Cinderella

Mother's Pass

Long, ago, in a small peaceful kingdom, by the border of the dark forest, lived a wealthy man with his wife and his only daughter Ella. This man's wife was falling very ill. Her heart was slowly failing and the doctors couldn't pinpoint what was wrong. All they could do was stabilize her and wait. Her husband was falling into despair. He loved his wife so much that he refused his wife from doing anything that would strain her. ANYTHING. He forbade her from leaving her bed. Staying cooped up in her room had been intruding with her mentality. She slowly lost her mind inside that small dark room. Ella was never allowed to see her mother without her father present. Ella became frightened, unable to see her mother for she also feared of making her mothers condition worsen. Ella didn't like being cooped inside that big house by herself so she would spend her time outside reading a book in their lovely garden.

Ella would often take advantage and shield herself from the rays emitted from the sun and sit under the tree of heaven. It was a well aged tree that Ella enjoyed to read under, it was beautiful and birds would often perch on it's branches and accompany Ella. They were all Ella had left now other than the help that were ordered to stay away from the main house as much as possible. Ella's father was always travelling for work that she only saw him one or twice a month. He explains that its all for helping his wife get better but Ella knows he just doesn't want to think about mother's health.

One sunny day Ella rushed to the tree with excitement as she had just finished picking fresh sunflower seeds. She looked up in the tree with a large grin on her face only to be greeted with an empty tree. Her bird friends had not shown themselves. It was quite odd for them to not be perched there waiting. Ella disappointed, sat underneath the tree. "Well I shouldn't expect them to be there all the time." Ella stashed the seeds in her dress and sat down at the base of the tree and opened her book, reading silently. She still hoped for the birds to arrive so she patiently waited. She was about to give up and go back inside when the flapping of feathers resonated in her ears. She looked up with joy in her eyes. However, it was not exactly who she had been expecting. 

A small violet eyed raven perched itself on one of the branches. It twisted its head from side to side, seemingly curious of Ella. Ella looked back at the raven curiously. "Oh, why hello there little raven." It straightened its head and stared at Ella with intensity. Ella just smiled at the raven. The raven made no noise and move it did not. It only stared at young Ella and she just stared back with her gentle smile. "Well, little raven, would you like something to eat? This was intended for my little blue friends but as you can see, they are not here. It is a shame because I had just picked these sunflower seeds especially for them."   

Ella rummaged through her pocket and pulled out the little pouch she had carried, and pulled out a handful of seeds. She opened her hand out to the raven and gently smiled. The raven twitched and swiftly flew down and pecked the seeds out of her hand. It was so sudden and quick that it caught Ella by surprise. The raven radically pecked at her hand and when there were no more seeds the raven bit her, giving her a deep wound in the palm of her hand. She pulled her hand away and the raven swooped and perched itself back on the tree branch. Ella felt tears well up in her eyes as she looked at her hand and watched as blood seeped out of her. The burning sensation rushed throughout her body.  

As she was going to wrap up her wound with a handkerchief an excruciatingly loud scream rang from her mother's room. Ella no longer fearing for herself rushed to her mother's side without a second thought. Her mother screamed for Ella, repeating her name in a frightened tone. Ella kneeled  on the floor by her mother's bed and held her hand. 

"I'm right here mother! It's alright now, I'm here." Ella tried to soothe whatever her mother was suffering from. Her mother finally calmed herself and turned to Ella. Her skin was so pale, under her eyelids were dark circles. She hasn't been sleeping well. She looked like she could break with one wrong move. She was so thin that Ella was afraid of squeezing her hand any tighter. She could feel her bones and it sent a chill through Ella.

"Ella," her mother's soft voice called out to her. Ella averted her thoughts to her mother, "I'm afraid I'm going to be leaving this world soon." The warm gentle look in her mother's eyes made her seem like her old self from before she had fallen ill. "Don't say such things mother. Please," tears slid down Ella's cheek as the thought of her being left alone forever crawled up in her mind, "please don't go. Don't leave me here alone." The gentle look faded and was immediately replaced by darkness.  

Her mother smiled an unnerving smile, "Then come with me Ella." Ella looked at her, feeling uneasy about her mother's words. "What are you saying mother?" Ella's core started shaking. "They're coming for me Ella. So join me. Let's leave this world together." Her voice brought terror into Ella. Her mother squeezed her hand tightly digging into her still fresh wound.

Ella winced at the pain and tried to break loose from her mother's grip. "M-mother, you're hurting me! Please, let me go!" She didn't understand how her mother could be so strong despite her current condition. Ella stood up trying to pull her hand away with all her strength getting a better grip on the wooden floor. However, it was to no avail.   

The raven that had perched itself on the Tree of Heaven took flight directly up to the small circular window that was Ella's mother's only source of light from the outside word.. Ella screamed for help as her mother dug her fingers through Ella's cut. The raven sat and watched as a drip of Ella's blood splashed onto the floor. Once contact was made the raven reacted swiftly and busted through the window. The loud crashing of glass made Ella jump. Ella became more panicked and continued to scream and struggle to get away. The raven swooped up and over Ella and her mother and plunged itself straight into the mother's chest and ripped out her heart. Ella fell back as her mother's grip was nonexistent now. Tears flowed as Ella tried to process the horrific scene.

Ella's voice wanted to scream but nothing came out. Ella just sat there and replayed the scene that just occurred over and over again trying to process what just happened. Ella turned towards her mothers bloody corpse.  The raven flew out the window carrying the heart by the aorta. If you were to look closely you could see the heart was still pumping.

Ella had not moved an inch from the scene. When her father arrived and called out to Ella he was greeted with an uneasy silence. He began to worry and rushed straight to his wife's room. He believed his wife may have just passed while he was gone. He wasn't wrong, however, the way he thought she would greet death was a lot more peaceful and beautiful in his head than the view which he saw now.

He spotted Ella on the floor and rushed towards her. He tried to question Ella on the events that had occurred but Ella would not speak of it ever, in fact she rarely spoke about anything afterwards. That made her father feel perplexed but he didn't want to press the issue any further. The next day they buried her mother underneath the Tree of Heaven.

~Hello, I hope you guys enjoyed the first part of my version of Cinderella. Please leave me a comment and tell me what you think. :) See you for the next part hopef