Wicked Ugly Bad (A Kinda Fairytale) (3 page)

Ramona
cleared her throat disapprovingly.  “I don’t think it’s appropriate to spread
lies about the future princess.”

“Oh,
I do.”  Marrok assured her lasciviously.  “Don’t spare any dirty details, Red.”

“It’s
all true.  I’m telling you.”  Scarlett shook her head in disgust.  “Every day
was a nightmare with that caterwauling bitch. 
Dru and I
were the
victims, not Cinderella.  For one night –
just one
-- we were supposed to
be free of Cindy’s disturbing predilections and sewer dwelling cronies… and
what
happens, instead?”

“I
think it’s someone else’s turn to share.”  Ramona prompted a little
desperately.

Scarlett
was too wound-up to care about all the “still crazy” demerits she was earning. 
“Blondie crashed the party and stole poor Charming! 
That’s
what!  But, God!
 How
terrible
I’ve been to poor Cinderella.”  Scarlett threw up her
hands in mock despair.  “She’s living in a fucking castle and I’m stuck in
prison, but poor
her
.”  She snorted.  “That spiteful tramp and her tiara
can
both
kiss my ass.”

Esmeralda
started nodding, her wild mass of black curls tumbling around her face.  “I
know how you feel.  Bratty kids were trying to tear my house apart and eat it. 
I
had
to stop them or I would have been homeless.  But, still they
locked me up.”

“Yes!”
 Scarlett nodded triumphantly.  “That’s my whole point! 
We’re
not the
bad guys…
they
are.”  She pointed out one of the barred windows to the
flawless world beyond.  “All of the perfect, milquetoast, shiny Good folk out
there, who think rules don’t apply to them.  That they can just
eat
Esmeralda’s house.  That they can break deals with innocent trolls, because
now
they’re royalty and need to keep their precious heir.”  Her hand swept towards
Rumpelstiltskin, who grunted in agreement.  “Not to mention poor Benji.  Hell,
he’s only here because some developer wanted to force him to sell his bridge.”

“Now
it’s a condo.”  Benji whispered sadly.

“
I
am the rightful Prince of the Northlands, but they refused me my throne because
I was born Bad.”  Avenant put in.  “They said it was against the law for me to
rule.  I had no choice but to take what was mine by force and then they called
me
the villain.”

“Exactly! 
What about you, Marrok?”  Scarlett pointed at him.  “Did you even get a choice
about playing that ridiculous Wolfball thing?  Or did they force you into it
and then send you here when they didn’t follow their sadistic rules?”

He
said nothing, which was all the answer she needed.

“See? 
We’re
the ones punished, while they get to live out their happily ever afters.” 
Scarlett looked around the share circle.  “What about
our
happily ever afters?”

“You
don’t deserve a happily ever after when you’re evil.”  Dru said quietly.

Scarlett’s
mouth thinned.  It was just a matter of time before Dru got sucked under by
this place.  Scarlett blamed Cindy for the change in her sister’s spirit.  “
Everyone
deserves a happily ever after.”  She said firmly.

Marrok
regarded with a strange expression.

Scarlett
pretended not notice.  “Besides, we’re not evil, Dru.”

“We
are
, though.  I see that, now.”

“Very
good reasoning, Drusilla.”  Ramona said in her smarmiest tone.  “You’re exactly
right. 
All
of you were born wicked, ugly, and/or Bad.  It’s in your psychological
makeup to do terrible things.  You’re here to try and suppress it as best you
can, but you’ll never be Good like the rest of us.  You need to accept that.”

Avenant
gave a contemptuous snort.

“Oh,
I’ve accepted my nature.”  Marrok arched a brow at Scarlett.  “You should too, Red. 
Believe me, life gets so much better when you just give into the inevitable.”

She
glowered over at him.  “First off, die in a fire.  And secondly, there
shouldn’t be a ‘
them
.’  Why are they allowed to declare us wrong and
lock us away?  Half the people here haven’t committed any crimes!”

