Rosenrot

Her death reverberated throughout my entire body like a tsunami. My senses were awakened as if God were summoning me. Nobody could have guessed how brutal and malicious reality could be. I miss my sister more than anyone could truly see.

Snow White was the twin everyone admired. She had the coveted looks and the feminine qualities I wasn’t lucky enough to have. Even our own mother would scold me and ask me why I couldn’t be like my precious sister. I was left-handed! Not the devil’s spawn! Beauty wasn’t a gift I was given. Genius wasn’t bestowed upon me. Rules were written in stone and I was the neglected daughter that no one wanted. I had to hide in the shadows while my sister danced in the light. I slept on the frozen ground while she lay warm in the cot above me. I witnessed her birthdays become mesmerizing spectacles of wonder. Fireworks lit up the sky annually while I spent my life in a gilded cage.

I labored under the illusion that I deserved this kind of twisted life. I was one half of a relationship that would never favor me. I didn’t crave the family I never met. I didn’t miss the years where I was cradled and coddled since I never experienced them. How could you lose what you never had in the first place? I learned independence before I learned to read and write. Snow White learned to love the attention the world gave her simply because she was a beauty to behold. She was Daddy’s little princess until he started crawling into bed with her. I slept in a winter wonderland in the barn with the pigs and sheep. My sister was trapped in the house while our mother lay passed out on laudanum. I was the exception and I was glad to be forgotten. My existence went quiet while my dear twin sister lay beneath the body of a man whose homicide became the catalyst for what was to come.

My love for Snow White resulted in the disappearance of our father when we were 14 years old. Our mother went mad with grief but we both knew it was justified. Our mother collapsed under the weight of single motherhood and we ended up shipped off to our grandmother’s house far away. Our grandmother treated us like equals for the first time in our entire lives. She braided our hair and told us how special we were. She was convinced our bond would remain intact even in death. We put that to the test.

Snow White married the first man who proposed. She wanted that fairy tale wedding and that happy ever after she so naively believed. I knew better. Life was cruel to me while it treated her like a Queen. She had her handsome prince but appearances are deceiving. Her beauty couldn’t keep the beast at bay. Her husband abused every inch of her including the ones we couldn’t see. It’s not like in the stories of old where the bride and the groom ride off into the sunset, doomed to a lifetime of happiness. Life taught me to rely on myself and that no one was going to save me. There is no salvation in the mundane. Unfortunately, my sister lived a very sheltered life full of terror and woe. She couldn’t escape from her troubled marriage to her imposter Romeo.

Snow White ended up addicted to opium to numb the pain of her tragic life. Tortured by a man who allowed his 7 friends to abuse my sister as well. Her prince and the 7 dwarfs used her body like a broken vessel. Fragments of broken promises completely shattered the shell of my former sister. Her beauty did nothing to prevent the horror the universe threw at her. My twin sister. The one whose hand I held in the womb. The one whose very breath ran through my lungs as well. Snow White, this world mistreated you for no good reason. Snow White, take my hand. I will show you the way out.

I have done evil deeds to save my sister in the past. I have put our father in an early grave and now, I have to make a prince and 7 dwarfs disappear in one final magic trick. I will have to slay the dragon and rescue my sister from the highest room in the tallest tower. I will have to save my sister from herself. In the end, she couldn’t do it herself. Snow White didn’t have the bravery to cross over alone. I poisoned a red apple and fed it to my beloved sister. I watched as the pupils in her eyes dimmed. I watched my sister smile as she slept. I hugged my sister as she lay dying in peace. My Snow White. Gone is your pain, gone is your sorrow. I will see you soon, maybe one day, maybe tomorrow.

The story doesn’t end with my sister’s death. This is a story of betrayal and vengeance. Our grandmother claimed our bond would prevail even in death. I have more work to do. I am Rose Red. My parents called me Rosenrot. I am my sister’s keeper. I will avenge her until my time is done. I will see you again, dear sister. Destiny isn’t through with us yet. I’m coming for you.