“You know her name?”And how can you read my thoughts?
“I know everything, Malia, and yes, that includes your thoughts.” He’s cunning; I’ll give him that. My mother is completely floored by this conversation and remains silent. I think for the first time in my life, I clearly see her disappointment in me. It breaks my heart.
“What is the curse?” I ask reluctantly. I’m beginning to wish I never made the deal with this man.
“I want the king and queen to enjoy their daughter. I want them to fall in love with her, only to lose her in the end. I want them to know what it is to suffer real loss. So on her sixteenth birthday, she will prick her finger on a spinning wheel and die.”
“But, sir, the child is innocent.” I can’t hold my tongue any longer. “I won’t do it.”
He gives me a stern look. “You will do this, Malia. This debt cannot be cancelled. If you don’t, then I will begin to take everything you love. Your mother dies first. I know how much you love your mother, and I also know you would never allow her to die to save your own conscience.” He walks toward me and caresses my cheek. “So you will do this one thing I ask of you, and when it is done, your debt with me will be paid. There are no choices in this matter. It’s as simple as that.” And with his final words, he disappears.
I look at my mother in disbelief.
“Malia, what have you gotten yourself into?” The disapproval in her voice rings loudly in my ears.
“Mom, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize. He said there would be a price. He said it could be many years, a lifetime before I would have to pay it. I didn’t think. I didn’t evaluate the consequences. I just wanted a different life, a life away from Carter and those awful mean girls.”
“That’s right, Malia, you didn’t think.” She pauses. “And you know what? Now, by your lack of concern for consequences, you have become one of them.”
“I don’t want to be one of them.”
“Then let him kill me.”
“You know I could never do that.”
“Then you don’t have a choice.”
My mother was right. He is making me do this with my mother’s life in the balance. She is everything to me, and no matter how much I loathe the task he has put before me, I could never, ever jeopardize her life. She would always come first.
***
Months later, King Philip and his wife were indeed blessed with a daughter, Princess Rose. They planned a big celebration, just as the man had said, and many subjects came from different lands to rejoice in the happy occasion. The three good fairies from Nysa are also in attendance, and as I watch from the rafters above, they begin to bestow their gifts on the princess. The first gives the gift of beauty, the second the gift of song. I decide I am going to make the curse now so that perhaps the only saving grace I’ll have is if the third fairy can bestow her gift in such a way that the princess will not die.
Just as the third fairy is about to bestow her gift, I produce a gale wind that blows through the great hall, and I appear in front of the child in a cloud of purple smoke. Everyone in attendance gasps at my appearance, for most of them do not know who I am. It’s really not important for me to tell them as the only thing I want to do is this horrible deed in which I have been tasked to do and get out of there as quickly as I can. I cast the curse on the child with tears in my eyes and then disappear in another cloud of smoke.
When I return home, my heart is broken. I cannot believe I have condemned an innocent child to die. I await word, praying the third fairy was able to change the curse. I look for my mother, but she is nowhere to be found. I need her comfort. I need her to tell me, like she has always done in the past, everything is going to be okay.
When I get to her room, all evidence of her existence is gone. No clothes and nothing to indicate she was ever here except for a single note left on the dresser. It sits there like a blaring neon sign, and I am fearful for what it says. I know in my heart she has left. I open the note and read:
My dearest Malia,
Thank you for saving my life. I am beyond grateful, as I know you were put in an impossible situation. Although you are my savior, you are another’s destroyer, and as much as I love you, I cannot stay. I’m sorry, darling, but you are now one of them.
Your loving mother
I fold the note back up and sit on the bed and cry.
One hasty and selfish decision on my part put me here, and nothing will change that. I am now destined to this life, and there is no turning back.
I have become the one thing I truly loathe.
I have become the bully.
I have become maleficent, the producer of harm or evil.
The End.
