TWISTED

8: Gifted Pages

Ella dragged the broom along the marble floor beneath her. As she cleaned, a song waltzed into her head, the one her mom loved singing to her:

Life is too precious to be spent frowning

Life is so precious to be spent crying

Dream, smile, laugh, hope and believe

Everything will be just fine

Few drops of tears fell from Ella's eyes as she ended the song.

The song said life is so precious, but in actuality, life has been unfair to her. Life took her dad away from her. Her dad with whom she spent only two months of her life as a baby with. Life brought Brian and his daughter into the story, snatched her mother from her, and now it brought her to work for the royals.

While Ella pondered on these things, she didn't realize the large area she had cleaned until someone bumped into her. She looked up to see a young girl of about fifteen or sixteen years. The manner in which she was dressed spoke of royalty.

"I'm terribly sorry, your...your...erm..." Ella stuttered.

Princess Charity watched Ella calmly and shook her head after looking Ella over.

"It's just Princess. However, you may call me Charity."

"I can't do that, we're forbidden to call the royals by their names." Ella recalled how she had been warned by Miss Myra to never call any of the members of the royal family by their names. It was a risk she wasn't willing to take.

"I insist." Princess Charity felt her hair to see if her hair has come loose from its bun.

Ella laid the handle of the brush against the wall and shook her head in rejection. There was no way she'd call the princess by her name and risk being thrown out of the palace. That'd mean she might get thrown out of the palace and every plan she and Benjamin had strung together would be crashed. That'd also mean her stepfather would carry out his evil plan. There's no way she would want that to happen.

At the same time, doing what the princess wanted might just get Ella in her right books, and that would mean a lot to Ella.

"Fine, I'll call you Charity, but I can't do that in the presence of your parents or Miss Myra." Ella said.

Princess Charity nodded in agreement. But who was Miss Myra? She questioned herself. "I was going to the library before you bumped into me."

Ella wanted to correct the princess that it was she who bumped into her instead. But she kept her mouth sealed.

"Do you mind coming with me?" Charity questioned, suddenly feeling attached to Ella because of her simplicity. "Don't worry about Myra or whoever she is, I'll make sure someone tells her that you were only acting on my request."

Ella dumped her work equipments and trailed beside Charity who spent the entire time they walked talking about some sculptures.

"I take it you don't like sculptures." Charity asked when they got to the library. A guard positioned close-by bowed as the princess opened the door to the room of books.

"No, I don't." Ella replied bluntly.

Because they're lifeless.

The only things she liked were music, the colour blue, her mother and Ben. She wasn't sure of another thing she liked.

"Tell me what you like then." Princess Charity asked as she took out a book about different countries.

"I love music." Ella took a good look at the large library that had shelves from the ceiling to the floor. The books at the upper area could only be accessed by some moveable ladders positioned randomly.