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How to Find Your Happily Ever After

Holley Cornetto was born and raised in Alabama, but now lives in New Jersey. To indulge her love of books and stories, she became a librarian and English professor. She is also a writer, because the only thing better than being surrounded by stories is to create them herself. She is a regular contributor for The Horror Tree, and can be found lurking on Twitter @HLCornetto. This is her second appearance in Daily Science Fiction.

Before you try on the slipper, think about what's really going on here. Do you honestly want to marry a man who can't even recognize your face? A man so desperate for a bride that he'd haul a shoe around the entire kingdom? That isn't romantic, and it really takes you out of the equation, doesn't it? It isn't you he loves, it's the size of your feet.
You stare at your reflection in the perfect glass of the slipper, and you wonder what he was actually looking at for all those hours as the pair of you danced the night away. The prince's herald gestures towards you with the slipper, and you realize that you didn't flee the ball because of the midnight curfew, you fled because glass slippers are uncomfortable. Almost as uncomfortable as marrying a prince who wouldn't recognize you from the wicked witch of the west. You push past the herald and run out into the yard. There, a pumpkin and a handful of mice wait to take you somewhere where you can choose your own footwear. Somewhere you'll be happy.
The End
This story was first published on Thursday, August 4th, 2022


Author Comments

I grew up on a steady diet of fairytales and folklore. This story began with my realization that glass slippers are a lovely concept in theory, but they don't hold up under scrutiny. Then, I realized, neither does Prince Charming.

- Holley Cornetto
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