The Next Cinderella

Chapter 41: Whatever After

Somewhere between the middle of the night and sunrise, Myrielle's family burst into the cottage.

"Myrielle!" Rose called out. "Myrielle are you here?!"

Myrielle emerged from the darkness in a plain beige dress. Her volumized curls had been brushed away and her eyes were glistening with tears.

"Hello mother," she said weakly.

Rose rushed over and squeezed her in the tightest hug.

"Time for a cup of mother's healing tea," she said warmly.

"Yes please," she said burying her face into her mother's shoulder. Despite the confessions she was soon to reveal, nothing felt better than being back in her mother's arms...

***

The family gathered around the tiny table, sipping tea and absorbing every detail of Myrielle's experience.

"How many boils?" said Thomas obsessively. "Were they oozing?"

Rose smacked him on the back of the head. "Let her finish!"

Some parts of the story seemed unreal to Myrielle, but she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep if she didn't confess it all. "Just to be clear I didn't mean to sabotage her face, but given that she was so unkind...and that I'd learned so many different concoctions from your special teas..."

Peter shook his head. "Rose, you've created a monster." His tone was somehow playful and it made Myrielle feel better.

"So then what happened?" said Emilia. "Did she turn into a monster and fly away?"

Myrielle frowned. "No...but she got her revenge pretty soon after."

Emilia gasped. "How?"

"By catching Fredrick and I..." She started to blush.

"Catching you with what?" chirped Emilia. "Stolen tarts?"

"More like catching us devouring each other's faces," Myrielle murmured quietly enough so that no one else would hear.

Rose nudged Myrielle's elbow. "Tell us more about this Fredrick."

Myrielle felt the familiar pain reawaken in her gut. "Emilia and Thomas should really be getting to bed now...."

"Don't change the subject!" Rose insisted. "It's obvious he became an important figure in your life, so what happened? Is he still working in the castle? And what did Bella catch you doing?"

The rapid-fire questions were all too much, and the healing family summit now felt like an interrogation. So she snapped.

"She caught us kissing okay?! And the prince found out but they couldn't be-head us because the contest was pre-determined by these votes which meant I'd already won alright?!" She paused to take a breath. "But if I quit they threatened not to clear the kingdom's debt so they made me stay but banished Fredrick to the dungeons, but then I ended up quitting anyway by pretending the glass slipper didn't fit, and then I went to the dungeon to try and save Fredrick but he rejected me, okay?!" She bolted out of her chair and ran into the closet that doubled as her bedroom.

The rest of the family sat in silence as they took it all in.

Thomas shook his head. "So we could've been royals?"

***

The following week was the ultimate angsty heartache that parents just don't understand. At least that was what Rose had concluded when Myrielle refused to leave her closet/bedroom.