Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

I sneak into the stable and silently put away the tack. I use the servant's entrance to enter the kitchen. I've barely set foot in the room when my head is whipped to the other side.

I blink away tears and my cheek smarts.

"How dare you!" my step-mother shouts. "You left your chores to go gallivanting around on that filthy horse! You little *#@%$!"

"I--"

Her next slap sends me to the floor. My head hits the floor and stars burst inside my skull. My entire side aches. I taste something warm and salty in my mouth. Oh no. Please don't let it be blood. Please.

"*&%$#@%! Liar!" her shrill voice grates across my ears. Each invective is punctuated with a kick to my stomach.

I curl up slightly as the beating goes on. My head is aching so much I can barely think. All I can feel is pain. I am crying from it and clutching my head.

With each kick, I see bloody spit scatter on the stone floor in front of me. I know it's because I'm gasping. But I don't know this at the same time.

The pain continues. It all continues. The pain is unbearable. Just when I think I'll lose my mind or die, it all falls away.



Daddy and I are in the pasture. I know I'm about ten. I can't remember right now exactly how old I was. But I know what he's about to say.

His lips move, but no sound comes out. I know what he said though. "I'm going to marry the baroness."

I have to tell him. She's evil, she is insane, and she hurts me. She hates me. I have to tell him that.

When I try to, though, I can't speak. No noise comes out.

Daddy's talking, but I can't hear him. I'm crying, shouting that he has to listen to me, that he can't marry her. But nothing comes out. I don't feel tears on my cheeks. My eyes are dry. There's nothing here.

And then, Daddy vanishes, leaving me alone.

Step-mother walks away from me. Through my swelling eyes, I can just see her heels. I close my eyes, exhausted, and just listen to the click of her diamond-studded shoes. When they stop, I begin to get up. I use my elbows to gingerly push myself upright.

"Oh, and by the way, Cinderella," my step-mother chuckles dryly from the stairs, "I found your invitation. And you won't be going."

I snap. Somewhere within me, I find the strength to fight back finally. I find a courage I never knew existed.

"You can't stop me!" I scream as I attack her. I try to snatch my paper back. "I have just as much right as you do to be there!"

"You have a right to be there? Why would the king want you there? You the illegitimate daughter of a bankrupt noble. That's absurd!"

I see the prince. The way he looked at me when I gave him the water. "...you have beautiful eyes." The scent of him. The taste of his lips. He was expecting me.

She flings me off her and smiles. I land at the bottom of the stone stairs.

"It's not absurd!" I shout. I know where this courage is from. It's from the other me. And suddenly I know she's not against me. The other me is for me and I need her.

She rips the paper and I scream.

"NOO!"

She rips it again and again till it's nothing but shreds. Then she tosses these scraps to me like I'm a dog.

"There's your precious invitation."

I stare at the floor as the paper flutters down around me. Shattered like me...