A/N: Hello there. This is the first story I'm going to post here. This was written as a school assignment and since I'm bored right now I'm going to post it. I hope you like it. Surprisingly I wrote this the morning it was do so if it seems rushed please don't be mad. Enjoy!

Unattainable Love

I was born in a small town and raised in an orphanage. I had big dreams. I was going to one day get adopted into a loving family and get a wonderful education. I was going to become a successful person and make lots of money. I was going to meet the girl of my dreams and get married and live a wonderful happy life. I was supposed to grow old together with my dream girl and watch our grandchildren run by as we sat on a bench in the front of our nice small home. None of that ever happened.

My name is Edward Sondoku, at least that what the orphanage my mom dropped me of at named me. I am 5' 11", have black hair, and blue eyes. I am now 76 years old and live on my own in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Most of my childhood dream didn't come true. I wasn't adopted, I didn't get a great education, but at least I did get to meet my dream girl. Unfortunately not to long after she fell in love with a different guy something terrible happened to my love. That was 55 years ago in Plumas Eureka, California. That town was very small, only 3.9 miles in its entire perimeter. In fact there are only 321 people living there according to the census in 2000.

My dream girl's name was Ella. She had a stepmother and a step sister. I had recently moved to Plumas Eureka and I needed a job. Preferably a live at your job kind of place since I didn't have any money to get an apartment of my own. Some nice town people recommended I ask Ophelia (Ella's stepmom) for a job since she has a really big house but no one to help clean it. I immediately went over to ask for a job. Ella was the one to open the door. It was love at first sight. With her beautiful brown curly hair to her hazel eyes I just couldn't help but fall in love she was so cute. I remember her asking me who I was. I must have been dazing of and I forgot to introduce myself. I quickly told her my name and asked if she knew if Ophelia was home. She told me to come in while she called Ophelia down.

The minute Ella left my presence I began to notice my surroundings for the first time. The house was quite large and really beautiful. It was a pretty house but it was kind of cluttered with junk and random trash that needed to be taken out. The house seriously needed someone to clean it up. It was a two story house and it had five bedrooms three and a half bathrooms. The house was decorated to look modern. It almost gave the house a futuristic look compared to the small town it was in.



When Ella came back, she came back with this scary looking lady who seemed to be in her late 50's early 60's. She wore a long black dress with bright red lipstick on which made her look even scarier.

"Who are you? And what do you want?" I remember her asking in a voice that resembled greatly of the witch from the Wizard of Oz.

"I'm Edward Sondoku and I was told to come here for a job that was house cleaning" I rambled in my nervousness. Ella giggled at my nervousness but was instantly silenced when Ophelia gave her a scary look.

"Can you clean, cook, and do laundry?" Ophelia asked.

"Yes . . . ." I hesitantly answered.

"Then you're hired," Ophelia said with ease turning around, "Ella will show you to your room"

Before either Ella or I could say anything Ophelia had left already. Going up the long wooden stairs up to what I later found out was her room.

"Hi I'm Ella. I haven't properly introduced myself," She said.

"Oh no," I said, "It's ok"

Ella took me to where my room was which was downstairs where the servant's quarters would usually be. I didn't mind though at least I had a job and a place to stay. I quickly got used to the surroundings and got to work. I later found out that Ella had two step sisters named Daphnia and Bertie. Strange names I thought but it didn't matter I wasn't there to get to know them. I only worked for them. The exception was Ella.

I could tell from the beginning that she didn't belong in this family. They were mean to her and always gave her several hard chores. She seemed happy even though she lived in an unhappy home. I suppose I can't complain though because if they didn't like her and give her so much work she probably would have been out with them every day and we wouldn't have gotten to know each other.

Ella and I became best friends right away. We had so much in common and enjoyed each other's company. Every day we would spend the day cleaning, singing, and dancing. There was no one ever home so it was fine. Ella was just like me. Both her parents were dead and she didn't have enough money to get away and go to college. That's why she worked for her step mom to raise enough money.

Things went on like that for months. Everything was fine until she met him. I had never told her how I felt to I suppose in some way it's my fault she fell in love with someone else. She had gone out to the market, she had later told me, and accidently ran into him. He was new to the 

town so after helping her up from the floor he asked for directions. She told me how gorgeous he was which hurt me pretty bad but of course I didn't say anything. She also told me his name was Henry. She had led him to his new house and before she left he thanked her and hoped to see her soon. She told me it was love at first sight.

Things got worse from then on. The evil step sisters, as I liked to call them, had also seen him and each of them wanted him. Ophelia, their evil mom, gave them her blessing after all he was kind of rich. Not in the sense where he had tons of money but he had more money than regular people in this small town. Ella and Henry met several times behind the step sisters backs but it wasn't long until Daphnia and Bertie realized that Henry liked Ella.

