The books don’t tell us what happened to Susan. She is left alive in this world at the end, having by then turned into a rather silly, conceited young woman. But there’s plenty of time for her to mend and perhaps she will get to Aslan’s country in the end… in her own way. –C.S. Lewis

Sue stands in front of her wardrobe for a moment, summoning her courage, and then she yanks the doors open, breathlessly, and pulls out the first black dress she sees, slamming the doors shut in its wake, as the rest of her dresses rock and and forth behind the wardrobe doors. She breathes again. She pulls the dress over her head.

She tries not to be pleased when she looks at herself in the mirror, but pleased she is, running her cold fingers through her hair and liking the feel of its warmth and fineness. She likes its pale color. She feels beautiful, and she pushes this thought away, boxing it up with a thousand others.

For a final touch, she takes out her lipstick, and pauses, stopping just short of running it across her mouth in a straight line. It is very red, she thinks, attempting to evaluate its color in the mirror with scientific objectivity. Her brothers would have hardly approved. Her sister would have chided her, in her mocking way. At this, her eyes sting. Poor old Lu. She had always thought of herself as the spiritual oldest. The special one. The favorite.  (more…)