Snow White Story

This week, I'll be writing a modern version of the Snow White story. Read on below.

Definitely not poisonous.

She was an internet sensation. She looked at the internet the way others looked into a mirror, and the internet told her she was beautiful. The Queen. The Most Beautiful Woman in the World. She had many titles. One day, she added "Mother" to that list. Her daughter was cute, even as a baby, but as she grew, The Queen grew worried about the attention her daughter was getting on the internet. Men were too vocal about her, no matter that she was a child. When the girl was seven, The Queen decided the comments and the intent behind them were getting too much, so she sent her daughter away. All The Queen told the press was that she was somewhere safe and out of the limelight. The press mourned the disappearance of the Girl with the Lips Red as Blood, Hair Black as Night, and Skin White as Snow. Still, there was nothing for it. Eventually, they moved on to other stories.

Snow White gained seven fathers and a grand, brightly lit playground with all kinds of bright lights and flashing colors. There were no other children in the casino, but it was where Snow White grew up and she learned its rules well. By the time she was eighteen, she was adept at dealing cards and had become a card mechanic. She knew what signals to watch for at the roulette tables and to avoid the digital slot machines except at very specific times. It didn't take much for her to get hired on as a dealer at a blackjack table. Snow White charmed all of the players, but sweetly refused to talk to them beyond the table. The Queen, meanwhile, had been visiting Snow White in secret all these years and taught her everything she knew about makeup, hair styling, how to present yourself, how to win anyone over, and how to convince others that your ideas were their own. In short, Snow White was a knockout.

Too late, The Queen realized Snow White was going to fall back into the watchful eye of the internet once again. The internet began reflecting Snow White's face back at The Queen before she was prepared for it. The comments about the beautiful blackjack dealer were even worse now that Snow White was grown up. One day at work, a man cornered Snow White, demanding a kiss. The Queen had taught her self-defense, but they had both hoped she would never need to use it. Snow White managed to escape and found her seven fathers. The Queen had hoped the culture would change with time, but she had been wrong. That night, The Queen met with Snow White's seven fathers.

"They'll never change," one of them said.

"They might-" another began.

"-but why give them the chance when we don't have to?" yet another finished.

The Queen nodded. "We'll have to remove her from the limelight, but how?"

"Move her?" Even as he said it, the man shifted in his chair uncomfortably.

The Queen shook her head. "No, then she'll only be found again. We need to do something more permanent."

Later, none of them could remember who suggested faking her death first, but it was the idea they kept coming back to. The internet would mourn her, and mirror the sorrowful images on and on until the next big sensation.

"But what do we do after that?" another asked.

"We disguise her," another replied.

"Permanently?" the last one asked.

It would have to be so. The Queen talked to Snow White about how to change her appearance. The Queen had learned to be a chameleon while keeping her stardom; Snow White would have to learn to be a chameleon to lose it. First, however, they needed to stage her death.

They decided while she was at work would be the best way to publicize her "death" as long as no one caught the "perpetrator". The Queen would entrust no one else with this plan. She would do it herself. The casino had a week where it played up custom from a local Renaissance festival and allowed all of the workers to dress the part. Snow White began wearing a corset to the blackjack table. Never mind that The Queen had commented both how much she loved the festival, and how much she loved the excitement of a casino. It worked and The Queen just so happened to visit the casino during this week. She studiously avoided Snow White and, eventually, retired to her VIP room. From there, she managed to disguise herself and slip back onto the floor of the casino.

Snow White had been pulling at her corset all day, so when a kindly woman approached and offered to help her with it, it was only natural that Snow White would agree. The woman tightened the laces and then began to pull. She pulled and pulled until Snow White began to worry her ribs would crack. Only then did the woman tie the corset in place and continue on her way. Some time later, in the middle of a blackjack game, Snow White's vision blurred and she felt herself begin to fall. Her seven fathers were there and rushed to her side. However, before they could get there, one of the people at the blackjack table cut the laces on Snow White's corset. Snow White sucked in a lungful of air and even her pale cheeks began to gain some color.

What else could they do, but honor this young man who had saved her life?

Snow White thanked him prettily, and then went in the back with her adopted fathers. Although they were frustrated at the failure of their plan, the seven of them waited until later to commiserate. They didn't want to distress Snow White. Much later, they met with The Queen again. They decided that a light poison, delivered through a comb, would be the next best trick. There would be no need to change the company dress code for this, and The Queen would not officially make an appearance.

On the appointed day, Snow White arranged her hair carefully, and put a comb in it. She admired the effect in the mirror and wondered if she'd want to wear it again in her new life. Later, as she dealt a game, Snow White swiped her hand over her head to adjust her hair and managed to knock her comb out of her hair. She ignored this and continued to deal. She waited until the end of the game to pick the comb up off of the floor, trusting that the switch had been made when she wasn't looking. Then she jammed it in her hair, pulling it against her scalp as much as she could. She blinked away the sudden tears and turned back to her job.

