Cinderella Isn't Her Name

Prologue

Cinderella never existed. The whole story, wasn't hers, Ella's, I mean. Cinder was my nickname. I was the one forced to clean and slave away for Ella and my older sister. This is the real story of Cinderella, the story of me, Lucinda. It begins with Ella's parents. Her dad was nice, I guess, I didn't really meet him even though he was my dad too. But my mom told me this part.

Derek Woods was a good man. He grew up in a home that tottered on the edge of homelessness. He often went hungry and worked hard in school to climb out of the hole he'd been born into. In high school, things changed. For some unknown reason, he became less determined to leave the life he'd always known and began to divulge in the normal activities of teenagers. His choices resulted in the pregnancy of his girlfriend. Unlike many of his friends, he wouldn't leave her. His father had left his mother because of him so Derek refused to let that happen again. He encouraged his girlfriend to go through with the pregnancy even though the pressure of abortion was harsh.

And so Ella was born. But her birth was too much for Derek's girlfriend and she died from exhaustion. Derek was forced to end his high school education early and scrape money together for his newborn daughter.

Mom says it was only a few years after that that she and Derek met. She was working in an ice-cream shop to help with her college bills and she saw him look over, little Ella at his side. Ella had begun to whine for ice-cream, as I would've expected, but her father couldn't afford to. Despite that, he approached my mom and asked for an ice-cream, paying for it with the last of his cash. Ella greedily ate the ice-cream and my mom, being her usual kind self, gave him back the money and let him have another cone for free. Derek protested, but my mom insisted and he gave up. But I suppose he kept thinking about her for a while.

Almost every few days, he came by again and they talked. My mom had brought Dakota, the daughter of her own teenage pregnancy. My sister and Ella happily licked their ice-cream as my mother and Ella's father began to fall in love. Only a few months after meeting, they were engaged and my mom was pregnant. Derek, through her help, was able to get a good job and finish high school. They didn't marry until I was born and both of them were out of school. My mom and Dad bought an apartment and we moved in as a family.

At that point, Dad began to save up money to go to college and become a music teacher. My mother continued working and applied for her dream job. Meanwhile, Ella and Dakota, my sister, became best friends. They were often in charge of me, seeing as my parents were often gone. Ella and Dakota liked to dress me up and used me as entertainment.

I was five when the fire happened. Ella and Dakota had been playing with the stove and the matches and since no parent was home, they were doing whatever they wanted, unaware of the danger. I remember their screaming and crying as the fire spread beyond their control. Ella and Dakota ran from the apartment as Dad was pulling into the parking lot. He ran back inside and grabbed me, rushing me outside but getting severely burned as he did. By that time, the fire department and Mom were there. The apartment didn't burn very badly, but Dad had to be hurried to the hospital. Mom took all of us there and we stayed with him through the night.

Dad didn't live. The funeral was held a few days later and Mom was still crying then. Ella and Dakota cried some, but Dakota was less affected since he wasn't her dad. After the service, Mom rushed us to a new apartment and told us she was getting a well-paying job. And so she did. With the new job, more money was available and we were moved into a house in a nice neighborhood. Ella and Dakota were already attending school and now had to take me as well.

Mom was barely home. We had several nannies and babysitters until Ella and Dakota were ten. Then they were in charge of caring for me, once again. I was eight by that time and that was when their rule of terror began.