Story by Kenzie Gingrich | Image by Iris Wanders
It wasn’t fair.
Some apples sat in bustling markets, imagining the lives they might lead. Others were selected to appear on the plates of kings and queens. Some even saved lives, bringing strength to the hungry.
But I was chosen to kill.
And there was nothing I could do about it. It wasn’t my choice to make.
From the moment I had been plucked from the tree, carried through the castle’s dark halls, and up the narrow, winding staircase, my fate was sealed. At first, when I had seen the grand towers, I thought maybe I really was destined for a king’s table.
But when the woman’s long, slender fingers lowered me into the bubbling, green liquid, that hope vanished. The hissing fumes curled around me as the glowing mixture tried to seep in. I refused to let it change me.
But was there anything I could do?
She carried me through a rough forest, much like the one where I’d grown, until we reached a humble cottage. She knocked, but no one came to the door. Instead, the face of a beautiful young girl appeared in the window.
Her skin was pale as snow, her lips red as blood, and her hair black as ebony.
The woman urged the girl to open the door, holding me up as if I could tempt her. She refused, but the woman passed me through the window anyway. I watched the woman’s bright green eyes gleam as the girl took me in her hands.
I wanted to warn her, to beg her not to take a bite. But all I could do was watch helplessly.
She took a bite, and immediately crumpled to the floor.
In that moment, I knew I’d been wrong. There was something I could do. I struggled against her swallow, refusing to go down her throat. As long as I stayed lodged there, I could feel her pulse. She was in a deep sleep, but she was alive.
The woman, believing her dead, fled in triumph.
Soon the girl and I were placed in a jeweled glass coffin atop a hill. Her faint pulse was the only sign of life as we lay in silence.
Then footsteps broke the stillness, growing louder as figures approached. A prince had found her and decided to take her to his palace, unable to leave such beauty behind.
As we traveled through the forest, one of his servants stumbled. The coffin jolted. The motion knocked me free from her throat, and as I tumbled out of her mouth, the girl awoke.
I watched her gaze at the prince, something warm flickering in her eyes.
I lay on the ground, unnoticed, but I knew the truth.
I had made a difference.
My future didn’t have to be decided for me. It would always be my choice to make.