Silent Snow

From behind a pane of glass, I wished that I too could be out in the white wisps of flakes. I watch my sister dance under the downfall of winter’s rain and sighed. I was envious for but a moment before I saw a bruise peak out from under her winter’s coat. I shudder that Raven allowed herself to be abused by that cruel woman. She was so selfish she didn’t even realize that I had taken to living in the walls between her room and the stairwell to the maid’s quarters. Her vanity was a prime concern in her life, her only concern it seems. Day in and day out, I could not help myself but speak to her through the wall. She had come to presume that I was a magic mirror of sorts, professing her beauty and splendor. If I pleased her well enough, she wouldn't even pay mind to Raven, which drove me to be more kind with each passing day. Though within, I loathed the wicked queen as much as the rest of the kingdom did. I felt a need to somehow help my sister, this was the only way I could. I could not even fathom what father could have once seen in that vile woman.

I mean, yes, she is beautiful. With her long hair dark mahogany colored hair cascading down her back. Eyes like that of a jungle cats', emerald in color filled with malice and hate. Thick lashes encasing each eye, hiding but just for a moment, the ugliness those eyes hold. Her lips were a soft pink of the roses Raven often brings to my room. Her cheekbones were high, flawless, always covered in a dash of rouge. Her skin a cream color, like the old pearls maid Else had given me before she passed. Oh how I missed our caregiver. So yes, the Queen did possess some outer beauty. The ladies who often visited the castle would speak in harsh and jealous tones of her looks. Of course, to her face, they smiled and told her every sweet lie they were sure that she wanted to hear. All for the sake of pleasing their Queen.

I heard as her footsteps, drew near and her door opened. She walked in with false laughter on her lips which ended abruptly when her door was sealed. I heard her walk deeper into her room, I knew that a look of disdain must be on her face. I abandoned my place near the window and neared the wall that led into her room. I watched through a crack in the wall as she let loose her hair. It fell in waves as she shook her head in disgust.

“I am so weary of fawney people, as the English would say. They all say such pitiful things in order to get my attention. I prefer you mirror, you have to be honest, because you are bewitched to be so.” She turned towards where my crack is, which I knew was but inches from the mirror she was referring to. “Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, tell me who is the fairest of all?”

Her lips were curled up into a grin that looked wicked in its loveliness. I looked down at Raven, whose skin matched the flakes that gently fell around her. Whose ebony hair, looked like the finest of silk as the light caught it. The blood red of her lips in a smile that held true kindness, as did her hazel eyes. My sweet sister, surely the likes of her was a thousand times more beautiful than the queen. Without much further thought I spoke in reply.

“Fair you are queen, with beauty that lays solely on your surface. However, the young girl whom you call Snow, is fairest in all the land.”

The queen gasped angrily and I placed my hands over my mouth. What had I done?