Ramona
sighed and lit a cigarette with her star-shaped lighter.  The woman smoked three
packs a day.  “There are laws against being evil…”

“I’m
not evil!  I haven’t even done anything illegal.  I just don’t like
Cinderella.  That doesn’t make me crazy or demented.  It just means I know her
better than you.”  Scarlett was warming to her topic.  “Bad isn’t evil, it’s
just
Bad
.  My grandmother always says that.”

“She
does.”  Dru murmured.  “Where is grandma, Letty?”

Scarlett
didn’t think it was a good idea to answer that.  “My point is, there should be
justice for people who aren’t born charming or beautiful.”

“Justice?” 
Esmeralda repeated blankly.  “For Bad folk?”

“Yes! 
There should be a real place for us!  We shouldn’t just…
judge
people on
what they look like and say that’s all they are.  Whether or not they have
horns, shouldn’t make a difference in what kind of job they can get.”  She
shook her head.  “That’s just
stupid
.  Don’t you think we can do
better?
 
That we should all be equal?”

Everyone
stared at her like she really was insane.

“Fucking
hell…”  Marrok sounded awed.  “I
knew
there had to be
something
going on, but I didn’t put it together until now.”  He started laughing. 
“You’re
Good
.”

Scarlett
blinked.  Maybe he was on drugs, after all.

“Noooo.”
 Ramona put in swiftly.  “She’s an ugly stepsister, remember?  They can’t be
Good.”

“It’s
true.”  Drusilla nodded.  “Even as children we tormented dear Cindy.”

“No,
we didn’t!”  Scarlett snapped.  “She’s got some kind of kinky sex thing where
she likes housework, so she’s pretending to be a martyr while sleeping with her
pets.  The simpering sweetness is all an
act.
”

Esmeralda
made a note of that in her journal.  “This is an
awesome
share time.”

“Ugly
stepsister, my ass.”  Marrok’s gaze roamed over Scarlett’s body like she was
some exotic species of bug plopped under his microscope.  “You’re one of
them
. 
In fact, you’re
better
than them, because no one ever told you you were
better.  Shit, this is just my fucking luck.”

“If
Scarlett is Good, then she can’t be here.”  Rumpelstiltskin complained.  He
removed his pointy hat and so he could scratch his pointy head.  His beard was
white and curled down to his stomach.  He scratched that, too.  The little guy
was always so twitchy.  “This is supposed to be a safe place for Bad folk to
talk without judgment.”

“We
can’t kick Scarlett out of group.”  Benji the bridge ogre objected, swallowing the
last mouthful of his feelings journal.  His XXXXXXL “EVIL” shirt was stretched
taunt against his massive midsection.  “That would make us no better than them. 
They discriminate because we’re Bad and we’d be excluding Letty because she’s
Good.  It’s a vicious cycle of hate and the share circle is about inclusion.”

Dru
glanced over at him earnestly.  “That is
so
deep, Benji.”

He
blushed and ripped off the arm of his chair to munch on.  In addition to being
Bad, the guy had developed an eating disorder.  It was the stress of this
place.

“Scarlett’s
not Good.”  Ramona loudly assured everyone.

“I’m
not Good.”  Scarlett agreed.  “I can’t stand any of you.  Especially
him
.” 
She pointed at Marrok, his crazy announcement bringing up all her insecurities. 
“A Good folk wouldn’t be thinking of horrible tortures to visit upon his body,
right now.”

“Red,
you can start visiting places on my body anytime you like.”  Marrok drawled.  “Christ! 
I couldn’t understand what the hell was going on with you, but now I get it.  The
meds were masking some of it, but today…” he closed his eyes and breathed in
deep, “I can
smell
the Good on you.”

“That’s
not true.”  But she still gave herself a surreptitious sniff.

“Oh,
it’s true alright.  And it explains so much.  Wolves always know when nice
little girls enter our woods, but your kind never suspects all the hungry
things circling in the shadows.”

“For
the last time…”

He
cut her off.  “Did you really not
know
you were different from the rest
of us?  Do you think that witches and trolls worry about gaining equality?  Do
you think
he
does?”  He pointed at Avenant.

