Beauty, Brains and Brawn, and the Beast

One (Iracebeth)

 "Give me back my tart!"

"This is mine! You already had four! Unfair!"

"MOOOTHEEER!"

"Shut it!"

"GIVE ME BACK MY TART!"

That was Scarlet. Among the three of us, she's the glutton. She prefers meat and sweets. Every time our father goes out into the woods to hunt, she goes with him. She's the brave and wild one. She also is the biggest, not the obese type but big, like bigger than any normal girls in our town. I like her because she looks tough and she's the strongest child among us.

"Meanie!"

"Cry-baby" Scarlet stuck her tongue out at our sister as she gobbled up the last piece of tart that our mother baked.

The whiny one, who is always no match for Scarlet, is Mirana. She is the middle child but she appears to be the youngest one. Petite and beautiful. People adore her but not Scarlet.

"Now girls, be quiet. The day's almost over. We have to clean up so we could get home before the night comes."

We live in the outskirts of our town. We live in a small cottage close to the woods. I am the eldest daughter and me? I'm the drab and shy one. I stick my nose in books at the age of five, while Scarlet sticks food into her mouth and Mirana likes to doll up.

Sometimes, mother would make our dress for us and Mirana gets to have the most beautiful dress.

As the sun set, we hurried out of town in our small carriage towards our home. We were able to make it just as soon as it got dark. As we got off the carriage, something caught our attention.

"Mother! Look!" Scarlet pointed towards a blue mist.

"What is it?" We wondered.

"Girls, get inside." Father told us.

"Oohh, light, light!" Scarlet followed the blue mist, forgetting about the dark. I watched in horror as she blindly chased the blue mist into the darkness.

"Scarlet!!" I screamed. Father ran after Scarlet and a scream broke out.

Mother thought it came from the woods but Father came back with a laughing Scarlet in his arms. The scream was heard again and we realized it came from inside the house.

"Mirana!" This time, mother ran into the house with her lamp.

Father placed Scarlet down and went after Mother. For a seven year old, I watched in horror as fire started to consume our cottage. For the first time, Scarlet held onto me with her wide eyes, too young to understand what happened.

Father was able to save Mirana first and she ran towards us, crying. We sat there, horrified and scared as the fire grew big, bigger than the monster lurking in the dark that we were scared of.

Father went back to save Mother.

They never got out.