Don't Let the Forest In

by C.G. Drews

Once upon a time, a cutthroat queen and a wormwood king had seven sons. They loved them all except for the last, who was made of sarsaparilla and foul tempers and had beautifully pointed teeth. They gifted their first six sons crowns made of willow switches. But they ordered the seventh son to be switched with the leftover rods. They gifted their first six sons golden apples. But for their seventh son, they put worms on his tongue and made him swallow. They gifted their first six sons a wishing well. But to their seventh son, they gave the hacked-off head of a wolf cub. The years passed and the seventh son’s skin toughened under the switching, and he developed a taste for flesh, and he befriended the murdered wolf cub and told it all his secrets. When the wolf decided justice was necessary and ripped out the hearts of the cutthroat queen and the wormwood king and ate their six perfect sons, the seventh son did not even notice. He had found his reflection in the wishing well and liked staring at his pointed teeth.

Narcissus?