Inner worlds, fairy tales and make-believe

This is something I wrote ages ago but looked at again recently. It's (very) loosely based on Red Riding Hood, childhood imaginings and subversions and is written more as a stream of consciousness - kind of a way to get ideas out of my head and on paper. The images are of some of the  paintings which I did around the same time.


A Fairytale


She prays for something interesting to happen - days full of sun and laughter and the magical light from rainbows and dreams coming true. She is a girl unspoilt by love and longs for romance and fairy tales without realising their true horror. She is a child inspired by make-believe and pink dresses that rustle as she runs through the forest which grows out of her imagination....

             "The Wish" 


There she runs as silently as the breeze searching for the wolf. She draws her cloak around her tightly as the mood shifts and she sees the witches' hats moving in the distance. Twilight approaches fast, the magic hour, and she hears their shrill voices against the soft whisper of the wind through the trees.


As death plays around the corner she wonders if the wolf can smell her heart beating. In the menacing darkness the forest is haunted by black inky hues and children's nightmares and she knows if she strays into the realm of lurking wolves and preying witches she will be lost forever. But just as the wolf gets ready to pounce the keys on the piano begin to play like a dream coming true and through a gap in the trees a golden carriage pulled by 6 white horses flashes past like reality restored.


The carriage is filled with rose-wreathed princesses on their way to a ball but they throw her a wish and suddenly she is an enchantress, slaying dragons and turning witches into stardust, ruling her empire with wishful thinking and rainbows.

                  "The Enchantress"


As if by magic the forest is filled with a thousand butterflies and she follows their whispers of a promised getaway. She passes the house where the witches live, luring little children with the smell of fairy cakes and cute little kittens but she knows she must not stray from the path this time.

                  A study: "Make-believe Child"


As she flees the forest she can see the sky once more, the sun setting like a huge bloodstain in a pool of water - her face is pale and bewitched, there are flowers woven into her hair and her heart beats like the wolf's.


The End.