Ever After

Chapter One

I woke up to the smell of ashes filling my nose. The warmth from the hearth I slept next to last night is gone. I sit up and try to rub off some of the cinders that attached themselves me, but I come off unsuccessful. I hear bells ringing. I don't know whether it's in my head or my dingy step-mother and step-sisters calling me. I decide that it would be better to be safe than sorry, so I hoist myself to my feet and rush upstairs to attend to my "family".

"CINDERELLA!" my step-mother yells and five seconds later I am up on the main floor standing like a slave waiting for orders. Although a slave isn't very different from how dumb and dumber plus the head ringmaster in charge of getting her daughters heads out of paper bags, treat me.

"Yes ma'am?" My act of obedience seems to please them, but in my head I imagine ripping their heads from their bodies.

"Where is our breakfast? My daughter require a hearty meal for their day." My step-mother ordered me like a duchess in an estate. When my father had remarried years after my mother's death, my step-family had acted so innocent in front of him. And I had been too naive to see what they were actually doing when they asked me for help. Then when my father fell ill on the road while he was on a business trip, my step-mother had taken over my family's home and turned it into her own personal luxury estate, with me as her only servant. I rush back downstairs and prepare their breakfast of eggs, porridge, toast, tea, and an assortment of pastries. I bring the trays of food up to the dining table and set up the meal. The three seats are soon filled by my step-sisters Anastasia and Drizella, along with my step-mother, Mistress Elaine.

"What are you still standing here for Cinderella?" Anastasia asked.

"I am setting up my plate to eat." I replied calmly.

"Oh, I don't recall asking you to sit with us Cinderella." Drizella said putting up her innocence act.

"Don't you have anymore chores you need to finish? Why don't you complete all those first, come back and clean our plates, then you may eat what we could graciously leave you." My step-mother added on. My head was still down looking at the plate I was holding in my hand. I kept repeating two words in my head like a mantra Don't react, Don't react. I didn't know how long I was standing there for, but next thing I knew, my plate had flipped onto my face and I was covered in a combination of eggs, fruit, and ashes.

Drizella stifled a laugh, but my step-mother didn't bother to cover her chuckle. Soon her horrible step-daughters joined in, and I held back my tears as I walked back downstairs to the kitchen. I put my plate onto the table and evenly put my hands on the table standing straight trying to uphold my composure. But now that I am alone, I didn't see any point of acting anymore. I let my tears slowly come down, and then I fall to the ground on my knees and sob.

My dirty dress could easily be mistaken for rags, my hair is pulled back into a messy ponytail, and my skin is covered from head to toe in filth. Remnants of the breakfast still polka dot my face. I gently pull out my locket that my mother gave to me on her death bed. It still contains it golden color and clean chain, despite all the dirt it has been through. No matter what I did to it, it never seemed to get dirty. I open the circle shaped locket and look at the beautiful picture of my real family in it.

My mother, with her honey-blond hair cascading down her shoulders and bright bluebell eyes, seems so peaceful and happy holding seven year old me in her arms. My father, wearing his usual brown derby hat over his sleek brown hair, has one arm around my mother and one around me. Holding both of us in a giant bear hug. His deep forest green eyes are open wide and looking like he held the world up with his joy. Then I peer at the tiny child in the middle of the picture, my normal dirty blond hair is pulled back in a braid, and my smile is so big that it took up my whole face. My eyes were closed from laughing and smiling, but if they were open they would revel a world of joy in my blue eyes that matched my mothers. A kind of joy I only remembered in memories.

I remember that day so vividly like it happened yesterday. Because that was the day I became motherless.

The breeze blew on my face and I smiled into the sun, I had my arms spread open and I felt as if I was the only person in the world. Then I felt my mothers arms wrap around me and pull me onto the grass, my father joined in and we played in the meadow for another hour. After my birthday picnic, we headed back home. It was a magnificent white marble estate with trees and flowers blooming at each corner. The servants tended to the animals and crops while I danced up to the steps in front of our house.

I heard a squeal as I stepped through the door and I saw a little mouse run at my feet. One of our servants, named Rose, was chasing it with a broom.

"Out you little pest!" She screamed. The mouse hid behind my shoe when I held up a hand and pleaded with Rose to leave the mouse alone.

"Don't hurt it!" I said in my childish voice. When Rose walked away to go back to her work, I knelt down and gently picked up the mouse in my palm. It stood on its back paws and looked back at me with it's beady little eyes. I carried it to the kitchen downstairs where I sneaked past the maids and grabbed a piece of cheese from the cabinet.

"Ella." I heard one of the servants sigh. I smiled cheekily and ran upstairs to my room, with the cheese and mouse in my hands. I set the mouse on my dressing table and gave it the cheese.

"You must be hungry little guy. After all that running." The mouse greedily gnawed on the cheese and actually nodded back. I was surprised for a moment but kept talking to it.

"Do you have a name?" The mouse shook its head. "Hmmm... I'm going to call you Gus-Gus. How's that?" The mouse looked back at me and I heard a loud crash coming from downstairs. I rushed down the stairs nearly tripping a couple of times, and ran to the source of the noise. My father was holding my mother in his arms, who looked extremely pale and lifeless.

"What happened to mother?" I hurriedly sat down beside her and grabbed one of my mothers hands and squeezed it hoping for a movement back. I felt tears running down my face as I called to my mother multiple times just waiting for a reply.

"Mother please wake up." I cried. And as if she heard my plea, I felt my mothers hand move in my own and I looked at her face. She opened her eyes slightly and moved her hand away from mine to remove something from her neck. In her hand she gave me a beautiful gold necklace with a circle locket that had a weird drawing in the center.

"Take it Ella, protect it with your life. And never forget that I am always with you. Even if you feel alone, know that I will always love and watch over you." She pulled my forehead to hers and I felt her hand give way as she left my world broken.

I never knew what the cause of my mother's death was. The doctor said it could have been a bug carrying a disease or something that she consumed. But I never forgot those words she said to me that day. About how I needed to protect what I had left of her.