Black Cats and Unwanted Pats

Wrote this for my 9th grade Creative Writing club and I am really proud of it.

(This is the prompt of the story)

Once upon a time, there was a spoiled princess who treated everyone around her like a slave. Her father was a good king, but because she was the only child he had by his beloved wife who had died in childbirth, she could never do any wrong in his eyes. Everyone in the kingdom dreaded the day that the king would die and leave the throne to the princess, who they knew would be a terrible tyrant.

On the night of the princess' eighteenth birthday, her personal maid was left to tend the fireplace in the princess' bedchamber as she slept. This maid had served the princess since they were both children, and knew better than anyone how cruel and petty her mistress could be. Suddenly, a black cat slipped in through the window, rubbed against her skirts, looked up at her with eyes that glowed like hot coals and in a voice like smoke, it spoke:

"Good evening, and greetings on your birthday."

The maid wanted to scream, but she was frozen to the spot by those burning eyes, like a bird in the gaze of a snake. She didn't know what frightened her more - that it spoke, or that it spoke like it knew her, knew her better than anyone else in the castle, who didn't realize that she shared the princess' birthday.

"This doesn't seem like much of a celebration," the cat said, with a dismissive flick of its tail, "This is what most of your life has been like, hasn't it, little bird? But what if it doesn't have to be this way tomorrow? Or the day after that?"
The cat seemed to be smiling at her, if that gleam of fangs could be called a smile.
"What if I give you a birthday present?"

"Are you - my fairy godmother?"

And the cat laughed, "Hardly. There are no such things as fairies. But I can make things happen, even things that seem impossible. So, would you like a wish?"

(End of prompt)