The Fairest of All

Rose Red

Chloe stood in front of two large wooden doors with decorative handles. The hallway was short with dark wood paneling and historic baroque style chairs, tables and golden pictures frames. She held in her reason for being here. She'd received a text message from Mrs. Sara Apple stating:

【Please come to the teacher's quarters to help me organize the materials needed for class on Monday. -Mrs. Apple 】

She tapped gently against the door and called out. "Mrs. Apple? It's me, Chloe White. I'm here."

Chloe could hear the sound of heels clicking against the hard floor surface and after a moment the door handles rattled and opened with a creaking sound.

Sara Apple stood wearing a long ankle-length black skirt and a long-sleeve white blouse that went up past her neck. Her hair was down in black waves and her lips blood red. Between her fingers laid a slim black cigarette. She lifted it to her lips and puffed without any smoke.

"Before you think I'm breaking the school policy on smoking, I'll have you know it's an e-cigarette. I'm in the process of quitting. Do come in."

Mrs. Apple stood to the side and gestured for Chloe to enter into her quarters.

The inside of the flat was decorated modestly and there were still many unpacked cardboard boxes lying around.

Chloe at one point had imagined that her teacher slept in a coffin and was surrounded by floating candles, but she didn't and she wasn't.

Sara Apple's room was plain, much to plain for her strange personality.

Mrs. Apple flicked non-existent ash from her e-cigarette out of habit. "There is a box marked Class B in my bedroom, can you drag it out here please?"

There were only two additional doors. One that lead to the bathroom, and the other to the bedroom. It wasn't hard for Chloe to figure out where she needed to go. She pushed open the first door to see a queen-sized bed with a cranberry bedspread, and a few stacks of boxes were at the foot of the bed. Chloe bent to lift one, and on rising she could see something. It was something she never expected to see here.

A tall antique standing-mirror with the words "Who is the fairest?" etched at the top of it.

It was Elizabeth's mirror. . .

The box dropped from Chloe's hands as she stood paralyzed.

How did it get here? Why was it here?

"I heard something drop, are you alright?" Mrs. Apple stepped into the room behind Chloe to see what the trouble was.

Chloe swallowed slowly, unable to take her eyes away from her own reflection. Her voice became deathly quiet. "Why is that mirror here?"

"Oh that? It's a family antique. It's been passed down in my family for a few generations. There's a story behind this mirror you know—" Mrs. Apple took a puff from her e-cigarette and then waved it towards the mirrors surface. "—supposedly our great-great-grandmother was quite a gruesome looking widowed woman. She longed for her daughter to be pretty and to marry above their station. She sold all her worldly possessions to pay the magic mirror maker for this. . . hideous thing. The magic mirror man claimed he had the ability to make mirrors that would turn ugly women into beautiful women and he promised if she had her daughter look into the mirror every day, she would get prettier and prettier."

Chloe was breathing through her lips, trying her best to keep her heart from racing with panic. "Did it work? Is it magical?"

Mrs. Apple tossed her head back to laugh. "Oh please, that magic mirror man probably made a fortune off lies like that. However, our great-grandmother was beautiful and then our grandmother and our mother after her was beautiful so my sister believes the mirror is responsible. Now, you see the writing at the top of the mirror? That is the curse that was placed on the mirror. When our great-grandmother became too vain about her beauty, a gypsy tried to scrape onto it that question. 'Who is the fairest?'. The curse was that if the mirror found someone younger or prettier, then the previous owner would lose their beauty."