A fractured fairytale
December 10, 2009 at 22:16 (The story behind this story is here.)
Once upon a time, there was a smart girl who was also stupid. She was stupid because she thought honesty and openness would win her love.
In theory, being trustworthy and loyal should have been a plus, but she found it hard to compete with the excitement generated by the ones who saw dating as a high-stakes game of hunting, wounding, and entrapment. In their world, the winner took all or quit the game with a wink of the eye or a shrug of cold shoulders. She refused to play that game and she thought this made her smart.
Then she fell in love with a boy and let him know the depth of her feelings. She saw him in a way he could not see himself, as a rare and exotic species--smart, desirable, unique. They dated for a time, but because he did not truly love himself, he could not accept that she loved him. Her faith in him highlighted his doubts about himself. Because he was a smart but stupid boy, he was honest about his struggles.
He told her she did not really know him. He told her she loved him too much. He told her he loved her but did not love her enough. He took back his heart and retreated to a place she could not reach.
What could she do?
She did not know how to love him less and knew she could not make him love her more. She was powerless and heartbroken.
When he left, she let him go. She respected him and his honesty, and she felt to try and tether him with guilt or feminine wiles would be a betrayal. She hoped that letting him go might bring him back to her, and so she made a tearful but graceful exit.
Now in a proper fairytale, the girl would never have revealed her true feelings for the boy, and if he left, she would have crafted an elaborate strategy and won the boy back without his knowing she was trying. But remember, while this girl is smart, she is not clever in romance, and this is not a typical fairytale.
Time passed, and the honest boy proved again that he was stupid in romance too. After leaving the girl, he had convinced himself that what he wanted and needed was freedom, but what he really wanted and needed was love.
The heart he'd hardened against the girl and the feelings he’d hoarded became his new currency. From afar, the girl heard about how he tried to obtain the love she'd given freely, how he sought it with game-playing girls.
He gave his heart to one who never told the truth.
He gave his heart to one who gave her body to someone else.
He gave his heart to one who loved her job best.
He gave his heart to one who equated loyalty with control.
He gave his heart to one who wanted it but was too proud to take it.
So many missteps! So much damage! He lost many years, but he gained hard-earned wisdom.
You see, eventually the boy sought the girl again because he came to see that what she had offered was faithful and true. He not only came to love her more, he came to love her best of all.
Now if this was a typical fairytale, he would declare himself and they would be happily married, but that's not how this fractured tale ends.
Sadly, when the boy returns to offer his heart and soul to the girl, he makes a startling discovery. Without trying, he had succeeded in what had once seemed an impossible task: he had taught the girl how to love him less, and now she could not love him more.
Her scarred heart could not be moved; it would not open again.
And so their story ended in a way they never foresaw in their youth: they grew older and wiser but they both lived unhappily ever after.
Reader Comments (4)
I softened it in the rewrite--new and improved with no bitter aftertaste!
It does sounds like LIFE--the universal experience of making choices for good reasons, getting unexpected results, learning along the way, and realizing, sadly, that some things can not really be undone.
This was great, V. I'm so glad you decided to post it. Loved reading, too, about your writing process.