Believe

Cinderella

We arrive just in time to Cinderella go into the house. We see her bury the slippers in the garden. I try to go just as she leaves but Bethany holds me back. "The ugly step-sisters and the evil stepmother will be back any minute now." She's right. As if on cue, a golden carriage drops off three women. The author wasn't exaggerating when he called the stepsisters ugly. He was being nice! They truly are frightful to look at. One has about three warts and the other has a nose so sharp and pointy, you could slice bread with it. They look as if they've gone through a cheese grater backwards. They go into the house cackling with glee. "Now can we go?" I say as they disappear from view. She nods then puts her finger to her lips. She goes to the window to keep watch whilst I dig up the shoes. "Only dig up one. She needs the other one so the prince can find her." She tells me.

I walk over to the bush with Bethany and show her the shoe. We just have to get to the palace before the morning. We decide that Bethany will be the one to go into the palace because of her knowledge of the fairy tale. Knowing my luck, I'll end up wrecking the whole story. I still think this is my mind playing tricks on me, its revenge on me for not believing in a thing. "It's crazy, isn't it? We're in a storybook full of princesses and magic. We might even see Peter Pan!" Bethany starts spinning around. 

As the palace comes into the horizon, so does the sun. Bethany and I start running towards it. I try my hardest to keep the shoe safe. We reach the gates as the prince is coming back his morning horse ride with one of his servants. Bethany takes the shoe out of my hands and runs towards the prince. She gets down on her knees and I do the same. "Your Highness. This is the shoe of the maiden that you danced with last night, who left at the stroke of midnight." The prince looks at her with astonishment. He takes the slipper from Bethany's hands and examines it. He turns to the servant. "Have the word sent out that I shall visit every home in the land in search of the woman who wears the glass shoes." He went away with the servant, leaving a cloud of dust behind him. Bethany tries to follow but it's no use. He's too fast. "I've always wanted to see Cinderella put on the shoe and the prince's eyes light up." I rest my head on her shoulder and sigh. "Well, at least that's one story done." 

A bright blue light appears by us. It grows in size and we can see right through it. It's another forest. Before I can say anything, Bethany pulls me into the next story. Here we go again.