You’re not as cunning as you think you are.”

The Sun grabbed her by her shoulders and seethed. “You’ll have to pay me tenfold now that you’ve tried to break our contract.”

He began to drag her toward her window. “You wanted a child so you will get one, and I will get you. But now, instead of just your lifetime, I will have you serving me for eternity.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Epilogue next . . .

Frivolous Fairy Tales for Modern People: A Dalliance With the Sun (Part II)

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Link to Part I

~~~~~~~~~~

For a moment, Selene was blinded by a striking brightness. Her eyes stung with tears, and she struggled to blink them away. She held out her arms hoping that if her future child fell from somewhere, they would land safely in her arms. 

However, when the brightness ceased, there was no child, and instead, she was roughly embraced by strange muscular arms. Ones that definitely did not belong to a baby. 

“Let me go!” She struggled against her assaulter, beating on arms as firm as steel. But they did not yield and she was suffocated even further. 

Eventually, she was let go of and forcefully turned around by those same deathly arms. She was met with the smiling face of a handsome man with iridescent eyes that glowed surreally. Yet she couldn’t get herself to smile back, for there was something ominous about the air that surrounded him— it was addicting and stifling like some sort of drug.

The man suddenly spoke, and she was allured by his deep melodious voice, “Lovely lady, I see that you have called for me.”

His utterance broke her out of the momentary spell. “I didn’t call for you. I called for a baby.”

His smile widened dangerously. “You did call for me. You called for the ‘Great Sun.’”

Dread coursed through Selene. Oh no . . . was he . . . ?

“And here I am, the Sun. Here to take your body and soul and give you a baby.”

Panic burned through Selene. For all intents and purposes, she had basically made a deal with the devil— a devil that glowed marvelously— but a devil nonetheless. She didn’t want a man, that’s why she went to the Sun in the first place, but now it seemed that she would still be stuck with one. And this was a man that was far more troublesome than she could have ever expected. 

“And what if I say no?”

The sky darkened. Thunder struck in the distance. Wind began to howl. All of this happened at once as the Sun’s eyes glinted menacingly. 

Selene supposed that her remark wasn’t appreciated. So she immediately took it back, “I was just kidding. Of course, I’ll . . . I’ll give myself to you.”

Suddenly, the sky cleared and the Sun’s face brightened with glee. But it didn’t relieve her fear. 

“Wonderful! Shall we?” He asked her, holding out his palm for her to take. 

And take it she did, but not without feeling like she had just signed her death warrant.