Father married,
The beautiful Lady Jane
Red hair flowing,
Teeth flashing
Crocodile smile.
A happy couple
Perfect match,
Celebrated widely
Children askance
New mother is evil.
A wolf in sheep’s clothing
Gentle but brutal
Father oblivious
Never to his face
Too much in love.
Father away
Stepmother rules
Beautiful woman
Becomes ugly mean crone
Children cringe
She cackles no mercy.
Children’s lives
Become drudgery
Work work work
No respite
Work all day or
Punishment met.
Children resist
Food withheld
Locked in rooms
Threats made
Shrink in fear.
Stepmother
Delights in hearing herself
Order, demand
Push and shove.
Strikes and belts
Urges children to leave.
She says you’re not wanted
You get in the way
Good for nothing
Too slow, too greedy
A waste of all space.
Children suffer, step mothers smiles
She’s proud of her plan
Soon children will leave
Run off, and hide
For then father will be hers.
In a rage she goes a step too far
Pushes youngest, hits her head
A stillness settles
Breaths are held.
Step mother panics.
She threatens the two,
Says sister tripped and fell,
Their lives will be hers
If they utter one word.
In her ultimatum, she feels safe.
The children escape during the night
They flee south their father in sight
On the road, they find him
Their story they tell
His anger a wild tempest blows.
He calls police, calls all help
Storms into his house
Drags the wife from her bed
Throws her to the floor
Stands over her, wanting her dead.
Stepmother is taken
Father gathers his two
Cries on learning of their cruel fate
Sobs at the loss of his baby child
Vows never to leave his children again.
Written for:
http://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2014/04/04/fairytale-prompt-2/
What a dark and harrowing tale you’ve woven Michael. Such a tragedy I was fixed to the screen
Well thank Yves, Anya did say an evil step mother. Evil she was.
Evil indeed you did a great job with the prompt
Thank you so much, it took two goes to get that one out.
It was worth the effort
I see bits of reality, bits of Cinderella, the eeriness of ‘a stillness settles’, wickedly evil and sad. Well done Michael.
Thank you Jenny, reality? Never. Then again.
Hmm that’s what I meant. you are welcome
Excellent
Thanks so much Al.
You’re welcome 🙂
Now that’s one evil woman! But fairy tales are littered with evil women, aren’t they? Very well done Michael. Really dark.
Thank you Jackie, fairy stories is where they belong.
Ouch that’s really harrowing and sad
Thanks Justine, she had to be evil and so I made her so.
You certainly achieved that…shivvers
Well done and sadly I could see some parallels to some children’s sad realities.
Thanks Melanie you are so right about that.
Wow…you definately got the dark side as requested! Like how you used the poetic form to get the story across…sad about the youngest child though … well done.
Thanks so much Georgia. It was a challenging prompt.
Definately…i kept to the classic form, but loved how you puled this off!
Oh my!! what an evil evil person she was alright…I felt so bad for the children. You write a convincing story, Michael!
Thank you so much Oliana. The prompt said evil.
I know and the children reminded me of children who call my phone line…your words were that real!!
Well there were a few elements of reality in it.
I thought so…
Well you brought out an evil step-mother….very well done.
Thank you Anja, I have plenty to drawn upon in that department.
Oh – that evil step-parent!!!
I like the way you related the story in poetic form.
Thanks RoSy based on several I have known.