The Ugly Girl and Her Uglier Shadow

It was abnormally cold that year on the banks of Bayou Lafourche. Melinda Detivaux was gently placing kindling into the ancient fireplace tucked into the corner of her old wooden home. The fire blazed the interior of the room scarlet, and a subtle yet kind heat permeated throughout the entire home. The old woman then wrapped a worn blue blanket around her body. Her silvery grey hair twinkled in the homely firelight. Melinda was relaxing by the fire when suddenly she heard tiny little footsteps tapping on her hard wood floor. The footsteps continued to get closer until the silhouette of a young boy appeared near the living room doorway. The boy's eyes glistened and glowed with the reflection of the flames.

The boy came closer to Melinda and he spoke very softly, "Maw-maw, can you read me a story? I can't sleep."
A smile erupted on the old woman's face as she whispered, "Yes, of course. I shall tell you a tale about a girl and her shadow."
The boy smiled and the familiar words of the story came from the old woman's mouth.

"There once lived a girl with the most hideous face the sun has ever laid its rays upon. She possessed the ugliest, the tangliest, and the dullest hair most had ever laid their eyes on. Her eyes were steely grey, and her nose was bent in a most unpleasant curve. She had bushy eyebrows, and the ears of a large donkey. She was ugly by all means possible. The poor girl was not exceptionally bright at school, she was not uncommonly kind, and of course she possessed the aesthetic appeal of a dead toad. Needless to say, the girl's life was very difficult and very depressing.

On most days, the hideous little girl sat on a grassy knoll near the Mississippi River watching the great boats pass by. This became a favorite hobby of her, and the girl soon dreamt of riding on one of those vessels and escaping this life of torment. Living in a small southern town had little interest to her, and she wished desperately to travel to the middle of nohere, where her looks would matter to no one.

Like the waters of that great river, the years flowed constantly, but the girl remained embedded in her simple southern town. Many expected the girl to grow out of her unpleasantly ugly stage, yet every year brought a new form of hideousness to the poor girl's body. The girl grew to hate herself, and she had even attempted to jump into the great rapids of the river once or twice. She felt as if this life was not meant for her, and she wanted to escape forever. The girl cursed her body, and she wanted nothing more than to escape this world of ridicule. Her life was made miserable by her pursuit of prettiness, and she soon lost herself in her quest to become normal looking. The girl kept walking further and further into a state of mind of self-hate, and if she kept on this route, she would soon lose herself completely.

On one particularly crisp and cold autumn night, the hideous girl found herself walking down a particularly dark and desolate path. The only lights which illuminated that particular walkway were the vast amount of twinkling stars in the inky blue sky above the girl. She found herself stumbling on the path, and she began to stray from the set walkway. After a few moments of panicked jogging, the poor hideous little girl found herself completely lost. She looked upward for a glimpse at the stars, but dense foliage and evil-looking branches obscured the sky view. Every step took her deeper into the dark and menacing forest. The shadows of the night engulfed her, and a panicked sense of fear pierced her heart.

Darkness appeared as if it were bellowing out of the ground in vast quantities. Soon the girl fell to her knees in a depressing defeat. She could not pursue an escape from this darkened prison any more, and the girl knew she was stuck in the forest until at least the morning. As soon as this thought flitted through her already panicked mind, a few glowing orbs appeared around her. The orbs began dancing around her like a thousand dancing, glittering shooting stars. The little girl recognized the dazzling display of illumination as the dance of the fireflies, and a plan appeared in her mind. She was going to get the bugs and use them as a light source.

The hideous, yet enlightened little girl soon took upon the task of gathering the lightening bugs, but as soon as she began, she found out this task was going to be very difficult. The lights were very far away, and the night was growing and trying to send a veil of shadow upon the fireflies, but the little girl was very diligent. She began running at an extremely quick pace towards the source of the light. The ugly girl was now racing through the forest, and she was soon upon the source of the light. Amazement and a sense of eeriness fell upon the girl the second she was before the source of the light. A basketball-sized glowing orb levitated before her. A light pierced the sky, and then several more followed in its pace. Soon, several illuminated globes were dazzling through the night sky. For a second, the lights reminded the poor girl of the wondrous and festive lights of Bourbon Street.

The dense floors of the forest were now illuminated by the dazzling display of glowing balls. The girl then decided that this miracle was presented to her in retribution to her harsh and difficult life, and she soon took advantage of this spectacle. She soon looked downward, and she began to follow the orbs back to the entrance of the forest. The little girl had barely taken a step before she stopped in panicked disbelief. Her wide and frightful eyes were glued to the bottom of the forest floor. She was staring at an even odder situation than the glowing basketball-shaped lights, for it appeared that the shadow beneath her body was twisting and turning in a frightful manor. Before the ugly little girl's eyes, her very own shadow stood upright in front of her and began to walk. As strange as this sight was, her own shadow did not even notice it's day time master. The girl lingered on this thought for a few seconds more, but her mind was cut short by the sound of a tremendous ruffling of leaves. In a second or two, hundreds of shadows began to walk into the forest. The sight caused the girl to fall on her knees, but she could not look away. The shadows, all the size of a human being or an animal, walked in front of the girl without even giving her the slightest of glances. She was ignored, or she could not be seen. Whichever was the case, the girl was grateful for this small favor.

