The Princess Pages: A Girl Like Cinderella

Song Five

LUCY'S NIGHTMARES

Darkness. 

There was nothing around Lucy but pitch-black color, and then she heard a faint buzzing sound... coming nearer and nearer until it seemed to resonate through her head like a piercing Church bell's chime.

"LOSER! LOSER! LOSER!"

"Not so tough without your mommy and daddy by your side, are you, Heartwood?"

The mocking laughter was deafening.

"Now you see why no one ever stays long enough with you? It's because you're nothing, Heartwood. You're not worth it."

"Your time in the limelight is over, nerd. Take a hike. Your delusions of grandeur are dead!"

"You're such a wimp, Heartwood!"

Lucy gasped loudly as she jolted up in her bed, clutching her chest as cold beads of sweat trickled down her temples.

Raking her shaking fingers through her scruffy black hair, she pulled out her black cellphone from beneath her pillow and squinted at the glowing screen clock. 4:35. Great.

Knowing she couldn't go back to sleep, the brunette cast aside her blue sheets, pushed herself out of bed, then shoved her feet into her fluffy white slippers that her biological mom had given her on her 9th birthday. It was fortuitous that her mom, Violet Heartwood, had chosen too big a size for her then-small feet.

That morning, Lucy took advantage of waking up too early and prepared a hearty breakfast for herself and her younger brother; she was perfectly aware that her stepmom, Gail Stone (who didn't even bother changing her surname when she married Lance Heartwood) rarely came home from her frivolous lifestyle: Gambling, smoking, partying, traveling, and shopping all day.

But in the rare times Gail (Lucy calls her Gail because she was told to) was home? It was twice the wonderland (sarcasm intended) as it is with her only daughter, Beverly, around. 

After taking a warm shower, Lucy dressed in her usual getup: Black shirt, blue hoodie with the purple-striped sleeves, and comfortable baggy pants. She simply weaved her fingers down her long untamed hair without once glancing in the bathroom mirror.

Lucy tiptoed along the dark empty corridor leading to her brother's room, pushing open the white wooden door to see a boy's figure on his bed in a starfish position.

"Vance,wake up," she cooed, "It's time for breakfast."

He hardly stirred when she sat beside him, dipping part of the green and black duvet.

"Ten minutes," her sibling grunted,pulling up his covers to hide his face.

"What a shame," Lucy mused, looking away from her brother. "I made pancakes."

She felt his legs twitch under the soft green blankets.Gotcha.

"Chocolate chip pancakes... with maple syrup.. and whipped cream.." she continued, trying hard not to laugh out loud.

"I'm up! I'm up! Gees," Vance groaned, jerking up in bed. His dark brown hair was disheveled and his blue green eyes shot daggers at his older sister. He was wearing Batman Pajamas.

Lucy stood up from her brother's bed, confident he would follow her to the kitchen.

There were a lot of crap in her life, but her annoying brother was not one of them.

CRASH!

She winced in pain, after once again tripping on one of Vance's booby traps. Damn strings.