“Gaining
equality with any of you would be a staggering demotion.”  Avenant scoffed.

Marrok
ignored him, his attention on Scarlett.  “Do you think your sister there
doesn’t believe that Cinderella is
better
than her, just because she’s
prettier?”

“It’s
true.  She is.”  Dru nodded.

“No,
she’s not!”  Scarlett was getting really angry, now.  “Everyone just listen,
alright?  What I’m saying is completely logical.  It’s about all of us having a
say in the Four Kingdoms.  Bad folk outnumber the Good.  Why are they
controlling us?  Why can they just toss us in here, without even a real trial? 
Who represents
us
?”

Rumpelstiltskin
frowned thoughtfully.

Esmeralda
looked over at Ramona like she might have the answer.

The
doctor stubbed out her cigarette and lit another.  Her chain smoking always
seemed to get worse when Scarlett shared her thoughts.  “That’s just the way
things have always been done in the Four Kingdoms.”  She sputtered.  “Do you
not understand that?”  Obviously at a loss for what else to say, Ramona launched
into a quick civics recap.  “Each kingdom of our land --North, South, East and
West-- has a prince.  The kingdoms meet in the middle, here in Centerlands.  It’s
a free area, where we have the market and… the hospital.”

“
Prison
.” 
Scarlett corrected.

“And
then there’s the Enchanted Forest, which I’m sure you all know is overrun with
lawless criminal.  No one claims ownership of such a place, except the villains
who’ve escaped their rightful justice.”

“Are
you really attempting to give
me
a geography lesson?”  Avenant glared at
Ramona, sounded offended.  “I’m the rightful ruler of the Northlands, peasant.”

“‘Peasant’
was on the whiteboard, too.”  Esmeralda muttered.

Ramona
held up her hands for silence.  “The point is our majestic princes make rules
that are best for everyone.”

“But,
it’s always the
same
princes.”  Benji said around his plastic seat
cushion.  “Until it’s their sons.  And they’re always Good.  Except when
Avenant took over and everyone was too afraid to stop him.”

Avenant
smiled at that memory.

“Well,
of course the princes are Good!  No one wants some ugly, wicked villain in
charge of a kingdom?  That would be crazy!”

Scarlett
arched a brow at the choice of words.  “Haven’t you heard?  I
am
crazy. 
According to you and Cindy, anyway.”

“You
aren’t crazy.  I don’t know
what
the hell you are, except in big fucking
trouble.”  Marrok leaned forward, looking annoyed at her, now.  “How long do
you think it’ll be before more Baddies sniff you out?”

Scarlett
glanced at him in surprise.  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It
means not everyone in here has my kink for Good girls.  Word gets around this
place that you’re a white hat and you’re sure not gonna win inmate of the
month.”

Her
eyes narrowed at the warning.

“Oh
grandma won’t like that.”  Dru predicted.

“Anything
we say in group is confidential.”  Benji complained.  “That’s part of the trust
contract.”

Avenant
snorted.  “And yet the good doctor writes down everything we say.”  He pointed
at Ramona’s clipboard.

Ramona
frowned at him.  “I told you, these notes are just for your private records. 
You’ll be very grateful to have them when you come up before the Medical Review
and Parole Board, and they see how much you’ve progressed in your therapy.”

“Very
comforting.  Except, I’m here for life plus a century.”

“Oh.” 
Ramona frowned down at her clipboard and made a note of that.

“Also,
he hasn’t
made
any progress.”  Esmeralda muttered.

“Nobody’s
gonna have to
tell
the rest of the wolves that Letty’s Good.”  Marrok retorted. 
“They’ll be able to scent it on her, just like I did.”   He arched a brow at
her.  “You are ass deep in enemy territory, right now.  Whole lotta Bad folk who
are locked up in here don’t like your kind.  No friends, no powers, no handsome
prince… seem like your own people tossed you to the wolves.”  He drew out the
last part as if he thought it was just
brilliant
wordplay.

“For
the last time:
I’m not Good
.”  All her life she’d been hearing things
like that from her grandmother and they stung.  Scarlett knew she could be Bad,
if she just had a chance.