A Twisted Cinderella Tale
Once upon a time there was a girl named Cinderella. Her father had died shortly after marrying a wicked lady. The lady had two daughters who also despised Cinderella. One day while Cinderella was doing laundry a royal page dropped of four invitations to the princes ball. The stepmother told Cinderella that she could only go if she finished her chores. The stepmother and her two daughters, Annabelle and Valentina, piled on pointless chores like bathing the cat, scrubbing the fireplace, and of course washing the carriage.
After the wicked stepmother and her daughters left, Cinderella collapsed in a heap at the bottom of the stairs. Sobbing into the front of her dress she mumbled something under her breath. Whatever it was made a strange popping noise shortly after. Cinderella looked up as she felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking up she came face to face with a strange blue eyed lady. Cinderella did the only reasonable somebody would do in her position; she let loose a scream that scared all the mice away.
"Now, now foolish girl, please do calm down" The lady said with wide eyes. "W-w-why should I trust you!" Cinderella asked as she cringed away from her. "Because, I'm your fairy godmother. My name is Petunia and I'm here to make sure you get to the ball on time" she said in a calm tone. "H-how do I know that?" Cinderella said as she wiped her eyes. "Fine, I'll give you an example of my work. Don't blink or you might miss it" Petunia said as she flicked her wand over her own head and her wings gathered. They were a deep purple with a swirl pattern lining the edges. Cinderella stared at them in shock. She'd never seen anything so beautiful.
"Is that enough evidence for you?" Petunia asked as she crossed her arms, a knowing smirk crossing her delicate features. She knew she'd proven herself. Cinderella looked over petunia. She hadn't really noticed her before, she was too busy screaming and judging to really look at her. She noticed her auburn hair was lightly curled and seemed to flow down her shoulders. Her eyes seemed to have a glint of mischief in them that wasn't there before. She was rather tall, for a fairy at least. After closely observing her dress Cinderella decided it must've been made from some special fairy material for she had never seen something change colors the longer you stared at it.
Cinderella nodded her head to answer the fairies almost forgotten question. "Good. Now then, don't move while I do this" Petunia said. Muttering some words under her breath she waved her wand over the young blondes tattered garb and watched as it turned into a light blue ball gown the color of sapphires. The more words she mumbled the more Cinderella's appearance changed.
Her messy blonde hair became clean and piled at the top of her head. Cinderella's tattered gown became a beautiful gossamer gown. The detail on the dress was made of a darker blue material draped over it.
The dresses short puff of a sleeve had a white stripe on it. The final touch was a blue ribbon choker that fit around her neck.
"At the stroke of midnight all of this will be undone and if any darkness resides in your soul. The madness will take over" Petunia warned. Giving a wayward glance she flicked her wrist as a pumpkin turned into a beautiful carriage with Ivory wheels. Looking at a few mice trying to escape her she turned them into six white horses. The cat that had made itself ever so comfy by her feet had become the Coachman. The cat had a displeased look on his face as he was forced to drive. "Now Abba, go be a dear and drive Cinderella to the ball please?" Petunia asked. The cat looked annoyed but it waited for Cinderella to get in the carriage anyways. Cinderella gave a curtsy to the fairy. "Thank you kind Daisy!" Cinderella said with a wave. "It's Petunia actually" the fairy muttered under her breath.
As the carriage drove off Petunia's kind smile became a look of Malice. "I'll see you soon" she muttered before disappearing into the night.
As they arrived at the ball Cinderella smiled at the cat-man who let her out of her carriage. As she walked into the Ballroom the music stopped for a second. All eyes were on her as she daintily walked down the stairs. Her crystal blue eyes met those of the princes murky brown eyes. She approached him once she got to the bottom of the stairs. "Hello Prince" Cinderella said as she gave a slight curtsy. "Hello girly" the prince said in a slur. It was quite obvious he'd been drinking. It was already Quarter to Midnight. "Would you like to go out to the balcony" he said as he embraced her. "How about we dance first?" Cinderella said. She knew she only had a limited time to get him to fall in love with her; it was going to be more difficult to get him to remember her considering he was heavily intoxicated. "Fine" The Prince said as they started dancing.
