Cinderella - A Fractured Fairy Tale

Part 2/4

The cellar just happened to be the most horrifying room in the entire house. It was dark, dusty, full of things that nobody would ever use, and practically made up of cobwebs and rat poop. If Ms Parker, Lydia or Bethany ever went into the cellar (which of course, they never would), they would most certainly run out of there screaming.

And of course, it was this disgusting room in which all the storage was kept, including the fabric that Cinderella and Hailie needed to sew their dresses. Being treated like servants their whole lives meant that the two were used to mess. After all, most of the time they were going about, cleaning the house for their 'mother'.

"Well, who's going first?" Cinderella asked with a sigh. Despite their tendancy to cleaning up mess, the cellar was still pretty creepy. "You, or me?"

"Should we flip a coin?" Hailie replied.

"Hailie, we don't have any coins."

"Oh, right. Then how about... rock paper scissors?"

"Fair enough. Three... two... one..."

Cinderella shoved her hand into a fist, and Hailie spread her fingers far out.

"Yes! You go first Cinderella!" Hailie said excitedly.

The steps creaked loudly as Cinderella slowly went down into the petrifying darkness of the cellar. A loud yelp could be heard, coming from the darkness of the room, as her foot skipped a step.

"Oh my!"

"Cinderella, don't be such a scaredy cat! Hurry up!" Hailie said softly, herself, scared of the darkness that lay just down the steps she was standing above.

So Cinderella wandered on, slowly and carefully, feeling er way through the darkness, with her now, very dusty hands. Eventually, the girl reached the shelves on which the fabric was kept.

"Which ones do I take, Hailie?"

"All of them!"

"But Ms Parker will surely notice!"

"Ms Parker doesn't even come down here Cinderella! She's so scared, she can't go down the first step without running off down the hall!"

So Cinderella grabbed the fabric, quickly running out of the dark room that she feared. When she and Hailie tried out the fabric, they found that it was soft as silk, yet as unbreakable as rocks. It was beautiful, shiny, sparkly and more, and they knew it was something that everyone would love.

Later that day, when their three 'sisters' came home from school, Hailie asked Jeanne if they could borrow some of her shoes. Jeanne said yes, with the condition that they return them, and let Cinderella and Hailie choose any pair they'd like.

By the time the ball was on, the two girls were ready. Their dresses had been made, their shoes polished and their hair done. Then there was just one thing left.