Geraldine
There once was a girl named Geraldine. She had bright blue eyes, and bright rosy cheeks. Her long blonde hair swayed gently in the air, and rest upon her bright, white dress. However, she was not blessed by the gods of beauty. Her nose appeared to be a bit too large, and her eyes were paired a little too closed together. Her skin was very pale, as if Geraldine had no sign of life within her. But Geraldine was a very kind soul. She could never bring herself to harm another, a gentle child who would stop to pick up a flower, and enjoyed nature’s beauty around her.
Because of her looks, Geraldine was teased by every child in town. On her very first day of school, all her classmates called her names and fired bits of paper balls at her. Geraldine was so upset that she dashed out of the school, and ran into the town crying. Tears were rolling off her cheeks, but no one stopped to comfort her, for no one wanted to be seen near anyone so unappealing. Soon, it started to rain heavily, and Geraldine had to take cover inside an antique store.
It was very dim inside the shop. The dark rainy clouds outside shone no light through the old shutters on the windows. Only a few candles were lit and placed around the room, causing the store to appear cold and uninviting. Geraldine took a look around. Every object appeared to be very old, and the shelves were arranged in such a way that the entire shop was divided into a tiny maze. At the end of one of these lanes, was a mirror with a beautiful gold frame. Black gems were embedded into the gold frames, and they sparkled into the bright blue eyes of Geraldine. Captivated by the gloriously-crafted frame, Geraldine walked through down the lane, and looked upon her reflection.
Geraldine stared in astonishment. Both Geraldine and the reflection had the same blonde hair, and were both wearing a white dress soaked from the rain. Everything was exactly the same except for their faces. The face that belonged to the reflection did not belong to her. Its face was too mesmerizing. It had the perfect-sized nose, and its eyes were placed perfectly apart. Its eyes were off a different color as well. Instead of being bright blue, its irises were pitch-black. Its skin appeared to be more pale when compared to Geraldine’s, but she assumed these unsettlingly effects were due to the poorly lit room, and tried to ignored them. The flawless reflection that looked back at her was not her own, and Geraldine felt quite uncomfortable. Nonetheless, she looked beautiful in the mirror, and began to dance around it. While marveling the beautiful unfamiliarity, she noticed a few shoppers had stopped to smile at her. She thought that the others had stopped to admire her beautiful reflection as well, although it could have been the gracefulness in her dance which gained the attention. She decided to make a wish.
“I wish I was as beautiful… no, to be more beautiful that this reflection.” Geraldine whispered to herself. Immediately, the mirror started to quaked, producing a ripple. The reflection began to move. Its two arms came out of the mirror first, and then its head proceeded to follow. Its eyes stared into Geraldine, who gave out an uneasy shriek. Geraldine looked around her for help, but the shoppers had already left to continue with their browsing. It seemed as if no one else had notice a mirror with an apparition coming out of it. Geraldine felt very afraid, yet she felt so bewitched by the beauty of this inconceivable being appearing before her. The reflection opened its mouth to speak.
“I can make your wish come true, but I will need something in return.” The reflection said, not once removing its gaze, “I can make you the most beautiful person in the world, and everyone would love you.”
Geraldine immediately thought to herself. How wonderful would it be to be admired by every child who had teased her before? To be the envy of every girl, and maintain the attention of everyone? Her mind blew up with many ideas, and she quickly nodded her head. The reflection muttered a string of enchantment, and the ground beneath Geraldine began to shake. Geraldine lost her balance, and fell onto the ground. An older boy ran over to pick her up. Geraldine, still confused by the prior events, was unsure whether they had actually happened, or were just made-up by her imagination.
“That was a terrible fall!” the boy remarked, “A girl as beautiful as you should be careful with your footing.” Geraldine snapped out of her trace. Did he just call me beautiful? Geraldine rushed to the window of the store, and screamed in excitement. Her reflection was mesmerizing. It seemed as if the reflection had given Geraldine her perfect nose, and the perfect eyes. Her new features were so striking that it even stopped the people walking by the store. They thought that she was a painting that had come to life.
The next day at school, everyone gathered around her. Everyone wanted to be her friend, and they all apologized for their poor behaviors before. The boys showered Geraldine with gifts, and she was invited to sit with the prettiest girls at school. Geraldine felt very satisfied, and soon joined the efforts at teasing the other unattractive children. As the days passed, Geraldine found it easier and easier to pick out the flaws of others’ appearances.
A few weeks had past, and Geraldine was not the same kind soul she was before. She had become very vain and judgemental. She criticized the appearance of everything, including houses and animals. It was not too long before Geraldine became dissatisfied by the appearance of everything around her. Everywhere she looked, she felt disgusted, even by the flowers which used to bring forward pleasant emotions. Everyone around her had noticed her change. Instead of a kind soul, they saw a very sullen girl, who threw malicious insults toward everything in her path. Finally, she began to feel displeased by her own reflection. Feelings of disgust filled her insides anytime Geraldine looked into a mirror. Frustrated with the ugliness she saw, she locked herself in her room, and refused to ever leave.
A few days later, Geraldine had completely lost her mind. She was completely engulfed in her own unappealing world. Unable to see the beauty in anything, even her once beautiful reflection, Geraldine was filled with guilt. She regretted making the deal with the apparition in the antique store, whom she was sure, was a devil of sorts. She ran around the house, shattering every mirror into tiny fragments of glass. After smashing the last mirror, she grabbed a piece of glass, and slowly moved the glass towards her eyes. Her loud screams traveled through every room of the house, which woke her parents up. They quickly got out of bed to investigate the noise, to only find their daughter lying in a pool of blood. Glasses were sticking out of her eyes, and blood was flowing out. They started to scream, but Geraldine remained silent. She looked towards a window, as if to admire the world one last time. She then fell onto the ground and died, with her lips bend in a way as if to express a smile of contentment.