ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏᴍᴀɴ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏᴏᴅꜱ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Once upon a time.... There was a beautiful queen known as Sidra. She spent her days wasting away in her winter castle located near the Swiss Alps. One fine morning she decided to take a breif walk in the woods out of pure boredom. Alone. She knew it was most likely a bad idea to walk alone in the woods as a wealthy queen, but she didn't care. She walked under the bare branches of the leafless trees and the full branches of the evergreens as crisp snow crumbled underneath her expensive boots. Cardinals roosted in the trees as she walked along the non-existent trail. At every sound, Queen Sidra turned to look. After a few minutes of walking, she was starting to think it wasn't quite a good idea to go alone. She should have had one of her body guards accompany her. Walking carefully, she noticed a human shaped shadow behind one of the large evergreens. Fear struck the queen, and she did the logical thing and crept towards the shadow. A woman, a beautiful woman, stepped out from behind the worn-down bark. She had a pale complex, long black hair, and wore a jacket made of wolf fur, which matched her boots. Queen Sidra gasped, for she had not once seen another soul besides herself in these woods, and the woman was very beautiful, as well. Sidra couldn't deny it, she was in love. But a noble queen such as herself couldn't just straight up say that. Revealing she was in love with the strange woman would make her quite vulnerable. "And what is a mere peasant like you doing in my woods?" Queen Sidra questioned the woman with her head held high. "Mere peasant? Is that what you think of me?" The unknown woman growled. "Yes." "And these woods are not yours. They belong to the wolves, they belong to the trees. They belong to the branches, the cold winter breeze. They belong to the cloudless sky, and the worn autumn leaves. They do not belong to a narcissistic queen like thee." "At least tell me your name." Queen Sidra pleaded. She did not want this mystery woman to think she was a narcissist. "Twyla." She said, running off into the woods. The queen swiftly followed her, but could not keep up. Panting and sitting on her knees, dirtying her expensive dress, Queen Sidra wondered if she would ever see Twyla again. Later that night, the queen was preparing for bed. Sitting on a satin stool in front of her marble vanity, she looked at her pale complexion in the mirror. Curled brown hair, blue eyes, and a smooth white nightgown. Admiring, gazing at her beautiful self, Queen Sidra was very confused when her features in the mirror started to shift. Colors blurred, moving around in a seemingly endless swirl, until they focused. Staring back at the queen was Twyla, the woman in the woods. Sidra screamed and toppled backwards out of her chair, landing on the carpeted floor. Fear overwhelmed her as she raced out of the room, down the spiral staircase, and back into the woods. The bitter cold hit her thin nightgown as she ran into the woods, hopefully to find that mystery woman, Twyla. Queen Sidra felt her skin going numb. She fell onto her knees in the cold snow as hypothermia overtook her numb body. Twyla, rounding a tree to view the dead queen, grinned slyly. She had killed another queen with her alluring features. The end - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
