Final Project

Christine Lee
Delusions and a Very Red Apple

1. Once Upon a Time…
“Slave in the Magic Mirror! In darkness I summon thee! Speak! Let me see thy face!” Hitch sighed as he walked down the long white hall, his rubber shoes squeaking on the peach tile of Yellow Brick Insane Asylum. Turning into room 497, Beatrice Queen, once again, managed to wiggle free from her bed straps and was prancing around the room chanting while signaling to the small mirror on the egg-shell, white wall.
Hitch gnawed his bottom lip to suppress a laugh. Instead of interrupting the display, he stood back quietly and watched her carry on with a more serious conversation, staring at her own reflection in the mirror. She muttered a few words about a fair and lovely maid, with her eyebrows furrowed in disbelief.
“Henchman,” she spat at Hitch, realizing she was caught.
Why the fuck does she always call me that, he wondered, chuckling to himself.
Wide eyed, Ms. Queen took a few slow steps away from the wall and then bolted across the room to cover the mirror with a small blue rag. At a full sprint she threw herself into her bed, closed her eyes, and began snoring dramatically.
Hitch walked towards Ms. Queen, gently rolling her limp body over and strapped her in until Belle, another orderly, came to give her an afternoon dose of Antipsychotics. The blue rag for her mirror was acquired through a slight misunderstanding, in which she ripped off a piece of an orderly’s scrubs, resulting in the need to be strapped in whenever Queen was due for her pills.
Hitch’s lumberjack physique in no way matched his tender approach, and many were threatened by him. But for some reason Ms. Queen acted like he was the least of her worries and could take him on, no problems whatsoever. “There we are, Ms. Queen, all nice and snug,” he told her with a sweet smile, securing the final strap.
“Something must be done. Something. Something. Something must be done.” Ms Queen shook her head back and forth, back and forth, glaring into Hitch’s scruffy face.
“About what,” Hitch asked, stroking a few strands of hair away from her forehead.
“Snow White!” Ms. Queen’s face turned burgundy in anger. “Cut out her heart and bring it to me! Obey! Obey me!” She started shaking her head more vigorously, screaming the same words. “Cut out her heart! Bring it to me! Her heart! Obey! Obey me! Obey!”
“BELLE! ROOM 497! NOW!”

2. Skin as white as snow…
In the far west wing of Yellow Brick sat a harmless little group of delusional people, quietly watching the television. All were silently staring accept one.
Snow White’s face was pressed up close to the screen, eagerly chattering away to the doves on a Discovery Channel bird special. “Can you keep a secret?” she asked.
“Promise not to tell?”
In the background, a new staff member nudged Dr. Prince with his meaty arm, nodding in Ms. White’s direction. Dr. Prince lowered his chart, looking over his gold-rimmed glasses just as she bellowed out in song, “I’m wishing for the one I love to find me today!” One of the patients began to cry while another did a tuck and roll under the table. “And I’m hoping and I’m dreaming of the nice things he’ll say!”
Ms. White’s ebony black hair waved around, while she sang out her passionate forte. Dr. Prince handed off his chart to the dumpy orderly and jogged towards her before she upset any more of the patients.
“Come’on, Honey,” he said, helping the dainty Ms. White off of the cold floor. Why does someone this beautiful have to be so far out of wack, he thought as he led her outside for some air.

3. Go! Hide!
“Long day, Hitch?” Hitch was sprawled belly-flop style across the freshly cut grass in the back outdoor area.
“Hmn,” he grunted in response, rolling onto his back.
Dr. Prince let out a laugh. “Here, this’ll make you feel better, she’s all rainbows and bunnies.” He nudged Ms. White forward. “That’s why I don’t work in four-hundreds. Wildly mean and scary, but she’s perfectly harmless. No death threats. Promise.”
Hitch pushed himself up off the ground and dusted off his scrubs. “Hi there,” he smiled at the sweet-faced girl.
Ms. White took a step back, frightened at the giant man, and hid behind the handsome doctor. “Now, now, Honey, don’t be afraid, he’s very nice.” She looked up at Dr. Prince’s face, worried but gave a faint little smile. “There we go, see? She’s alright. This is Hitch, darlin’. Hitch this is Snow White.”
Hitch’s eyes turned the size of grapefruit. Snow White?! You’ve got to be kidding me, he thought. Ms. Queen’s words replayed in his head. ‘Cut out her heart. Bring it to me.’ Impossible, he thought. They’re on opposite ends of the hospital!
“Erm… You okay there, Pal?” Hitch jerked his head back and forth trying to erase his facial expression to a warmer one for the poor, anxious girl standing in front of him.
“Oh! Yeah I’m fine. Here, Ms. White, let’s go for a walk,” Hitch said with a sincerely kind smile, taking her arm and leaving the doctor behind them.
They walked out towards the middle of the lawn where White plopped down and started picking at blades of grass. Hitch sat five feet away to give her some distance, and observed. She was inhaling the sweet air deeply, smiling, looking at clouds. Harmless, he thought.
Half an hour passed. An hour passed. An hour and a half passed. She didn’t budge. The only difference was the one second where she glanced back at him, frowned, and continued to look at the clouds.
Finally, Hitch got up. “Okay, Ms. White, time to go in,” he said reaching towards her to help her up. A mortified look went across her face. “Well, come’on, I’m not gonna hurtcha,” he said bending down a little further. Just then she let out an earsplitting scream, got up as fast as possible and took off running towards the back gate.
“SHIT!” Hitch raced after her trying to catch up. He was a few feet away when she slipped through a small gap at the bottom of the fence where it looked like an animal made a little hole to get to the other side. Hitch climbed up the gate. She was running towards the woods.
“WAIT,” he called after her as he reached the barbed wire at the top. He tried to roll over the wire like in the movies but his right food got tangled. He fell towards the other side face first; foot still twisted. SNAP! An excruciating pain filled his body and he hung there. Upside-down. Helplessly gasping in agony. Watching Snow White run through the forest like a bat out of hell.

