Mirror, Mirror On The Wall

Chapter Three

CHAPTER THREE

“Oh, please hold still!” Daisy, the royal tailor, said to me in a frustrated voice.

“Sorry!” I replied, sounding sincere and making sure I didn’t wriggle around too much.

She accepted my apology before bending her head down and continuing her work.

I gave a sigh to signal my boredom and stood waiting for my aunt to take notice of me.

“Meredith! Don’t be so rude! You know that we need to get you some new dresses for the ball tomorrow night!” Aunt Zara said before turning her back to me and continuing to pick out the ugliest dresses she could find for Bethany and I. I knew that she was secretly determined to make us look hideous in comparison to her.

As I watched her pick out a dress for Bethany, I felt a faint feeling of hatred towards her. Bethany was her own daughter and she felt so threatened by her that she tried to make her look ugly.

Bethany was definitely pretty. She had long, flowing light brown hair that she tied up in a neat bun on top of her head. She had light blue eyes and beautiful pale skin. However, even though she was pretty, she was not a threat to Aunt Zara’s beauty.

Aunt Zara probably just doesn’t want to take a risk. I thought to myself. Besides, maybe she thought that Bethany would actually like it.

Probably not.

It seemed that I was the only person in the entire kingdom that knew about Aunt Zara’s vicious way of thinking.

It wasn’t enough for her to just be beautiful. She needed to be the most beautiful.

I stopped daydreaming when Aunt Zara called out, “Meredith! Do you like this one?” holding up one of the most hideous dresses I’d ever seen. It was bright yellow with pink frills and big green gems on the collar.

I hesitated for a moment, then gulped and nodded.

“I love it.” I said, trying to sound truthful.

She smiled and turned around to face Bethany to talk about what she was going to wear.

I felt a feeling of intense dislike for my Aunt.

How dare she? I thought. I’d stand up for myself and tell her to back off but I kind of wanted to keep my life.

I looked up and examined the dress that Aunt Zara had picked out for Bethany.

It was a bright orange color and made her look like a walking tangerine. It had puffy sleeves and a big dark green bow tied at the back of it.

That dress could’ve made even Aunt Zara look bad.

I watched as Bethany nodded her head with approval and Aunt Zara gave her a smile.

Of course we all knew that Bethany hated the dress and would’ve burnt it if she had the choice. But because Aunt Zara had given her a smile and tricked her into thinking that she really thought her daughter would like it, Bethany agreed.

I sighed heavily.

“Finished!” Daisy exclaimed with joy. “It looks...lovely.”

I pursed my lips into a smile, muttered a thank you and walked off to get changed.

When I returned from the dressing rooms and entered the spacious, well-lit shop, I saw Aunt Zara, dressed in a beautiful dress and matching accessories.

She was wearing a pale beige colored dress with silver and gold gems around the collar and sleeves. Upon her neck hung a shining diamond necklace and wrapped around her wrists were gold and silver bracelets with bronze beads. Her hair was done up neatly in a bun with a few strands of hair out of it to frame her face. She looked truly magnificent.

When she realized I was next to her, staring at her outfit and expensive jewelry she said, “Do you like it? It’s the outfit that I’m wearing for the ball tomorrow night!”

She waited for me to nod and then turned back to Daisy, continuing to order her around.

I rolled my eyes, making sure she didn’t notice me doing so, and turned to face Bethany.

“I love the dress that mummy picked out for you, Mere! You looked really nice in it.” Bethany said to me, trying to sound like she meant it.

“Thanks, Beth. Yours is nice too.” I replied.

She must have realized that I was feeling upset because she smiled at me and hooked her arm in mine.

“Come on, Mere! Let’s get ready to go.”

I smiled and nodded my head before walking away with her. It was nice to have someone like Bethany to comfort me when I was worried. And now seemed to be the time that I needed her most.

Once Aunt Zara had finished admiring herself in the mirror and ordering the tailors around, we set off back to the palace. I didn’t say a word to Aunt Zara on the journey home, or anyone for that matter. I was too busy thinking about the ball the next night.

The last ball I had attended before this one was in celebration of my sixteenth birthday. That was the day when I destroyed every part of me in order to protect myself.

We arrived at the palace and Bethany and I went off to our chambers to freshen up. Afterwards, we had dinner in the dining hall.

The next morning I woke up later than usual. I had had a horrible nightmare the night before and was still slightly traumatized. I sat up in my bed and rubbed my eyes.

I threw the blankets off of me and got out of bed. Then I walked over to my closet and picked out an old, pale blue dress. It was nothing special, worn out and ripped in some places. I got changed and left my chambers to go to breakfast. As I was on my way, I passed Bethany’s room and caught a glance at her through the space between the door and the wall. I froze and stood outside of her door. Hesitantly, I knocked on the door.

“Come in!” she said in a cheerful voice. “Hi Mere! Do you need anything?”

I stared at her in amazement. She looked beautiful.

Her hair wasn’t in a neat bun like it usually was. Instead, it was curled and left hanging over her shoulders. Her cheeks were pink and rosy, her eyes were shining.

My mouth was open but no words came out.

I had to protect her.