Sinderella

Chapter Three: Cinderella's A Hater

On his way home from Orden, William was killed when his carriage fell down a ravine after being blown about by a harsh gust of wind. As he fell down into the depths of the ravine, William's head struck a protruding rocky ledge very hard, nearly decapitating him in the process. William's spinal cord was snapped at the neck and he died with minimal pain. The horse had gotten stuck between some of the rocks along the floor of the ravine while trying to escape and ended up suffocating to death.

"How are you going to get him out of there?" Katreena asked under her tears, mourning the discovery of the death of her husband. "Surely you are not just going to leave him down there. Please tell me you have a plan to get him out of that ravine."

"The prospector is on his way now," the Chief Official replied "he can use his rock climbing equipment to climb down into the ravine to retrieve William's body. I'm afraid there is nothing much we can do about the carriage. We'll try to retrieve any valuables from inside, but we will not be able to retrieve the carriage itself. I apologize for that, but at least we can retrieve your husband to give him a proper burial."

The prospector soon arrived and began to prepare for his descent into the ravine. He rappelled down into the ravine to where the carriage lay. He wrapped a thick rope around William's shoulders and his waist. He had previously wrapped the other end of the rope around a tree nearby and he had a few volunteers pull the rope when he told them to. He tied it tightly and got the body dislodged from its awkward position in the ravine so that the others could lift the body out of the ravine without issues. William's body was slowly pulled out of the ravine, and Katreena held him. William's blood flowed from the gaping wound in his neck and stained her morning dress. Katreena sobbed greatly as she held her husband's body in her arms.

A few days later, many residents of the village came together to attend William's funeral. Just like his wedding, William was given a humble funeral, nothing too lavish. His body had been placed in a wooden casket with steel handles and adornments. He was buried in the churchyard with a small concrete headstone. At the funeral, Katreena, Emmelina, and Sabelina mourned the loss of William greatly, but it seemed that Cinderella was the most devastated by the loss. While she did not know the great role that William had played when she was a baby, Cinderella was the most attached to William. The father-daughter relationship between the two was very strong. When they were together, they were inseparable.

Katreena is left in charge of William's estate and is given full custody of the girls. William wanted his family to stay together even if he was not around to take care of them. She gave the girls each some extra chores, since she had to fill both the mother and father role in her girls' lives. Before William's death, the girls were only responsible for cleaning their rooms, washing the dishes, helping their mother with the laundry, sweeping the floors, and emptying their own chamber pots. Now, Katreena has asked them to help her cook, maintain the yard, and help out wherever they were needed.

Cinderella did not like having to work more than she usually did. She never liked doing her chores and she hated being given extra chores. Usually, extra chores would be distributed throughout the household if a family member was sick. However, unlike being distributed due to a sick family member, this change would likely be permanent. Cinderella did not want to work more just because her father had died. It seemed that she believed her father's death was not a reason to give her more work. However, she did her chores when she was told to do them, but she was not happy about it.

As the years passed by, the girls grew into beautiful young women. Emmelina, being the oldest was about to celebrate her eightteenth birthday, and Katreena wanted to make it a special occasion. Katreena planned to host a pretend ball for Emmelina's eightteenth birthday party. While too old to play dress-up and pretend, Katreena was sure that Emmelina could at least enjoy her ball even if it is not real.