Maze Of Glass Slippers (A Cinderella Adaptation) COMPLETE

Courage

  The entrance looked over me once more. I had decided that it had done much too much in my short twenty years. I knew what would greet me with when I stepped through; my stepfamily would be standing over me menacingly, telling me my father didn't want me, that I was alone. Their hate would radiate off from them like heat off of stones that had been in the bleaching in the sun for far too long. I had been under their hatred for too long as well. I was burning and breaking under their formidable light, as I burn and break every time I stepped through this opening into the sickening magic. All it did was burn brighter my own hate for the stepfamily that had overtaken my whole life and my father's livelihood...

I had always thought that the maze fed off of the fears it was presented with, but what if it were more than that? It was my own feeling that was my own enemy here. They presented me with my worst fear, making me afraid, but also making me angry and my hatred for them deepen to oceanic levels. Hate couldn't fight hate just like fire couldn't overtake fire, it only burnt the people around them. The only thing that could drench flame was water; cold, blissful and pure water, and something akin to that could only truly fight something as volcanic as hatred.

What was calming and pure? Well I knew that love was. The few times that my parents would quarrel, as all parents must do at some point, I recalled how they dealt with it. I could remember one time that my mother was furious with my father, the reason escapes me, but, after a day of stony silence and outbursts of warfare, I could recall what my father had done. He had cornered my mother in his arms and had said, quite simply, "I love you more than this fight." That love and everlasting forgiveness I could practically feel in waves coming off of them healed whatever strife they had experienced.

But surely my stepfamily deserved my hate? My burning fury of what they had delivered onto me? But did anyone truly deserve anything? Did I know their entire story? Was there a reason to why they had treated me so badly? What was I gaining from these feelings? Satisfaction from this burning in my belly, a hurting face from scowling? What effect did it truly have, apart from hurting myself?

Was this what Fedora meant when she told me that I needed courage? Did she know I would need whatever courage I could gather to... Forgive?

No longer did the maze look menacing. It instead looked like an obstacle in my path to a better future. This time, when I stepped through I did not feel trepidation but instead resignation and only lightness in my heart. This time, when the colours smeared around me it was no longer like an angry painter, but instead like a painter deciding to start afresh, wiping away the things he no longer needed. My stepmother stood in front of me, but I was no longer ten and below her for her to look down on.

She opened her perfectly sculpted (I'm sure) mouth, but before any foul mouthed insults could pass her lips, I interrupted her. "I forgive you." The painting of my stepmother froze. "I don't know why you treated me so badly, but I'm sure you have reasons of your own. So I forgive you. Why, if it were not for you I would never have met my Prince. So I forgive you. I forgive all of you," I aimed at my sisters stepping from behind their mother. "I have nothing but pity for you."

I am not alone. Physically, maybe, but I had my memories, my love for my mother and father and... The prince. Right now, the wind blew in just the right way, aiding in my support, I was standing in just the right place and I could feel the sunbeams hitting just the right place, and I could feel them here. Standing beside me. I was never alone. As the words left my mouth I knew that they were true in my heart.

The maze gave a mournful wail of anguish as both my stepsisters and stepmother melted in a waterfall of paint draining to the ground. Instead of the sight of darkness and misery greeting me, a simple clearing with a stone alter at the center was the sight. There was still darkness and mist contained within a circle of gnarled bushes, and what seemed to be a large black gem stone pulsed hovering above the alter. I had no doubt that that was what I must destroy.

I gingerly advanced upon the alter and reached my hands out. At first they resisted being so close to the gem but I pushed through the invisible barrier until my hands touched the surprisingly frigid multi faceted object. It popped into my hands as if it jumped from a socket, nearly bigger than what my hands could hold. I cradled the source and I thought that if I just.... I swooped my hands up and smashed the gem against the stone alter, splitting it into a million pieces. I guess Yvette shouldn't have smashed my shoe.

The maze gave a howl of devastation as it resounded in my ears, causing me to cry out as it cut into my ears. I looked up after what felt like minutes to find myself simply in the parched clearing of the forest. It was gone.

Angry yells emitted from the Tavern, echoing through the forest to my ears not far away. It seemed that my meddling had had the desired affect. Leisurely, I strolled back to 'After Midnight' and entered the chaos. Well, if three women such as my stepfamily could be called chaos, and I well and truly believed they could in the state they were in. They were gathered in the foyer, guests crowded around the edges in confusion and curiosity as the three screeched and wailed in the middle. Well, Gabriella and Flora wailed and screeched, tears running down their faces, and Yvette tried to shush them.

Her head whipped around to stare at me as soon as I stepped through. "You," she hissed. I raised my chin as everyone's head turned to me.

"Yes, me," I clarified. "Adeline Ella Cinders." I stepped closer to the huddle. "I had to. You had done your worst to me, but I should really thank you for it. You led me to my destiny, after all, being as you were. I thank and forgive you for your past." I took a step closer, their faces slackened in surprise. "You wonder how I managed to bypass the maze? Well I recalled something my parents showed me, and you helped me remember. Love, hope, courage, conquers all."

"Its you," Gasped a voice from the stairs behind me. I turned to see Cal's face, lit with recognition. I smiled at him and he started to come down the stairs.

"No!" snarled Yvette like a rabid animal, stepping between us. "I forbid you to go with the prince!" she had the audacity to order.

"What authority do you have to stop the crown prince?" Cyrus asked her, crossing his arms as he stood behind Cal. I knew I liked him for a reason.

Yvette looked at me in the eye and I could see it as she put another façade on to fool us. "Why, I am her mother!" she breathed. My jaw tightened.

"You will never be my mother."

Cal brushed past my gaping stepmother and sisters and stood before me, blocking my view of them. He smiled at me. "Are you finally going to tell me your name, forgetful beauty?" he murmured and I stood transfixed by his wonderful green eyes.

"My name is Adeline Ella Cinders."