Tag: fairytale

Part IV

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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

Link to Part II

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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.”

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Epilogue next . . .

Link to Part I

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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.

A/N: I’ll be returning to A Dalliance With the Sun next week. But for now, here’s a new story inspired by Sabrina Orah Mark’s Wild Milk. It may not seem like a typical fairy tale, but that’s how Mark’s storytelling is. It’s her own wild version of a fairy tale, and I tried to imitate that wildness here.

My brother wasn’t listening to me. But I continued to call his name, my voice rising at each call — until it rose so tall that I decided to use it as a ladder. At the top of the ladder, I was finally able to bellow down to him because my voice travels better down than straight. So I jumped onto my voice as if it were a hand glider. But he still didn’t hear me. My voice landed just a few steps away from him. The steps were faint in the sand and they were so easily blown away by the wind. They screeched as they were lifted and snatched away — “NoOOoooO!!!” That my brother heard. He turned his head toward the fading steps and brought his hand to his forehead, looking into the distance. I tried calling him again — this time in a violent cackle so that I was distinct enough to hear. The cackle bounced up and down, between the sky and the ground. But then it threatened to turn more violent. I was afraid it would knock my brother over, so I chased after it while screeching like the steps from earlier. I caught onto the cackle, but it didn’t stop bouncing, so I joined it for a ride. By the time it had ceased in its vicious aerial voyage, I was battered and bruised at my brother’s feet. Then, I called his name in a waver so weak that it landed only right before me, between my brother and me. And since he didn’t catch it, he slipped on it and face-planted right beside me. But he still didn’t see me, so I tried to grab his leg. However, by then he was up again, trotting across the sand, leaving me because I somehow lost my voice and I couldn’t find it anywhere in the sand — not it raised nor bellowed nor cackled nor wavered. And by then I had forgotten my brother’s name.

End