I overheard them one day when Ella was out talking about planning on stopping the relationship going on between Ella and Henry. I felt bad for never telling Ella about what they said but in my own jealous way I didn't want her to be with Henry. I didn't think they would go as far as they did to get Henry. I mean if I had ever really known they were going to kill Ella I never would have let them do anything. I knew what Ophelia was capable of murder, after all I had overheard her saying that she killed Ella's dad for his money. I just never said anything because I knew it would hurt Ella to know the truth.

The planning of Ella's death I suppose started on the night of the party. Henry was hosting his own welcome party and all young adults were invited. He had sent everyone a print out invitation except for Ella. Ella got a hand written invitation saying that he would especially hope to see her there. She was so love struck that she absent mindedly left the letter out in open where Bertie found it. To say she was mad was an understatement.

Bertie quickly went and showed Daphnia who then took it to their equally mad mother. The day of the party Ophelia ordered Ella to do an impossible amount of chores. There was no way she would finish in time and they knew it. While her step family was out Ella tried to work as fast as she could but she knew it was hopeless. She was sad the whole day. It broke my heart to see her so sad over another guy. After hours of endless cleaning Ella gave up when it was already past 8:30. The party had already started and it was just too late.

I couldn't stand it any longer so I went to her room and quickly told her my plan. I would cover for her as long as she got back by midnight. She thanked me and quickly and got dressed. When she came down stairs I almost passed out. She was wearing the hottest black spaghetti strapped mini dress I had ever seen with some black heals. It made her look beautiful. She thanked me again and headed for the door. That's when she realized something. How was she going to get there? His house was on the other side of town. She'd never make it in time. That night I felt like her fairy grandmother or something. I convinced our neighbor to let us borrow hisJaguar XF. He agreed but only if we got it back to him before morning with no scratches or dents. Ella was so grateful that I was helping her that she threw her arms around me and kissed me on the cheek. If she only knew how I really felt, she probably wouldn't have done that.



She left for the party and I didn't see her again till midnight exactly. Of course, as she helped me clean up the remainder of the house, she told me all about what had happened. She had danced with him the whole night and with no one else. She told me of all the stuff they talked about but I wasn't really listening. She even told me that they kissed that's what got my attention. She told me that just before she had to leave he kissed her. Flustered by the kiss she ran out of his house tripping on his porch. He ran over to help her up but she didn't want to be late so she left the shoe she had dropped. She told me she felt like Cinderella when she left her shoe. It made me feel disgusted but what could I do? She was in love. Little did I know I wouldn't be the one that was going to do something.

The evil step sisters got home from the party an hour after Ella did. They were mad. Obviously they had seen Ella with Henry and didn't like it. They whispered all night but I couldn't hear what they were saying. I could only guess what they were planning on doing. But I didn't have to wait long to find out.

A few days after the party Henry came over to return Ella's shoe. Fortunately, at least for me, Ella was out with her step sister's that day. It was kind of strange that they wanted her to go hiking with them but I didn't think anything of it. Henry left after dropping of the shoe and leaving a message for Ella. He wanted me to tell her to meet him somewhere sometime the next day I couldn't remember where not that I cared.

I remember waiting all day for Ella to return but it was getting late and she still wasn't back. I was so worried about her. They should have been home at the latest by 10:00 p.m. but I remember glancing at the clock to see that it was already 1:24 a.m. Ophelia wasn't home so I couldn't do anything but wait. Suddenly Daphnia and Bertie burst through the front door disheveled, dirty, crying, and gasping for air. What they said next was the worst news I had ever heard in my life up until then.

"Ella…..got lost in the woods….and we can't find her," Bertie gasped out.

"We looked everywhere but just couldn't find her," Daphnia added.

I had never been so horrified until then. The two girls told the police that they had gotten separated and only Bertie and Daphnia had found each other again. The police bought their story but I didn't. Deep down I knew they killed her out of jealous rage for her relationship with Henry but I had no proof. The police spent an entire month looking for her but they couldn't find her so they presumed she was dead. They held a funeral service for Ella with no body. After the service I quit my job having saved enough money and left. That's how I ended up where I live now.

I got a phone call about 3 months later from the police in Plumas Eureka, California they had found Ella. As presumed though she was dead. They told me a camper had found her in a sealed of cave. He was going exploring and removed a large stone from a caves opening to find a 

half rotting corpse. The police had been notified and it turns out that there had been a mudslide causing the stone to fall and trap Ella in. I didn't believe a single word.

For many months after the news of Ella's finding I was depressed. In all my life I never have felt more spiritually dead since those months. Eventually I had to get on with my life. I worked many odd jobs but finally got a steady one at Virco Manufactures. I still look back and remember my day's with Ella. I will never forget her for she was my first and last love. It's sad how much my life resembles Cinderella but in my version no one gets a happy ending.

XxX

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this short story. Did you notice that it's not in Cinderella's point of view like most rewritten versions are? Please review I really want to know what you guys think. Should I change this into a longer multi-chaptered story?