Cinderella

My darling, Cinderella, to say that I am distraught is a mere fraction of the anguish that I feel. Disease has overcome me and I know I will not have a hand in raising you. I pray you have no worries in your life and that you are in good hands with your father. He is a predictable man. He is neither an angry nor an overly joyful person. Yet, I hope in his own way he is able to adequately express the love that you need. I am forever grateful for the remaining time we have together. You are the most precious little girl: kind, quiet, courageous, and a burst of happiness. I will hold you in my arms for however long I have left. And when the day comes for me to leave, I hope I am granted a glimpse of how life will treat you.

Days later Cinderella’s mother’s breaths labored and she fell into a deep sleep. Then her mind wandered into a dream.

In her vision, Cinderella’s mother saw her husband stare at her still body lying in bed. Cinderella was a mess of tears and sobs. As she wept, her tiny hands clung to her mother’s, cold and lifeless. After enough time passed Cinderella’s father simply patted Cinderella on the head and said “it will be alright,” and out the door he went.

Cinderella’s father saw the despair in his daughter’s eyes. He could not empathize with how she felt, but he thought as if he knew how to sate her sadness.

In the coming days, he left Cinderella to be tended by her maids. He went on a tireless journey to find something, or rather someone, for his daughter. He was well aware of the influence a daughter needed from a mother. Hence why he felt he should urgently replace the one his daughter had lost. And he found her. He found Cinderella a new mother. This one would even bring his daughter sisters. Cinderella would have what she needed to get over this dreadful time, be raised well, and also have sisters to entertain her.

Weeks later he married the new woman, Cinderella’s stepmother. She was a widow with mediocre looks and of tall stature. She was not a woman of high spirits. She was bitter and had a chip on her shoulder but was always curt. She never raised her voice. And she always made sure that everyone was clean and fed. That was all Cinderella’s father could ask for.

In the third week of the second month of his new union, Cinderella’s father fell ill. And in the span of a night, he went from taking care of a day's work to being bed ridden without the ability to hold down a glass of water. In three days time he passed away in his sleep.

From that day forward Cinderella’s stepmother had changed. She went from a crisp curt woman to a nasty conniving witch. She treated Cinderella like the maids that she fired to have more money for jewels, dresses,and shoes. She made the poor little girl clean her home on her hands and knees while her step sisters watched and scoffed. She even made the girl clean the house in glass shoes as a joke.

Each day for Cinderella was worse than the last. And by the time she was of age she decided she must run away. Otherwise she felt she would die a despicable death having never lived the life a young lady should.

The night Cinderella ran from her home a cloaked figure was waiting for her when she reached the edge of the woods. As she neared, the shape of a woman became more apparent.

Fear rolled over her as she heard a familiar wicked laugh. It was her terrible stepmother.

Her stepmother pulled the hood from her head. Then she began to taunt Cinderella. She told Cinderella just how much she never cared for her father and how she poisoned him to have his money, without having to deal with him any longer. She went on to explain that she would've left Cinderella alone, maybe even given her some money. She even considered taking Cinderella in, like the other two. The pair were preposterously ugly things. When she found them they were so lost they instantly loved her with even the slightest facade of affection and bare necessities. But Cinderella was just too annoying. Her favored looks and innocent obedience disgusted her stepmother. And she began to despise Cinderella until she couldn't take it anymore. She then conspired to teach Cinderella a lesson. Death was the only result of lessons like these.

From then on the treacherous woman plotted to kill Cinderella. However, she would not take her life until she pushed Cinderella to the point of running away in utter helplessness. Cinderella’s stepmother wanted her to feel as if she had a chance at freedom so that every ounce of hope would be burned to ash, leaving a shell in its wake. Then and only then would she take care of her irritating stepdaughter.

Every night since her plan, she watched and waited for when Cinderella would have the courage to leave. Tonight, she did. When realization hit Cinderella’s face, she paled. She was filled with terror. Though she did not have the luxury of time to dwell on it. With every ounce of energy Cinderella had, she dashed as fast as she could in the opposite direction, back towards the house. However, she didn't make it very far before she heard a booming noise. Then she felt it. She looked down and saw blood running down her baby blue nightgown. Her stepmother had shot her in the heart. And Cinderella fell to her death at the foot of her home’s steps with one glass shoe left behind.

As Cinderella’s mother’s dream came to an end, she considered what her daughter’s life had in store. She was so overcome with grief that that was what finally took her life.

However before her final breath, Cinderella’s mother made a wish. She wished that Cinderella would grow up with simple joys that no one could steal from her. Even if it was a quiet little mouse scurrying across the floor, she hoped it would give Cinderella some small comfort. The sick mother’s thoughts were interrupted by hearing a bird chirp; she hoped her beloved daughter would know of her deep love in their song. She then laughed, allowing herself to ponder if Cinderella might even have a voice like theirs too. And finally she dared to wish that one day, when Cinderella was of age and nothing could bring her daughter down, that someone would find her at the most lavish event and take her away from all her suffering. No matter how far fetched this may be, the woman wished with all her might. And tears rolled down her face. She knew that if there was a way, this desperate wish upon a star may save her daughter.

Cinderella’s mother prayed that those laughable excuses for shoes would not be a part of Cinderella’s tragedy. Instead they’d be the beautiful beginning to a long prosperous life. She wanted those damned shoes to be what saves Cinderella.

And so it was. With that wish Cinderella's mother took her last breath and her spirit left her body. Her spirit went on to mix with all kinds of wonderful magic, powerful enough to manipulate almost anything she desired. She became the spirit of a fairy. She became Cinderella's guide, her fairy godmother. And so the story as we all know it became history from then on.