The Prince was slipping all over the place and she couldn't help it when he lead her out to the balcony. As he tried to kiss her she kept pushing him away. The clock strung midnight and Cinderella's eyes flashed a dark purple. "I said. NO!" she exclaimed as the madness took over. With a sadistic grin she pushed him over the edge of the balcony and watched as he fell a little more than a story. Seeing him laying there at an awkward seemed to knock a little bit of sense into her. The reason she's been overcome at midnight was because hate had made a home in her heart. When the stepmother had wormed her way into the family Cinderella hated her for replacing her mother.
As she did nothing to try to repair their relationship the fire of hate only grew in her heart. It soon felt normal that she locked it away and almost forgot about it. With the little flame of hate ignited in her heart as soon as the clock struck twelve the madness unleashed it. What Cinderella didn't know was that the Petunia-although I'm sure you're not surprised isn't her real name, was a fairy of deception. She could promise everything in the world, but only if it was for her own amusement. Cinderella's expression turned to one of horror as she realized what she was going to have to do. She was too frail to do this by herself. She was going to have to get her step-sisters help with hiding the body. As her face turned back to normal she was surprised that she wasn't in rags. If the spell had worked the way it was supposed to, well Petunia wouldn't have had much amusement would she? Cinderella scoffed in her downplayed version of her dress. Heading away from the balcony she sought after her two sisters.
Unbeknownst to anybody else Petunia was in the crowd disguised as a server. With a bemused expression she watched as Cinderella walked through the crowd towards the food to find a knife. She knew the only way she'd get something out of her sisters was if she threatened them, and she didn't know anything embarrassing about them. Annabelle and Valentina were standing together to the side of the ballroom making them easy for Cinderella to find. AS Cinderella 'borrowed' a knife from the table she thought she saw a swish of Auburn hair behind a bowl of soup. When she looked back though, nobody was there. Shrugging it off she walked up to her sisters with a grim expression. Looking at the sister closest too her she grabbed Annabelle's wrist.
"I need your help" she hissed with clenched teeth. "Why would we help YOU Cinderella" Valentina scoffed. "Because" Cinderella start as she twisted Annabelle's arm behind her back and held a knife up to her throat. "If you don't I'll be forced to kill you two". Annabelle gulped as Valentina stared on in horror. "We'll do whatever you want" she said, her own envy green eyes staring back at her. As Cinderella lowered the knife she dragged Annabelle behind her towards the staircase. Annabelle's similar green eyes were terrified as she and her sister followed their deranged step sister. Their identical muddy blonde hair bouncing as they were pulled away from the crowd. When they neared the bottom of the balcony Valentina finally spoke up. "What do you need us for anyways" she said in a quivering tone. "I need your help to cover up a mistake I made because of you people" Cinderella said quietly. As they got closer they saw the prince's mangled corpse.
Cinderella covered their mouths as they tried to scream. "Shh! They might hear you" Cinderella said quietly. "Wh-why is th-this our fault" Valentina said as her face paled. "Because-….It just is!" Cinderella exclaimed. She didn't know why it was their fault but she knew it was. Another tinge of Auburn to her left, nobody there. "Hurry up and start digging. Remember, he's a prince so the hole has to be big enough for three people so he doesn't haunt us later" Cinderella said in a mocking tone. The two girls nodded and started digging, they didn't get why it had to be able to fit three people. They never would. As they were digging Cinderella was busy watching out for any curious party goers.
Petunia-Okay you know what? I'm sick of typing her alias. So I'm going to tell you her real name. The deceitful Fairies real name was Rose. Suits her doesn't it? Well Rose watched from up in a tree. She knew this girl was going to be entertaining. With a quiet giggle to herself he watched as the other girls dug. She was sent to earth to cause mayhem and was told this family would do it. Rose was glad she picked Cinderella.
As Cinderella's panicked eyes flickered back and forth she waited for the others to roll the body into the ditch. Valentina then turned away to say a prayer for the prince. Cinderella messily cut the jugular vein on the throat as the prayer gurgled away. Valentina laid on the ground looking up at Cinderella with betrayed green eyes before she died. Cinderella looked at Annabelle and felt a twinge of Regret in the pit of her stomach. She knew she had to kill her too, for her own safety if anything. Cinderella looked at the knife in her hands before stabbing it through her throat and pushing her into the grave. The grave was made for three bodies, and three were in there. The sisters had gotten what they'd wanted. Eternity, with the Prince. Rose let out a mad laugh before they faded in the darkness. Forever forgotten.
~By Sydney Baile
