Beauty (Short Story)

One beautiful day in the village of charm, where all the villagers  
have blessed with beauty, except for one girl named Venelope. She's  
the most kind girl in the village but was not blessed with beauty. She  
was teased everyday by the villagers but she's still kind to them.

One day, she went to the temple of beauty to pray, as she pray a  
goddess appeared in front of her. The goddess said, "Venelope, you  
will be blessed with beauty for you have been kind to your fellow  
neighbors even though they have teased you everyday."

Venelope was surprised from what she saw and from what she had said.  
"Who are you?" she asked. "I'm the goddess of beauty, Asiris. I'm the  
guardian of your village." Asiris said.

"What did you said earlier?" Venelope said. "I'll show it to you" The  
goddess, Asiris, casted a spell to her. And she disappear.

Venelope shielded her eyes from the bright light coming from Asiris,  
when the light was gone, she look around and she thought that nothing  
happened around her. But when she look at the water she saw her  
reflection and she didn't believe from what she saw.

"Is this... Really me?" she asked herself, still looking at her  
reflection. "it really is me. What happened?"

****

When she got back to the village, all the boys were staring at her  
even the girls. She thought to herself, "Am I really this beautiful?"  
she smiled at the villagers passing her. Naosis, who is the handsome  
guy in the village, wasn't attracted to the new Venelope. "Hi Naosis!"  
she greeted. "Oh.. Hey!..." He said and he walk away, ignoring Venelope.

"What's the matter with him?" she asked to herself. She continue  
walking until she arrives to her home. "Mom! I'm home!" she shouted.  
"Venelope? Is that really you?" her mom asked. She nodded. "How? Why?"  
her mom asked, confused. Venelope told to her mom the whole story.  
"Really?! The goddess appeared in front of you?" her mom exclaimed.  
"Yup! And that's why I became like this" Venelope said.

****

Another day came, Venelope went outside of their house and she saw a  
lot of boys/admirers looking for her. "Hi Venelope!" they all said in  
unison. "Umm... Hi...?" she said, awkwardly. Her mom saw her daughter  
and she rushed out of their house and shouted, "Go! Stay away from my  
house! And from my daughter!" all the lads walked away. "Venelope,  
it's dangerous if you walk outside without anyone accompanying you."  
Her mom said. "Mom, I'm going to call Noemi, my bestfriend." Venelope  
said. She started to walk and went to Noemi's house. All the girls she  
passed by were looking at her angry, she thought that maybe they are  
envious because of her beauty. As she thought of that, she giggled and  
smiled wickedly.

All the girls in the village gathered in one place to talk about  
making Venelope suffer. A village girl suggested, "Let's throw a  
bucket of water to her." Another village girl suggested, "It would be  
good if we immediately kill her so that she will never steal our  
boyfriends." The village girls agreed to the last suggestion. Noemi,  
who is Venelope's bestfriend heard this plan, so she immediately look  
for her to warn her.

When Noemi saw her, she immediately told her the news. "It's true!  
They're going to kill you!" Noemi said. But Venelope laughed, "Oh  
please! They can't kill me because the lads in this village will  
surely going to protect me." "If you don't believe me then I have  
nothing to say to you anymore. Goodluck to you." Noemi walked away  
from her and went home to rest.

As the day passed by, Venelope felt the cold icy stare of the village  
girls to her. She tried to ignore them but she was too scared. The  
village girls surrounded her until she got nowhere to go. "What do you  
want from me?" she asked them. One of the village girls said, "We want  
our boyfriends back!" All of the village girls agreed and started to  
hurt Venelope. They grab her hair and pull it as hard as they could,  
someone smack her in the face and someone kick her in the stomach.  
Venelope tried to stop them but she's too weak. Noemi saw the crowd,  
she went to the crowd and saw her bestfriend suffer from beating.

"Venelope!" she shouted. She pushed herself to the crowd until she's  
beside her. She whispered, "Run as fast as you can, okay?" Noemi made  
her stand up and she run as fast as she could. She didn't stop from  
running until she reached a familiar place, the temple of beauty.

"Where are you Asiris?!" she shouted. "I don't want to be beautiful  
anymore! Just please... Give my old life back...." she cried. She  
knelt down in front of the blue rose that symbolizes the goddess of  
beauty, Asiris. She continue to cry in front of it until a drop of her  
tear dropped on the rose. The surroundings went bright until Asiris  
casted a spell that can change Venelope back to her old self.

When the bright light vanished, Venelope looked at the water and saw  
her appearance went back. She stood up happily and rushed down to go  
back to her village until she bumped someone. "Oh sorry" she said.  
"It's okay. It's good that your back." A man's voice said. Venelope  
looked at the lad's face and it was Naosis. "Naosis!" she hugged him.  
"What do you mean that it was a good thing that I'm back?" she asked  
him. "It means that I like your appearance right now than your  
appearance these past few days." Naosis said, blushing. "Huh? But I'm  
ugly" "You're not ugly, you're very beautiful inside and out." Naosis  
confessed."

Venelope and Naosis went back to the village happily. She apologized  
to the village girls and her very own bestfriend, Noemi.

Another day came and all the villagers gather around at Venelope's  
home to apologize to her for teasing her and bullying her. When she  
heard the villagers apologizing, she accepted their apologize and they  
had a very big feast as a thanks for Venelope.



        ~*~*~* THE END *~*~*~