There was once a girl covered in scars.
Her mother brought bounteous suitors,
but each one would run in fear at the sight of the girl.
They would stare in shock at her blistered skin,
wailing in horror at the wounds of the woman.
Her mother was afraid the girl would become a spinster,
for every man was too repulsed
by the caverns that cratered her skin
to marry such a maiden.
One day flowers began to grow from her scars; little tulips budded and roses bloomed. Her fleshy grottos became the fertile soil for the most beautiful botanical treasures. Her mother cried in bliss, for now that she was the rarest and fairest maiden, the suitors needed to come back at once to see the miracle that was her sylvan skin. But rumour had already spread across the land of the girl whose skin grew flowers. Many suitors entered her cottage and waited upon her; but all the girl could remember was how cruel they had been when they screamed after one glance. And as she recalled their fearful glares, anger swelled up inside of her; and with each bit of rage, the flowers began to grow; they grew and blossomed until they flocked the suitors and swarmed her little cottage with the most beautiful bed of flora. They smothered the suitors, And the men begged for her to return to scaly flesh. And to the maiden’s joy, amid their cries of fear, the men admired how beautiful she was. And that was the last thing they remembered before they took their last botanical breath.
Olivia Loccisano is a writer and filmmaker from Toronto, Canada. Her work centers around transformations of the body, specifically through dark fantasy, body horror and magical realism. Through storytelling, she explores how young women and children navigate strange realms of life through their own imagination and rituals.