Sadie the Swan

The saying 'kids can be cruel' is one that Sadie, a six year old girl with a heart of gold, is all too familiar with. She currently sits alone, quietly munching on an apple and staring down at her shoes as the sound of laughter fills her ears. 

Kids are running about, screeching happily as they try and beat their friends at the newest game they've created. 

On a Wednesday lunchtime she should be playing with her friends, carefree and laughing along with the other children, but she's not; Sadie has no friends. Instead of laughing with her the other children spend a lot more time laughing at her. They call her names: stupid, fat, ugly... the list is endless, each day growing in size as more torturous rhymes are created to make Sadie miserable. She gave up on defending herself a long time ago, learning the hard way that answering back only makes the torment worse. With each new name they create the rock in her chest grows heavier, expanding in size and sinking deeper. 

They say words don't hurt, only sticks and stones, but they never explain that words are what creates the stone in the first place. 

'Why me?' Sadie asks herself.

She already knows the answer to this, though. 

'It's because I'm stupid,' she reminds herself, blinking back tears and knocking her toes together with a soft click. 'I'm stupid and ugly and broken'. 

Her bottom lip quivers but she bites down on it, not wanting to give the other children another reason to pick on her. Cry-baby Sadie, that's what they'd call her. They'd laugh at her tears... kids really are cruel. 

'I don't want to be ugly,' she tells herself. 'I want to be beautiful, to be normal like the others. I don't want to be me anymore.'

As she thinks this someone sits down on the bench beside her. Glancing up, she's surprised to see Martha, a girl in her class that the others always call 'the prettiest'. She has bright blue eyes and glowing golden hair... and a pit of jealousy forms in Sadie's gut as she is once again reminded of her boring brown hair and eyes the colour of dirt. She'll never be like Martha. 

"Hi..." Sadie says, her greeting sounding more like a question as the uncertainty rings in her voice. Nobody usually sits next to her by choice.

"Hi, Sadie," Martha replies, her lips curving up into a smile. It's not a nice smile, though. In fact, it's more of a smirk. 

Slowly Martha lifts her hand up to tap Sadie on the shoulder, just once, before blinking. Her blue eyes swirl with cruelty, warning Sadie of what's to come before the next few words have even left her lips. 

"Eww!" she cries, hopping up from the bench and racing back to her group of friends who are standing nearby, watching the entire scene play out. "Ew, I did it. I did it!"

"Ew, gross!" Toby, Martha's twin brother, shouts. He hurriedly backs away from his sister's outstretched hand. "Don't touch me with that!"

A lump forms in Sadie's throat, joining the rock that's set up home in her chest and making it hard for her to breathe as she watches the group act like she's carrying something contagious.

This is their new game: tag the Sadie germs.

'Why?' she wants to scream at them. 'What have I ever done to you?'

She remains silent, looking back down at her shoes and using her hair to curtain her face from everyone around her. Her tears fall silently down her cheeks, spotting her black shoes like sad little raindrops. She can still hear their laughter, knowing without a doubt that it's aimed at her. They know she's upset and they think it's hilarious. Glumly wiping her tears away she takes another bite of her apple... but it doesn't taste right anymore. It tastes rotten.

Sighing, she begins to count down the minutes until lunch is over, wanting nothing more than for the day to be finished so she can go home. She hates school, she hates the other children and she hates her life. 

Thankfully, within the next ten minutes the bell goes, indicating that she's halfway through the day already. 

When the end of the day eventually arrives, Sadie packs up her stuff and hops to her feet, her heart still stinging from what happened at lunchtime.

"Are you ready, Sadie?" Mrs Brown asks, completely clueless to the inner turmoil that's churning around inside her student.

"Yes, miss," Sadie replies, swinging her backpack onto her shoulder and trying to keep out of the way of all the other children as they shove past her to get to the door. 

