White as Snow, Red with Blood

I.

This is not a fairy tale.

This is not the story you tell your daughter before she goes to bed, in hopes that it will give her sweet dreams when she closes her eyes.

No, this is the story you tell to keep her awake.

This is a warning, a lesson that the world is filled with evil, with monsters disguised as men who punish, destroy, kill.

This is not a story.

This is the truth.

And you will keep your daughter by your side, safe and protected, a rose hidden in a jar.

But no flower can bloom without the sun, and there will come a day when she will escape her glass home and venture out into the light.

And you might let her stay, for she looks so happy, but that would be a mistake.

You forget that where there is light, there is also dark.

No matter how bright the sun is, it will never pierce the dark of the night.

You will forget and she will pay with blood.

This is not a fairy tale.