The Shrew From the North Side

A Story by Rachel

this is a frame story; the first part is the description of the "shrew", the second is her story.

The young shrew has a dark shell. Every cloth on her is black or silver. She waits in shadows trying to blend, even though she stands out in a crowd. Heavy eyeliner and mascara make her eyes look like death. Long, jaunty strides cause her to seem like a predator preparing to pounce. Any subject can she discuss, any point will she have a side. Her face, deathly pale, is outlined by straight, purple hair, sometimes accompanied by spiked or lanced berets. To look at her is to look at a shadow, a thing that is not there. Yet her presense is unforgivable; it seems to be forced upon the other. However, while demanding you attention, it is also begging for its personal loneliness, to be forgotten. She never raises her voice, never gets into a fight, yet seems hostile and foreboding everytime she opens her black mouth. Her intelligence is unquestionable; her intent, unknown. She does not speak unless spoken to or provoked; she merely listens, with a sense of sincere mockery to the muddles of others' thoughts. She need not comply with their suggestions or reprimands; she only needs the input that they actually think. The only thing she hates is boundaries. The only thing she loves is darkness.

Oral Communications class caught our shrew and forced her to present a story. She clutches her notes, shuts her binder, and stands. Immediately, every eye turns to watch, as the black mouth opens.

" There once was a girl. She had prim blonde braids and wore pretty bowed dresses. Every night her perfect mother tucked her in with kisses and hugs. On such nights of bliss, the girl would dream of frivolous, silly things. This night was no different... at first.

The little one was in a forest. Everything, so green she couuld taste it, was swimming in happiness. She finds some deer and follow them until they guide her to a school. A teacher comes out smiling, beckoning her to come and sit. The girl is worried though, she thinks she can't do the questions and problems. The teacher beams and helps the child. She finishes her work and the teacher gives her an apple. She drops it and the teacher laughs with her.

Startled, the girl wonders why she would awake from such a wonderfully happy dream. Content in way only children can be, she drifts back to sleep.

Back in the forest the girl is uneasy. Something is wrong; the trees are gray and dead and somehow she knows there are bad things in the forest. She keeps walking when she comes upon a hurt bird. The bird is manic, flapping its wings uselessely. The girl stops to help, when suddenly the bird turns into a beast. She shrieks out in fright and runs, but trips over a knarled root. She stands up to realize she is in another shcool, but she is not alone. there are dozens of other children with her, but they refuse to listen to her warnings of the monster. She searches for the teacher and goes up to explain. The teacher whirls around and the child screams. The teacher is the beast and is tearing at her with books and pencils. When the monster is done, it gives her a poison apple, and laughs at her. The End."