A piercing call shattered through the silence of the night as a transparent shadow bird soared through the air beneath the glowing orbs. The girl then set her attention to the darkened night-dwellers. The shadows walked at a leisurely rate, and more and more entered the forest. The minutes passed as the crowds of shadows began to dissipate, and only a few lingering animal-resembling dark patches remained. The girl took this as an opportunity to escape this realistic and horrifying nightmare of impossibility. She ran in the opposite direction of the shadows, but the overhead lights were beginning to fade. Soon the girl was caught in the darkness as she was before, but the only remaining lights led to the shadow people.

Gaining courage she thought she did not possess, the girl decided to walk towards the light. Each step sent new chills of fright up her spine, but it only took a few minutes to find the glowing orbs once more. The girl ran half-heartedly towards a larger display of lights. Around twenty yards in front of her, there was a huge display of the illuminated basket balls. The closer the girl got to the glowing sensation, the more she could discern from the image before her. It appeared as if the shadows had all collected under this cluster of illumination. They were dancing and partying, and the most awkward sensation came upon the girl. She was standing in the world of the shadows.

Taking a few minutes to grasp what she was seeing, the girl sat on a tree stump and just admired, with a somewhat terrified stare, the sights before her. A shadow group nearest to her was discussing the current happenings of the city of New Orleans. Another group of shadow men talked about the strawberry harvesting season. The deeper the girl walked into this strange new land, the odder the sights became. The largest group yet was doing a very complicated dance around a giant fire. They danced, twisted, and turned until their transparent bodies became faint and disoriented in the dazzling fire light. The girl heard no music behind the shadow's dancing, but she did smell a most heavenly scent. A scent which smelled like fresh lavender, newly mowed grass, and crushed peppermint leaves danced around my senses. Taking a few sweeping looks for the origins of the smell, the girl found an oval wooden table adorned with about twenty different dishes. The girl's mouth watered at the mere sight of these dishes, and she soon sneaked nearer to the smell's source. Nearest to the girl's hand, there was a beautifully golden mint-stuffed eclair. Her hand quickly scooped the pastry into her mouth, and her taste buds then exploded in pure delight. The eclair was the single greatest food the girl could have ever dreamed of.

Twenty more assorted dishes fell prey to the girl's greedy hands, and she was soon thrust into a blissful stupor of fullness. The dances shadows flitted around the fire, the scents still permeated through the midnight air, and a sense of happiness and content fell upon the girl like a blanket of darkness. Her eyes closed, her feet stiffened, and the girl was fast asleep. She was asleep for a few hours, and the food had finally settled into the depths of her stomach. But as the girl was stuck in that peaceful sleep, two hands yanked her harshly upward. Two shadow men danced with the girl in hand, as she was struck awake by the harsh movements. She began crying in panic as her wrists were pulled violently until she complied to the complicated dance moves. Expecting to see blood, the girl looked to her wrists. The girl fell flat on her back as she glanced at her hands, for her hands were see through and darkened. Glancing around her entire body, she soon realized she had became one of the shadow people.

As pandemonium swept through her mind, she noticed the shadows flit to a single spot. They formed a circle as a cry pierced the now shadow girl's ears. She ran forward to witness whichever event was now occurring, but she only saw herself. Before her very eyes, her very own shadow, the same shadow which escaped her grasps when she first entered this new world, was transforming before the eyes of the shadow people. The shadow's once see-through body was gaining a reddish tent, and soon bones erupted in the midst of the reddish hue. Skin then appeared like a toned veil of flesh. The girl was soon growing eyes, noses, and lips. Pretty soon, the ugly little shadow girl was staring at the ugly little girl, and the ugly little shadow girl was trapped in this new and horrifying world.

She raced towards the shadow's edge, but a dazzling streak of light met her eyes. The morning sunrise was erupting before her, and glowing rays of the sun were piercing straight through her body. The dazzling star of grandeur was causing light to explode in the densely darkened forest. The shadows around her were also feeling the sunlight's burden. A few shadows then simply vanished into the ground, while others tried to hide behind the thick trees. One by one, the shadows were illuminated and eliminated from their stances, and then the girl felt her own shadowy body sink into the ground. Soon, she had vanished into the ground, and she was forced into the world of the shadows.

And that is how the most beautiful girl in all of New Orleans had become the saddest girl of the shadow world."

The old woman finished the story, and a smirk befell her face. There was a sleeping child in her lap, and a chill was creeping through the room. With all of her elderly strength, the old woman placed the boy on the sofa. Placing her own worn blue blanket around the boy, she kissed his forehead and walked towards the fire. The woman moved near the smoldering pile of ash and tried to savor the last waves of heat the fire would emit.

A pounding noise then came from the window, as it burst open in a wave of cold air. The old woman rushed towards the window to keep the weather out of her room, and she was soon upon the windowsill. Then a piercing scream came from the darkness.

The scream made clear the words, "Give me back my body you cursed old woman."

The old lady closed her window, but before she did, she screamed the words, "You did not appreciate the body you had, but I do appreciate it. So enjoy the shadow world!"

The old woman then walked to her bedroom, and the night became silent once again.