4. A-E-I-O-U A-E-I-O-A
Snow ripped through the trees, passing the occasional person taking their walk or animal. Snow swore she heard a caterpillar singing his Vowels to a blond in a very pretty blue dress. The girl then took a bite of a mushroom and grew taller than the trees. Snow kept running not wanting to find out what happened next.
Tripping and stumbling on her own tired feet, Snow came across a small house in the middle of the wood. She bolted to the door to knock, but instead of knocking she tripped over her feet once more, launching herself into the house, and thus into the owners living room.
“Ow,” Snow whimpered pushing herself onto her feet. She looked around the room she had stumbled into. “What a mess,” She proclaimed pushing up her sleeves.
There was so much dust and dirt covering everything. Nothing was in its right place. “Maybe if I clean things up and bake a pie, the people who live here will let me stay!” Snow got to work, talking to herself, making small encouragements to “everyone helping.”
*****
Meanwhile at Yellow Brick Insane Asylum:
Dr. Prince called in a few people to cover shifts so he and a small search party could go find Snow. Belle found Hitch trying to crawl through the south entrance, foot mangled, and now he’s well on his way to the hospital.
Dr. Prince threw his golden glasses onto the desk, looking out his south facing window towards the woods. Just then, Belle ran in.
“Dr. Prince!” Belle squealed.
“What is it,” he inquired, barely moving his head to acknowledge her being there.
“Well, it’s Beatrice Queen, Doc. She’s missing.”

5. Hi-Ho! Hi-Ho!
TAP! TAP! TAP! Snow looked over the apple pie she was making, out of the window, to see an elderly lady on the other side of the glass. Smiling. Waving. Creepy.
Snow edged closer to the window, wondering what the lady wanted with her, here in the middle of the woods. Pushing the window gently outwards with one finger, she made a small crack, just enough to exchange words with the stranger.
“W-w-what is it that you w-want,” Snow stammered in as clear a voice she could muster.
“Hello, Child. I’ve been wandering these woods for hours and was simply hoping I could stop here and rest a short while.” The elderly lady gave her a pleading look and then held up the reddest apple Snow had ever seen. “I’ll give you my one and only apple, dearest,” she said to Snow, smiling crookedly.
Eager to get her hands on the apple, Snow rushed to the door and began unbolting it. Little did she know, on the other side of the door, the evil Beatrice Queen was casting a lethal spell, so when Snow would sink her teeth into the delicious fruit, she would die instantly, only to be brought back by true love’s kiss.

6. Take a Bite
Snow held the apple in her petite hands, debating on eating it now, or cutting it up into pieces to share with the boys for when they returned. “Go ahead,” Queen urged. “Take a bite.” They were standing in the kitchen, Queen having just filled out her part in the bargain.
Unable to hold it any longer, Snow closed her eyes and took a bite. “This is the yummiest apple I’ve ever had,” Snow squealed in approval.
Confused, Queen egged on a second bite. “Really? Take another bite,” Queen said, taking a small step forward, wondering when her spell was going to start kicking in. I guess this means she’s not a lightweight, Queen thought, burning a hole into Snow White’s face, waiting for some sign of her fading away. Snow bit again. Nothing.
Snow continued to chew her bites, eyes closed in bliss, while Queen got fed up and grabbed a pan from the pot rack hanging over the stove, slamming it into the left side of Snow’s head.

7. True Love’s... Resuscitation
Queen dragged Snow’s limp body through the forest to the river for simple disposal. Giving the body a good hefty push, Snow lightly splashed in giving Queen the utterly satisfied feeling she was looking for.
Dr. Prince came out of nowhere with the orderly named Lisa. “Grab Queen,” he yelled to Lisa, jumping into the ice cold river after Snow. He splashed after her, and once his arms were wrapped around her torso, he fought against the water, struggling to bring her to safety.
Dr. Prince managed to bring her up onto the riverbank, after struggling with her lifeless body. He glanced up just in time to see Lisa slam Queen into the pebbles after Queen failed a violent left hook.
He began performing CPR, working on her and working on her. I’m too late, he panicked, putting his mouth against hers to blow air into her lungs. He felt her arms wrap around his neck, her tongue beginning to caress his. Dr. Prince’s stomach felt warm with passion when he realized what was going on.
“Agh! Wait! No!” He pulled Snow’s arm’s away from him, sitting up to look into her bloodshot eyes.
“True loves kiss,” she squeaked, jumping after him for a second go.
“No, no, no, Ms. White,” he responded grabbing her arms to prevent them from locking around him again. “Time to go home.”
And they “sort of” lived happily ever after.