Fairy Tale Ending

• Angel Clark, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2017

"Once upon a time..." the story started. Oscar was currently reading to his six-year-old niece, who was sitting eagerly on his lap, looking at the pictures that had been drawn with great detail. It was her favourite story - the prince gets captured by the dragon and the peasant girl has to save him. So far, he had read it twenty-six times and had since gotten bored of it. But every time he opened the book, little Vienna would smile a great, big smile.

After he had finished reading the story, he checked under the bed and in the closet, tucked her in, and gave her a kiss on the forehead. When Oscar had made his way to the lounge room, he sat down and sighed. A slight throbbing started in his ears and gradually grew into a loud ringing. It had been occurring night after night for some weeks now, but there wasn't much he could do. Leaving the house wasn't an option, considering the small bundle of joy he had acquired for the holidays. Finally, he settled on watching tv, which hopefully wouldn't bore him to death.

A few hours later, when he couldn't watch any longer, he went to check on his niece, but before he could make it, a siren started. It wasn't that of a police, instead, it was louder and deeper. He looked through the window but saw that everything was normal.

As he walked back through the lounge, Oscar noticed a book on the ground. When he picked it up, he found it to be the fairy tale he often read to his niece. As he neared the door to Vienna's room, the book started shaking and burning in his hands. Skin and flesh alike were peeling from his hands and yet and could rid the book from his hands. It was as though it was stuck with glue. His face filled with horror as the character in the book started morphing together into a bloody mess.

His limbs began to pull and the pain was excruciating. It felt as though they would tear off and he was sure that when he looked down he would see dislocated joints, yet when he did, there was nothing wrong. His arms were simply sitting by his side, and his legs were straight. Then, as suddenly as it started, it came to an end, leaving only the book and a thump on the ground.

In the morning when Vienna rose, rubbing her eyes and yawning, she found her favourite book outside her door and smiled. As she opened the book, she noticed some of the characters were not where they were supposed to be. After she turned the next page, an ear-splitting scream arose from her.

There, on the page was a man who had just been quartered. He lay in pieces and blood was splattered everywhere. When she looked closer she realised the resemblance between the man on the page and her uncle was uncanny.