When she finally reaches the door and exits out into the playground, her eyes instantly find her older sister, Rachel, who is waiting for her by the gate as usual. Their mother has to work late most nights, being a nurse in an extremely understaffed hospital often means that the two girls have to fend for themselves. It's not so bad, though. Rachel and Sadie get along well enough and Rachel is skilled enough in the kitchen to be able to fix up a decent meal.

"Hey, twinkle toes. How was school?" Rachel asks, holding her hand out for Sadie to take as they start their short walk home. 

"Okay," Sadie replies with a small shrug, unable to build up enough enthusiasm to sound even halfway happy. 

"What's wrong?" her sister asks her, swinging their arms back and forth between them lightly as she studies the younger girls glum expression.

"Nothing," Sadie lies.

"Sadie?" Rachel asks again. "Tell me what's wrong."

"I'm broken," Sadie blurts out suddenly, unable to keep her feelings hidden any longer as she bursts into tears.

"What do you mean? Are you hurt?" Rachel asks worriedly, moving to crouch in front of her sister to study her. 

"No, I'm just broken," Sadie cries, hiding her face with her hands. "I'm stupid and ugly and I hate it!"

"Whoa, what's this about?" Rachel asks, completely thrown off guard by her sister's outburst. "You're not stupid or ugly."

"You're lying," Sadie accuses as she continues to cry. "I'm never going to be pretty like Martha and all the other kids think I'm icky."

"Sadie," Rachel sighs, reaching forward to pull her sisters hands away from her face. "Are you telling me that the other kids are bullying you?"

Sadie doesn't answer, simply sniffling as Rachel calmly wipes away her tears. 

Inside, Rachel is fuming. How dare they reduce her sister to tears!

"I don't want to go to school tomorrow," Sadie says timidly, feeling bad as she knows that having days off school is a strain on her mother. She's too young to stay at home alone and, with Rachel in her last year of school, the only way that she can have a day off sick is if her mother takes a day off work. 

Rachel stays quiet for a few minutes, deep in thought about how to handle this situation.

"Come on," she says, standing back up and taking Sadie's hand again. "Let's go home. I've got a surprise for you."

"A surprise?" Sadie asks, her heavy heart lifting for the first time today as curiosity laces her voice. "What surprise?"

"A spell."

"A spell? Like a magic spell? What does it do?" 

"It's a beauty spell," Rachel explains.

"Really?" Sadie asks excitedly. "Will it make me pretty?"

"Yes, it will," Rachel says with a nod.

It doesn't take long for them to reach their house and, once inside, Rachel orders Sadie to sit on the kitchen chair whilst she retrieves the mirror from the bathroom.

"Close your eyes," she instructs as she re-enters the room. Sadie immediately does as she's told, practically bouncing in her seat with excitement. She's finally going to be beautiful!

"What do I do?" she asks.

"Just keep them closed," Rachel instructs, "and when I tell you to open them it'll be done."
Sadie squeezes her eyes shut, willing the spell to work with every cell in her body.

"Okay," Rachel says after a few minutes. "You can open them."

Sadie opens her eyes, glancing up at her sister who wears a soft smile on her face. 

"Did it work?"

"Yes. Want to see?"

Sadie nods enthusiastically, a smile lighting up her entire face, and Rachel turns the mirror to face her... 

She looks exactly the same.

"It didn't work," she says, her excitement fading slightly. 

"Yes it did. You're beautiful just the way you are, Sadie," Rachel explains. "They're the ones that need to change."

Studying her reflection, Sadie can't help but smile. For the first time in a long time she actually sees it. Her eyes aren't boring, they're bright and alive. Her hair may not be golden like Martha's but it's still soft and shiny.

She doesn't need to change; she's perfect just the way she is.

This is the first short story I ever wrote, written as a first draft for a university piece back in 2017. We were tasked with writing a short piece based on a fairytale/children's tale of our choosing.

I chose 'The Ugly Duckling'.