As she was leaving the floor to go to her break, Snow White began to feel lightheaded. Her feet were clumsy under her and the floor seemed to be moving strangely. Once again, almost as soon as she hit the floor, her seven fathers began to rush to her side, only to be beaten by the same young man. He unbottoned her small dealer jacket and fluffed her hair away from her face, dislodging all of her hair pins. Then he held two fingers to her neck, looking for a pulse. Not too long after that, Snow White's eyes opened again.

"Did I fall?" she asked.

"You did," the young man confirmed. "How do you feel?"

"Fine," Snow White said, standing up. She stumbled a little, but caught herself.

"We'll take it from here," one of her seven fathers said, as they escorted Snow White into the back.

The Queen, looking at the internet, ground her teeth. She had used all of her skill at blending and projecting a fake persona to switch those combs, only to be bested by this man again. Who was he? The Queen searched the internet, but found no easy answers. She brought this matter to Snow White's seven fathers. While the The Queen was used to having the internet reflect back everything she cared about, Snow White's fathers were not. They found the young man and saw that he was a nurse. No wonder he had rushed to Snow White's side when she fell.

"He'll fall in love with her if he helps her again," The Queen predicted.

"You're wrong," one of Snow White's fathers began.

"He already has," finished another.

That made their planning more complicated. Anything else they would do had to be when this young man wasn't around, or he would just save her again. The Queen summarized all of this for Snow White later.

"He loves me?" she asked.

The Queen made an exasperated sound. "Men will always love women like us. Only some of them truly mean it. I don't think he's one who does."

Snow White considered this. "Perhaps I should see if he does."

"If he gets any more attached, he'll try to find you when you disappear," The Queen warned.

Snow White nodded. Since her internet stardom had grown, several more men had tried to assault her. With each one, she hoped the bruises she left would be enough to discourage the next one, but it never was. Part of her feared the day she wouldn't be strong enough to force them away from her. The rest of her purposefully ignored this fear.

The new plan was for Snow White to fall ill in the back, where the customers weren't allowed. If he couldn't get to her, this young man couldn't save her. Snow White took her dinner break like nothing was wrong. She didn't want to vomit in the break room, so Snow White started her dinner by eating the apple. Even though she knew it was going to poison her ("Lightly," they said, "lightly."), she still wasn't ready for it. It hit her like a truck and she immediately began retching, almost making it to the garbage can in time.

One of her seven fathers was there in a flash. He had just to happened to be walking by the break room when she was starting her dinner break. Snow White's other fathers quickly appeared, and they took her out the back and into their car. They drove her straight to the hospital, but Snow White passed out before they got there.

"I hope she didn't get too much," one of the men said.

"Of course not," another said.

"She's a fighter," yet another noted.

They brought her into the ER, and The Queen arrived not long after, devastated to hear about her daughter. The Queen realized she shouldn't have been surprised the handsome young man worked at this hospital, and that he was there when they brought Snow White in. The Queen and Snow White's seven fathers conferred quietly in the waiting room while Snow White was locked behind closed doors.

She was stabilized and tended to and The Queen and Snow White's seven fathers were able to go in and see her. Snow White was still unconscious and her heart rate was slow. The Queen wept. She hadn't realized what it would feel like, to see her daughter like this. She hadn't realized she would be so afraid they got it wrong and Snow White was really dying. Snow White's seven fathers cried, each struck by the same feeling.

The handsome young man entered the room quietly. "Is there someone after her?" he asked.

The Queen looked at him, startled. "What?"

"Is there someone after her?" he repeated. "This is the third time she's been attacked in this past month. Does she have any enemies?"

"How could she?" The Queen asked, looking at her daughter in the hospital bed. "She's so kind and sweet."

The handsome young man nodded. "If you think of anyone, please, let me know."

The Queen looked in his eyes and saw how much he cared about a woman he'd barely spoken to. "You really do love her," The Queen said, but she didn't mean it the way the handsome young man took it.

"Yes," he said quietly, looking at Snow White on the bed.

He loved a victim who always needed saving. He loved this woman who he had seen unconscious more than he'd seen her awake. He loved a woman who was in distress. However, this woman was capable of taking care of herself and The Queen wondered if he knew that.

He came in again as they were leaving. He went over to Snow White's bed just as The Queen turned back to look at her one more time. He gently smoothed the hair back from Snow White's face and kissed her forehead. That was all he did, but all at once, Snow White's pulse increased and she opened her eyes.

"Hello," she said.

"Hello," he replied.

The Queen realized there was no stopping this. "Hopefully, if another man can lay claim to her, the rest of them will stop trying," she thought, exasperated. She motioned for Snow White's seven fathers to come back into the room, and they all rejoiced that Snow White was safe and healthy. The Queen made a mental note to talk to Snow White about this handsome young man soon.