Seeing

I used to see the good in people. That was before the books started changing...

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My family owned a small bookstore in our village. Everyone loved reading storybooks from it, and we made good money. Parents would ask children what they wanted for holidays, and they always answered with 'Books' before stuffing their face in a new one.

You might be wondering how we got those books. Good question. Well, every day, from an unknown person, books started appearing in our shelves. The odd thing was, it was books on kids from our village. And once the books put your name in it, you were never seen again. You would live in a Fairy Tale. Little Jack became a legendary giant-killer, and Charles thwarted Sleeping Beauty's witch.

Now, every little boy and little girl dreamed of being taken into one of these stories. A story were you won everything, anytime you did anything. The girls won their princes, and the princes won the battle over evil.

One thing odd about this village? Oh, isn't it obvious? Thumbelina wasn't made small, she was born small. My mother can tell what a book's about just by looking at the cover (even if it's a long one like the Brother's Grimm Tales). So everyone was born with talents. Little Maria could talk to animals. Sophie could summon chocolate out of thin air. But me? I could see the good in people.

Not manners good, or anything. More like I knew they would take an arrow, even for the most foul person.

Another thong about my village? Oh, well I guess it's odd that there aren't many horror or scary books. We do have some, but they're in a small corner, because there are only two or three.

Whenever the books come, we never look at them or read the stories because Mom always does it. I guess that was a mistake, because Mom was sick at the time, and Dad was tired of reading them. There were a lot of books, at least twenty, and some with over forty pages.

So, we just stacked them were we thought they should be, the one with a pretty girl on the cover had to be a princess, she was holding a crown. And that one, hmm. A bit tricky, but we'll put it with the others in that pile. And this one? I guess it's horror? Odd. We usually don't get horror. Okay focus. Back to work. We were almost done. We only had a few books left, and that was when I started to realize something. These smile's weren't very bright. Usually the smiles were bright and kind, ones that princesses wore, but these kind of looked like a fox's. Sneaky and sly. Oh well. Time to open.

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A few days later, we started getting complaints. Little Kelly was scared out of her wits because of our books. John was terrified of closets because of our books.

I was confused. These books looked like they normally did, except for a few horror ones, with bloody hands on the cover. So I unlocked our little shop on the corner, and relocked it. Flicking the light on, I wandered the isles until I reached the one I wanted. The one with the pale girl grinning like a fox, holding a crown. I looked closer, and saw the shimmering red diamonds. Wait. Diamonds were blue, right? So...wait. Was that...blood?

I tore open the book, eager to stop looking at the horrible scene.

I started reading.

Once upon a time... There lived a fair maiden far off in the woods. Her name was Snow White.

So it was Snow White. I snuggled into the cushion I was sitting on, and continued reading the familiar story, fears fading.

Her beautiful stepmother was jealous of what had happened before.

Wait. 'What had happened before'? What did that mean?

She was jealous of Snow White's prince saving her from the cursed apple. But all was not lost. She would become the queen, no matter the cost. But Snow White was living in the castle that was once hers. The stepmother made her way to the castle, ready for a fight, when she stumbled across a dwarf.

This dwarf was evil, though. He decided to help her, but at a cost. He wanted to help her, so she could win back the castle. So, he turned her heart to stone, and cut it out. She would have no feelings for good or bad.

She continued on her journey, and soon made it to the castle. She flew to the throne room, ready to attack. What she saw there made her rage more. Snow White had a child sitting on her lap, but when they saw her, Snow White screamed for the guards, and the child started crying.

The guards were under a spell, though. So now, the stepmother had her chance at revenge. She smiled sweetly, and turned Snow White's feet to stone, so she couldn't run. She then turned the crown to thorns, and stalked toward her bleeding and screaming prey.

She tore Snow White's head off, and took the crown for herself. She then became the queen of the castle.

The End.

I stared. This wasn't true. It couldn't be. I ran out to see who was buying these stories, and used my talent. The kids who weren't good were throwing rocks and sneering, while the ones with good were scared, and backing down, losing the good in their hearts.

For the first time in history, evil was winning. A rumbling occurred, and a parade of misshapen people run towards our town. Little did I know, now that kids were believing in evil, it was coming true.

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The Present...

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Now kids believe in evil. There is no good anymore, and even my talent changed, now. I know who is evil. The heroes are dead, but I refuse to believe this is the end. I need to make a happy ending for us all. That is out only hope. So not all is lost....